What will be happening in Spring 2017 in Math 371

     Once again we started the Math 371 course by having students make a list of technology items that they wanted to learn.  I also included a few of my own and we came up with this list:

• Promethean Board & SMARTBoard
• TI-Nspire
• iPad—how to use these in math
• Free online resources—Desmos, Geogebra, electronic gradebooks, lesson planning software, interactive note-taking, etc.
• Blogs
• Twitter
• Pinterest
• Online Course management—Edmodo, Schoology, Moodle?
• Google Docs, Apps, and Add-ons
• Flipped Instruction
• Personalized Learning
• 3D printing
• Coding
• Microsoft Excel
• Teaching online high school math classes 
• Copyright laws regarding use of internet sources for teaching 

     Now comes my task of planning how to get all of this done in the course.  This is probably the hardest part for me when it comes to this course, although this list is fairly similar to last year’s so it may be easier.  Another challenge of teaching this course every spring semester is that I have to revise it every time because technology changes so frequently.  What we used for apps last year may not still be relevant this year.

     One concern when teaching this course is whether or not I am exposing the pre-service teachers to the right technology.  So this past fall I started a MOOC called Teaching Mathematics with Technology out of the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at North Caroline State.  While I was too busy to complete the entire MOOC, I did learn a lot and it certainly helped me feel better about what we cover in Math 371. I am hoping to incorporate some of the material from that course to make Math 371 even better. 

     While this course challenges me every spring, I wouldn’t have it any other way as I always enjoy learning new things, especially from my students.  In this course, we are all teachers and learners!