Category Archives: General
Active Calculus v.12.30.13 – updates
This fall I was glad to have a much larger number of beta testers using Active Calculus; about 10 of my GVSU colleagues used it for either our calculus I or calculus II, and at least that many other people … Continue reading
Three months later, …
My last post was September 4, 2013. Oops. In the first week of October, I got a new (additional) job at GVSU: director of faculty advisors for freshman orientation. Given that we welcome over 4000 new first-year students each summer, … Continue reading
Making my teaching more public
I’ve made a promise to blog regularly this fall on my experiences in teaching calculus I at GVSU using Active Calculus. Before starting that endeavor, here are a few overall thoughts. Teaching is an oddly private endeavor. While it is … Continue reading
College textbook prices: up close and personal
In the year since starting this blog, I’ve posted frequently about the rising costs of college texts, including here, here, and here. Recently I learned that it’s one thing to read articles about the issue or to hear students talk … Continue reading
Active Calculus: now endorsed by the American Institute of Mathematics
One of the goals of the American Institute of Mathematics (AIM) is “to encourage the adoption of open source and open access mathematics textbooks.” Their editorial board maintains a list of approved texts that have been reviewed according to their … Continue reading
Posted in General, Publicity, Publishing, Resources
Tagged calculus, free, online, open source, resources, textbooks
Comments Off on Active Calculus: now endorsed by the American Institute of Mathematics
Looking ahead to fall semester
In an earlier post, I mentioned that I’m excited to have a considerable number of my colleagues at GVSU teaching from Active Calculus this fall. One reason is that an increase in people using it will lead to suggestions and … Continue reading
On work-life balance
This has little to do with calculus, but everything to do with the profession that typically delivers calculus. If you haven’t read this wonderful post by Radhika Nagpal, who teaches computer science at Harvard, you should.
Posted in General
Comments Off on On work-life balance
A great text, newly free
[Sheepish apologies for my too-long absence from blogging. Life!] My friend and GVSU colleague Ted Sundstrom has recently made his wonderful text, Mathematical Reasoning, free to the public. After being originally published by Prentice Hall in two separate editions and … Continue reading
Using Geogebra in Calculus
Last week Thursday I gave a colloquium talk at a local college on some of my favorite results in the area of mathematics known as “the geometry of polynomials.” During the talk, I used a couple of demonstrations built in … Continue reading
Posted in General, Publishing
Tagged activities, calculus, free, resources, technology
Comments Off on Using Geogebra in Calculus
What Leads to the High Prices of Textbooks?
Lots of hard work goes into the writing of any textbook. No question about that. But few textbook companies front that money to the author(s). Further, while textbook companies regularly cite the high costs of developing and producing texts, those … Continue reading
