Tips and tricks for teaching math online, updated for November 2010 Instructional Technology Council (ITC) webinar.

1. Tips and Tricks for
Teaching Math Online
By Fred Feldon
Coastline Community College
Fountain Valley, CA
November 16, 2010

2. Hello, and
Welcome!
• Coastline is one of 3 colleges in the District
• We focus on the nontraditional students
and methods of instruction
• 84% of the math department is enrolled
online

3. Adapting to Technology

4. Adapting to Technology

5. Adapting to Technology

6. • Why Do Students Take Classes Online?
• What Are the Success and Retention
Rates?
• What’s Different About Teaching Online?
• How Much Time Does It Take?
• Should I Use a Course Management
System (CMS) or Start From “Scratch”?
• How Do You Pick a CMS?
You’ve Got Questions…

7. • If You “Build It” Will They Come?
• How Do You Retain Students?
• How Do You Create a Community of
Learners?
• How Do You Supplement the Course With
Your Own Material?
• How Do You Keep Students From
Cheating?
Questions… (Con’t)

8. Why Do Students Take Classes
Online?
• Students self-select into online courses
• Survey says:
– I enrolled in this class because it was closed at
Coastline. Agree: 7%
– I enrolled in this class because it was closed at
another college. Agree: 2%
– I enrolled because I wanted an online course. Agree:
86%
(Source: Survey of Fall 2005 Coastline College DL students)

9. What Are the Success and Retention
Rates?
• About the same as face-to-face classes

11. What Are the Success and Retention
Rates?
• About the same as face-to-face classes
• Why?
– Students who are highly motivated and have the right
skills self-select into class
– Online format fosters more independent learning
– Instructor gives more attention to some students who
might otherwise be ignored
– Students schedule study time with less distractions,
greater concentration
– Students study and interact with anyone rather than just
who they sit next to in class

12. What’s Different About Teaching
Online?
CON:
• There’s a learning curve
• Probably more time-consuming
• You see less students face-to-face
• Number of e-mails increases
• More work must be done up-front
• You become “addicted” to the computer

14. What’s Different About Teaching
Online? (Con’t)
PRO:
• Increased flexibility
• Travel to and teach from any location
• Feeling of community is possible!!
• Equally rewarding and enjoyable
• Number of students you can reach individually
increases
• Students can collaborate easier
• Students can be asked to do more on their own--
the role of authority is more spread out

15. What’s Different About Teaching
Online? (Con’t)
PRO (Con’t):
• Assessments (such as homework & quizzes) can
be automatically graded, saving time
• Changes to your course “on the fly” are possible
• You have time to think and research before
answering questions
• Students are expecting more technology
• Number of voicemails decreases
• Supplemental and enrichment material can be
more timely--and look better too (see following
examples)

17. Answer:
1st Star No. 1
2nd Star No. 4 + 4(1) = 8
3rd Star No. 9 + 4(3) = 21
4th Star No. 16 + 4(6) = 40
5th Star No. 25 + 4(10) = 55
20th Star No. 400 + 4(190) = 1,160
nth Star No. n2 + 4[n(n - 1)/2] = 3n2 - 2n
5th Square No.
4th Triangular No.
n th Square No.
n -1 Triangular No.

18. A Fly in the Room
Two walls and the ceiling of a room meet at right
angles at point P. A fly is in the air one foot from one
wall, eight feet from the other wall, and nine feet from
point P. How many feet is the fly from the ceiling?

19. Answer
A 3-dimensional box with the
point P in one corner and the
fly in another is shown. Use
the Pythagorean Theorem first
to get the diagonal on the
bottom, then again to get the
distance x to the ceiling. The
answer is 4 feet.

20. Arc To Area
The arc below has a measure of 40 degrees, and its endpoints
are at (1,5) and (5,3). Find the area of the circle that contains the
arc.

21. Answer
To find the answer you don’t need to know where the center is, you
just have to find the radius. Draw a picture, put a point about where
the center might be, draw a triangle, label everything you know and go
from there.
You can use the Law of Sines or split
the triangle in two (a 20-90-70 triangle)
and use trig to get the length of the
radius, about 6.5382, so the area of the
circle is about 134.28 square units.

22. Mathematical Misfit
Which fits best: a square peg in a round hole, or
a round peg in a square hole?
To be more precise, if you take a circle and fit it
just inside a square, or take a square and fit it
just inside a circle, which fills up proportionally
the most space?

