Hi,

  I'd be happy to meet with you and see your current arrangement.  Then we
can see what options we can offer.  Since this is for a teaching activity,
I'll also talk to the Advanced Learning Technologies group in IT Services.

  When would be a good time to get together?  I'm free anytime this week,
other than Tuesday afternoon or mid-day Wednesday.

Dave

-----Original Message-----
From: Research Computing Support [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of James T. Oris
Sent: Monday, March 19, 2007 2:07 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Discuss a possible project re:teaching program

Steve Wright suggested that I contact you.  I'd like to talk to 
someone about a class exercise that I've developed in FileMaker over 
the past years and my desire to make it more functional and stable.

The exercise is basically a model of fish harvesting where multiple 
"boats" (wireless laptops) attempt to fish in the same ocean (the 
database).  The exercise is designed to show students how different 
harvesting strategies can have different impacts on fish resources 
(sustainable or not).  The students' behavoirs are fairly predictable 
and, hence, they become part of the simulation.

Right now, I'm using FileMaker Pro on a local machine with web 
enabled.  To fish  a round, each student computer submits a 'request' 
to fish up to a maximum allowable amount.  The database receives all 
requests, calculates the total fishing effort, runs an iteration of a 
population growth and harvest model, and allocates the total harvest 
back to individuals based on proportional fishing effort.

Students compete between two 'oceans' with different rule sets.  One 
is a total free enterprise ocean and the only feedback they get is 
how much money they make each year.  The other has a fishing quota 
set as a guideline (not a set requirement) and they know how much 
money they make plus receive an estimate of the fish census 
(population size) after each iteration.

It is a great exercise, but it is very unstable and I do not have the 
programming expertise to do much more than I have done.  In addition, 
I am fearful that I won't be able to run my own FileMaker server from 
my office due to new rules.   It would be real nice to get someone 
from research computing to work with on developing this  with better 
stability on a centralized platform.  I also have several ideas for 
more expanded functionality.

Please let me know if this kind of class exercise is something that 
is appropriate for your group.

Thanks, Jim Oris.
-- 



James T. Oris, Professor
Department of Zoology
Miami University
Oxford, OH  45056
513-529-3194 (ph)
513-529-6900 (fx)
[log in to unmask]
http://zoology.muohio.edu/oris/