Brief Report on 1996 LTEP Award
                     Roger D. Meicenheimer
                                

The first phase of my project entitled, "Replacement of Textbooks with CD-ROM based
Expert Systems" was completed at the end of the Fall 1996 Semester.  During the
summer of 1996, three former Dendrology students and I created the alpha version of
the CD-ROM based Miami University Dendrology Expert System(MUDES).   The
MUDES consists of four components: 1. Angiosperm Tree, 2. Gymnosperm Tree, 3.
Angiosperm Wood, and Gymnosperm Wood Identification.  Each component has on-line
help text and graphics and species specific graphics. 

The MUDES was field tested by six students in Botany 205, Dendrology, during the Fall
1996 semester, using three notebook computers that were purchased with the LTEP
grant.  The performance of this group of students was compared with a control group of
students who used textbooks during the course.  Results of these comparisons are
summarized on the attached pages.  

The most visible activities that furthered the integration of technology into the curriculum
resulting from this project were:  1.  The involvement of undergraduates in the creation
of the CD-ROM based MUDES, and 2. The use of the MUDES by students in Botany
205.  As a result of the creation of the MUDES and its subsequent incorporation into the
Dendrology curriculum, I believe that my teaching effectiveness in the section of the
course pertaining to  wood identification was most positively influenced.  In the two
quizzes pertaining to wood identification the MUDES students outperformed the
textbook students (76% vs 62% and 76% vs 67%).  I was also able to incorporate the
MUDES graphics pertaining to comparison of different wood features directly into my
lectures on the topics, thereby giving the class visual input that corresponded with my
discussion.  In the future, I will utilize the graphics pertaining to tree characteristics in a
similar way.  One positive feature of the MUDES reported by the students using the
system was that they found it to be an effective study tool, once they had figured out
how to use it for these purposes.

The future of this project largely depends on acquisition of sufficient number of notebook
computers to incorporate the MUDES into an entire class of 30 students.  In an attempt
to secure the necessary funds to accomplish this I submitted a NSF Instrumentation and
Laboratory Improvement - Instrumentation Projects grant proposal in November.  If this
proposal is funded it will be possible to continue the project on a class wide basis in
Dendrology and begin to incorporate similar CD-ROM expert systems into other plant
identification courses taught at Miami.  If the proposal is not funded, it is not clear how
the further incorporation of the MUDES and similar expert systems into the curriculum
can be accomplished given the number of students that would be involved and the
number of notebooks currently  available for student use.


I will be working with at least one undergraduate student during the 1997 summer to
address some bugs in the alpha version of the MUDES to hopefully transform it into a
beta version which can then be released commercially to the general public via the XID
company in Pullman, Washington.

I will be offering a Botany 750,  "Development of Plant Identification Expert Systems"
during the Summer II 1997 semester.  A brief description of this course, which is
targeted to MAT students, is attached.

I will be presenting a poster/demonstration on this project at the Botanical Society of
America Annual Meetings in Montreal in August and potentially at the Educom  97 in
October in Minneapolis.