There is one obvious answer, which I think we need to keep focused on:
Any technology would be inappropriate where its use would be inconsistent
with the learning objective that the faculty of the course have identified.
[At my own college, this would be rare. One example: We require students
to simplify certain types of radical expressions. The technology employed
-- TI-83/82 -- is not naturally capable of completing this task.]
If we take Howard's question literally ("COMPUTER technology"), I would
give many more examples. A large segment of our community college student
body could not afford computers. (If the hand-held computer hits the same
price range as a TI-83, then this would be different.)
Whether you agree with my view or not, I think it is very important that we
be willing to answer this 'technology' question in a honest and thorough
fashion. We will not serve our students well if we use technology
throughout our curriculum based solely on external pressures; a basic
change in methods must be based on a basic change in philosophy, or the
method will not change anything for the better. (This is partly based on
the maxim that it is much easier to make something worse than it is to make
it better.)
Thanks for reading.
Jack
___________________________________________________________________________
___
From: Jack Rotman Mathematics Faculty
"Algebra and money are essentially levelers; the first intellectually,
the second effectively."
Weil, Simone (1909 - 1943)
Mathematical Skills Dept Lansing Community College
visit our home page: http://www.lansing.cc.mi.us/sas/mathsci
howard.wachtel@BOWIESTATE.EDU on 12/05/97 16:10:29
Please respond to howard.wachtel@BOWIESTATE.EDU
To: mathedcc@archives.math.utk.edu
cc: (bcc: Jack Rotman/Math-Science/Student Academic Support/LCC)
Subject: [MATHEDCC] TECHNOLOGY-APPROPRIATE OR INAPPROPRIATE
Could you give an example of a situation where you feel that it would be
INAPPROPRIATE to use computer technology in a college mathematics class?
Thank you.
Dr. Howard Wachtel
Dept. of Mathematics
Bowie State University
Bowie, MD 20715
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