**3. Review of literature**

Important factors predicting success in calculus among freshmen engineering students included a student's ability to regulate his own learning in areas of classroom engagement and time on task (Mwavita, 2005). Certain personality variables such as persistent, responsibility, and patience contributed considerably to the prediction of success in college calculus classes (Shaughnessy, 1994).

For many students calculus has become a stumbling block in the path to careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. In a 2010 study, 30% of students who took calculus in high school were placed into pre-calculus in college. Students believed they already knew the material when they entered college calculus, but were stunned to find that they did poorly in the first half of the course. Few actually managed to successfully complete the course. It is necessary to find a way to smooth the transition into college calculus and be sure students are ready for the challenges they face (Bressoud, 2010).

The University of Nebraska at Omaha developed a procedure to implement calculus placement. A calculus readiness test was given initially, with reliability and validity measures computed. At the end of the semester, a comprehensive final was given, with reliability and validity measures computed. Then the correlation coefficient between calculus readiness test scores and final exam scores was calculated and found to be statistically significant, with *r* = .42 and *r* = .55 for the two forms of the readiness test (Stephens & Buchalter, 1987).

Many colleges are facing difficulties with success rates in engineering and other majors that require proficiency in calculus. In a study of actuarial students at Bryant College success in calculus was an important predictor of success in the major (Smith, & Schumacher, 2005).

A study on retention of underrepresented minorities revealed that only 35% of all students who begin college as science, engineering, or mathematics majors graduate in one of those fields (Smith, 1995).

King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), in a study on the preparatory mathematics and English courses, also examined the effect of lowering the level of prerequisite knowledge, based on grades in the preparatory courses in mathematics. Results showed that the students who entered calculus with lower grades in prerequisite courses were generally not successful (Yushau, & Omar, 2007).

Several factors are important in designing a successful intervention for student success in engineering calculus. Educators must consider mathematics deficiencies as well as placement into the appropriate college course. One college pre-calculus revision to increase mathematics learning included


Since the fall of 2003, Texas A&M University at Qatar has offered Bachelor of Science degrees in chemical, electrical, mechanical and petroleum engineering. In addition to engineering courses, Texas A&M University at Qatar provides instruction in science, mathematics, liberal arts and the humanities. The curriculum offered at Texas A&M at Qatar are identical to the ones offered at the main campus in College Station, Texas. Courses are taught in English and in a coeducational setting. The goal of TAMUQ is: to strengthen the University's presence nationally and internationally through teaching and learning and

Important factors predicting success in calculus among freshmen engineering students included a student's ability to regulate his own learning in areas of classroom engagement and time on task (Mwavita, 2005). Certain personality variables such as persistent, responsibility, and patience contributed considerably to the prediction of success in college

For many students calculus has become a stumbling block in the path to careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. In a 2010 study, 30% of students who took calculus in high school were placed into pre-calculus in college. Students believed they already knew the material when they entered college calculus, but were stunned to find that they did poorly in the first half of the course. Few actually managed to successfully complete the course. It is necessary to find a way to smooth the transition into college

The University of Nebraska at Omaha developed a procedure to implement calculus placement. A calculus readiness test was given initially, with reliability and validity measures computed. At the end of the semester, a comprehensive final was given, with reliability and validity measures computed. Then the correlation coefficient between calculus readiness test scores and final exam scores was calculated and found to be statistically significant, with *r* = .42 and *r* = .55 for the two forms of the readiness test

Many colleges are facing difficulties with success rates in engineering and other majors that require proficiency in calculus. In a study of actuarial students at Bryant College success in calculus was an important predictor of success in the major (Smith, & Schumacher, 2005). A study on retention of underrepresented minorities revealed that only 35% of all students who begin college as science, engineering, or mathematics majors graduate in one of those

King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), in a study on the preparatory mathematics and English courses, also examined the effect of lowering the level of prerequisite knowledge, based on grades in the preparatory courses in mathematics. Results showed that the students who entered calculus with lower grades in prerequisite courses

Several factors are important in designing a successful intervention for student success in engineering calculus. Educators must consider mathematics deficiencies as well as placement into the appropriate college course. One college pre-calculus revision to increase

calculus and be sure students are ready for the challenges they face (Bressoud, 2010).

develop student participation and leadership in relevant technical fields.

**3. Review of literature** 

calculus classes (Shaughnessy, 1994).

(Stephens & Buchalter, 1987).

mathematics learning included

2. student collaboration in small groups

1. smaller class size

were generally not successful (Yushau, & Omar, 2007).

fields (Smith, 1995).

3. problem based learning. Three classrooms, each using one of these nontraditional approaches were compared to a traditional classroom.

Students who needed to improve skills for success in calculus were randomly assigned to one of the four sections. Student test scores on four common exams revealed that students in the problem based learning class performed better than students in the other three classes, one that used a traditional approach, and two that used other nontraditional approaches (Olson, Knott, & Currie, 2009).

