Abstract

Distance learning can offer a solution to a long-standing challenge of undergraduate education: how to assign an appropriate amount of work to each student, and how to assess this work efficiently. In this paper I describe the Depository of Repetitive Internet-based probLems and Lessons (DRILL), an online system for providing education and assessment for precalculus, which can substitute for routine problems given in homework and as exam questions. Its special features include:

Vadim Ponomarenko is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Trinity University.

• adaptive testing,
• on-the-fly question generation,
• instant assessment,
• context-sensitive help,
• question balancing, and
• two-dimensional test design.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank an anonymous referee for the helpful suggestions used in the preparation of this article. I also thank the DRILL Project Team, and particularly Alex Kolliopoulos, for all their hard work.

The DRILL Project gratefully acknowledges the support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Associated Colleges of the South, Trinity University, and the Herndon Fund for their generous financial support. It also acknowledges the University of Wisconsin, Trinity University, and the Department of Mathematics of Trinity University for their support in hosting the DRILL web site.

Published December, 2003

© 2003, Vadim Ponomarenko