Abstract

Jim Gleason is in the Department of Mathematics at University of Alabama.

When I was first asked to teach an online distance education course, I was both excited and nervous -- excited about the new adventure, but nervous about teaching a topic I had never fully learned using a medium that I knew little about.

I was a post-doc at the University of Tennessee when the mathematics department head asked if I would teach the discrete mathematics course designed for secondary mathematics teachers. The majority of the students enrolled in the course were part of the ACCLAIM (Appalachian Collaborative Center for Learning, Assessment, and Instruction in Mathematics) doctoral program in mathematics education, and so my student were scattered across six states, which made a distance learning environment essential.

I discuss here what I learned about online mathematics courses, in terms of both curriculum and technology, and what I would suggest for those about to teach online.

© 2005, Jim Gleason

Published March, 2006