Some Things to Note about Using the Web for Teaching Mathematics
(at CU-Denver)
For Whom This is Intended
The materials at this site are for the faculty of the CU-Denver
Mathematics Department, and others who teach (TA's and Adjuncts). The
links, given in the categories of Undergraduate courses, Graduate courses,
and General, are for each teacher to consider using in a course.
It is not intended to send students to this site directly, as some of
the information could be confusing.
Also, the lists will evolve and should not be considered stable, so
anyone using a link should copy it to their own course page. An
exception is that you could link to the general subject if you think
most links are relevant to the course, and you do not single out some
link verbally (in class). For example, you could send students to the
undergraduate statistics page and tell them to use the glossaries or
experiment with the interactive sites. If you specifically want a site,
such as Rice Virtual Lab, you should put your own link to it.
Link Maintenance
Each list of links (e.g., Undergraduate Algebra) is maintained by the
Web4Teaching Director.
The total number of links in each list at any one time will be limited, so as
not to overwhelm teachers with the vast amounts of materials on the web.
People wishing to search for more links on their own are encouraged to
do so and inform the Director of those that should be added.
As new links are added, old ones will be archived. Each list of links will
therefore have an associated archive, which can grow indefinitely.
What is Accessible to Students
Be aware of what computer environment your students will have.
The best for web support is math (linus for undergraduates), followed
by carbon, and finally ouray.
Besides our own computer lab, the main sites on campus are at
NC 1206, 2206 and 2606 (the last is the CSC lab).
These have Netscape with Java and JavaScript.
NC 1206 and 2206 support postscript viewing/printing with ghostview.
The CSC lab at NC 2606 has a different setup. There
the students cannot view postscript. They must go through a
sequence of selections, choosing DropPS, to print the postscript.
(This is not taught to them, so some instruction is needed.)
From home the student will be somewhat limited, and you need
to be careful. Software needs are usually given in each annotation if it
is more than regular graphics under Netscape 3.0 or higher
(e.g., requires some plug-in, like RealVideo).
The bottom line is that you must test what you intend to use
at a site to which the students have access. Then, note all
that is needed and ask if it is reasonable to assume they can
have that capability. You might have students say they use Netscape,
but they do not know how to view a postscript file (or some other
format you want them to have). You can send them to the web site that
gives away what they need.
Here is a succinct presention for
the student to setup up her/his computer at home.
If you want students to browse the web and you do not want to spend
class time teaching them, send them to
http://www2.famvid.com/i101/internet101.html.
Some Protocol
While the materials on the web are free of charge, it is your moral
responsibility to give credit to the authors when you use them.
If you find material useful, it is courteous to let the authors know.
Acknowledgments
Thanks to Professors Lynn Bennethum, Stephen Billups,
Bill Cherowitzo,
Kathy Fraughnaugh
and
Jim Koehler
for helping us to get this started. Thanks also to Tim Fritschel and
Allen Holder for their invaluable technical assistance, and to the
helpful comments from Debbie Wangerin.
Last, but certainly not least, we thank Professor Andrew Knyazev for making
the World Wide Web a part of the Mathematics Department.
-
Inaugural W4T Director: Harvey J. Greenberg
