The Digital Divide: Using Emerging Web 2.0 Technologies to Teach Math

Robin AngottiDaniela Benedict

Keri MarinoTammy Wright

University of Washington Bothell

• Web 1.0 – Consuming content– Univocal - (Wertsch, 1998)

• Web 2.0– Communication, content creation, collaboration– Users write, create media, interact with other users,

participate in learning networks– Dialogic (Wertsch, 1998)

The “Evolution” of the Web: What is Web 2.0?

• Digital Natives (Prensky, 2001)– Technology is ubiquitous to their world– Fundamental differences in the way they process

information– Patterns of thinking have changed– It has been suggested that their experiences with

digital input has lead to different brain structures

The “Evolution” of the Student: Who are Students 2.0?

The “Evolution” of the Teacher: Who are Teachers 2.0?

• Digital Immigrants (Prensky, 2001)– Cultural Migration• No matter how much the immigrants may wish it, the

digital natives will probably not go backwards– Adult Digital Immigrants• Not So Smart

– Spend time complaining about the “way things were”• Smart

– Recognize they are unfamiliar with their new world– Recognize that the younger generation can help them learn

and integrate into a new culture

The “Evolution” of Math: What is Math 2.0?

• What does that mean for teaching and learning mathematics?

ContentContent

AssessmentAssessment

PedagogyPedagogy

Technology

COLLABORATION AND COMMUNICATION

Voicethread.com

• Easy to use• Asynchronous dialogic forum• Showcase students work• Teacher controls the security• Pros/Cons?• Not “real-time”• Teachers/Students can work at their convenience

• Free (or minimal cost)

Examples of VoicethreadPreCal Example

29. The rate at which water is entering a reservoir is given for time t > 0 by the graph in the following figure. A negative rate means that water is leaving the reservoir. For each of the following statements, give the largest interval on which:

(a) The volume of water is increasing.

(b) The volume of water is constant.(c) The volume of water is increasing

fastest.(d) The volume of water is

decreasing.

Examples of Voicethread• Classroom Collaboration• Example from Robin’s Precal Class– http://voicethread.com/share/457972/

• Examples from Tammy’s Class– http://uwb-education-

tammywright2009.wikispaces.com/NCTM+Presentation

Examples of Voicethread• Student Presentations

Examples of Voicethread• Homework/Review Help

Examples of Voicethreads• Teacher to teacher/Professional Development

JOURNALING

Reflective Learning Journals

• The use of math journals is one way to incorporate writing and reflection into the math classroom.

• Challenges of student journals:– Grading– Time

How Web 2.0 can be used for student journals.

Blogs and RSS feeds:• Student created personal blogs using

blogger.com or edublogs.org.• Teacher created a web based feed aggregatorhttp://kj-meg.blogspot.com/http://skzprecalc.blogspot.com

Feed Reader

http://feedraider.com/u/kjmarino/

More uses for blogs in mathematics teaching

• Using a blog as a teacher web site.• A collaborative class blog in which students

create a “solution manual.”• A collaborative class blog to create summaries

of topics covered. (Solomon, G. & Schrum, L., 2007. Web 2.0: New tools,

new schools.)

SOCIAL NETWORKING

Using social networking to integrate your class into students’ lives

• Students often don't visit teacher websites, even though they know how to find them

• Students may be hesitant or embarrassed to email teachers directly for help– Some kids rarely even use email - it is a dated

technology to them!

Using social networking to integrate your class into students’ lives

• Specific example: Facebook groups– Facebook?? What about privacy issues?• You don’t need to be “friends” with students in order to

let them join your group• This means you can't see their profile and they can't

see yours. • Minimal intrusion into students’ personal lives

Using social networking to integrate your class into students’ lives

• Taking advantage of social networking sites creates an opportunity for students to spend time in a community talking about math– It is likely that your students are using these sites

anyway– At the very least, the ease of access increases the

chance that students will look at your group when they are bored (this is the nature of social networking)

Using social networking to integrate your class into students’ lives

• Advantages of Facebook– Easy to set up (how much time do you really

have?)– Customizable notification settings – Students can be appointed as admins (less work

for you!)– You decide how active to be in the group– Improved sense of community outside the

classroom, which may improve the sense of community inside the classroom

Example

SO WHAT???

Resources

• Everything 2.0 by Bob Stumpel• Calculator 2.0 • Fooplot