Technology in Math Education, Math 199
Syllabus, Winter, 2007

Office hours for individual help are part of our job, so take advantage of them. If you can't come to any of the regular office hours, ask for an appointment.

If you need an accommodation for a disability in order to participate in this class, please let us know as soon as possible and also contact Services to Students with Disabilities at UH-183, (909)537-5238.

About the course

The prerequisite for this course is Precalculus, Math 120, or the equivalent. This class is required for the teaching track of the B.A. in Math, which is scheduled to be approved in February by the CA Commission on Teacher Credentialing as a waiver for the Math CSETs.

This is the first time this course has been offered. It was designed for future secondary math teachers at CSUSB. There is no known textbook for a course of this type, so we are inventing it as we go along. Some policies may change as we discover what works best, and handouts will come out one week at a time. Please have patience.

This is a lab course. Each class will begin with some lecture and demonstration, sometimes hands-on non-computer activities, and some student presentations. Then you will have time to work on exercises and projects, with instructors available for help. Much of the work will be done in class, though you may sometimes need more time to finish outside of class, either in a campus lab or on your home computer.

Materials and technology

We have received a grant from the AT&T Foundation for a mobile laptop lab---a class set of laptops on a cart that can roll to any classroom. The object of this grant is to see what kinds of experience in technology will be useful to you as teachers, and whether having the computers come to the classroom will encourage professors to use technology in their classes more often.

The laptops will be available during class and office hours, and some other times. However, they may not be taken out of the math department. Each time you use one, please sign it out and in using the sheets on the cart. Later in the quarter, we will use TI-89 calculators; the same policies apply.

Much of the software used in this class is free and open-source, and can be downloaded from the Internet. If it's hard for you to download it, ask, and we will provide a CD of software to install on your own computer. The main commercial software used in this course is Geometer's Sketchpad; a student copy of Geometer’s Sketchpad can be purchased in the computer department of the bookstore for $35; this software must be run off the CD, but will run on Windows or Macintosh. MS Office can also be purchased at a student discount at the bookstore, but OpenOffice has most of the same functions, and is free. However, MS Office’s Equation Editor is easier for most people to use, and, as of this writing, OpenOffice does not do 3D surface or contour graphs.

If you are turning in homework from home, you will also need Internet access and a zip utility for compressing files. There are several free versions available.

Please get a USB flash drive for storing and transporting your work. (Those things you can put on your key chain.) If you look, you can find a small-capacity one for $10. Unless you want it to hold downloaded software, pictures, or video, you can probably get by with a 128 MB one. (A floppy disk holds 1 MB.)

No textbook will be used in this course. You will receive handouts in class, and they will also be posted on the web, at the course pages at http://csusb-odl.com/moodle/

Moodle is a course management system similar to Blackboard, but which is free and open source. It runs from the web page http://odl-csusb.com/moodle. Please enroll yourself in Moodle as soon as possible. Follow the instructions there on “How yo (sic) create a user account.” Here is a short version of the steps:

1. Click on Create new account and fill in the form. You don't actually have to use your student ID number. Note that “Surname” means your last, or family name. This information is available only to the instructor of the course; access to Moodle is not open to the entire Internet.

2. You should receive an e-mail from the Moodle server. You must click on the link in the e-mail to complete your enrollment; this is to prevent spam robots from getting in. If your e-mail has somehow filtered this out, thinking it's spam, ask Dr. Addington to have the administrator confirm you manually.

3. Once you are enrolled, click on the course (Math 199). You will be asked for the enrollment key, which will be given in class.

All handouts will be posted on Moodle, as well as web links and some interactive demonstrations. Most of your homework will be handed in by uploading it to Moodle, and your grades will be kept on Moodle (visible only to you and the instructors.)

Rules for using math department computers

In class, you will be using the Mobile Computer Lab. Since you are the first class to use these laptops, procedures may change as we figure out what works best.

