Teaching Mathematics in a
Streaming, IPOD, RFD, VOIP, Virtual
Age
Jeff Morgan
Chair, Department of Mathematics
Director, Center for Academic Support and
Assessment
University of Houston
http://www.math.uh.edu/~jmorgan
A Word From My Sponsors…
The Department of Mathematics
The College of Natural Sciences and
Mathematics
The University of Houston
The Houston Area Calculus Teachers
Association
http://www.HoustonACT.org
Thoughts from previous talks…
There are two types of students in
mathematics courses:
“The Few” – Less than 1/10 of 1% achieve
understanding.
“The Masses” – 99.9% try to achieve
numerical competency.
Differences
“The Few” advance the sciences.
“The Masses” run and maintain all aspects
of society. They are our laborers, our
managers, our CEO’s, our university
chancellors, and our politicians.
Remark:
Mathematics does not come by birthright. A
mathematician can be born of any set of
parents.
Challenges
“The Few” are hiding among “The Masses”.
(we don’t know them ahead of time)
“The Masses” must have a successful and
pleasant final mathematical experience.
Otherwise, they will discourage their
children, and they will not support our
science.
Our Youth Are Growing In An Online
Mass Media Environment
http, https, html, xhtml, xml, xslt, javascript,
jscript, j#, pearl, php, asp, mathml, java, flash,
quicktime, mp3, mp4, pdf, jpeg mpeg, …
 Email, chat, blogs, im, podcasts, personal urls,
cell phones, picture phones, vcast, palm,
blackberry, streaming audio/video, downloadable
audio/video, voip, ipod, rfd, online discussion
boards, …
 Satellite radio, virtual gaming, pc gaming, xbox,
ps2, mp3 players, ebay, myspace.com, ebooks,
online banking-shopping-news-educationgambling-dating-everything,…
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Times Have Changed
According to MarketingVox.com:
“Online users are now spending about 14 hours
a week, on average - the same amount of time
that they spend watching TV.”
 According to 2006 Trendswatch:
“While some may write many … (virtual) worlds
off as 'kid-stuff‘, 40 million habbos can’t be
ignored. If nothing else, I think the popularity of
avatar-based online social experiences will
continue to grow in 2006."

In Case You Haven’t Noticed…
The young generation is always on and always
connected. They want everything now. They get
everything now!
 Higher Education is big business.
 Online Education is growing rapidly
(375,000,000 hits on google.com).
 Asynchronous classes will replace traditional
offering (take a close look at the highly
profitable University of Phoenix).

An Interesting News Item…
Jan. 15, 2006 (AP newswire) - At Arizona
State, 11,000 students take fully online
courses and 40,000 use the online course
management system, which is used by
many "traditional" classes. Administrators
say the distinction between online and
traditional is now so meaningless it may
not even be reflected in next fall's course
catalogue.
How Did I Get Into This?
1958
 1968
 1969
 1973
 1980
 1986
 1992
 2002

– 1972… a complete blur
– 1979… blurred clarity
– 1986
- 1991… teaching with technology
– 2001… massive exploration
– present… e-learning obsession
Chief Motivators – Good and Bad
Bob Collings – HS Teacher, Friend
History and Political Science Professors
Plenty of Crummy Jobs
John Hardy – Friend, Mentor
Texas A&M University
UH – College of Natural Sciences and
Mathematics
 Textbook publishers
 Blackboard, WebCT and Others
 Mathematics Department Needs
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The Truth
All Mathematics Students Need
Plenty of Work
And
Plenty of Feedback
Mathematics is not a spectator sport!
The University of Houston
… is a commuter campus.
 … is a large state university which attracts
“the masses”.
 … teaches first and second year
mathematics courses in very large
sections.

Question: How can we provide sufficient
work and feedback for our students?
UH Mathematics Department
Solutions
Online Weekly Homework, daily “poppers”,
and daily written work for 8,000 students
in freshmen and sophomore level
Mathematics courses.
 Online discussion and chat…
 Online E-Tutoring…
 Online E-Teaching…
 Streaming capabilities.
 Complete control of course content.

