Teaching Mathematics with Technology

Orientation

During Orientation you will meet your lead instructor and learn what to expect from the Teaching Mathematics with Technology course. You can inform your goals by engaging with a brief pre-assessment and introduce yourself and meet colleagues in the Introductions forum to start making connections with other educators in the course.

Unit 1: Affordances of Technology for the Learning and Teaching of Mathematics

This unit describes how technology can be used to convey information or to support students’ mathematical learning. You will discover how you can leverage the affordances of technology in your mathematics instruction, and you will see examples of how students approach similar tasks with and without the use of technology.

Unit 2: Capitalizing on the Power of Technology

Technology can be used in many different ways. In this unit, you will be introduced to the metaphors “amplifier” and “reorganizer,” which are used to characterize different uses of technology in the teaching of mathematics. In the process, you will have the opportunity to use these metaphors as you critique technology-based tasks for students.

Unit 3: Interacting with Engaging Mathematics Tasks

Technology designed for the teaching and learning of mathematics often involves the direct manipulation of objects. In this unit, you will consider how this feature can be used to create engaging mathematics tasks for students.

Unit 4: Using Multiple-Linked Representations

In this unit, you will consider the different representations that students can easily produce to reason about and solve mathematics problems. Multiple-linked representations provide students with opportunities to make connections across different mathematical ideas. You will also have the opportunity to explore strengths of linked representation and the different types of information that each representation provides for students.

Unit 5: Analyzing Students’ Mathematical Thinking

Technology tools also provide unique opportunities to gain insights into students' mathematical thinking. They allow teachers to examine not only what students say and write but also consider the tools they choose and how these tools are used. As you explore different ways to examine student thinking, you will also have the opportunity to engage your colleagues in discussions about how technology can support the assessment of student thinking.

A certificate of completion for 20 hours of professional development will be provided to participants who do the following in each unit:

• Complete the TPACK Surveys in the Orientation and Unit 5;
• Access and engage with the Essentials
• Complete the Essential Explorations
• Post at least one discussion or comment in the Essential Exploration discussion forum
• Complete the Connect to Practice
• Post at least one discussion or comment in the Connect to Practice discussion forum
• Complete the questions in the Check Your Understanding section
• Post at least one discussion or comment in the Share Your Great Tasks discussion forum in Unit 5.

You can submit the certificate to your local agency with a request for Continuing Education Units (CEUs). Granting of CEUs will be subject to the policies and procedures of your state and local agency.

• Self-directed learning, through personalizing your experience by identifying your own goals, selecting among a rich array of resources, and deciding whether, when, and how to engage in discussions and activities to further your own learning and meet your goals. 
• Peer-supported learning, through engaging in online discussions, reviewing your colleagues' projects, rating posted ideas, recommending resources, crowdsourcing lessons learned, and participating in twitter chats and other exchanges appropriate to the individual course. 
• Job-embedded learning, through the use of case studies, classroom and school related projects; developing action plans; and other activities that center your work on critical problems of practice and data-informed decision-making in your own classrooms, schools or districts. 
• Multiple voices, through learning about the perspectives of other teachers and administrators along with those of students, researchers and experts in the field. Our courses are purposefully not designed around one or two experts who present online lectures. They provide exposure to a rich set of perspectives presented within the context of course elements that reflect these core principles.

You will see these design principles implemented in our courses through the following instructional elements:

• Conceptual Frameworks
• Resource Collections
• Asynchronous Discussions and Twitter Chats
• Student Scenarios
• Expert Panels
• Participant Projects and Peer Feedback
• Crowd-sourcing
• Professional Learning Community (PLC) Guides