23. Answer: Take a Square whose side = 1 unit, and a
circle which just fits inside. Area of Circle/Area of
Square = (1/2)2 / 1 = /4 = 0.785.
Take a Circle whose diameter = 1 unit, and a square
which just fits inside. Area of Square/Area of Circle =
(1/ )2 / ( (1/2)2) = 2/ = 0.637.
Since /4 > 2/ , the round peg fills up proportionally
more space and therefore fits better in the square hole
than the square peg fits in the round hole!
2 
 

 

24. The Shrinking Watermelon
Yesterday you bought a huge 100-pound watermelon
that was 90% water. You left it outside in the hot sun.
Some of the water evaporated, so it is now 80%
water. How much does it weigh now?

25. Answer
The 10 pounds of fruit that didn’t
evaporate is still there. That now
must represent 20%, or one-fifth, of
the shrunken watermelon. So the
watermelon must weigh 50 pounds.

26. From Images of Mathematicians on Postage Stamps: The
Impossible Figures of Oscar Reutersvard, Sweden, 1982

27. How Much Time Does It Take?
• Equal to or more than face-to-face
classes
• To minimize that:
– Don’t “reinvent the wheel.” Use a Course
Management System (CMS)
– Share online material with other faculty in
your department
– Discourage the use of e-mail; encourage
use of the discussion board

28. How Much Time Does It Take?
– Respond to e-mails with, “That’s a good
question. Could you do me a favor? Other
students may be wondering the same thing.
Could you please post your question on the
Discussion Board? I promise to reply right away.
Thanks!” Then do so.
– Prioritize student contact and your time as
follows:
(1) Discussion Board
(2) E-mail
(3) Voicemail

29. Should I Start From
“Scratch” or Use a Course
Management System (CMS)?
• Absolutely! Available FREE from a
variety of publishers pre-loaded with
textbook-specific content and
numerous features. Here’s what to
look for:

30. How Do You Pick a CMS?
1. Internet-based, available from any computer
2. Easy to register for, easy to use
3. Textbook-specific instructional material including
videos, interactive exercises and tutorials
4. Algorithmic assessments that can also be printed
out in hard-copy
5. Gradebook with full edit/import/export capabilities
6. Communication features including e-mail to all or
select students, live chat, and asynchronous,
threaded discussion

31. How Do You Pick a CMS? (Con’t)
7. Attractive design
8. Flexibility
- Works right “out of the box” plus allows for extensive
customization, enhancement, and modification
- Works in a variety of instructional modes including online,
traditional classroom, and hybrid environments
9. Tech support included free, by e-mail and phone
10. Parent corporation welcomes input and provides
frequent updates and improvements
11. Free to students, free to instructors, free to the
college, with purchase of a textbook; or access is
available separately

32. If You Build It, Will They Come?
How Do You Retain Students?
How Do You Create a Community of
Learners?
• Your participation is key
• Students will “follow your lead”
• Require a Student Bio be posted the first week
• Discourage other forms of communication and
focus on the Discussion Board
• Visit Discussion Board every day, before you
open your e-mail, before you check voicemail
• Thank students by name, acknowledge their
involvement, make every message positive

33. Building a Community of Learners
(Con’t)
• Post items that invite and encourage students to
visit the Discussion Board:
– Extra Credit problems “first-come, first-served”
– Require students to explain their thinking
– Hints to succeed in the class, “hot tips” for exams
– Current articles or other items of interest (see examples)
– Comics and cartoons (see examples)
– Helpful links such as:
• How To Type Math On a Keyboard
http://mathforum.org/dr.math/faq/faq.typing.math.html

34. Building a Community of Learners
(Con’t)
• Graphing Calculator Instructions
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdmZ5pd4BDo
http://www.prenhall.com/divisions/esm/app/calculator/
• Online Netiquette
http://www.onlinenetiquette.com/netiquette_101.html
• Biographies of Famous Mathematicians
http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/history
• MathWorld
http://mathworld.wolfram.com
• Math Reference Tables
http://www.math2.org
• Music and Math
http://www.mindinstitute.net/MIND3/mozart/mozart.php

35. Building a Community of Learners
(Con’t)
• OnLineConversion.com
http://www.onlineconversion.com
• Algebra Review
http://www.purplemath.com
http://www.mathtv.com
http://www.khanacademy.org
• Dealing with Math Anxiety
http://www.academicsuccess.com
http://amzn.to/aVtqHi
• Computational Knowledge Engine
http://www.wolframalpha.com

36. Add Math-Related Content from
Current Events

37. Recent Time
magazine article:
Subjects in an
experiment did
math problems and
made fewer errors
with a pet in the
room, compared to
with their friends,
their spouse, or
alone!

