Separating Prime Cuts of Educational Technology from Common “Mystery Meat”
I will be presenting this summer at the Summer Institute in Olympia, WA. During my session, Math & Technology in Today’s Classroom, I’ll show how I use technology such as the electronic whiteboard, student response systems, software, mathcasts and video projects to promote student learning and achievement and for assessment (both formative and summative).
For those who want to learn more about mathcasts, I’m pleased to announce that Tim Fahlberg along with a wonderful team of partners (including yours truly 
) will be conducting a session at NECC entitled Mathcast Spaces: Thinking, Doing, and Sharing Mathematics Out Loud.
Tagging, Tumbling, and Mathcasting posted by Paul Allison is a jam-packed thirty-nine minutes that explores the power of tagging, teachers using tumblogs, mathcasts, VoiceThreads in health, speech, history, math, music, technology, and EFL classes. This session includes an interview with my friend, Tim Fahlberg, on mathcasts. What’s a mathcast, you ask? Well, mathcasts are screencasts (screen movies) of writing with voice that focus on mathematics, and Tim is the pioneer in this field who got me and my students started 3 years ago.
Click here to learn more about mathcasts and to view mathcasts created by me and my students. You can also learn more about mathcasts by visiting Tim’s mathcast wiki at http://math247.pbwiki.com/.
If you’d like to begin creating mathcasts and you use a Windows PC, then FreeScreenCast can make screencasting simple for you.
Just install the screencast recorder, select the part of the screen you want to record, record it, upload your screencast, and then share it. Give it a try!
Students were randomly placed in groups using the “pick a student” feature in CPS and were then given a problem having to do with polynomials from an ExamView problem bank. Each group or pair then created a mathcast of their solution and their reasoning. Some groups still have to finish up tomorrow but several are now posted at Mathematics with Mrs. O’Flynn: Mathcasts under Periods 1 and 6, Ch 6 Polynomials. Their next task is to evaluate their own movie using this checklist and feedback form and to get at least one other person (adult or student who is not a group member) to give them feedback.
My students would appreciate your feedback! Please send feedback to 
My students have published their first round of mathcasts this year. My Algebra 2 classes recorded portions of their cup lab in which they find a linear function that approximates the height of stacked cups, and our Pre Calculus mathcasts show and explain how to graph a sinusoid. You can view these projects at our school site under Mathcasts at http://www.woodlandschools.org/index.php?q=node/741 .
Presenting at EduComm this year was a great experience but didn’t really allow time in my schedule to attend any sessions. Well, here is a page of 2007 EduComm Post-Event Conference Material with links to handouts and videos of sessions so now I can watch them. And so can you. 
I have posted a video that shows how to create a mathcast:
I created this video using my Hitachi Starboard software and BT-G2 Bluetooth tablet, but it’s a very similar process if you’ve got a SMARTboard.
In PodScreenMathSlideSketchCasting, Jon Udell discusses sketchcasting by Richard Ziade and compares it to mathcasts by Tim Fahlberg.
My students and I began creating mathcasts two years ago after with Tim Fahlberg - what a great guy! I’ve always called them mathcasts since that’s the term Tim used, but in fact we use a combination of techniques and many of our mathcasts are sketchcasts about math. Jon is right when he says:
As words suffixed with cast proliferate — pod, screen, math, sketch, slide — it can all seem a bit bewildering.
Whatever you call it, it is a great learning tool in the classroom that allows you to personally listen to every student as they talk and write about (insert subject area). You can use a wide range of technology but if you’ve got an interactive whiteboard in your classroom, it probably has built-in screenrecording capabilities that make this a piece of cake. Give it a try!
I’ve updated the Mathcasts, The Sustainable Classroom, and About Patty pages.
Mathcasts: I’ve included links to student projects and to some of my own videos, directions for creating your own mathcast, and links to other mathcast resources on the web.
The Sustainable Classroom: I have included a link to a video created by ESD 112 of my students and I using and discussing the technology we received through our participation in the Sustainable Classroom Grant.
About Patty: I’ve updated this page with information about technology grants that I have or am currently participating in, presentations I have given, and articles and press releases about our classroom and projects.
You can either click on these links or use the menu at the top of each page to visit these pages. Enjoy!
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