Using SCORM for Interactive Teaching in Higher Education

The Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) has evolved in recent years as a standard for linking digital interactive Learning Objects (LO) into digital learning management systems (LMS). This standard has been used in a variety of teaching and learning contexts. We are experimenting with SCORM in teaching and have developed a number of SCORM compliant LOs. In particular we have authored SCORM LOs by application of the freely available software Courselab, and have hosted these LOs within the Learning Management System (LMS) Blackboard Vista. In one case study we have deployed a SCORM LO for the purpose of testing the numeracy capabilities of new students for business-related courses. Within this LO 20 mathematical problems were presented, based on variables that were created through random number generators. This ensured that each student received an individual problem within the specific scope of the task. The students had a number of attempts, and if these had been used up, the solution was displayed, and the student could try the problem again, with a different set of numbers. After the problems had been solved by the student, the SCORM module gave an automatic assessment of the numeracy capabilities of each student, classified into various categories as defined by the scope of each of the 20 problems. In this study the SCORM module had not been hosted by a LMS but was run as standalone, due to limitations of our LMS regarding the handling of variables (in SCORM 1.2 there is a limit of 100 Javascript variables). This meant that the students’ results were not automatically transferred into the gradebook of the LMS. However, since this was only an informal assessment of the students’ capabilities without grading, it was not a problem that this test was not embedded within the LMS. Feedback provided by students was very positive, and also the teaching staff found it very effective to use. The online evaluation has been carried out with the cohort of students who used the LO in the winter semester 2009/10 to receive feedback on their views as to ease of use, appearance of the test and several other areas to be presented in the full version of the paper. In winter semester 2010/11 there are further students accessing this mode of numerical evaluation, and it has been made available on the University repository to be used as required by others. A second case study investigated the employment of SCORM as the main electronic teaching method within a technical field. While this module used traditional lectures and tutorials as the main teaching method, the SCORM objects were hosted within the LMS and provided the backbone of the learning material. Consequently, the student’s were enabled to review the lecture slides as SCORM slides and to solve small assignments and quizzes given within the SCORM module. Because the LOs were embedded within the LMS, the progress of each individual student could be monitored and on that basis important feedback is possible Some technical problems occurred related to the embedding of the SCORM objects within the LMS, which made the overall process of teaching and grading slightly cumbersome but which did not present insurmountable difficulties. Overall the use of SCORM LO appears to be a method well suitable for interactive teaching. The interaction from the student with the virtual learning environment (VLE) does mean that it can be used for distance learning students as once the LO is made available, the tutor is mainly a facilitator for the technology rather than an assessor

Elastic Energy, Fluctuations and Temperature for Granular Materials

We probe, using a model system, elastic and kinetic energies for sheared granular materials. For large enough $P/E_y$ (pressure/Young's modulus) and $P/\rho v^2$ ($P/$kinetic energy density) elastic dominates kinetic energy, and energy fluctuations become primarily elastic in nature. This regime has likely been reached in recent experiments. We consider a generalization of the granular temperature, $T_g$, with both kinetic and elastic terms and that changes smoothly from one regime to the other. This $T_g$ is roughly consistent with a temperature adapted from equilibrium statistical mechanics.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Effect of friction in a toy model of granular compaction

We proposed a toy model of granular compaction which includes some resistance due to granular arches. In this model, the solid/solid friction of contacting grains is a key parameter and a slipping threshold Wc is defined. Realistic compaction behaviors have been obtained. Two regimes separated by a critical point Wc* of the slipping threshold have been emphasized : (i) a slow compaction with lots of paralyzed regions, and (ii) an inverse logarithmic dynamics with a power law scaling of grain mobility. Below the critical point Wc*, the physical properties of this frozen system become independent of Wc. Above the critical point Wc*, i.e. for low friction values, the packing properties behave as described by the classical Janssen theory for silos

Why Do Granular Materials Stiffen with Shear Rate? : Test of Novel Stress-Based Statistics

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Protocol dependence of the jamming transition

We propose a theoretical framework for predicting the protocol dependence of the jamming transition for frictionless spherical particles that interact via purely repulsive contact forces. We study isostatic jammed disk packings obtained via two protocols: isotropic compression and simple shear. We show that for frictionless systems, all jammed packings can be obtained via either protocol. However, the probability to obtain a particular jammed packing depends on the packing-generation protocol. We predict the average shear strain required to induce jamming in initially unjammed packings from the measured probability to jam at packing fraction $\phi$ from isotropic compression. We compare our predictions to results from numerical simulations of jamming and find quantitative agreement. We also show that the packing fraction range, over which strain-induced jamming occurs, tends to zero in the large system limit for frictionless packings with overdamped dynamics.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure

