My idea of a perfect assignment is one that starts students at a very low level of thought and leads the student on a progression of ideas and techniques that result in something very challenging that has real world significance. \u00a0These are not easy assignments to write and simply put I did not use enough of them in my first year of teaching.<\/div>\n<\/p>\n
Because of this, I was determined to make the creation and implementation of such assignments a focal point of my teaching in this year. \u00a0This line of thought is what eventually unfolded into some of the very creative projects (screencasting, ecological modeling, pollution clean up, etc…) I was able to produce for my MATH 361 students.<\/div>\n<\/p>\n
I also stepped up the difficulty and frequency of assignments which required the student to use Maple to analyze problems and produce solutions in MATH 186 and MATH 361. \u00a0I administered three take home projects in both MATH 186 and MATH 361 that were quite extensive requiring me to give students up to a week to finish them.<\/div>\n<\/p>\n
Reflection Projects<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/p>\nIn MATH 120, we have a significant portion of the course that is determined by the department. \u00a0The “instructor preference” portion of the course was not something I developed well in my first year. \u00a0Essentially what I did in 2007-2008 was cover an extra section of the text on voting methods. \u00a0Not very exciting material in my opinion and not very challenging for students.<\/div>\n<\/p>\n
This year, I was determined to make the “instructor preference” portion of this course something I truly preferred, and wanted my students to experience. \u00a0Because we teach finance at the end of the course I decided to lead students through a discussion of what it means to be a Christian consumer in the current global economic climate. \u00a0This was a timely topic for discussion given that we were just starting to see the beginnings of the economic downturn.<\/div>\n<\/p>\n
I assigned a reflection\/research paper to have students compare and contrast how a student’s outlook of finance in our country differs from what another student in another country might think. \u00a0Additionally, the students were required to comment on how their Christian worldview effected their opinions on financial matters.<\/div>\n<\/p>\n
This was a highly successful first attempt at using reflection prompts in a math course, and something I have extended to multiple topics in multiple courses across the curriculum as mentioned previously.<\/div>\n<\/p>\n
Scholarship<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/p>\nI would characterize the 2008-2009 school year as being the year of the iPhone on campus. \u00a0I was intrigued by these devices and the impact they could potentially have on teaching mathematics. \u00a0It occurred to me that research in this area could supplement traditional research in mathematics and give me the opportunity to bring my scholarship into the classroom.<\/div>\n<\/p>\n
This mindset led me to using podcasts in my teaching and content offerings. \u00a0I really enjoyed the ability of a podcast to allow my students to learn at their own pace; anytime, anywhere. \u00a0I was able to take some of these ideas and present on them in April at the University of North Texas for the Texas Section of the Mathematical Association of America conference. \u00a0In many ways, this was the thing that got me rolling on not only mobile learning research, but traditional research as well.<\/div>\n<\/p>\n
Service<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/p>\n