Week 7 - FERPA

I have wondered about Blackboard's email capabilities and how students have access to other student's email addresses. I haven't had any problems yet and I do ask them not to spam the class. But I can see where this might be a problem if one student uses the email address to register on a website that doesn't have a privacy policy. Now you have opened yourself up for lots of unwanted email.

In the past, I have asked students to introduce themselves and include either a picture of themselves or something they think signifies something about themselves. This was an optional activity and naturally -- I got nothing! I did like Shelley's idea of sharing a picture of your desktop. It says something about yourself, without sharing a lot of personal information.
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Since I decided to go with the MyMathLab/CourseCompass website for the main content of the course, things seem to have direction again. Before, I was creating pieces of the puzzle (syllabus, getting started, crossword puzzles, videos...) but I didn't have anything to bring them together. Now, it feels like there is a backbone to the course and I can fill in all the policies and details.

I have stewed/ranted/submitted/agitated/re-stewed over the selection of a textbook and software for almost the entire duration of this course. A colleague of mine said, "Do what you think is best and be happy!". That is what I intend to do!

Below is a screen shot of the "Course Documents" area of the course.

The following is a screenshot of a sample homework problem. This is one of the biggest reasons I like this website. It is NOT a multiple choice question, it has a help link that helps the student throught the first step to solving the problem, it has a sample worked out problem that the student can study, and it also includes a link to "Ask the Instructor" which send me an email with the problem along with text where the student can ask a question.

Week 6 - Assessment

I have decided on using the online tools that I originally planned. After working with the tools that are used with the dictated textbook, I decided it would be a disservice to the students to continue on. I have begun putting together the lessons using the CourseCompass tool. It is consists basically of an online interactive textbook, videos, homework and assessment tools that are housed in a Blackboard environment. (And no, not the District facilitated Blackboard. This one is managed by the publisher -- it stays running!)

I am planning on using the "Study Plan" feature. One common mistake is forcing technology where it just doesn't really belong or trying to recreate exactly what goes on in the classroom. I try to use technology to do things that were not possible in the traditional classroom. You know -- make it better! Students in the lower level math classes have sat through years of math classes, and obviously it didn't work for them! They already know a lot of the material but for whatever reason didn't completely master it. Therefore, when they sit through these traditional lecture classes, they get bored. Then they stay bored and disconnected even when you come across the topics they have not mastered. They gave up on doing homework a long time ago.

Using the CourseCompass study plan, the student takes a pre-test and then is given the appropriate materials to study and practice. This is a much better use of the student's time. If they already know a concept, they can move on without doing mundane and sometimes demeaning homework problems. It is difficult to create these customized study plans in the classroom with 30 students all of different backgrounds, experiences, and future goals-- I know -- I'll let the technology do it! I'm really excited to see if this will help the retention.

I took a pre-test just to see what the students would see. The pencil icon means I need more work to master the topic. The motarboard icon means I have successfully mastered the content. When I go to do homework, the problems marked with the icon pencil are the ones I need to practice. So good! They can keep practicing the "pencil" problems as long as they feel necessary because the problems are algorithmically generated. There are inifinite problems for them to work. After the practice the students can take a sample test, for practice and/or the assessment I create for a grade.

Week 5 - Building, Building, Building

After an enlightening moment with Shelley -- ever have one of those, "Why didn't I think of that?" moments? Since math courses are so tightly bound to textbooks and propriety software, I have been fighting departmental policies, amongst other things trying to find something that I feel would be useful for the students. Shelley recommended looking at open source software. DOH! I had been thrashing and beating my way through the trees for so long, that I forgot about the forest! Inspite of what they say, Math teachers CAN learn something from English teachers! ;)

I found a couple of promising tools. The one I am most interested in was developed at CalPoly, called Maxima. I'm having trouble getting installed on my laptop. Microsoft Vista may be at it again. I'm going to try to install in on my old laptop and see if that helps. Aleks, a program that customizes a study plan and continually updates itself is also interesting. I'm playing with the free trial of that.

While looking for videos, I found this on Teacher Tube:


I'm thinking it looks like the teacher is using a whiteboard type program while doing screen captures. I really like the use of the calculator simulation, too. I would like to create a library of these types of examples that students can refer back to throughout the semester. It gives you a chance to thoroughly describe (and check) a problem. Hopefully, this will help the students connect different concepts that you just don't have time for in class.
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One thing I have been wondering about... All these tools we have been using from Google, Picasa, WetPaint, Animoto, Gabcast, etc. use server space provided by the company. Can you imagine MySpace's servers? Do you think it might happen that in some point in time, they will start charging for their services? Are we just getting tricked into using their tools and then our content will be held hostage? This came to mind because when Angie's list (a website that accepts comments from homeowners about service companies they have used/recommend) started, they actually were paying non-profit organizations to help build the database. Now you must become a member to post or access any of the information.

Week 4 - Getting Started

I have been putting together a bunch of items to include in my first week materials. The rule is to have the students use all the tools they will need over the course of the semester. Also, I have included a Scavenger hunt. This is just a more fun way of making sure the students have read and understand the syllabus. In the past I have done this in the form of a "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" game, although the one I am creating now is just a quiz in Blackboard.

