Teaching Mathematics Online: A Case Study

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Teaching Mathematics Online A Case Study

• Ciresica Jalobeanu Mihai Jalobeanu
• Math. Dept., Technical University Cluj-Napoca
• CS Faculty, Vasile Goldis Western University
• Romania

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Teaching Mathematics Online A Case Study

• Both authors are teaching Math CS in HE.
• The Technical University is a public university,
  while the Western University Vasile Goldis is a
  private one, already recognized. The present
  paper is based also on our own teaching
  experiences, and teacher training activities, as
  well as on moderating effort of Edu_Ro_ICT and
  eLearning_ro groups of teachers.

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What the deal ?Its about the increasing
difficulties in math teaching

• Most teachers, at least in Romanian educational
  system, graduated more than 20 years ago
• The usual training of computer literacy isnt
  enough for a proper use of ICT into the
  classroom
• There is a global market pressure for a change
  of teaching/learning style (to use technology)
• Students are now much more attracted by the use
  of cell phones, PDAs, and PC tools, than of
  school books reading.

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The difficulties in teaching math are discussed
since the inception of compulsory education.

• They born and grown with PC, cell-phones,
  video-players, TV-sets, with network connection,
  Internet access, with computer games, IM
  channels, with MP3 files, and watching movies
  from the network.
• Conclusion Todays students are no longer the
  people our educational system was designed to
  teach (Prensky)

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Difficulties with math education ?

• Mathematics education at schools causes
  considerable efforts to improve teaching in this
  subject. But nowadays a wealth of mathematical
  ideas and techniques is buried in any algebra
  system. There is an inadequacy between teaching
  style and student expectations.
• The math education generally does not
• - promote nor understanding nor student interest
• - integrate nor abstractions with applications,
  nor mathematics with human culture
• - support personalization, nor transition
  between layers

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Dealing with non-traditional students

• At least in our part of the world, due to digital
  divide, our students arent yet digital
  natives. But, generally, they miss individual
  thinking skill.
• While learning math requires independent
  thinking, i.e. understanding a problem,
  reflecting upon alternative methods to solve a
  problem and check the result reasonable.

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The use of ICT in math education reasons

• To increase cognitive contact by visualizing the
  concepts, interacting with formulas,
  personalizing the presentation
• To reduce math anxiety

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The use of ICT in math education projects

• Computing technology for math excellence
  http//www.ct4me.net/ (USA)
• ISAC Project for Transparent Software in
  Applied Mathematics (IST, TU Graz)
• ActiveMATH (Univ. of Saarland, DE)
• Virtual Mathematics Laboratorium project (NADA)

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ICT in Romanian educational system

• Low domestic computers and networking
  penetration.
• Romanian Internet domain (.ro), since 1993,
• Since 1998, the Government "national strategy
  for information technology and transition to the
  Information Society", includes as a main
  objective the development of the national
  information infrastructure.
• Since 2001 a centralized program (SEI) is
  launched, providing small computer networks and
  commercial educational software (AEL) in more the
  5000 schools.
• All Romanian Universities, and a lot of
  high-schools are now connected to Internet, but
  very few are signing their presence and offer
  through own Web servers.
• There arent an adequate amount of enough
  prepared teachers to address all country school
  needs regarding ICT. Generally, the CS HE student
  isnt interested to become school-teacher,
  looking for a better paid job at a software
  company.

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ICT skills at student level

• School curricula includes now enough ICT
  knowledge, but rarely achieved by students.
• Most teachers in Computer Science are Digital
  Immigrants with a very bad accent, and
  consequently, their students learn ICT skills
  especially at Internet Clubs, with penalties
  regarding moral values .
• A 2004 study of the British Council and the
  Galup Organization of Romania showed that 97 of
  the students used computers and 95 used the
  Internet.(43 in the universities, and 36 at
  home). Besides, 70 of the Internet users (aged
  between 15 and 35, and located in seven major
  cities of Romania) used it to communicate, mainly
  via e-mail, 65 to learn, and 45 to search for
  study related information.
• As key qualification necessary to get a good
  job, the computer skills are ranked third, just
  after the knowledge of foreign languages, and the
  professional qualifications.

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ICT in teaching math

• To cajole students into learning math, we need to
  become aware of their preferences, to select good
  examples, giving them the chance to learn how to
  use math tools, i.e. computer algebra systems,
  too.
• Students can learn more mathematics more deeply
  with the appropriate and responsible use of
  technology.

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teaching math, at Technical University, with
Mathematica, and MathCAD

• At the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca,
  Romania, in the Department of Mathematics, with
  faculties mute opposition, it was build an own
  laboratory for numerical methods, probability and
  statistics, based on 18 MS Windows platforms,
  equipped with Wolfram Mathematica, and MathCAD
  packages.