Statistical mechanics of non-hamiltonian systems: Traffic flow

Statistical mechanics of a small system of cars on a single-lane road is developed. The system is not characterized by a Hamiltonian but by a conditional probability of a velocity of a car for the given velocity and distance of the car ahead. Distribution of car velocities for various densities of a group of cars are derived as well as probabilities of density fluctuations of the group for different velocities. For high braking abilities of cars free-flow and congested phases are found. Platoons of cars are formed for system of cars with inefficient brakes. A first order phase transition between free-flow and congested phase is suggested.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, presented at TGF, Paris, 200

Pattern Formation in the Inhomogeneous Cooling State of Granular Fluids

We present results from comprehensive event-driven (ED) simulations of nonlinear pattern formation in freely-evolving granular gases. In particular, we focus on the the morphologies of density and velocity fields in the inhomogeneous cooling state (ICS). We emphasize the strong analogy between the ICS morphologies and pattern formation in phase ordering systems with a globally conserved order parameter.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures. to appear in Europhys. Let

The Jamming Transition in Granular Systems

Recent simulations have predicted that near jamming for collections of spherical particles, there will be a discontinuous increase in the mean contact number, Z, at a critical volume fraction, phi_c. Above phi_c, Z and the pressure, P are predicted to increase as power laws in phi-phi_c. In experiments using photoelastic disks we corroborate a rapid increase in Z at phi_c and power-law behavior above phi_c for Z and P. Specifically we find power-law increase as a function of phi-phi_c for Z-Z_c with an exponent beta around 0.5, and for P with an exponent psi around 1.1. These exponents are in good agreement with simulations. We also find reasonable agreement with a recent mean-field theory for frictionless particles.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, 2 pages supplement; minor changes and clarifications, 2 addtl. refs., accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let

Jamming Transition In Non-Spherical Particle Systems: Pentagons Versus Disks

We investigate the jamming transition in a quasi-2D granular material composed of regular pentagons or disks subjected to quasistatic uniaxial compression. We report six major findings based on experiments with monodisperse photoelastic particles with static friction coefficient μ≈1. (1) For both pentagons and disks, the onset of rigidity occurs when the average coordination number of non-rattlers, Znr, reaches 3, and the dependence of Znr on the packing fraction ϕ changes again when Znr reaches 4. (2) Though the packing fractions ϕc1 and ϕc2 at these transitions differ from run to run, for both shapes the data from all runs with different initial configurations collapses when plotted as a function of the non-rattler fraction. (3) The averaged values of ϕc1 and ϕc2 for pentagons are around 1% smaller than those for disks. (4) Both jammed pentagons and disks show Gamma distribution of the Voronoi cell area with same parameters. (5) The jammed pentagons have similar translational order for particle centers but slightly less orientational order for contacting pairs compared to jammed disks. (6) For jammed pentagons, the angle between edges at a face-to-vertex contact point shows a uniform distribution and the size of a cluster connected by face-to-face contacts shows a power-law distribution

Shear jammed, fragile, and steady states in homogeneously strained granular materials

We study the jamming phase diagram of sheared granular material using a novel Couette shear set-up with multi-ring bottom. The set-up uses small basal friction forces to apply a volume-conserving linear shear with no shear band to a granular system composed of frictional photoelastic discs. The set-up can generate arbitrarily large shear strain due to its circular geometry, and the shear direction can be reversed, allowing us to measure a feature that distinguishes shear-jammed from fragile states. We report systematic measurements of the stress, strain and contact network structure at phase boundaries that have been difficult to access by traditional experimental techniques, including the yield stress curve and the jamming curve close to $\phi_{SJ}\approx 0.74$, the smallest packing fraction supporting a shear-jammed state. We observe fragile states created under large shear strain over a range of $\phi < \phi_{SJ}$. We also find a transition in the character of the quasi-static steady flow centered around $\phi_{SJ}$ on the yield curve as a function of packing fraction. Near $\phi_{SJ}$, the average contact number, fabric anisotropy, and non-rattler fraction all show a change of slope. Above $\phi_{F}\approx 0.7$ the steady flow shows measurable deviations from the basal linear shear profile, and above $\phi_c\approx 0.78$ the flow is localized in a shear band