I am completing all these pieces as if the course were to be hybrid or even completely online. In reality, I will be teaching it as a computer-assisted course. Therefore, a lot of the hurdles that are encountered during the first week of class will hopefully be non-issues. Still, the posted materials will be useful for students that register late or ones that just need a reminder. Speaking of the first week, there was an interesting article in Higher Ed this morning about the retention of online students in regards to online and in-person orientation.

I'm thinking of including weekly podcasts. I haven't done these before, but it seems like another way to stay in contact with the students. I haven't decided whether to do it at the beginning of the week to give an overview of what is expected to be accomplished (topics, quizzes, tests, etc.) or at the end of the week to just summarize what we have covered and try to tie some concepts together. Or -- maybe both??

Week 3 - Tools

I am still in search of a tool with an equation editor that can be used to simulate some sort of group work online. I have talked with the District Blackboard support people, Pearson rep, Thomson rep, the technical support guy from Thinkwell (a small company that provides online content), as well, as making a request to Google Apps technical support. I am striking out, needless to say.

Trying to find a blog that relates to a college level algebra course is difficult. I either find dissertation level discussions or K-8 math teacher blogs. I did find one blog of a 7th grade math teacher that discussed his experience using "Fermi" questions. These are general questions that don't necessarily lead to specific answers, but do send students down the road of estimation, logic and problem solving. I thought this might be an interesting way of getting students to communicate about math (without actually doing mathematical equations).

I also discovered a teacher's blog that included SketchCasts. These are pretty cool! This is an online tool to simulate drawing on a whiteboard. Yes, this is a skill in itself I have discovered! Then you can post the link in a blog or in a LMS.


Even though Bb has a whiteboard tool, it does not allow you to save. I'm thinking I will probably put this to good use!

I have to admit I was a little overwhelmed the first week with all the new tools and everything being a little scattered. It is fine now since I set up bookmarks on my iGoogle page, but I'm not sure my math students would be able to set everything up all at once. That is o.k., though because I haven't figured out ways of using all the tool in a mathematical sense, ... yet...

Week 2 - Internet Communication

Wow! I'm definitely not ready to answer this yet. Communication and community is the major obstacle in an online math course that I want to address during this course. I have had exactly zero effectiveness with Discussion Boards. If someone posts a question, it is always an admin type of question, never a math oriented question. I have been mulling how to do this for quite a while. I find it interesting that the 20th and final course competency is: "Communicate process and results in written and verbal formats."

One activity I was considering integrating is a round-robin. In class, I give a group of 3-4 students 3 different problems on 3 different pieces of paper. One person writes the first step in solving the problem and then passes the paper to the next student. The next student writes the next step given how the first student has chosen to solve the problem. The papers continue to be passed until the problem is solved.

I think a wiki would be a perfect environment for this. I could put students into groups, post a problem for the group and then assign periods of time to each student to keep the problem progressing in the asynchronous environment. One problem: I don't see a tool (in the Google environment) to enter symbols or mathematical statements. --Aaah!

I was considering creating vocabulary crossword puzzles. This might improve the terminology so students might be able to communicate in written form. I also have a Jeopardy game and a Who Wants to be a Millionaire game that students like in-class, but I can't figure out how to incorporate those into group activities online. I can always post them and students can play them by themselves, but that defeats the community objective.

Still struggling with this one, I hope to have a few more thoughts on this later in the semester.

Week 1 - Getting Started - The Challenges

Teaching remedial math courses can be very challenging. I often compare my math students with my computer science students. It's like apples and oranges.

The computer science students have enrolled in the CS course because it is their major. Very few other majors require students to take CS courses. It is something the students are interested in (and dare I say excited about). They are not afraid of technology and although not necessarily master problem solvers, they do have some analytical capabilities. Upon entering the classroom/lab, there are conversations and often multiple students huddled around a single monitor. In the online environment, these students are very comfortable sharing ideas and discussing concepts. Discussion Boards are quite active!

The math students have enrolled in the course because they absolutely HAVE TO. Students will even change their majors to avoid math courses. The remedial students have already unsuccessfully sat through at least 10-12 years of math classes. They have no desire to continue in the endeavour. Numbers are foreign matter that make absolutely no sense. Therefore, they have only survived by what they can memorize. Upon entering the classroom, it is deathly silent and the students barely look around at their fellow classmates. I have thought that some students even choose online math courses, just to avoid that uncomfortable classroom feeling. Unfortunately, most do not have the skills to communicate mathematically. This leaves them feeling alone and isolated in the online environment.

There are other challenges in teaching math online.

1. Math/problem solving must be practiced. Therefore, instructors are often tied to textbooks and publisher websites for practice problems.
2. Because of the programming involved, it is impractical to try to completely create a math course without the outside technical help.
3. Students do not have the terminology to communicate mathematical concepts verbally.
4. The online tools for writing equations are not always user friendly. Most problems/applications cannot be written using text editors leaving email and discussion boards difficult to use.

HELP!!??