Mathematics, Quantitative Literacy, Education
Continue reading “Building Quantitative Literacy Across the Curriculum (AMCOA 2019)”
Looking for a way to keep all those convergence tests for infinite series straight? Looking for a cultural reference that some of your calculus II students will still find timely and relevant for a few more years? Look no further than the infinite series sorting hat.
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What am I doing on the Twitch streaming site? Isn’t that where video gamers go to show everyone how good they are at video games by live-streaming their video gaming to the world?
Well, yes it is. But Twitch can be much more, even if it didn’t intend to be. So I’m using it as part of my teaching this fall.
The results from this summer’s Math Readiness Boot Camp are in, and they sure are encouraging. Continue reading “Math Boot Camp: Pilot Results”
Standards-based grading (SBG) has become my secret weapon for centering my evaluation practices around what matters most in my teaching: growth, learning, and mastery. Here’s how I wield it in my classes. Continue reading “Standards-Based Grading: My Implementation”
For majors in mathematics and the sciences, success in their college degree plans is particularly impacted by their experiences in their first year. STEM majors who have a negative first contact with required STEM courses are at disproportionate risk of abandoning their major — or abandoning college altogether. So a little assistance in that first year goes a long way toward keeping students on track to successful completion of their degree. Supplemental instruction, and peer-cooperative learning programs like it, have proven to be an effective form of such assistance. Continue reading “Supplemental Instruction: Resources and Links”
This fall will mark my fourth straight (full) academic semester in which all my courses are built around standards-based grading (SBG). SBG realigns my evaluation priorities for my students from tasks, points, and weights to standards, mastery, and bundles. Continue reading “Standards-Based Grading: Origins”
Mistrust the “must.”
That’s the word that characterizes so many aspects of the math major curriculum that it ought to be the subject of its own course. That course would probably be a required prerequisite of every other course in the program.
Every “must” in a curriculum erects barriers for students. Some of those ramparts are worth manning. Some are not. All of them restrain the flexibility of our programs and narrow the pipeline of potential talent in them. To get where TPSE envisions math programs are going, some of our “musts” will need to become “shoulds,” or even “coulds.” Continue reading “Gone TPSE-Turvy, Part 2: Sacred Cows”
The three-week #HumanMOOC, a course on “Humanizing Online Instruction,” is concluded.
I signed up and participated in the course because, while I haven’t taught a (fully) online course before, I’d like to do so someday and, meanwhile, I wanted to learn more about how to engage in good pedagogy online for the sake of my face-to-face and hybrid courses. I saw it as an opportunity to hear from experienced online educators and, indeed, scholars of online pedagogy, what works best in online teaching beyond telling students “here are my PowerPoint slides and a discussion board, now go to town and learn.” Continue reading “Reflections on #HumanMOOC”
I use peer review pretty regularly in my teaching, especially for project work, but I haven’t done much to design it in an online-friendly way. In particular, I haven’t yet used a peer review rubric to give students guidelines on what kind of feedback I’m looking for. (Mostly I’ve been in the habit of checking to see that feedback was given, rather than assessing its quality.)
So here’s a rough outline of a project I’m working on for the upcoming spring semester, and peer review guidelines intended to create some cognitive presence outside my classroom around it. Continue reading “Social Study Guide project draft”