Math 371 Technology for STEM Educators

Personalized Learning.  Chromebooks or iPads?  BYOD.  Standards-based grading.  These are all buzzwords in the world of education that inspire much debate, including in the classrooms where future teachers are being educated.  As students preparing to become teachers, we are not always aware of topics up for debate in the education field since the schools where we observe do not necessarily implement any of these controversial topics.  Many of these topics come back to the use of technology in the classroom; how much technology should we be using during or for our instruction and how much technology should we allow our students to bring with them to school? Schools purchase Chromebooks, iPads, laptops, tablets for their students to use to aid the learning process.  Some schools debate whether to tell students to ‘Bring Your Own Device’ (BYOD).  Some might ask, ‘If a device can be used to help further education, why should we stop students fro...

Seeing as a new semester is upon us, lets get back to the basics and talk tech for the math classroom. Let's talk specifically about the use of some technology as a instruction versus a supplement. It is quite obvious that there is a wide array of technology available for educators in today's classroom. Schools are increasingly moving to one-to-one initiatives, implementing devices such as smartboards and document cameras in their classrooms, and expecting students and teachers alike to become more "tech-literate." These new pieces of technology can be categorized into two primary uses: instruction versus supplementation. Depending on the category which the hardware or software falls under,determines how the piece should be used. Instruction technology can be used by the teacher to teach students new ideas and spark connections, whereas supplementation serves the purpose to check for mastery by students and further understanding. Let's take a look at the two and w...

Welcome back to the Technology for Math Educators blog! This blog only runs during the semesters when the course is offered so that is why you haven't heard from us since April 2013. We are beginning the Spring 2014 semester and this semester's class has 11 students--this means that they will only need to blog once this semester.  I am looking for a couple of people who are willing to read this blog each week and then serve as a guest blogger in April.  If you are interested in that opportunity, let me know, sharon.vestal@sdstate.edu. One of the things that makes this course interesting is that technology is constantly changing--this also means that the class is more difficult to teach because you have to consistently research the latest technologies.  I plan to put some of the research work on the students this semester so that they learn how to research technology as that is an important skill needed as a teacher. Some other new things for this semester include:...