Java applet

no plug-ins or platform dependencies; runs on most browsers and computers

Drag-and-drop interactivity

smooth, simple, and intuitive

Flexible adaptive feedback

you design how much, when, and how to give feedback

Embed in any web page

use it alone or as part of an integrated multimedia exercise

Open exercise framework

no predetermined assumptions about exercise structure; the creativity and challenge are yours!

The showU Java applet is designed to deliver a wide variety of instructional exercises in a new and powerful format.  The essential character of a showU exercise is its extensive use of graphics in conjunction with drag-and-drop interactivity and adaptive feedback.  Using a showU exercise, your students build pictorial representations of their understanding.  Students literally show you what they know.

The underlying showU software engine makes no predetermined assumptions about particular types of exercises.  This makes building showU exercises quite different from building exercises with other tools you may have used.  Planning and building showU exercises is a very creative process.  It challenges you to think about new ways of presenting instructional content, and it allows you to both challenge and guide your students as they demonstrate their learning.  You will also have the satisfaction of creating truly interactive exercises that appeal to today's students.

What are the elements of a showU exercise?  First, there is a background graphic.  This image defines the visual space for the student's work, and provides the organizational framework for the student to convey an understanding of the subject matter for the exercise.  The design of the background may be complex or simple; it might be a structured chart with cells for placing objects, a photograph of a foreign locale, or just a plain rectangle of a solid color.  Whatever its design, it becomes the field onto which the student drags the object graphics, which are the second element of a showU exercise.  The object graphics are images representing features, parts or components related to the background.  If the background graphic were a picture of a classroom, the object graphics might depict a desk, a chair, a piece of chalk, a student, a teacher and so forth.

The third feature of a showU exercise is a list of "words" (or other symbolic images), where each list item uniquely refers to one of the object graphics.  A new instance of an object is created each time the student clicks (with the mouse) on one of the list items and drags from the list item onto the background.  An unlimited number of instances of each object graphic may be added to the background in this way.  So if the classroom example mentioned above were to be used for a foreign language listening exercise which described the classroom as containing two desks and six chairs, the student could demonstrate this by adding the proper quantities of each item to the background.

The fourth element of a showU exercise is the adaptive feedback.  This is a checking mechanism which compares the student's arrangement of objects on the background to the correct arrangement you define for the exercise.  To check the exercise, the student simply clicks on the "compare" button and the software automatically compares what the student has done with what you have specified as the goals of the exercise. The student receives graphical and text feedback for any errors.

The power of a showU exercise is two-fold: richness of student response combined with objective, automatic checking of those responses.  In a showU exercise, the student may be asked to construct a very complex picture.  This stands in contrast to the much more restrictive format of typical on-line exercises.  Yet detailed feedback about the student's work can be generated easily.

What are some examples of exercises that can be created using the power of showU?

1. Language comprehension: The background represents a scene and object graphics represent components that can be present in the scene; e.g., a classroom and its furnishings or a stage with the props and actors.  The student listens to or reads a passage in the language that is being learned, and creates the scene which is described.
2. Setting up a chess board: The background represents a chess board and object graphics represent chess pieces.  The exercise is to set up the chess board correctly for the game.
3. Prescribing medicines: The background is a chart or picture of various categories of patients (infant, diabetic, pregnant woman, etc.) and the object graphics represent various medicines in unit dosages.  For a specific set of symptoms, the student must show which combinations and quantities of the medicines are to be prescribed for each category of patient.
4. Counting up to make change: The background shows the price of an item being purchased, along with the currency being offered by a customer.  The objects are penny, nickel, dime, and so forth.  The student "sales clerk" must use the "counting up" method to make the correct change.
5. Structure of atoms: The background shows a central circle and several outer, concentric rings, representing the nucleus and shells of an atom.  The objects are proton, neutron, and electron.  For a particular element, the student is asked to show the proper numbers and location of the various particles.

The possibilities are endless.
What exercises will you create?