Assessing the Potency of QSPlot Tool in Teaching

Engineering Calculus
Zuraida Alwadood1,a), Norlenda Mohd. Noor2,b), Hanifah Sulaiman3,c),
Suhaila Abd. Halim4,d)
1,2,3,4
Faculty of Computer and Mathematical Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Shah Alam, 40450
Selangor, Malaysia
a)
alzuraida@tmsk.uitm.edu.my
b)
norlenda@tmsk.uitm.edu.my
c)
hanifah@tmsk.uitm.edu.my
d)
suhaila@tmsk.uitm.edu.my

Abstract.We developed a suite of interactive mathematical courseware named as QSPlot which is aimed at improving
students’ understanding on the physical representation of multivariable functions used in Engineering Calculus course. The
purpose of this study was to determine the potency of QSPlot, which is a new interactive tool aimed at assisting students’
learning process in the course and evaluate their readiness towards using an interactive teaching and learning tools in
classroom. The respondents are 53 students in the fourth semester of an engineering course at a selected local university
and several problems involving the physical conceptualization of the mathematical functions were demonstrated using
QSPlot. The students were given a set of questionnaire with two parts. The first part was used to investigate the students’
perceptions on the learning tool in visualizing multivariable functions. The guidelines for using the interaction design in
the human computer interaction were presented. The second part was used to evaluate the students’ readiness in utilizing
QSPlot tool in classroom for solving integral calculus problems. With their high level of computer familiarity, the students
have shown a good level of readiness in using QSPlot, although the tool needs a few improvements. This finding allows
for an enhancement of teaching method and implementation of the new computer applications in learning Engineering
Calculus course. It is expected that this new courseware will underpin a formative evaluation approach to the ongoing
design and development of interactive teaching and learning tool.

INTRODUCTION
Having a strong background in mathematics is crucial as it is a basic requirement in science and technology courses
at tertiary level study. Even though mathematical problem solving is the most valuable aspects of mathematics, it
becomes the most difficult topic for many students. They need to possess different skills and abilities in order to
construct the solution in multi-step of processes [1]. Engineering Calculus is a core subject which is compulsory for
all undergraduate engineering degree courses. Despite of being the prerequisite for engineering courses, a preliminary
research has found that many students perceived calculus as a high level of difficulties among any other mathematics
courses. An analysis of Engineering Calculus results over a number of semesters in a local university has shown an
alarming rate of failure in the subject [2]. From the survey, over the past few semesters, the failure rate for Engineering
Calculus subject ranges from 25 to 45 percent.
Osman and Nik Pa [3] have done a case study on a local university student on their mathematical knowledge. They
have found that students used the universal integrated perspective to interpret the acquisition of mathematical
knowledge. However, their understandings of mathematical concepts, process of learning mathematics and proper
usage of mathematical ideas are mostly at the surface level, rather than deep understanding. In another study, it was
reported that about 55 percent of engineering students have admitted that they encountered difficulties in visualizing
3-dimensional space function. This problem is closely related to spatial ability, which is a capacity for mentally
generating, rotating, and transforming visual images. This ability is important for developing expertise in learning and
work settings since it is one of the three specific cognitive abilities. They do not able to solve the given problems if
they failed to visualize the physical shape of the solids like sphere, cone, paraboloid or other quadric surfaces. Jono
[4] stated that students generally found interactive multimedia is interesting as it captures and holds learners’ interests
which consequently attract the students to get involved into it. This attractiveness is due to its multi-sensory
characteristics in terms of sounds, images and text. In addition, this type of learning tool navigates the students to
build their own unique mental structures based on their exploration.
Learning calculus can be such a dry subject with the traditional method of teaching, which involved text book, the
board writing and handout exercises. Nevertheless, with the advancement of technology, learning mathematics can be
made interesting and fascinating. Since the revolution of computer technology, there are bulks of computer software
and applications have been developed to help improve student understanding in mathematics. A wide range of
mathematics applications software on learning mathematics is available in the market, such as Maple, MATLAB,
Mathematica among others. These systems have benefited undergraduates and postgraduates in mathematics,
engineering and physics courses by keeping track of the details in complicated manipulations [5]. In view to this, it is
the intention of this research to determine the potency of a new interactive tool named as QSPlot, at assisting students’
learning process in integral calculus involving multivariable functions and evaluate their readiness towards using an
interactive teaching and learning tools in classroom.
According to the American Society for Training and Development, e-Learning is defined as instructional content
or learning experiences delivered or enabled by electronic technology [6]. Withstanding the concept, this research
regards the new tool of QSPlot as a class of e-Learning, as both having instructional content which is delivered via
computer technology. By comparison, they are different in terms of content, as QSPlot only focus on plotting graph
of multivariable functions, specifically quadric surfaces. Having said this, the instrument that will be used to assess
the students’ readiness for QSPlot will adopt the tool that was used to assess the readiness of e-Learning.

