Brian Stout

Hi all,

I teach math and critical thinking and have never considered using social networking in my classes. Does anyone have experience in this area? If so, what have you tried and how did it work?

I will share two of my best practices. My first best practice has been to develop check lists. I commonly use a checklist at the beginning of the week in the initial weekly announcement to outline (and remind) what assignments are due that week. Secondly, on the more involved assignments I will include a checklist with reminders they should complete before they submit their final assignment. My second best practice is to post additional announcements and reminders on the discussion board about common mistakes or confusions that week. The things that I post generally come from my past experience in… >>>

Does anyone have any advice on discussion forums for online mathematics courses? I have seen them used in generally two ways: 1) Required posts on a topic determined by the instructor. 2) Optional posting by students regarding any module topic. I have found the second way to be much more productive. In case (2) the students use the discussion forum to vent their struggles and identify solutions. Also, it gives the opportunity for the instructor to answer questions in a centralized place rather than responding to individuals via email. Although in this cases there is less overall participation, the participation… >>>

Hello, I am just starting out teaching mathematics online, but have been teaching mathematics at the university level for almost 5 years. I have been thinking about how to deliver a quality mathematics course online. Most of my experience has been that homework/assessments have been delivered via a platform like WebAssign/MyMathLab while content is delivered via something like Blackboard either using university supplied lectures or the videos on Kahn Academy. I think math is uniquely posed among the sciences for distance education because it doesn't need special equipment or labs. In fact it can be effectively taught using the above… >>>