What Types of Teaching Give Rise To
These Needs?
Traditional Courses.
 Hibrid Courses.
 Online Low Level Undergraduate Courses.
 Online Graduate Level Courses (like many
schools, UH offers an online Masters in
Mathematics).
 The same types of teaching done by every
department on the UH campus (and the
world).

Undergraduate Mathematics at UH
Math 1xxx – Fundamentals of
Mathematics, College Algebra, Finite
Mathematics, Business Calculus, PreCalculus, Calculus I and Calculus II.
 Math 2311 – Introductory Statistics.
 Everything else.

Breakdown…
Math 1xxx – 14,000 students per year.
 Math 2311 – 1,500 students per year.
 The rest – much smaller.

Focus – Math 1xxx and 2311
Online Courses
 Traditional Courses

Modern Similarities of Traditional
and Online Courses
Online syllabi, handouts, assignments,
course calendars, etc…
 Email, online chat and online discussion
board help.
 Online textbooks.
 Online streaming lectures.
 Online tutoring and teaching (combining
electronic whiteboard, chat and VOIP).
 Online quizzes.

Tools of the Trade…
Course Management Software – WebCT,
Balckboard, Moodle, and many more,
including home-grown varieties (cf.
University of Texas, University of
Nebraska, South Carolina State University,
University of Houston, …)
 Online meeting software – Macromedia
Breeze, Horizon Wimba, Marratech,
Elluminate, and many more, including
home-grown varieties.
 Radio Frequency Devices – Quizdom, etc…

Online Mathematics Courses at UH
College Algebra, Finite Mathematics,
Business Calculus and Basic Statistics.
 1400 students per year and growing!
 Weekly online quizzes.
 Proctored midterm and final exam.
 Online discussion board help.
 Online texts.
 Streaming mini lectures.

Traditional First and Second Year
Courses at UH
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Large sections.
Prerequisite testing.
Attendance poppers.
Written homework.
Weekly online quizzes.
Secure testing.
Online texts.
Streaming mini lectures.
Online live tutoring (in beta).
Performance
Virtually Identical
(although online instruction is not for
everyone)
Online Components
World Viewable Learning Materials (home
grown) Some of these can be seed at
http://online.math.uh.edu.
 Secure Materials (grades, discussion boards,
scheduler, quizzes, tests, publisher owned texts)
http://casa.uh.edu.
 Online live tutoring and teaching (currently using
Estudy – developed at UH). I will host an online
live session TOMORROW morning from Beijing
with my students at UH.

Shameless Self Exploitation…
(recall that I am the director of CASA)
What is CASA?
How did CASA evolve?
What is the mission of CASA?
CASA
Center for Academic Support and
Assessment at the University of Houston
(A center for learning support
and e-learning software development.)
The Evolution of CASA
(it’s a long story that is easier said than
written)
What Is The Current Mission Of
CASA?
CASA’s Mission is to Facilitate Improved
Teaching and Learning in a Rapidly
Evolving Environment.
Components of CASA
Face-to-Face Mathematics Tutoring
 Secure Testing

Online Electronic Homework
 Online Tutoring
 E-Learning Software Development
(CourseWare)

CASA Inside And Out
Bricks and Mortar
Virtual Bricks and Mortar
Bricks And Mortar
Virtual Bricks And Mortar
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Online Homework
Onsite and Remote Secure Testing
Discussion and Chat
Live E-Tutoring
Live E-Instruction
Electronic Textbooks
Streaming Instruction
(With independence from externally supplied
software and learning/e-learning materials.)
Time Table For Electronic Evolution…
Recent Quote on CNN
"Historically, higher education has taken a one-size-fits-all
mentality: That if you want to get a degree, you must
leave town, stop working, live in a dorm. But we are way
past that. We have to be engaged in lifelong learning,
especially if our society is to compete globally."
-
University of Phoenix President Laura Palmer Noone
UH has never fit the historical model.
Your university either doesn’t fit the historical
model, or it won’t fit it in the future.
For More Information…
Send email to jmorgan@math.uh.edu