Planning Digital Products To Strengthen Two-Year College Mathematics Teaching and Learning

American Mathematical Association Of Two-Year College, Memphis TN

Investigators

Abstract

Mathematical Sciences (21) In September 1995, the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (AMATYC) published Crossroads in Mathematics: Standards for Introductory College Mathematics Before Calculus (Crossroads), providing a vision, standards, and recommendations, to faculty teaching lower division collegiate mathematics. The goal of this project is to plan the digital products to accompany the updated AMATYC Standards 2006 document to equip faculty teaching introductory college mathematics to meet the mathematics learning needs of their diverse student populations. The project objectives are to: (1) Determine the most important areas for which supplements and digital products should be developed to supplement the updated AMATYC Standards. (2) Research and analyze various media to select the most appropriate delivery mechanism. (3) Establish timelines and identify materials and resources, human and otherwise, needed for developing and producing the various digital products. (4) Develop a production and dissemination plan that places the digital products within easy reach of full- and part-time faculty and mathematics departments. This project culminates in fully developed design plans for approximately five projects related to implementation of the updated AMATYC Standards. These projects exemplify different modes of instructional delivery strategies and fit the most pressing demands for implementation materials. The design of effective digital products establishes a critical bridge between an updated Standards document and the production of usable multimedia supplements for more than 20,000 full and part time mathematics faculty in the nation's two-year colleges. The intellectual merit of the project is its potential to impact on student learning for more than one million mathematics students at the lower division collegiate level. It builds on, extends, and enhances the 1995 Crossroads and addresses the major challenge of communicating national standards regarding the teaching and learning of mathematics in the first two years of college. The project is informed by the results of research and previous NSF-funded reform projects, and incorporates appropriate technologies in the design of digital products. The broader impact occurs through the potential of the digital products to influence the teaching practice of individual mathematics faculty members across the nation. Mathematics departments and institutions benefit from improved content and pedagogical preparation of mathematics faculty. The ultimate beneficiaries are the students, who will be better prepared for the workplace, future educational experiences, and their roles as educated citizens.