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Possible classification of students by their ICT
skills

• Generally, students are more open and able to
  use e-Learning methods than their teachers.
• In authors opinion, the evaluation grades
  analysis at computer science and electrical
  engineering faculties prove a non-standard
  distribution (at least bi-modal), based of
  disjoint classes of students, regarding their ICT
  skills and the current use of home/office
  networked computer.

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References

• Overview of Principles and Standards for
  School Mathematics 2006, National Council of
  Teachers of Mathematics, http//www.nctm.org/stand
  ards/principles.htm (2.05.07)
• S. Freidberg, "Teaching Mathematics in Colleges
  and Universities Case Studies for Today's
  Classroom.", CBMS, Issues in Mathematics
  Education, Volume 10, Faculty Edition, American
  Mathematical Society, 2001
• S. Freidberg, "Using Case Studies in Seminars on
  College Teaching" , http//www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/c
  as/math/publicprojectPI/MERplenary2001.ps
  (17.05.07)

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References (cnt.)

• J. Gleason, Teaching Mathematics Online A
  Virtual Classroom, Journal of Online Mathematics
  and its Applications, March, 2006,
  http//bama.ua.edu/jgleason/teachingmathonline.ht
  ml (01.04.07)
• D. Graeme, WWW Tools for Mathematics Education
  2006, Online Journal WWW Tools for Education,
  30/07/06, http//m.fastfind.com/wwwtools/
  (25.05.07)
• M. Hohenwarter and J. Preiner, Dynamic
  Mathematics with GeoGebra, The Journal of Online
  Mathematics and Its Applications, Volume 7. March
  2007. Article ID 1448,

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References (cnt.)

• M. Jalobeanu and C. Jalobeanu, "The nowadays ICT
  teacher' challenges From Kidlink to Web
  generation", 2006 International REV Symposium
  (Remote Engineering Virtual Instrumentation),
  Editors Michael E. Auer, Riko Safaric, ISBN
  3-89958-194-6 (CD-Rom Proceedings of the 4th
  symposium REV 2006)
• O. Magne, Literature on Special Educational Needs
  in Mathematics A bibliography with some comments
  , 4-th Edition, Educational and Psychological
  Interactions 124, Malmö, Sweden School of
  Education, available online as a PDF file
• E. Melis and J. Siekmann e-Learning logic and
  mathematics What we have and what we still
  need. In Essays in Honor of Dov Gabbay, 2005,
  http//www.ags.uni-sb.de/melis/Pub/MSforGabbay05
  .pdf

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References (cnt.)

• E. Melis, J. Haywood and T. Smith,
  LeActiveMath, First European Conference on
  Technology Enhanced Learning 2006,
  06.pdf
• G..A Moore, Integrating Maple Into The Math
  Curriculum A Sensible Guide for Educators,
  www.mapleapps.com/categories/education/casestudies
  /moore.pdf
• A. Naeve, The work of Ambjörn Naeve within the
  field of Mathematics Educational Reform, CID
  Centre for User Oriented IT Design, Royal
  Institute of Technology, Stockholm, 2001,
  http//www.amt.kth.se/projekt/matemagi/mathemathic
  s_educational_reform.doc (1.06.07)
• A. Naeve and M. Nilsson, ICT-enhanced Mathematics
  Education within the Framework of a Knowledge
  Manifold, Proceeedings of the 10th International
  Congress of Mathematics Education (ICME),
  Copenhagen, Denmark, July 4-11, 2004, available
  also at http//kmr.nada.kth.se/papers/MathematicsE
  ducation/ICME2004-ICT-enhanced-math-ed.pdf
  (1.06.07)

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References (cnt.)

• V. Ochkov, Mathematical packages from
  self-economy to mass production through the
  Internet, http//twt.mpei.ac.ru/ochkov/MAS_KP/mas
  _kp_Eng.html
• M. Prensky, Digital natives, digital
  immigrants, On the Horizon, vol.9, no.5, October
  2001
• F. Szabo, Changing the way we teach and students
  learn, MathPAD Online, The Magazine of the MuPAD
  Research Group, Vol. 16, Year 2007 , available
  also online at http//www.mupad.com/mathpad/2007/
  szabo/index.php
• J. Uhl, How technology influenced me to stop
  lecturing and start teaching, Technology and
  NCTM Standards 2000, National Council of Teachers
  of Mathematics, Virginia, USA, June 1998
  http//mathforum.org/technology/papers/papers/uhl.
  html
• J. Uhl, Why (and how) I teach without long
  lectures, Calculus Mathematica at University
  of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, http//cm.math.uiuc.
  edu/where
• R. Yin, Case Study Research. Design and Methods,
  Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, London, New
  Delhi, 2003

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Possible comments, questions?

• Thanks for your patience !