A discussion-based seminar format was deemed a successful strategy for teaching various levels of college mathematics. Students were required to read textbook materials, work relatively simple exercises, and submit a short reaction piece to the professor before attending class so that they were prepared for the discussion. More difficult homework exercises were completed after the class meeting. The professor believes the primary benefits of the seminar type instruction in his classes of size twenty or less were that students become more independent and more successful life-long learners of mathematics (King, 2001).

The Rochester Institute of Technology implemented a process by which a calculus project was designed and piloted, resulting in increased calculus success rates. A placement exam was used to place students who were considered at risk for failing calculus into a course that integrated Precalculus review as needed throughout the calculus (Maggelakis, & Lutzer, 2007).

The Emerging Scholars Program developed by the University of Texas Austin was used to add workshops of class size about 25 with collaborative learning to all calculus classes, in addition to the regular four lecture hours. The change was expensive but resulted in a 16.3% increase in student success in Calculus I. California State University Los Angeles also added workshops to several calculus courses, and found that it increased success rates. Students have asked that the workshops be added to some other courses. The university planned to implement the model in Precalculus and remedial math courses (Subramanian, Cates, & Gutarts, 2009).

Similar results were reported in the McNeill Program at the University of Colorado at Boulder with at risk students in college mathematics courses involving workshops and collaborative learning (Mendez, 2006).

#### **3.1 Mathematics achievement using interactive games**

Using technology in the mathematics classroom supports different teaching and learning strategies and objectives (Ozel, Yetkiner, & Capraro, 2008). The use of games fosters mathematical learning and encourages students' mathematical processes (Su, Marinas, & Furner, 2010). In particular, students typically apply mathematical skills and processes such as reasoning, deduction, and pattern-finding when playing computer games. A study showed that students also tended to stay on task longer when playing games requiring computations and problem solving (Hui, 2009). Role-playing games provide a motivating strategy for students to practice skills already learned (Ahmad, Shafie, Latif, 2010).

Fewer studies have been done on mathematics games at the secondary or college level. However, one such study asserted that results of mathematics computer games showed a statistically significant improvement in mathematics achievement on students in an urban high school (Kebritchi, Hirumi, & Bai, 2010).

A study on reviewing calculus skills, finding derivatives and evaluating integrals, showed that using an interactive game was successful (Forman, & Forman, 2008). In general,

Digital Faces on the Cloud 51

sessions and student meetings, WebCT for posting class notes, grads and notices, WebAssign for online quizzes and practice, and Pod casting for posting solved homework

The general idea is to produce an intelligent program, called agent, through a process of learning using Reinforcement Learning (RL) which is a Machine Learning technique that has become very popular in recent days. The technique has been applied to a variety of artificial domains, such as game playing, as well as real-world problems. In principle, a Reinforcement Learning agent learns from its experience by interacting with the environment. The agent is not told how to behave and is allowed to explore the environment freely. However once it has taken its actions, the agent is rewarded if its actions were good and punished if they were bad. This system of rewards and punishments teaches the agent which actions to take in the future, and guides it towards a better outcome. The basic idea is the visual perception of the ability to be familiar with the environment visually. Computer simulation used as follows: Users will sign on their second life virtual space with their virtual names and join a study session whereas a simulation by computer images is mainly focused on their images processing machine vision digital input/output that will be fed to computer networks to observe the behavior in a computer grid format. Data mining tools used to predict future trends (Neel, 2011). It predicts the future and the hidden information in the database. Data mining tools can answer questions that traditionally were very time consuming to resolve and experts may miss because it lies outside their expectations. The most commonly techniques used in data mining are artificial

neural networks, decision trees, and clustering which used in this research.

Since Qatari students are approximately the same age as United States students and are exposed to very similar mathematics curriculum, it is expected that similar interventions are needed to address the needs of students who wish to major in STEM fields at Texas A&M

A pilot study conducted by the author at Texas A&M University at Qatar revealed that students were very productive and engaged in the learning experience and the average student's attendance during any session is 98% of the time. Moreover a subculture difference has no appearance in the virtual world for exploring cultural alternatives. Jones (Jones, 2009; Jones, S. L. 2009) also noted that the collaborative aspect available in Second

As was seen in the literature background, this is an important feature. Jones also found that the average of student group project grades was seven percentage points higher than that of students who did not use Second Life (from 72% to 79%). A snapshot of a class in Second

A model created by evaluating training data using domain experts' knowledge. Then the model applied and developed to new data based on distances using the Euclidean distance

**5. Engineering calculus successes at TAMU Qatar** 

Life does not exist in any other online platforms.

Then based on the distances we create the classes (see figure 4).

Life at TAMU Qatar is shown (see figure 2).

problems and using iTunesU.

University at Qatar.

**6. The Approach** 

**6.1 Step1** 

(see figure 3).

interactive games have had positive effects on interest and motivation in mathematics (Su, Marinas, & Furner, 2010; Ahmad, Shafie, Latif, 2010; Kebritchi, Hirumi, & Bai, 2010; Jones, 2009).
