Workshops

Many mathematics departments are being asked to develop online courses but are hesitant to offer courses beyond their entry-level courses in this format. In this workshop, we will offer suggestions for how to develop and teach proof-based courses in a synchronous online environment such as Zoom, BlueJeans, Big Blue Button, or BlackBoard Collaborate, based on our expertise in running the University of Northern Colorado’s long-standing successful online Master’s degree program for in-service secondary teachers. Our workshop will include discussions about course designs led by experienced teachers; discussions of the technical logistics of running a course like this; examples of ways to incorporate active learning, student presentations, and small group work in breakout rooms into online classes; and a focus on teaching upper-level and graduate proof based courses. We hope that participants will come away feeling like you can do almost anything you would do in a physical classroom in a synchronous online environment. The workshop will also include an optional online follow-up session in September, 2020.

Institutions and states are seeing a remarkable number of co-requisite students pass gateway level mathematics courses in half the time or less. What are these institutions doing? What should faculty consider when designing support courses? Join Dana Center staff to explore 4 essential considerations, including ideas about the essential foundational concepts and cultural shifts necessary for students to succeed in co-requisite courses.

The MAA Instructional Practices Guide (IP Guide) offers guidance on leveraging evidence-based practices to improve undergraduate learning in mathematics. To help individuals engage with the IP Guide, the MAA sponsored the development of a 10-week Book Study Guide. After an introduction to the IP Guide and the Book Study Guide, attendees will participate in an interactive session that will prepare them to use the documents to meet their needs.

For many students stories of black achievement in mathematics are assumed to be nonexistent. To support student learning, it is important to share with all students their rightful role models of mathematical excellence. We will, 1) discuss contributions of the African Diaspora to the development of mathematics, 2) explore math tasks taken from a historical perspective, and 3) discuss how participants can adapt these tasks for classroom use.

Navigating academia as an underrepresented mathematician comes with a unique set of challenges due to isolation and the invisible labor associated with diversity related service, in addition to traditional stressors tied to career advancement. This interactive session will focus on how early career mathematicians can best align their personal and career goals with traditional institutional expectations regarding scholarship and service to support optimal career trajectories. This workshop welcomes early career faculty, postdocs, and graduate students as well as anyone looking to support individuals in these groups.

The keys to being a successful student of mathematics -- preparation, study, practice, perseverance -- are essential to becoming a more effective and successful leader in academic administration. Department chairs and other leaders are invited to participate in this hands-on workshop to discuss case studies based on the leadership challenges faced by faculty and departments.

In this workshop, we will introduce tasks from a new unit in the Inquiry-Oriented Linear Algebra (IOLA) project. These materials build on existing units to support intuitive conceptions of determinant from a situated context and generalize such experiences toward more formal notions of determinant. Participants will explore the new materials as students might and discuss instructional strategies for implementing Inquiry-Oriented materials.

This session presents assignments that utilize the Desmos graphing calculator to create a product that accomplishes a task, following constructionist learning principles. Examples include applied sinusoidal regression; tangent lines in Cartesian, parametric, and polar coordinates; and volumes by rotation. A sample grading rubric will be provided. Participants are encouraged to complete these assignments during the workshop and share ideas.

In this interactive workshop, participants will reflect on what we think it means to be a mathematician, who is seen or counted as a mathematician, what causes this, and how that affects our communities of learning, teaching and research in mathematics. If you would like to explore those issues, come and find out! Be prepared to discuss some potentially difficult topics.

Engage in real-world data collection, create dynamic mathematical representations to connect and build mathematical understanding. This session focuses on geometry and algebra content using ClassPad.net (FREE dynamic math web-based software). Create tables, graphs, constructions, calculations, record observations, and make conjectures, all in one place. This is a hands-on math with technology workshop - bring your mobile devices!

Recent work by many exceptional women has brought the powerful tools of mathematics to bear on problems of social justice. In this hands-on workshop, women involved in math for social justice will introduce participants to ideas for including these topics in their classroom or scholarship practices. The primary target audience is women in the mathematical sciences, but everyone, including students, is welcome.

A national task force seeking to improve quantitative education practices for nurses has advocated for integrating the complexities of nursing practice into mathematics instruction. Consistent with these efforts and recent recommendations from an interdisciplinary convening of leaders, this workshop will engage participants in authentic nursing tasks that can be modified for traditional and online Quantitative Reasoning courses for all learners.