RELATED WORKS
In this era of technology, varieties of method have been used in classroom teaching and learning. Beside the
interaction using whiteboard, common methods that are used in class includes overhead projector, slide presentation,
game making for learning, graphic calculator and many more. Many studies have shown significant results that
technology indeed helps student learn and understand better and the modern technology should be adopted in class in
order to create a more interesting teaching and learning environment. Zakaria and Salleh [7] reported that students
have a very high attitude towards computers which they believe could help them to understand better. Besides the
need to have skills in arithmetic, understanding the idea or the ability to visualize given problems are also needed in
learning mathematics calculus, which attributes that some students do not have. Thus, teaching and learning tools are
created to fill in the gap and consequently help student to understand better.
Salam et al. [8] have found that the interactive multimedia application is an effective tool in helping students in
learning difficult subjects. The sample students have shown better performance when the interactive application was
used together with the lecturing method. In addition to this, the 3-dimensional animation has proven to give more
impact in their learning process as compared to 2-dimensional animation. The research has justified that 3-
dimensional animation gives good and effective visualization as it is more easily interpreted based on students’
knowledge.
The advent of technology and the internet opens up new educational possibilities for distance education beyond
the thoughts of many educators [9]. In line with this advancement, they proposed a model that integrates the
instructional design and the principles of adult learners in a multimedia course of a distance education program. The
study was done with the intention to provide the bases for the development of multimedia e-content which able to help
adult learners.
There are many mathematical tools which are able to solve mathematical problems from the basic problems up to
the most complicated ones. Interactive mathematical visualization (IMV) is a tool that is used in a classroom as a
medium in teaching and learning process. The objective of this tool is to enhance the teaching process and improve
the student understanding in mathematics course, specifically in topics that need imagination and visualization. In
2014, a group of researchers from the University of Western Sydney has developed a new IMV for first-level students
in mathematics subjects. The development is based on two approaches, namely pedagogical and interaction design
[10]. They have analyzed the performance of IMV based on the sample teachers and researchers who are involved in
the experiment.
 When computers were created, educators have been using them to enhance their teaching style. Many studies have
highlighted significant improvement of grades in some subjects. Mosina [11] uses MyMathLab online system on a
group of students to improve their understanding in learning Pre-Calculus. Several practices in teaching technology-
oriented and applied based Pre-Calculus were tested. The result has significantly reduced the failure rate. The same
author has extended the study by adopting a Wiki-based online discussion platform and Piazza forums in learning
Calculus in the attempt to reduce students’ retention [12]. Few other studies have also shown a similar result in the
students’ knowledge of calculus and its interpretation. Adair and Jaeger [13] have integrated Mathematica into an
Engineering Calculus course. Two groups consisting of 68 students each were taken as the sample. One group was
the control group which underwent traditional learning. The other group was equipped with six Mathematica
laboratory exercises. There was an improvement on the pre-test and post-test conducted. All these studies have shown
the effectiveness of using technology in teaching and learning.
There are several instruments cited in the literatures that were used to assess the readiness of e-Learning, among
them are [14]-[16]. Some of them measured the e-Learning readiness among the academic staff and students of higher
learning institutions, managers of organizations, as well as individuals. This research adopts such instrument in order
to assess the readiness for QSPlot among students of higher institution. This involves the utilization of Aydin and
Tasci’s Assessment Model of e-Learning [17]. The same scale was also adopted by many other studies, for example
Akaslan and Law [18] and Soydal, Alir and Unal [19].

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
In our previous research, a group of 836 students in Semester 4, taking Engineering Calculus course at a selected
local university were interviewed on several problems involving the physical conceptualization of the mathematical
functions. From this interview, 55 percent of them have admitted that they are having problem in visualizing 3-
dimensional space functions. As a consequence of the finding, this study has attempted to design, implement and
evaluate the potency of a new learning courseware called QSPlot, based on a specialized tool for visualizing 3-
dimensional functions for the usage in Engineering Calculus classroom. The letter QS stands for Quadric Surface,
while the word Plot indicates the ability of the courseware to plot graphs. When the students are ready to use the new
tool, then the developed system will be implemented in real class environment.

Research Product: The QSPlot Interactive Tool

QSPlot has the ability to plot graph for easy visualization of multivariable functions, specifically quadric surface
equations. Figure 1 portrays the layout design for the main menu interface in QSPlot. The interface consists of the
buttons for the selection of the quadric surface to be plotted, which include paraboloid, cylinder, sphere and cone. By
selecting the type of surface, the user will be brought to the page of the selected function.

