Seminar: Technology in the Classroom 
sponsored by the
Department of Mathematics and the Center for Innovation in Engineering Education


Monday, October 12, 1998, 3:40 p.m. PSA 103
Refreshments well be served in PSA 206 at 3:00 p.m.

Interactive Differential Equations
Beverly West, Cornell University

Abstract: A different kind of teaching tool for differential equations. Something NEW is making an enormous difference in differential equations courses. See the review by Bob Devaney in the Monthly, August-September 1998. IDE replaces neither text nor open-ended graphic solvers, but rather focuses on concepts, with 97 simple-to-use interactive illustrations. These illuminate traditional topics and shed new light on them, and move us easily to modern topics. No programming is involved, it's intuitive to use. Students like it and conquer concepts at a far greater rate than by previous methods. The talk will demo a number of topics and discuss different ways to make use of them in teaching a DE course. I hope the discussion will also be interactive.


Tuesday, October 20, 1998, 3:40 p.m. GWC 510
Refreshments well be served in GWC 510 at 3:00 p.m.

Calculus & MATHEMATICA
Jerry Uhl, U. of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

Abstract: We started Calculus & MATHEMATICA in 1989 as a demonstration of computer based user active courseware. Before we knew what was happening, the program took on its own momentum, spreading to distance education in 1992 and special sections (called BioCalc) for biology majors in 1993. The response was excellent in each case was very positive. Reacting to student demand, we added the DiffEq & MATHEMATICA course in 1994 and the Matrices,Geometry & MATHEMATICA course in 1997. All of these efforts are healthy both on campus and in NetMath Internet Distance Education.
The NetMath Internet distance education program began with 10 students and one telephone mentor. Files were exchanged by mailing of floppies. When the internet became practical, we had a seamless transition to the internet. Illinois NetMath has now grown to about 200 students per semester serving high school students who need math courses otherwise unavailable to then and working engineers who plan to get masters degrees and need to refreshen their mathematics. NetMath Internet students will be featured on the upcoming PBS program net.LEARNING.
Other schools offering the NetMath program are Ohio State, Truckee Meadows, Sauk Valley, Pittsburgh. Some Netmath courses are also available through National Technological University and Magellan University.

Events in following weeks: T 10/27 S ergei Suslow: Linear Algebra modules.  F 11/6  Joe Ecker (Dean Lally School of management and Technology, Rensselear Politechnic Inst.): Studio classes.  T 11/10 Matthias Kawski:  EXCEL all the way to elliptic PDEs.   T 11/17  Mark Burtch: Vernier sensors.   T 11/24  John Jones: Abstract Algebra, Number Theory. 
12/1 Matthias Kawski: Differential Geometry.   12/8  Kathy Prewitt:  Statistics.
For further information please contact: Matthias Kawski. The complete calendar for this seminar series is available on-line at http://math.la.asu.edu/~kawski/classes/fall98/mat591/announce.html.