1. Sign out the computer when you get it, using the last digits of the property number attached to the computer.

2. Treat the laptops with care! Handle them gently; the hard disk is the main moving part, and they wear out or break when they are moved around harshly. Be careful when walking around power cords--don’t trip over them, to avoid hurting yourself and the computers attached to the cords. Please, no food or drink when using the computers. If you are thirsty or starving, eat in the hall.

3. If there is some problem with a computer, notify an instructor so that someone can fix it.

4. When you have finished, shut down the computer from the Start menu in the lower left corner of the screen. Sign in the computer when you return it. Put it in the slot of the cart corresponding to its number, and plug it in.

5. Bring your own USB flash drive to store your work; you are not the only person using this computer, and your work may not be there when you get back.

6. Use the printer sparingly. Do not use it to just save a record of your work; use the flash drive for this. Some assignments do require printing, like the polyhedron problems in Week 1. It’s a good idea to put your name somewhere in the file you’re printing, since otherwise it might be hard to tell whose it is.

Required course work and grades

Participation.

Class attendance and participation are mandatory. While the main topic of the course is learning math using technology, there will be hands-on, non-computer activities each week related to the assignment.
Attendance: The discussions and activities during the class session cannot be replaced by reading someone's notes. If missing a class is unavoidable, it is your responsibility to find out what you missed from another student, from me, or from the class Web page and arrange to do the activities on your own. We will take attendance every class.

Policies: Up to 2 unexcused absences will not affect your grade (except that you will miss the class activities!) More than 2 unexcused absences will affect your grade, including an F in the course for flagrant absences. Persistent lateness will count as unexcused absences. We will excuse only serious, unavoidable family or medical problems.

"Participation" means behavior that helps everyone in the class learn. This includes contributing ideas, suggestions, answers, and even questions to the class discussion. A good question can clarify the issues that other people have been confused about, or too shy to ask. Remember, as a teacher, you will be leading the discussion for a group of 30 or so people, so this is a good time to practice. If you are a quiet person, contributing to your group's discussion is a good way to start. It may occasionally become necessary to give negative points for negative class participation: being off-task, and/or causing others to be off task by talking about non-mathematical topics, and so on.

Projects

Exercises and problems. Exercises are to learn and practice techniques; you need not hand them in. Often it's necessary to do the exercises before doing the projects.

Projects are more than simple problems or questions; they are either single big questions, or sets of related questions and activities. Sometimes there is something to make: an art work, a 3-dimensional geometric object, etc. Projects are to be handed in and will be graded. Each project should include, in addition to whatever work is specifically requested, explanations and proofs if appropriate.

Projects will be due at the beginning of class on Wednesdays.

Late projects will receive reduced credit, and may not get as many helpful comments.

Format for projects. Computer file(s): If your work is in entirely in Geometer's Sketchpad, MS Excel, or OpenOffice, put separate parts on different pages. Otherwise zip all files together and upload to Moodle in place provided at the assignment page for that project.

If any non-electronic parts are required, hand them in in a way that all parts are together and won't get lost or damaged.

You will also be asked to present some of your work to the class; this is part of your grade. Have your work ready on a flash drive, and rehearse.

Exams and Quizzes

There will be a 1-hour midterm exam and a 2-hour final exam. There may also be quizzes. The final exam will cover the entire course. Exams will cover both mathematical knowledge and technological expertise. Problems will resemble the homework exercises and problems, including the results of projects.

Intellectual honesty.

Working together on projects is encouraged. However, work that is handed in must be your own. Copying another person's work is considered plagiarism, whether the work of another student in the class, or something posted on the Internet. Copied or substantially identical work will receive no credit, no matter who actually did the work. You should always be able to explain your work orally to an instructor if asked. Persistent cheating will result in an F in the course. See the university catalog for the university policy (http://catalog.csusb.edu/, then look at the section on cheating.)

If you worked with someone else, or used a script or custom tool made by someone else, give credit. This is what professionals do, in footnotes, bibliographies, references, and acknowledgments. Example: I worked with Josephine Average, who had the idea to use [whatever]. I also used the custom tool for parabolas included with GSP.

Evaluation