This document summarizes a presentation about using Web 2.0 technologies like blogs and wikis to improve student learning and enhance classroom instruction in calculus. It discusses how these tools were used in a calculus class to increase student engagement, promote self-directed study beyond the classroom, and provide opportunities for teaching and learning. Student feedback indicated that the online activities improved their understanding of calculus concepts and benefited their learning. The presentation concludes by recommending continuing and expanding the blending of online and face-to-face learning activities.

1. MSMME Capstone Presentation Montana State University Using Web 2.0 technology to Improve Student Learning and Enhance Classroom Instruction in Calculus David Brudzinski Colorado Rocky Mountain School Carbondale, Colorado June 29, 2010

2. COLORADO ROCKY MOUNTAIN SCHOOL

4. What does this have to do with school?

6. Teaching Tools circa 1979

7. “ Today’s students think and process information differently than those of previous generations.” - Prensky, 2001

8. “ Anyone can learn anything from anyone anywhere at anytime.” - Bonk, 2001 http:// worldisopen.com /

9. "If we teach as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow.“ - John Dewey

10. Teaching Tools 2009 Web 2.0

12. National Educational Technology Standards 1. Creativity and Innovation Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology. 2. Communication and Collaboration Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. 3. Research and Information Fluency Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information. 4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources.

16. Increase student engagement

17. Promote self-directed study

18. Provide opportunities for teaching and learning beyond the constraints of the classroom

19. http://crmscalc2010.blogspot.com/ http://crmscalc2010.pbworks.com/

21. Search and Sort Store and Stack

22. Publish student work

23. Make it public

24. Transparency Benchmark Audience Accountability

25. “ We can’t hear you!”

26. Learning is reflection

27. Learning is a conversation

28. “ Writing furnishes me an excuse to think.” - Mark Twain http://crmscalc2010.blogspot.com/

34. Scoring Rubrics  = M = Meets expectations  = E = Exceeds expectations  = F = Fails to meet expectations

35. What the students said …

36. Forum Discussion “… made me reflect on the way I view and understand math as a subject, for it … brought in connections with the real world.” “… encouraged creativity and built legitimate links between the math world and the real world. ” “… a good activity that combined thoughtful reflection with the concepts we were learning.” “… the writing aspect of them made it so that math was more than numbers. ”

37. Scribe Post “ When it was my turn to be scribe, “I was sweating bullets. It was like the 5 minutes before a race, the anticipation of whether or not I would get everything right and communicate it well was a killer.” “ Knowing you're scribe for the day makes you pay much more attention in class, and really challenges you to master the material, as well as do a good job of teaching it to the other students. ” “ I found myself often referring to other students' scribe posts for clarification or help. Scribe post is also incredibly helpful for days missed.”

38. WikiWork Problem “ For the amount of work I put in (formatting), I do not feel that the amount of calculus I learned was worth it (because I could have done the same problem on a piece of paper and taken 1/5 the time)” “ I think finding and pointing out errors in the work of others help me guard against my own mistakes.” “ Usually I tend to solve math problems by skipping steps. So the fact that i had to be very clear helped me to increase my ability to give explanations about why I used a certain method. ” I went through a lot of head trauma trying to organize and communicate complex calculus problems with strangers over the internet …

39. Virtual Wednesdays “ I never attended a class virtually because I do not feel that learning new material from a computer is as thorough as learning from a teacher. ” “… due to the fact that few people did show up to Virtual Wednesday's it was a great opportunity to get very personal attention from the teacher.” “ They made me feel like I was in control of what I had to do; I had the choice of how I want to learn. I liked this because it pushed me further in searching the web in order to find what I was looking for.”

40. Commenting and Editing “… my peers made me think about things that I had not thought about before.” “… caused me to think analytically especially if I wanted to make my comment thoughtful and useful.” “… improved my understanding of calculus when i edited other peoples work.” “ Knowing that others were going to be reading my ideas really put the pressure on in terms of stepping up my work and making it my best.” “ A lot of the time, I wuld only write comments because I was required to, not because I actually had anything to say to the author of the post.”

41. Additional Feedback “… it is harder to focus online with all of the infinite possibilities for distraction and because there was no structured work-time. ” “ … trying to figure out how to navigate the web as well as learn new concepts can be a little overwhelming. There are times when I'd rather just learn calculus. ” “ I would not have been able to be as critical in my comments if people knew who I was. And they probably wouldn't have been in mine.” “ I felt like it was easier to be anonymous because I left out a lot of the fluff that usually comes up in conversation and just got straight to the point.” Pen Names Computer struggles “… the actual math component may take me 15 minutes, I end up spending huge amounts of time trying to figure out how to put my math onto the computer.” “ Since the web is so big, if I just Google 'derivatives of inverse equations' I think I would spend a lot of time finding a resource that would work for me and give me the same understanding as a teacher.”

42. Would you be in favor of continuing this blending of face-to-face and online learning as a regular part of the class? Has your interest in math increased from participating in this research project? 53% 17% 30% 20% 13% 67%

43. Student engagement Self-directed learning Classroom constraints Web 2.0

46. Teachers, what does this have to do with school?

47. Darren Kuropatwa http:// adifference.blogspot.com /

48. Dan Meyer http:// blog.mrmeyer.com / Be Less Helpful!