38. “On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog!”

39. Building a Community of Learners
(Con’t)
• “Reach Out” at regular intervals
– Send e-mail to all students 1-2 weeks after semester
begins
– Send e-mail 1-2 weeks later, to students with little or no
activity, asking how you can help
– Send e-mail before the Midterm, with study suggestions
and wishing them luck
– Post “Tips for the Midterm” on the Discussion Board
(e.g. discuss the most frequently-missed problem from
last semester)
– Send e-mail before drop deadline encouraging catch-up
or suggesting withdrawal

40. Building a Community of Learners
(Con’t)
• Be flexible
– Have a schedule students should follow, but allow full
credit for quizzes and homework (algorithmic), no
matter when they’re done
– Have several different forms (I have 6) of the Midterm
and Final for flexibility
– Expect and allow some students to get a late start
– Expect and allow some students to finish late (give
them an “F” then change their grade later)

41. Building a Community of Learners
(Con’t)
• Encourage student-to-student interaction
– Form groups
– Homogeneous or random?
– Assign peer-evaluated projects or papers
– Praise students for helping each other (public
acknowledgement on the Discussion Board or privately
in an e-mail)
– Choose a student or group of students to be in the “hot
seat” for a question (students need to learn how to
explain their thinking, justify an answer, and com-
municate mathematically)

42. Supplement the Course With
Your Own Material
• Some suggested products:
– Screen capture programs like Camtasia and SnagIt at
www.techsmith.com or ScreenWatch at www .screenwatch.com
– Movie-making software from Visual Communicator at
www.seriousmagic .com
– Smart boards and tablets from Smart Technologies at www2
.smarttech.com and
– The io2 Digital Pen at www.logitech.com
– Create a video in your college studio or a Podcast from home
– Use a Tablet PC to “ink” your lectures and review sessions
– Microsoft PowerPoint or Movie Maker plus a webcam, digital
video cam, or your digital still camera and a microphone
– Web conferencing technology like WebEx or GoToMeeting or
CCCConfer (in California)

43. Supplement the Course With
Your Own Material (Con’t)
• Tablet PCs available from Toshiba, Fujitsu, HP,
Gateway, and others
• I use a “pure slate” Tablet from www.motioncomputing
.com

44. Supplement the Course With
Your Own Material (Con’t)
Solve problem and show your work then print to PDF and attach
the file to Discussion Board message, e-mail to students, or
post to course Website:

48. Supplement the Course With
Your Own Material (Con’t)
See actual video at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdmZ5pd4BDo

49. Supplement the Course With
Your Own Material (Con’t)
The presenter created a video showing students how to use
MyMathLab to be successful in the course
See actual video at:
http://dl.coastline.edu/classes/internet/math100/mymathlab.asx

50. Supplement the Course With
Your Own Material (Con’t)
Instructor-created video on curve fitting and regression
analysis
See actual video at:
http://www.coastline.edu/departments.cfm?LinkID=890

51. How Do You Keep Students
From Cheating?
• Make online assessments like quizzes and
homework worth a small part of their grade
• Quizzes and homework are algorithmic
• Add Projects for part of their grade
– Students in one class watch the PBS Life By the
Numbers series featuring Danny Glover and write a
2-3 page paper
– Another course (Math for Elementary Teachers) visits
K-8 classrooms to observe, to deliver a math lesson;
each student writes a report that the entire class
reads and discusses.

52. How Do You Keep Students
From Cheating? (Con’t)
• Midterm and Final Exams are open-ended, free-
response and worth a total of 60-70% of their
grade; ID is checked
• Have multiple versions (I have 6 different forms
of the Midterm and Final each)
• Require students to show work on test
• Anecdotal evidence: student work is authentic
– Scores for online work matches scores on Midterm
and Final taken with me or by Proctors who check ID

53. Thank You!
Fred Feldon
Math Department Chair
Coastline Community College
ffeldon@coastline.edu
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