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<h1 style="display: block; width: 20em; margin: auto; border: none; text-align: center;">Rhea and the Ratite Project</h1>
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<h1 style="display: block; width: 20em; margin: auto; border: none; text-align: center;">Project Rhea</h1>
 
<h2 style="display: block; width: 20em; margin: auto; border: none; text-align: center;">Student-driven<sup style="font-size: xx-small">TM</sup> learning</h2>
 
<h2 style="display: block; width: 20em; margin: auto; border: none; text-align: center;">Student-driven<sup style="font-size: xx-small">TM</sup> learning</h2>
 
 
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Rhea is a Purdue-wide online learning resource developed "for students by students". The goal of Rhea is to enable students to teach each other the material they learn as well as the connections between the material. Anybody in the world can browse the content of Rhea using a web browser. Anybody with a Purdue career account can log into Rhea and contribute content. Many classes on campus are actually using Rhea as part of the course. Like the student population it serves, Rhea is an evolving tool. To better understand what Rhea currently is and what we hope it will become, let me share with you a bit of Rhea's story.  
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Rhea is a '''free''', '''public-content''', '''open-source''' learning resource developed at Purdue University. The goal of Rhea is to enable students to teach each other the material they learn as well as the connections between the material, current research and outside applications. Anybody in the world can browse the content of Rhea using a web browser. Anybody with a Purdue career account can log into Rhea and contribute content. Rhea was developed by a team of [[Rhea Team|students]] under the mentorship of [http://www.mireilleboutin.com Prof. Mimi Boutin]. Like the student population it serves, Rhea is an evolving tool. To follow Rhea's progress, we invite you to become a fan of [http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/West-Lafayette-IN/Rhea/88771959948 Rhea on facebook].
 
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Want to learn how to use Rhea and wondering where to begin? Read [[How_to_use_Rhea|this page]].
In the spring of 2007, I had the idea to develop an online learning tool to serve the Purdue student population. My aim was to enable students to “teach each other” through an online repository of student contributed learning material, including outside applications, together with links between the material. What I had in mind was quite different than a standard “wiki”, where students would have been able to collectively edit pages on the subjects they learn. Rather, I wanted to create a place where every student’s contribution would be valued, both as a personal learning exercise and as teaching material. I wanted to create a place where it would be ok to have different views of the material, and where discussing and comparing these views would be possible. I also wanted a place where learning material that is not “filtered by an authority” could be shared and valued, so we could all witness the learning process and learn from it. In other words, I wanted a place where knowledge in its whole complexity could be observed and studied.
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==Rhea's Features Include==
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*A '''campus-wide wiki''': edit from anywhere, anytime using your Purdue career account. Based on the popular media-wiki software, Rhea's wiki features:
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::'''Latex Equations.''' Use latex code to write equations. Detailed instructions can be found [[How_to_type_Math_Equations|here]].
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::'''Syntax Highlighting for Code Display.''' Look at [[Insertion_sort|this page]] for an example.
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::'''Short cuts for creating course pages and child pages'''. Look at the left side-bar after loggin in!
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::'''Upload and post multi-media content''', including [[How_to_upload_a_video| videos]].
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::'''View recent changes for a specific course or a specific category.''' Here is [[How_to_list_the_recent_changes_for_a_given_course| how]].
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*A [[Collective_Table_of_Formulas|'''Collective table of formulas''']], with links to relevant courses, concepts, articles, etc.
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*The [[Math_squad|'''Math Squad''']]: students helping students learn math.
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*[[About_Assimi|'''Assimi''']], a visual text search engine. Enter your keyword search in the Assimi field in the left-side-bar and see the connections between your search results.
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*[[About_the_dropbox|'''Dropboxes''']] for easy electronic file (e.g., homework) collection or personal file storing. Click [[Special:DropBox|here]] to view the content of your personal dropbox or access other people's dropboxes. (You must be logged in to use this feature).
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*'''Double-blind peer review system''': an add-on to the dropbox, which enables students to grade each others homework/report/etc.
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*A [[Rhea_Graph_Analytic_Tool| Graphical Tool]] to analyze and visualize the interations and connections between content and users.
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*A '''[[About_liaisons|Liaison Program]]''' connecting students with alumni and industry.
  
