I have taught a variety of courses from College Algebra to graduate Complex Analysis.  No matter the level of the material, though, the best part is helping students struggle with an idea until they finally "get it."  I use a lot of technology, but the goal of all of it is to connect with the students.  Most of my course materials are now located on our WebCT server, but some resources are included in the links on the left.

Awards

•   2006 President's Excellence In Teaching Award
•   2005 TTU SIAM Chapter's Graduate Professor of the Year
•   Member of the TTU Teaching Academy

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

Since September 2003, I have served as co-PI on an interdisciplinary NSF grant to study the effectiveness of LearnStar on student achievement.  So far, I have integrated LearnStar competitions into Calculus I, Computer Literacy for Elementary Education Majors, and even our graduate Linear Algebra course.  Results thus far have been extremely positive and have led to one paper, a one-hour talk at an international meeting, two one-hour workshops at the West Virginia Department of Education’s Higher Education Symposium, and a talk at the Joint Mathematics Meetings.

Jerry Dwyer, Gary Harris, Tara Stevens, and myself have just completed a TEA-sponsored project introducing middle school teachers to LOGO.  LOGO has been around for a long time, but its amazing how well it still captures the imagination of students (and teachers, too!).

I recently revised the mathematics sequence for in-service teachers seeking an Interdisciplinary Sciences Master’s Degree. As part of this project, I also created online courses for teachers unable to travel to Lubbock. The courses are hosted on our WebCT server and include animated lectures, (ungraded) Macromedia Flash quizzes to assess student learning during the lectures, and (graded) WebCT quizzes to check for weak areas in student understanding. Once a week, students meet in the chat room to discuss the lectures and receive feedback.

Technology I Use in My Courses

•   LearnStar
•   Personal Response Units
•   WebWork
•   WebCT
•   CirclePack
•   Camtasia
•    Maple
•    Excel

Teaching Philosophy

My extensive use of technology should not be interpreted as an abandonment of rigor in favor of flashy presentations. Education must lead to understanding, not button-pushing. Much more detailed information about my ideas concerning teaching, technology and such things are included in my Teaching Philosophy.

Other Teaching/Service Activities

Since 2001, I have served as Mathematics Event Director for the University Interscholastic League Region 1.  Other outreach activities include presenting workshops at the 2001 TTU Math and Science Extravaganza and 2006 Emmy Noether Day,  serving as a judge at the 2004 and the 2005 Regional Science Fair, and serving as head mathematics judge at the 2004 Exxon/Mobil Texas State Science Fair. 

 From 2001 to 2003 and 2004-2006, I have served on the departmental Undergraduate Advisory Committee.  My experiences teaching four different teacher preparation courses have given me a great concern for the state of K-12 education.  Thus I was also very pleased to visit several schools across West Texas with Roger Barnard and Carl Seaquist to interview finalists for the Helen I. Medley Outstanding Teacher Award.

Older Courses I've Taught