It's Twirling!

I'm in to my second week of the Masters program. Whereas last week my mind was racing with ideas, this week my mind is in overload (twirling) mode. Becoming aware of some of the wonderful tools "out there" is exciting. However, exploring these tools, searching for information about these tools, searching for layman definitions of the tech lingo, and becoming a user of these tools, either by joining or installing, has been very time consuming and at times, frustrating.

BUT LEARN I DID!

I now have partial knowledge of Social Bookmarking, Online Storage, and the use of Webcams. I do know that in order to really appreciate and understand what these tools have to offer, I must incorporate applying them into my computer usage routine.Since I regularly search for interesting math sites, my bookmark folder is out of control. Accessing one of them is time consuming and in reality, a cat and mouse game. On the other hand, Social Bookmarking with its use of tagging offers structure. Since it is social, having the option of accessing and sharing common tagged bookmarks from other users is very time saving and enlightening. Popular sites which I may never have found on my own stand out when sharing.

I'd like to incorporate Social Bookmarks into my curriculum as a tool for broadening my students' awareness of how the web can be incorporated into understanding, applying, and having fun with mathematics.Online Storage can be used to ease my nagging fear of some "catastrophic" event which would destroy all of my files. Being able to access my files from any computer and having many of my files in one place is also a plus. I still don't know how I feel about sharing my files. I'll have to work with the tool more before I can give an educated opinion about that.

Though I have never used a Webcam, I look forward to trying one out. The use of webcams seems like an answer to conducting meetings with fellow instructors who, because of different schedules, are extremely hard to gather at a set time at school. Again, with usage, I am sure I will be able to think of other exciting ways to use Webcam for interacting with my students.

To GeeksVille

Being a Mathematics Instructor in the Liberal Arts division at MATC is a challenge. On the first day of each new semester, three common sentences emanate from 120 of my 125 students:
“I hate math!”, “I can’t do math!”, “When will I ever use any of this stuff?”

As the semester proceeds, and I am forced to stuff these “math hating” students’ brains with too much material because the state insists that 3,000 topics be covered in 64 hours, I have to wonder if any of what they’ve learned will still be a part of their intellect even two days after the end of the course!

I am constantly trying to come up with innovative ways to make mathematics more meaningful, more user-friendly, and more interesting to my students. I’ve always known that one way to accomplish these goals is to incorporate technology into my courses; however, I’ve never been sure how to best do this.

After our first session last Tuesday, I could feel my brain coming alive with ideas! I thought the Learning Platform, Ning, was great. To be sitting in my kitchen with a cup of coffee, dressed in grubby clothes, having a bad hair day, and yet be a participant in a class was something I couldn’t have imagined even last year! (Yes, technology has definitely passed me by!).

I noted that some of the features that Ning supports are video, audio, whiteboard, power point, and interaction with its participants. One idea that passed through my brain was that Ning would be a great tool to use in order to communicate and interact with students when an instructor is absent.

I did notice that the WhiteBoard had an icon for Math—is this a tool similar to MathType? Can this tool be used to enter complicated mathematical symbols on the WhiteBoard?

Though the word “blog” is one that I often hear, this is the first time I’m creating one. Again, ideas..ideas..ideas. Since MATC is a technical college and most of my students are planning on enrolling in a technical program, I am going to have them interview instructors from their future programs to find out just how mathematics is used in that program. From there they will create blogs to be shared with their classmates. I can’t think of a better way for them to find out on their own exactly “what they’re going to use this stuff for!”. Blogger was a very user-friendly program with which most of my students should have no problem. Having students write blogs also addresses two of the MATC Core Abilities:
Communicate Effectively
b. Use effective written communication skills
c. Apply standard rules of language structure, including grammarand spelling


I am excited about this Masters program. My goal is to incorporate what I learn into my curriculum so that the three sentences: : “I hate math!”, “I can’t do math!”, “When will I ever use any of this stuff!” at the beginning of a semester are replaced with: “Wow, I love math!”, “Hey, I can do this stuff very easily”, and “Math is used in all things!” at the end of the semester.

I recently wrote a series of web pages for some of my students.

Here’s an example of one of them:

http://ecampus.matc.edu/laselvam/prealgebra/Alg.%20Expressions/mult.exp.htm

Another goal of mine is to make this page come alive for my students!