FIGURE 1.The Main Menu of the QSPlot

 Figure 2 shows a page to determine the intersection between a paraboloid z   x 2  y 2  4 and the plane z  0 which
is obtained by inserting the input parameters of the function in the dialog box. The radio button ’Plot’ is used to
instruct the system to plot the function. The 3-dimensional graph will then appear in the Cartesian axes located next
to the dialog box. Users are able to visualize the physical shape of the graph from any direction by rotating the graph
accordingly, depending on the users’ requirement.

FIGURE 2.A Screenshot of An Intersection Between A Paraboloid and A Plane by QSPlot

Figure 3 shows an example of design layout when a cylinder is plotted by QSPlot. Based on the dialog box, the
equation of the cylinder is given by y 2  z 2  16 . Notice that the cylinder spreads along the x-axis and has a radius of
4 units. In addition, the projection of the cylinder on the yz plane gives a circle which centered at (0,0),

FIGURE 3.A Screenshot of A Cylinder by QSPlot

 An example of a design layout of a sphere is depicted in Figure 4. The equation of the sphere is given by
x 2  y 2  z 2  1 . The sphere has a center of the origin with a radius of 1 unit. The projection of the sphere on any of
xy, yz or xz plane will gives a circle which centered at (0,0).

FIGURE 4.A Screenshot of a Sphere by QSPlot

Figure 5 shows an example of the resulting layout when a cone z 2 = x 2 + y 2 intersects with the plane z = 3 .By
rotating the graph, it can be seen that the intersection between both functions forms a circle with equation x 2  y 2  9.

FIGURE 5.A Screenshot of an Intersection between A Cone and A Plane by QSPlot

 Research Instrument
A convenience sampling method was used in this case study, whereby the respondents were selected based on their
availability. To answer the research questions, a group of53students who enrolled in the Engineering Calculus course
is selected. The QSPlot courseware was demonstrated and the steps to plot the graphs were explained in detail. The
guidelines for using the interaction design in the human computer interaction are also presented.
A survey form of QSPlot User Interface Satisfaction was used as a quantitative data collection instrument. Besides
the demographic profile of the respondents, the survey questionnaire consists of two parts. The first part is used to
investigate the students’ perceptions on the learning tool in visualizing the intersection of two multivariable functions.
These perceptions are evaluated based on the package screen, the terminology and system information, as well as the
perceived usefulness. The second part is used to evaluate the students’ readiness in utilizing the computer applications
in classroom for solving integral calculus problems. The respondents were asked to report their perception and
readiness for the tool to be implemented in classroom.
To measure the student level of readiness in using the tool, this research adapted the E-learning Readiness
Assessment Model which was established in [13]. The model is adaptable to this research because both e-Learning
and QSPlot can be categorized as instructional content delivered by electronic technology. The survey items were
assessed based on 5-point Likert scale, along with some free text boxes for the respondents to answer subjective
questions. Students reported their perceptions regarding the criteria with the Likert scale with 1 being “Very Disagree”
and 5 being “Very Agree”. The model defines a mean score of less than 3.40 as low level of readiness and requires a
lot more work or some work to be done. A mean score of 3.41 to 4.20 is classified as a satisfactory level of readiness
but requires a few improvements, while a score above 4.21 indicates a very good level of readiness. The expected
level of readiness for the system to be implemented is a mean score of 3.41. The mean score was determined by
dividing four intervals of readiness with five levels in Likert scale.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

A total of 53 responses were collected from the students when the QSPlot was demonstrated and the survey forms
were distributed in two Engineering Calculus classes. As the Electrical Engineering program has higher number of
male students, the result has recorded the feedback of 56% male and 44% female respondents. 49% of the students
use computer for 2-4 hours in a day while 25% use computer for more than 4 hours per day. These percentages of
vast use of computer have reflected the level of their knowledge in using computer software whereby 65% of them
claimed to be intermediate level of computer users. Quantitative data was collected by the scale developed in the
student evaluation on the QSPlot learning tool. Analysis of the quantitative data was made according to the evaluation
criteria as shown in Table 1.

