A mathcast is a screen recording of writing plus voice and/or text explaining a mathematical concept or solving a problem. The movie is then produced to Flash movie format and distributed via CD or Internet. With mathcasts both the creator and the viewer get to see and hear the mathematical thinking step by-step. They get the process and not just the result and they can have it when and as many times as they want. Mathcasts are the ultimate in asynchronous learning providing a simple and inexpensive means of interaction at the teacher-student, teacher-teacher, student-teacher and student-student level.

Our particular emphasis is on using this technology and the Internet for virtual, audio-visual-interactivities, which promote a positive attitude towards mathematics and develop ways to harness and inspire the creative ideas of young people to produce and then share mathematical skills and knowledge essential to be competitive in a highly technical employment market.

Participants
1. will understand the learning and collaborative benefits of mathcasts for both students and teachers.
2. will see how easy it is for students as young as 9 or 10 to create mathcasts and see the engaging nature of creating mathcasts.
3. will leave knowing that mathcasts can be created inexpensively, distributed in many ways, and be used in many contexts to address many needs.
4. will leave having a vision for what mathcast spaces are and why teens will want to create and share mathcasts there
5. will leave with an outline of the presentation and websites to help them continue learning beyond the session
6. will be presented with the opportunity to join a community of learners through a wiki.

Outline

1. (15 minutes) Introduction and demonstration of mathcast creation and production (including videos by students with their voices and enthusiasm).
2. (15 minutes) Demonstration and discussion of learning & collaborative benefits of mathcasts (including videos by teachers with their voices).
3. (15 minutes) Demonstration of mathcast spaces - how students and teachers collaborate and inspire each other using mathcasts embedded in Second Life, MySpace, FaceBook, etc.
4. (10 minutes) Sharing of resources that show what tools are needed, how to afford them, how to use them.
5. (5 minutes) Invitation to audience to connect and collaborate beyond NECC 2008.

Process: During the presentation we will invite a few members of the audience to create and share mathcasts. We will also use a response system to engage the audience and to help direct our presentation.

Supporting Research

1. Whiteboard Math Movies (2006) by T. Fahlberg, L. Fahlberg-Stojanovska, G. MacNeil - Published in the Oxford Journal "Teaching Mathematics and its Applications".[In this article, we discuss whiteboard math movies (a.k.a. mathcasts) and their applications to mathematics education.]
2. The learning benefits of questions by Will Thalheimer (www.work-learning.com). [I often cite this paper when talking with teachers about the learning benefits of having students create mathcasts that answer questions.]
3. Study on the learning benefits of streamed movies cited by United Streaming. See www.unitedstreaming.com/homePages/evaluation2004.cfm [Research on the positive effects of tutoring on both the tutor and person being tutored.]

Presenter Background

Tim Fahlberg:
I pioneered the field of mathcasts starting some 10 years ago. I have received two grants while I was a math teacher which I used to purchase tools and develop methods which I shared with students and peers. I have created over 1,200 mathcasts and taught mathcast & screencast creation to many teachers and students in the US and abroad. I presented at NECC in 2004 and 2005.