MCC Math Technology Bootcamp

What an amazing week!

I know I won't have time to write this up after I go home (I'm teaching in 4 days, yikes!), so I'm going to throw some thoughts out now.

Here's our schedule from the week. Ask me about anything on this that I forget to write about.

I've been collecting links and notes in an email to myself (it seems like the easiest way to take notes while online). Here are a bunch of them.


Monday
http://practiceboard.com/

http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Curves/Fermats.html

http://dabbleboard.com/draw

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/hans_rosling_shows_the_best_stats_you_ve_ever_seen.html

http://www.mindomo.com/view?m=38cc4f6a467acbfde4be796e68399450

http://www.thencat.org/Newsletters/Jul07.htm#1 ('emporium model' for developmental math classes)


Tuesday
Images are really enticing to us, and to students. Use lots of images in your course shell so you can see which resource is which.

The slideshow we were looking at was done online at slideshare.net.

Her students use cell phone cameras to take pics of hw, they can jing from anywhere it's on a computer.


To grade hw, she uses jing to record her talking about what they turned in.

"Build me a rational function that has the following properties, jing it to me."

At the end of the first week of classes, she calls the non-participators. (and then the best...)

googleform: give me your phone number, ...

Get a netbook instead of a graphing calculator, go to mcdonalds, starbucks, panera, etc...

At MCC they have a fall read. (All faculty read the same book.)

twitter conversation (in the right order): http://twonvo.com/

penattention is a free pgm so the cursor shows up better while you're using a tablet.



Wednesday
youtube lectures available on smartphones
my first screencast link: http://www.screencast.com/t/46U1yr2KBe

My project of the day was to make a video in Camtasia. I made it on Math Myths. It's a quick and dirty first project of a rank beginner.


Thursday
use control for right-click for contextual menus

http://www.mathsisfun.com/geometry/constructions.html

buy personal whiteboards on amazon (I did it! I got 60. They arrive on Monday.)

Her cool classroom has kidney bean shaped tables, to get the students working together. Maria said: "In a classroom with desks in rows, you're pushed to lecture more, that's what the room tells you to do. People have taught the same class in this room and in a traditional room, and it makes the 2 classes completely different. They hated the traditional room."

Maria again (on finding money for smartboards), "We gave up our maple license to get the smartboard." (It's about a thousand dollars.)

She has the whole class go to the board in pairs to work on the problem she poses. Some students liked it so much they put whiteboards up at home. (!)

Maria: "Clickers are expensive and I don't see any point in using them." She uses polleverywhere.com. It's free.


Friday
We'll be doing Ignite presentations: 20 slides, 15 seconds each, 5 minutes total. It's Thursday now. I'm working on mine while I listen to today's presentations (not ideal...). I'm almost done...

I'll leave early on Friday to go back to GR and be with my son. On Saturday we fly home to CA. On Sunday I prep all my classes. On Monday I teach. Wish me the best!


If I've made you envious and you'd like to come next year, watch Maria Andersen's blog, Teaching College Math, for announcements about next summer's workshop.