TABLE 1. The Survey Mean Score of the Students’ Perception On QSPlot

Evaluation Criteria Mean Grand Mean

Package Screen
The readability of characters 3.8
The organization of information 3.7
The sequence of actions 3.8 3.7
The syntax of inputs 3.6
The display design 3.7
Terminology & System Information
The prompts for input is clear 3.9
The system is user friendly 3.8
3.8
The system speed is fast enough 3.7
The system is suitable for all users 3.8
Perceived Usefulness
I can visualize 3D functions better 3.9
I can sketch the solid and its projection faster 3.8
I can see the intersection between the functions involved 3.7 3.8
I can solve the integration more effectively 3.7
I can accomplish task more quickly 3.8
 There are three components that aimed to reveal the students’ perceptions on QSPlot. These components are
‘Package Screen’, ‘Terminology and System Information’ and also the ‘Perceived Usefulness’. Table 1 shows the
mean scores obtained for each component. The grand mean score for ‘Package Screen’ of 3.7 indicates that the
students are satisfied with the screen view but there should be some improvement need to be made on it. Among the
items under the package that may require improvement is the ‘syntax of inputs’ which only recorded a grand mean
score of 3.6. This ‘syntax of inputs’ refers to the input field where the users can enter data. In QSPlot, the input that
should be inserted is the coefficient of the variables of the surface functions. As the input box is arranged according
to the x, y and z axes, this syntax may lead to confusion among the students as to which box of input should be utilized.
To overcome this, improvement can be made by reducing the number of syntax input. An example will be the equation
of a cylinder which could be having syntax like Figure 6, instead of nine boxes of inputs as in Figure 3.

FIGURE 6.The Possible Syntax Input for a Cylinder

In terms of ‘Terminology and System Information’, the grand mean score is recorded as 3.8 which is at a
satisfactory level with some room of improvement. This indicates that the students feel that the use of words and the
system data are acceptable and adequate. Similar results are also recorded for the ‘Perceived Usefulness’ which
recorded a grand mean score of 3.8. This finding shows the students have agreed that the QSPlot is useful in their
Engineering Calculus subject.
There are a set of questions which is aimed to evaluate the students’ readiness of using QSPlot in classroom. Table
2 shows the mean scores obtained for the evaluation criteria, as well as the grand mean scores.

TABLE 2. The Survey Mean Score of the Students’ Readiness of UsingQSPlot

Evaluation Criteria Mean Grand Mean

Learning to operate QSPlot is easy for me 3.6

I can inquire QSPlot to do what I want it to do 3.7
QSPlot is clear and understandable 3.8
QSPlot is flexible to interact with 3.8
I can be skillful at plotting 3D graph by using QSPlot 3.7
3.8
I believe QSPlot can increase my understanding in integral calculus 3.8
I believe QSPlot enables the lecturer to deliver the subject better 3.9
I support the implementation of QSPlot in classroom 3.9
I am keen to start using QSPlot in classroom 3.7
I am ready to utilize QSPlot in solving integral calculus. 3.7

In general, all the respondents are satisfied with QSPlot based on all the evaluation criteria in the survey. The
grand mean score of 3.8 is higher than the expected level of 3.41 as established in the E-learning Readiness Assessment
Model. Based on the result, it can be inferred that the students are overall ready in using QSPlot, although the tool
need a few improvements.
Two items having the highest mean scores of 3.9 can be interpreted as students believed that QSPlot is able to
deliver the subject better and they support the implementation of the courseware in classroom. The lowest mean score
of 3.6 was recorded for the item ‘Learning to operate QSPlot is easy for me’. Even though this result has the lowest
rating, it is still categorized as satisfactory as the score is above the expected level of 3.41.

CONCLUSION
This study deals with the development and evaluation of a new mathematical interactive tool, named as QSPlot.
This tool was designed to assist students in determining the physical shapes of 3-dimensional multivariable functions.
The tool was developed based on the fact that students nowadays are more attracted to study with the involvement of
modern technology whereby students use the computer applications to help them better understand the subject matter.
From the survey done, it was found that the students are ready to use QSPlot in Engineering Calculus classroom.
However, based on the E-learning Readiness Assessment Model [13], there are some rooms of improvement for the
courseware that should be done.
This research has proven that the use of interactive tools has the potency to increases the students’ interest and
understanding on the subject matter, specifically in Engineering Calculus subject. This finding justifies the need for
the new QSPlot tool to be utilized in Engineering Calculus classroom in the attempt to enhance the teaching and
learning method. It is expected that these methods will underpin a formative evaluation approach to the ongoing design
and development of the learning tool. Future studies should add more factors to be included in the evaluation criteria
such as prior usage, user experience, as well as user characteristics. In addition, future study should also measure the
impact of the utilization of such interactive tool, in terms of the student performance in tests and examinations.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This research is funded by the Institute of Research Management & Innovation (IRMI), Universiti Teknologi
MARA Malaysia (UiTM) under the ARAS Grant (600-IRMI/DANA5/3/ARAS (0184/2016)). The authors would like
to thank the IRMI, UiTM and all lecturers, students, research assistants and other individuals who are either directly
or indirectly involved in this project.

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