“Creating STEM Materials and Courses”

Dr. Steve Furino, Associate Dean, Undergraduate Studies in the Faculty of Mathematics, University of Waterloo and Mr. Trevor Dietrich, Business Development Manager at Maplesoft explained the challenges and opportunities of creating virtual materials and courses in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects. During the session the guest speakers discussed the creation of STEM materials and the automated machine grading of STEM specific homework, tests, quizzes & assignments (helping to relieve the pressure on shrinking TA marking budgets). Based on his experience with Mobius, Dr. Furino, explained the benefits of the software and how it enhances the teaching process. Aspects such as: live feedback, guided solutions and interactive teaching tools (graphs, chemistry equations, maps etc) have had a true impact on teaching STEM courses at the University of Waterloo.

University of Waterloo and Maplesoft provided the attendees to session with a demo of Möbius, a new online courseware environment that Waterloo has been using to author their online STEM courses for the past year. Möbius was designed with the latest accessibility technologies to enable the use of screen readers etc. as AODA compliance becomes a key consideration. The Möbius platform is anticipated to save Waterloo’s Centre for Extended Learning up to 50% of initial course development time. Möbius is set for commercial release in the first half of 2017.

The list below is a sample of courses that Möbius material has been or is currently being developed for:

Mathematics: Calculus II, Linear Algebra, College Math, Pre-Calculus, Differential Equations, Statistics

Physics: Intro Physics, Intro Astronomy

Chemistry: Intro Chemistry, Organic Chemistry

Nursing: Statistics for Nursing

Engineering: Mechanics, Chemical Engineering

This session was held in partnership with the Office of Open Learning.