For the past few years I have done an informal analysis of the
"technology" sessions at the annual NCTM meetings. I've been
interested in seeing if there is any relationship between the
number of sessions that include some reference to technology and
the actual use of technology in the classroom. I realize that not
all presenters who discuss technology in their talks make a
reference to it in their titles, but I do think that the numbers
indicate some relationship (whatever that is). Here's this years
report:
The number of sessions that make an overt reference to some
form of technology has been surprisingly consistent over the
past few years and the average has been about 10%. This year I
did my count while putting the titles into three categories:
calculators, the Internet, and miscellaneous (which includes
software, fractals, spreadsheets, multimedia, CD-ROM, etc.).
This year the percentage is approximately 13% which I think
reflects the program committee's effort to make technology a
viable offering at the conference. Here is the breakdown:
- The most significant increase (which I expected) are
sessions on the use of the Internet. Out of 1065* sessions,
there were 24 sessions that referred to the Internet. This is
a big jump from last year's total of 7 though the percentage
of the total is only 2.3%.
- Graphing calculators continue to be the most dominate
technology. There were 63 sessions (6%) that referred to
calculator use. In most cases the title included the model
number: TI-80, 82, 83, or 92 with the TI-92 leading with 14
references.
- A big surprise for me was that there are very few
references to specific software packages. Most of the
miscellaneous technology sessions (52 or 5%) seemed to focus
on the "bigger picture" though I*m sure many specific examples
will be discussed and demonstrated.
- There are 10 sessions that discuss Fractals.
*In the book there are 1063 sessions. But some sessions have been
cancelled and others have been added by using decimal numbers.
(For those of you that like scavenger hunts, see how many of these
sessions you can find.)
A Place to Learn About Technology
Last year in San Diego there was a technology conference within a
conference. (See Daryl Stermon's
report). It ran concurrently with the regular conference and
was conveniently held in the Convention Center. This year's
technology CWAC (conference within a conference) #672 (p 103)
organized by Jon Choate is entitled Using the World Wide
Web to Improve the Teaching of Mathematics" and will be held
only on Saturday, but it is located conveniently at the Marriott.
You need to sign up for it in advance!
There will also be a technology lab (Room 202) available for
hands-on software exploration and Internet access. Room
availability will be posted.
The Cost of Renting Technology: Who Makes the Decision?
Earlier this month I received my audio visual request form for
my presentation at the conference. Since I wanted to show a
video I went to check off the appropriate box. I noticed that
included next to the box was the cost of renting a VCR and a
monitor for my session. It was $90. Being the "humble" person
that I am, I said to myself: "Do I really need to add to NCTM's
financial burdens? I was about to say no, when I realized that
my talk would be seriously hampered by that decision. I wonder
who else decided to give up a piece of technology (and hurt the
quality of their presentation) for the sake of saving NCTM some
money? Though I understand what the intent is, it seems to me
that there might be better way to save money than to make
presenters feel "guilty" about making "lavish" audio visual
requests.
Listing of technology
sessions in Minneapolis