This document discusses the challenges and strategies for teaching math courses online. It outlines the evolving approach, from static online textbooks to incorporating more interactive tools like videos, discussion forums, and online meeting spaces. Key hurdles included facilitating conceptual understanding and peer interaction online. The author has experimented with various tools to promote interaction, such as Facebook groups, online polls during meetings, and exploring applets. While online delivery lacks classroom collaboration, incorporating activities, participation and real-time discussion can make the online experience more engaging for students.

1. Reva Narasimhan
Kean University, NJ

2. Overview
 Context
 Overview of online course setup
 Challenges of teaching math online
 Meeting spaces
 Tools for interaction
 Questions

3. Context
 Institution : Kean University – regional
university; students have modest math
preparation
 Online courses : Math for Liberal Arts and
Introductory Statistics
 Students are used to doing problems
from text; articulating math concepts is
not easy for students

4. Screening students
 Students are told before registration
about the nature of the course
 They must be approved by me before
registration
 Most students who are self
acknowledged “math-phobes” email me
back to say they do not wish to register
for online sections

5. The Evolving Online Course
 Early stages: static online textbook;
formulaic homework problems; a CMS
that was essentially a bulletin board
 Each week :
 Read text
 Do online homework problem set
 Email prof with any questions

6. And then…
 Add video clips
 Interactive Applets
 Discussion forums

7. Hurdles in the past
 In the distant technological past (about 5
years ago):
 Real time video technology not so readily
available
 Students had limited broadband access

8. Asynchronous delivery
 Difficult to see students’ progress except
with online homework and emails from
students
 Many students tend not to make use of
all resources available; only work on
items that are graded

9. Screenshots

10. Screenshot – Videos

11. Challenges
 Facilitating conceptual understanding
online
 Lack of facial cues in online learning
 Math problem solving and online
homework tend to be isolating

12. Tools for interaction: Facebook
group page

13. Online Meeting Spaces
 Elluminate, vyew.com, WizIQ
 Real time discussion
 Can become “death by PowerPoint”
 Interaction is key

14. Tools for Interaction:
Backchannelling
 Use the text window in an online meeting
space to participate
 Very successful – simultaneous
participation; peer help

16. Tools for interaction: Polls
 Allow you to quickly ascertain whether
students are following along
 Also successful – kept students focused
on material and they liked the
participation

18. Tools for Interaction: explore
applets
 During online meetings, post link and ask
students to explore online applets and
demos; then ask them to post their
observations
 Or have a poll reviewing the
concepts/ideas you expected them to
become aware of

20. Be a participant
 Attend webinars of different types
 Sit through a prerecorded webinar
 Participate in a real time webinar with some
interaction
 Even a modest amount of interaction
seems to make a difference in how one
interacts with the material

21. WizIQ
 Advantages
 free
 allows for many participants without
upgrading
 recordings can be made;
 has screen share
 No downloads required
 Disadvantages
 sometimes the audio gets dropped
 interface could be a bit smoother

22. Vyew.com
 Advantages: fast and user friendly;
useful for online meeting with seminar
students or thesis students
 Disadvantages : no recording; limits the
number of participants; screen share is
iffy

23. CourseSites by Blackboard
 Complete CMS
 Live Classroom by blackboard
 Content currently available only from
McGraw Hill

24. Questions
 Effective use of social media such as
Facebook and Google Plus for online
courses?
 Incorporating active learning strategies
within the homework

25. Limitations of Online
Delivery
 Classroom collaboration lacking
 In class activities difficult to incorporate
 Talking in to a headset is not nearly as
much fun as an in-person lecture!

26. Thank you!
Reva Narasimhan
Kean University
www.mymathspace.net
rnarasim@kean.edu