jmcmillen

I have served on two committees this year where Google Docs has been an integral part of our work.  Having access to the document at any time, from anywhere, is great.  Also, the editing features help to move the document forward while allowing for an exchange of ideas outside of the established meeting time(s). 

On a more personal note, I grew tired of buying flash drives for my son, so I showed him Google Docs.  Now he can access documents at school or at home (which he loves!).

Looking ahead, I see a few ways to use Google Docs in my classes and professionally.  I'm going to do some programming with my classes next year, and I'm thinking about posting a framework of a program and having the students make comments/additions to the program through Google Docs.  Additionally, I'm hoping that students will use it to help in the completion of some of their projects. As a department chair, I also see it as a way for my colleagues to review and make comments about documents before meeting.

I started using Delicious a few months ago after a colleague told me about how she was using it to organize sites for her students.  After creating an account and seeing how it worked, I started tagging sites in preparation for my summer work in developing a new course.  I then thought of other ways that I could use tags, so my list of tags has grown significantly.  In conjunction with links I am getting from my Google Reader account and RSS, my Delicious account is the only way that I could keep up with everything.  At this point, I am thinking about creating separate delicious pages for each course I teach (if that is possible), so that I can direct my students to sites for practice or further study.  If not, I'll have to do some organizing of the links so that students can quickly find what they are looking for.

 My delicious page 

I was totally unaware of Creative Commons prior to taking the course.  I'm sure that I have seen the "CC" logo on different sites, but as with the RSS symbol (before 23 Things), really didn't notice it or look into what it meant.  I can envision kids making their presentations more lively, fun, and more visually appealing by using material from CC.  Some kids will probably be driven by what they see on the site, trying to "one up" a song or video, while others may simply go to a resource like CC rather than trying to create something themselves.  Perhaps sites like this are the next generation of "buying a term paper," in that students might try to pass off the work of others as their own.  This will make the job of the teacher that much more challenging.

I have used some online material in class; the YouTube videos "Mathmaticious" and "What you know about math?" are funny, but also well done.  They make me wonder about ways in which I could have students make review materials that would be fun for students to view, but would also provide a means to help students prepare for assessments.

To this point, I have not shared any content on the web; therefore (correctly or incorrectly), I assume that I own all of my teaching materials.  One of my colleagues has started posting short video demonstrations on our school Moodle site, and I have thought about doing something similar.

Wikis and blogs were two of the main reasons I took this course, as I was curious as to how these might be applicable in a math classroom.  I found a few very impressive math-related wikis that could serve as models for my classes.  The first was the Math 12V Outcomes Portfolio, in which students created study guides regarding topics for a final exam.  Each of the four outcomes had a separate page that listed each of the outcomes, which in turn had their own page with examples and practice problems.  This is a great way for students to demonstrate mastery of subject matter, and places some pressure on them, in that other students are relying on them to be accurate in their presentation.  I also really liked the Small Stones wiki, which was used for an AP Calculus class in Georgia.  I was very impressed with the weekly "wrap-ups" that the students gave, in addition to the other resources that were available.  The wiki was well organized and easy to navigate.  If I can pull something off for next year (I also teach AP), I will certainly use it as a model (I doubt my first attempt will be anywhere near as good, but I have to start somewhere).  I was also interested in the equation editor that was imbedded in the page.  Finally, I like the Schools in the Past wiki.  Our school does a fair amount with Oral History, so I passed it along to several members of the History Department.

There were a few wikis that I found difficult to navigate; this could be due to me being new to reading this format.  The Grazing for Digital Natives wiki sounds great, but I was initially put off by the lack of "something" to read on the homepage.  However, once I got going, I found some good entries.  I also struggled with the Flat Classroom Project page.  Once again, as I get more familiar with how wikis work, I may find this resource very useful.

Regarding using a wiki in my class, I think the "weekly review" idea that I saw on the Small Stones site is great on several levels.  For kids who struggle with notetaking, it could fill in some gaps.  It also provides the students with a creative means for presenting the work done in the course of the week, which for many strong math students (thinking about my AP kids) might be tough for them initially.  Many of them are very linear thinkers, and this opportunity to be more creative would be a great way to stretch themselves.  Also, for students who are absent, this could help them catch up in terms of at least having notes when they come to meet with me.

I'm also thinking about doing some programming on the graphing calculator in one of my classes next year, and wonder how well a blog or wiki would work for exchanging ideas regarding the development of a program.  I also am going to do some project-based work with this class, and plan on having them post their work on a class wiki or blog.  I want to include video, so I need to determine which of those options will work better.

Personally, I think that having a personal wiki/blog would be a great way to maintain a "professional diary" of what worked and what didn't.  I'm hopeful that I will try out many new things next year, and having a digital diary that I can refer back to and update/edit will make it easier for me to keep up.

I'm sure at some point it will wear off, but checking Google Reader is somewhat addictive.  It's pretty cool having these stories pulled from the sites, and I am learning to scan rather that read everything in depth.  I'm still looking for some good feeds on math teaching, but I'll admit that I haven't looked all that hard to this point.  I've been sharing many of the links with colleagues, and they are very appreciative and wonder how I have time to find these sites.  I've told a few of them about Google Reader, and even helped one of them set up their own account (I felt so smart...)

One item that just came across was on note-taking options, and I plan on sharing the Google notes option with some of my colleagues.  Note-taking in math with a computer is still difficult, since math editors are typically not very quick to use.