M@th Desktop and MDTools

Reinhard Simonovits and Phil Ramsden

University of Graz, Austria and Imperial College, London, UK

What are M@th Desktop and MDTools?

Mathematica-based teaching and learning packages.

Written by Reinhard Simonovits, University of Graz, Austria.

Aimed at undergraduates and high school students.

M@th Desktop and MDTools

Integrated suite of resources

Library packages (that is, .m files)

Menus and menu items

Palettes

Help System content

Notebooks

M@th Desktop vs MDTools: what's the difference?

MDTools just has functionality

Special commands

Palettes

Resources for authors

M@th Desktop also has curriculum content:

Differentiation, integration, statistics (so far)

Lessons

Worked examples

Activities

Homeworks

Assessment tasks

(Eventually) projects

Pedagogy

"Didactic concept" blended learning

Computer-based resources should be used in more than one way

Hands-on sessions

Teacher-led activities

Problem-solving

Project work

etc

Computer-based resources should be used alongside other resources

Not designed to replace lectures and tutorials

Decisions about teaching should be made by the teacher

Not designed to replace lecturers and tutors

History and immediate future

History

Developed in Graz, Austria

So far, used mainly at University of Graz and affiliate high schools

Pedagogic evaluation (Bernd Thaller, University of Graz) carried out

Available on request

Identifies key strengths

Identifies priorities for future development

Immediate future

EU funding secured for further development

Embedding, esp. in high schools

Teacher training (continuing professional development)

Fresh content (e.g. linear algebra)

Translation and curricular localisation

Formative evaluation and iterative design

European consortium

Austria, Germany, Italy, Czech Republic, Sweden, Finland, United Kingdom

Range of types of institution: universities, high schools, teacher training institutions

Thoughts arising from TechConf 2005

Partnership with Wolfram

Training

Licensing model(s) for institutions

Dissemination and marketing

Response to new Wolfram technologies

Impact of V6.0?

Manipulable interactives

Animate

New resources for authors (palette generation etc)

Impact of Collaboration Tool?

New possibilities for classroom use

Distance learning?

Further development/review of "blended learning" pedagogy

Is this sort of stuff covered by the EU funding?

Not at all clear...

www.deltasoft.at