What fascinates me about this online math stuff ...
June Lester
Simon Fraser University
... is trying to figure out how it works, how it should work, and
how it all fits together. Not from a techie viewpoint, but from a user one
- for those of us who want to communicate or teach mathematics online.
This talk will be a somewhat idiosyncratic tour of some musings on a few
questions I've been thinking about lately, such as
Online labs or interactive diagrams - just what is it we're trying to do with online mathematics? How is doing mathematics online different from doing science online?
- Old math by new means or new and different mathematics - how does the technology change the nature of the mathematics?
- How does mathematical interactivity actually communicate the mathematics? And how should it be designed to communicate that mathematics effectively?
- or any other such questions that surface in the meantime. I
don't promise answers - trying to find the appropriate questions is hard
enough. I don't even promise clarity - if this stuff were clear, I
wouldn't be wondering about it in the first place. I do have a few modest
insights, but mostly I'd like to bounce some speculations off interested
and knowledgeable ears, with the hope of generating useful directions to
look in for answers.