The Daily Bulletin

Mathematics lecturer Nirmala Nutakki, the final participant in the Fostering Innovation in Teaching with Technology (FITT) Academy, will share the outcomes of her project, "Digital E-learning Modules to Support the Learning of Elementary Mathematics Content by Preservice Teacher," on Tuesday, April 23, from 12:15 to 12:45 p.m. in Science and Mathematics Complex 263. The FITT Academy Spring Symposium, a signature event of the FITT Academy, is a series of final presentations by the academy's group of faculty participants. Presentations are open to faculty, staff, students, and guests. Please see the Daily Bulletin for a complete list of FITT Academy presentations.

Ms. Nutakki's project integrated online learning modules in Adobe Captivate. Modules consisted of a sequence of problems that built concrete and intuitive understandings and gradually increased in difficulty and culminated in abstract perspectives.

The Internet offers a plethora of math videos. Unfortunately, most of them focus on teaching the steps in a mathematical procedure instead of developing conceptual understanding or providing opportunities to develop mathematical reasoning. Students often memorize a process to find an answer and can rarely explain the rationale behind their work. Like any complex activity, mathematics is best learned when students are actively engaged in the learning process instead of passively watching and re-watching videos. One of the difficulties in teaching math is bridging the various gaps that students bring to the classroom. Adobe Captivate provides an integrated e-learning environment that provides customized content and feedback to students instead of a one-size-fits-all approach to learning.