INSIDE THIS ISSUE:	TiME Committee Chair Report  - Jerry Kissick	TiME Committee Minutes: Chicago 2000 - Joyce Oster
	Online Mathematics: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly - Michael Reese. (requires Acrobat Reader -  www.acrobat.com) Only Available Through This Link	Message from the Editor -  Joyce Oster

Report for the TiME Committee
by Jerry Kissick

The TiME committee had two lively meetings in Chicago, and I wish to personally thank all those who attended and participated in the discussions.  We had several new members present at the meetings, and I have received e-mails from several others wishing to join the committee.  All have been added to our TiME Committee discussion list.

During our committee meetings in Pittsburgh, the committee established sub-committees to help the committee function more efficiently.  During the Chicago meeting, the sub-committee chairs were revised to reflect who is actually doing the work:

 Chair:  Jerry Kissick
 Newsletter:  Joyce Oster
 MATHEDCC discussion list:  Brian Smith/Wayne Mackey
 TiME Committee discussion list:  Brian Smith/Darrell Abney
 TiME Committee web page:  Phil Thurber

The minutes of our annual meetings are included in this newsletter.  If you feel there is anything which should be added to the minutes, please let me know.

An area of concern at the time of the meetings was the problem which had been experienced with the MATHEDCC discussion group.  Since the conference, the discussion group has been relocated from the Math Archives to the Math Forum and is functional.  Many thanks to Brian Smith for his work in making this happen.

The discussions we held on the issue of equal access to technology have been continuing.  Our board liaison Jay Malstrom has been working with Phil Mahler (AMATYC president-elect and a member of the TiME committee) on a method of modifying our current position paper on the Instructional Use of Technology to add an additional bullet dealing with student access.  You will be hearing more about that in the near future via the TiME discussion list.

We had several volunteers at our committee meetings who said they would write an article for this newsletter.  I want to thank all who volunteered.  Since we are a paperless newsletter, length is not a problem, so anyone wishing to contribute a technology related article, report on a technology event/workshop etc. attended, or announce an upcoming technology event/workshop etc., please e–mail your information to myself at Jkissick@pcc.edu, or to our newsletter editor, Joyce Oster at interact@ici.net or joster@jwu.edu

New additions to the TiME Web page include links to the AMATYC position papers which were developed by the TiME committee and pictures from the committee meetings in Chicago.  See if you can find yourself.  My thanks to Phil Thurber for maintaining the web page.

Hope everyone is enjoying 2001.
 
 

TiME Committee Minutes - Chicago 2000 

Joyce Oster, Secretary/Editor
Johnson & Wales University
interact@ici.net

TiME Committee Chicago Conference Minutes
November 10 - 11, 2000

AGENDA:
 

• Introductions

• Committee responsibilities:

 

Chair:	Jerry Kissick
Newsletter:	Joyce Oster
MATHEDCC discussion list:	Wayne Mackey
TiME Committee discussion list:	Darrell Abney
TiME Committee web page:	Brian Smith/Phil Thurber

• Web Page
 Comments
 Suggestions for additions

• Newsletter articles for next year
 Volunteers–self or colleague

• Equal Access to Technology

Introductions of committee and sub-committee chairs, and those in attendance were the first order of business.

During our committee meetings in Pittsburgh, the committee established sub-committees to help the committee function more efficiently.  The sub-committee chairs have now been revised to reflect who is actually doing the work. 
 
 

Chair	Jerry Kissick
Newsletter	Joyce Oster
MATHEDCC discussion list	Brian Smith/Wayne Mackey
TiME Committee discussion list	Brian Smith/Darrell Abney
TiME Committee web page	Phil Thurber

Jerry Kissick would like to have a one-paragraph review of various software from those who have proficiency with a particular software. These reviews will be published in the newsletter.

Question:  Would the web page be a forum for computer science and math (not MIS)?  Not answered, but remains a possibility.

With regard to the Newsletter: 

Requests for articles and committals before we end the conference.
Newsletter prints 3 times per year.
Darrell Abney, Wayne Mackey and Mark Harbison will all submit articles for future issues.

With regard to Equal Access:

Statement from the Board: Develop and implement a plan to encourage colleges to address the issue of equal access, in school and at home, to technology by students in all income groups.

