Award recognizes use of technology to introduce pioneering educational practices
A collaborative project between the University of Waterloo and Maplesoft has won an award from the Canadian Network for Innovation in Education (CNIE). The Excellence and Innovation in the Integration of Technology in Educational Practices/Collaboration Award acknowledges the Secondary School Courseware project, a free online courseware site designed to support high school math students and teachers in calculus and precalculus courses.
The Courseware project is the result of a partnership that combines rich course materials developed by the University with Maple T.A., Maplesoft’s online testing and assessment system, and Maplesoft technology for developing, managing, and displaying dynamic STEM content.
The courseware, unveiled earlier this year, provides a rich selection of freely accessible, engaging content for use by high school teachers and students around the world, and will help prepare students for university-level mathematics courses. The interactive platform allows students to visualize and experiment with concepts in order to deepen their understanding of the course material. Students can access the courseware online for personal review, to supplement their courses in order to hone their skills, or to try enrichment exercises.
“Working with Maplesoft, we were able to break new ground in the development and deployment of the Secondary School Courseware site,” said Ian VanderBurgh, director of the Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing at Waterloo. “The main goal of this project was to make high-quality mathematics curriculum materials available, free of charge, to students and teachers around the world, to support the vital work that teachers are doing in mathematics classrooms everywhere. This wouldn’t have been possible without the use of Maplesoft technology.”
“Our collaboration with the University of Waterloo is truly a partnership that brings together two different sets of expertise in pursuit of the same vision,” noted Darren McIntyre, vice-president of Business Development at Maplesoft. “While the University excels at providing academic content, our combined efforts bring this concept to the world stage using Maplesoft’s innovative technology tools. We’re grateful for the recognition of this successful partnership. This project is part of Maplesoft’s initiative to help instructors and institutions develop and provide STEM courses online.”
Work is already underway to use the Maplesoft-developed platform in other online courses offered by the University, including courses in core math, optimization, modeling, computer science and quantum information systems.
To begin using the Secondary School Courseware site today, students and teachers need no login or special software to access the courseware.
The CNIE is a national organization of professionals committed to the effective implementation of technology and innovation in education. Their awards recognize excellence in educational processes that make use of technology to advance learning at the local, national and international levels.
Maplesoft™, a subsidiary of Cybernet Systems Co., Ltd. in Japan, has over 25 years of experience developing products for technical education and research, offering a solution that applies to every aspect of academic life. Its product suite reflects the philosophy that given great tools, people can do great things.
Maplesoft’s core technology is the world’s most advanced symbolic computation engine, which is the foundation for all of its products, including Maple™, the technical computing and documentation environment; MapleSim™, the high-performance, multi-domain modeling and simulation tool for physical systems; and Maple T.A.™, a web-based system for creating and assessing online tests and assignments.
Maplesoft also introduced a fundamental shift in technical education through its Clickable Math™ and Clickable Engineering™ initiatives. The idea behind this shift is to create technology that will allow students and teachers to focus on the concepts, not the tool. These initiatives deliver powerful mathematics through visual, interactive point-and-click methods in Maple, while the intuitive physical modeling environment of MapleSim helps teachers to quickly demonstrate the connection between modeling concepts and the underlying mathematical theory.
Over 90% of advanced research institutions and universities worldwide, including MIT, Stanford, Oxford, the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the U.S. Department of Energy, have adopted Maplesoft solutions to enhance their education and research activities. In industry Maplesoft’s customers include Ford, Toyota, NASA, Canadian Space Agency, Motorola, and DreamWorks, covering sectors such as automotive, aerospace, electronics, defense, consumer products, and entertainment.
Visit www.maplesoft.com to learn more.
CYBERNET SYSTEMS in Japan provides world-class solutions and services in the CAE and IT areas. For more information, visit http://www.cybernet.co.jp/english/