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==[[Rhea Team|Who is behind all this?]]==
“Mimi’s Kiwi” was the first prototype that we launched. It was created with the help of Katie Bouman in the summer of 2007 and was powered by the software zWiki. I  used this tool in my Fall 2007 ECE301 course. I was happily surprised with the student's response, who quickly volunteered to further develop and maintain the software. My student's content contributions were also quite significant and turned out to be very valuable.  The next semester, we decided that we were ready to expand the scope of Mimi’s Kiwi. A few more courses were added in addition to a section on the ECE PhD qualifying exams. You can see the [https://engineering.purdue.edu/people/mireille.boutin.1/ECE301kiwi/FrontPage result] for yourself.
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Rhea is developed and maintained by students under the mentorship of [http://www.mireilleboutin.com Prof. Mimi Boutin]. Meet [[Rhea Team|the Rhea development team]] on [[Rhea Team|this page]].
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The site was used for two months in the Winter 2008 semester until we were able to move everything to our own server for better control. Prof. Yung-Hsiang Lu loaned the server and student Dennis Snell orchestrated the move, which included a change of software from zWiki to wikiMedia. To reflect the global role of the site, we decided to shorten the name to “Kiwi”. Kiwi was featured in the [https://engineering.purdue.edu/EngineeringImpact/Issues/2008_1/ECE/ECE_Impact_Summer08.pdf Summer 2008 edition of the ECE Impact magazine].
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Click [http://www.youtube.com/v/uOYfXDccf8k&hl=en here] to view the Kiwi instructional video created by Katie Bouman and William Ehlhardt.
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Because of a name conflict, Kiwi retired in September 2008 and all its content was merged into Rhea. Rhea is version 2.0 of Purdue’s student-driven<sup style="font-size: xx-small">TM</sup> learning tool. Thanks to Stephen Rudolph and the rest of the kiwi development team (Deen King-Smith, Dennis Snell, Mike Walker), it is running on a new, faster server. It is equipped with better security features, and the software used to run the tool is significantly improved. I hope you will enjoy using Rhea as much as we do.
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<h2 style="display: block; width: 20em; margin: auto; border: none; text-align: center;">What is the Ratite Project?</h2>
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A kiwi and a rhea are two birds that cannot fly. They are members of a family of flightless birds called “ratites”.  Ratites do not fly for physiological reasons: they have no keel on their sternum. However, they have other skills to compensate, such as strong legs for running. Likewise, Kiwi and Rhea are “teaching tools without teachers.” The Ratite Project encompasses education research to study these tools, and engineering research to develop algorithms and software to sustain them. You can learn more on the [https://engineering.purdue.edu/~kiwi/Index.html Ratite Project page.]
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Prof. Boutin<br />
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<span style="font-size: 50%; position: relative; top: -15px;">October 3, 2008</span>
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If you enjoy using Rhea, please consider  [https://donate.purdue.edu/DesignateGift.aspx?allocation=017637&appealCode=11213&amount=25&allocationDescription=RheaProjectMimiBoutin donating to Project Rhea] or [[Donations | becoming a sponsor]].
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[[Image:DonateNow.png]]

Latest revision as of 07:40, 19 March 2013

Project Rhea

Student-drivenTM learning

Rhea is a free, public-content, open-source learning resource developed at Purdue University. The goal of Rhea is to enable students to teach each other the material they learn as well as the connections between the material, current research and outside applications. Anybody in the world can browse the content of Rhea using a web browser. Anybody with a Purdue career account can log into Rhea and contribute content. Rhea was developed by a team of students under the mentorship of Prof. Mimi Boutin. Like the student population it serves, Rhea is an evolving tool. To follow Rhea's progress, we invite you to become a fan of Rhea on facebook.

Want to learn how to use Rhea and wondering where to begin? Read this page.

Rhea's Features Include

  • A campus-wide wiki: edit from anywhere, anytime using your Purdue career account. Based on the popular media-wiki software, Rhea's wiki features:
Latex Equations. Use latex code to write equations. Detailed instructions can be found here.
Syntax Highlighting for Code Display. Look at this page for an example.
Short cuts for creating course pages and child pages. Look at the left side-bar after loggin in!
Upload and post multi-media content, including videos.
View recent changes for a specific course or a specific category. Here is how.
  • A Collective table of formulas, with links to relevant courses, concepts, articles, etc.
  • The Math Squad: students helping students learn math.
  • Assimi, a visual text search engine. Enter your keyword search in the Assimi field in the left-side-bar and see the connections between your search results.
  • Dropboxes for easy electronic file (e.g., homework) collection or personal file storing. Click here to view the content of your personal dropbox or access other people's dropboxes. (You must be logged in to use this feature).
  • Double-blind peer review system: an add-on to the dropbox, which enables students to grade each others homework/report/etc.
  • A Graphical Tool to analyze and visualize the interations and connections between content and users.
  • A Liaison Program connecting students with alumni and industry.

Who is behind all this?

Rhea is developed and maintained by students under the mentorship of Prof. Mimi Boutin. Meet the Rhea development team on this page.


If you enjoy using Rhea, please consider donating to Project Rhea or becoming a sponsor.

DonateNow.png

Alumni Liaison

Recent Math PhD now doing a post-doctorate at UC Riverside.

Kuei-Nuan Lin