There was further discussion on the position statements of the AMATYC, and the instructional use of technology in mathematics.

Darrell Abney recommended that there be a link to these statements on the web page for TiME.  In fact, any applicable links to TiME should be linked to the TiME web page.

Wayne Mackey and Darrell Abney will provide examples of these.

All students should have access to calculators.  If some students cannot afford the expense, then those students should have the opportunity to rent.  For example, for those students  who do not  purchase a TI-83, they should have the option of renting one for about $20.00. 

Schools should investigate modes for this access and/or establishing partnerships with industries to help the lower income students with free access to computers.

Darrell Abney, Jerry Kissick, and  Wayne Mackey all think we need a recommendation.

Darrell Abney suggests a change in wording from “in school” to “at college” 

Further discussion/recommendations on the following topics:

• What technology should members of TiME address?
• What technology  should be available to students?
• What does "available" actually mean?
• What technology are we using at what level??
• Mathematica/Maple/Derive used at some schools for all assignments
• Perhaps a TiME survey could serve as a source of information?

Jerry Kissick will share the listing of online comments to him with regard to his question about technology uses.
It appears that the home issue, and not the school issue, is the critical issue at hand.  Those who do not have the technology at home are limited.  And, most especially, with the distance learning courses, which generally demand a more capable computer, and not a "486 reject".

Wayne Mackey suggested that for those who do have a home computer, access is being used more by personal PC rather that school computers.  Perhaps, renting computers may be a solution, as in renting calculators (see above).

Karen Estes recommended that perhaps students should be required to have computers.  That is, having a computer today is  becoming a necessity and not just a luxury.

Darrell Abney suggested that financial aid could help.

Other recommendations included:

• Raise tuition, and provide all students with their own computers.
• If no computer at home, use the ones at the school lab.
• Sympathetic towards those who cannot afford computers. 
• For those who cannot afford, a rental/loan policy should be put into effect.

Judy Chilcott cautioned that some instructors are not even ready with the technology curriculum, so why should we insist that all students have computers.  To rent a computer for $50.00 would probably not get a good enough computer to run higher order software.  Since at many schools the TI-83 is rented via the library, why not rent a computer in this manner?   Grades can be held back  if calculator/computer is not returned.  Discussion: This could open up problems with the privacy issue.

Saturday Meeting Discussions (November 11, 2000)

A distance learning committee for AMATYC was established during the conference, and Karen Estes will be the liaison from the TiME committee to this new committee.

Wade Ellis has promised to write an article for the TiME newsletter, and Brian Smith will write an article following the AMS/MAA combined meetings on the session he is co-sponsoring dealing with innovative uses of the World Wide Web.

Brian Smith presented what he has been able to find out about the problems with the MATHEDCC server at the Math Archives.  As far as he has been able to determine, funding for supporting the Archives has ended and the managers have not been able to work on the problems.  Brian will attempt to communicate further with the managers, however a switch to another server may be our best solution. 

Following the meeting, the MATHEDCC discussion list was changed to another server and the list is functioning again.

More on Equal Access:

If computers are required by math courses, then the following are possible recommendations for AMATYC to make to colleges:

•  Students should have access to internet through the college.
•  There should be remote sites available for students in out-lying areas.
•  Institutions should consider establishing computer rental or donation programs for low income students.
•  Possible organizations to check with for additional information: AACC; MAA/AMS

As Board Liaison to the TiME Committee, Jay Malmstrom will check on the possibility of modifying a current position paper and find out if a modification must go through the same process as a new paper, or whether a streamlined process can be followed.
 

Suggested topics may include your experiences with graphing calculators, interactive math software for teaching and learning, distance education and/or online teaching.  Other suggestions can include a list of your favorite web sites or other Internet resources for mathematics, etc. 

Please submit these to me at interact@ici.net or joster@jwu.edu, with a copy to our Chairperson Jerry Kissick at jkissick@pcc.edu. 

Reminder of Important Dates:

Currently, the TiME Committee has three printings for its Newsletter: Fall, Winter, Spring.   With this in mind, please mark the following dates:

 

ISSUE:	PRINTING:	DEADLINE FOR SUBMITTALS:
Spring 2001	May 2001	April 15, 2001
Fall 2001	September 2001	August 15, 2001
Winter 2001-2002	January 2002	December 15, 2001