Friday Wrapup

Whew!! What a day! We got a lot done in our Computer Lab classes, and in today's Statistics class; blogging about the latest tablets (via a set of CNET reviews) and we read, thought and blogged about an article that appeared in today's Washington Post (front page, below the fold) about the changing demographics of D.C., and of many other metro areas around the country.

Techno Troubles

I'm trying to synchronize my smartphone with my various Google accounts and.  . . . As I write this, I think the answer has popped into my head.

I think my smartphone isn't smart enough to know what I just did on my laptop, even though both devices are sitting here on the same kitchen table

;-)

I guess I'd better tell my phone what I did, so it can properly post my mobile blogs.

I'm back!!

It's 2012 and a lot has happened since I debuted this blog. I am now well on the way to developing an electronic classroom. I started using TI nSpire calculators, with wireless communication capabilities at the start of the 2011-2012 school year. That has proved to be a tremendous help for my students. In addition, during the second half of this school year, I began using both Temple University's Calculus on the Web and the Khan Academy's Websites to help my students with their math.

It has been an eye-opener.

The biggest point: Giving students direct feedback on their work is one of the best motivators--especially if they can see a way to improve their performance and their knowledge. I think that's the real key: Give students a clear path for improving their math skills and, most likely, they'll put in the effort.

Some of my students are competitive and the Khan Academy's "energy point" setup is conducive to competition; students can rack up tens-of-thousands, even hundreds-of-thousands of points by cranking through the practice exercises.

But I created a couple of important "benchmarks" that are better measures than raw, total point scores. One of the most-important of these: Points per minute.