Five years ago today I started this course blog for Math
371: Technology for Math (STEM) Educators.
I am happy that I did it and am looking forward to another great
semester of this class. I am also glad
that my students in that class wanted me to continue using the same blog each
year so that we could look back on the changes in technology over the years.
Each spring when I teach this course, I do it
differently, partly based on what the students want to learn and partly due to
changes in technology. So I find it
fitting to use this quote from Robert John Meehan on course management system
page, "Life as a teacher begins
the day you realize that you are always a learner."
On the first day of class, I told the students that
I am not always going to be the technology expert on certain technologies and
that we are all learners in the course. Each
semester I learn new things and hopefully they learn new things. Ultimately my goal is to make our math
pre-service teachers good consumers of technology. In particular, I want them
to be well-versed in Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) and
understand that technology should not be used for technology’s sake, but technology
needs to enhance student learning.
One significant change that I have made over the
past five years in this course is that I now ask students to tell me what they
want to learn about. There are some things that we will do regardless of their
suggestions, but I like giving them choice in what we do. Some things that they suggested for this
semester are: math typesetting, online grading systems, online homework, 3D
printing, Excel, and interactive whiteboards. Other topics will include
copyright laws, blogging, and teaching with the TI-Nspire. We will also work with iPads and how to
utilize them in math classes.
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