``given a course to teach, what are the most appropriate methods and software tools available?''
By reference to some current and planned United Kingdom practice, various roles for computers are considered: presentation of material, tutor-student and student-student interaction and mathematical processing. The strengths and weaknesses of some existing software tools are discussed.
The approach is to start with the assumption that a course is required covering a specified mathematical area. As a first step, possible media (in the widest sense) for teaching the material are discussed both for students taught by staff on the same campus and for students remote from the staff. Secondly, the uses of e-mail and other forms of electronic conferencing are considered for overcoming some of the problems of remote students. Finally, the use of a computer as a mathematical tool for tackling problems is discussed.
Rather than discuss the ideas in abstraction, a course on some aspects of discrete mathematics is used as a case study although other subject areas are referred to where necessary.
The thesis of the paper is that making sensible use of computer systems in teaching requires careful planning and, potentially, the acquisition of a number of skills new to some academic staff. Nevertheless, the possibility of increasing the effectiveness of teaching makes the effort invested worthwhile.
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Plenary Sessions |
© Asian Technology Conference in Mathematics, 1997.