ATG Interviews John T. Nardini, PhD Postdoctoral Scholar, SAMSI & N.C. State University https://johnnardini.wordpress.ncsu.edu/ • <jtnardin@ncsu.edu>
by Bob Nardini (Vice President, Library Services, ProQuest Books) <bob.nardini@proquest.com> Author’s Note: John Nardini was one of the many thousands of university professors across the world forced by COVID-19 to move their teaching so quickly from an actual classroom to an online classroom. John and I talked recently about what this experience was like for him and for his students. — BN
Teaching Math: From Homework to Home Work ATG: John, please tell our readers a little about yourself. JN: Hello! I am currently a postdoctoral scholar in Biomathematics at North Carolina State (NC State) University in Raleigh, NC. I also have a joint appointment in precision medicine at the Statistical and Applied Mathematical Sciences Institute in Durham, NC. ATG: Tell us about the course you’re teaching and about your students. JN: I am currently teaching MA 225: Foundations of Advanced Mathematics. My students are transitioning from very computation-heavy calculus courses into the more analytical aspects of advanced mathematics. The focus of the course is to introduce students to methods commonly used to prove mathematical claims, proper presentation of these proofs, and the logical structure underlying these different proof methods. My current class is pretty small. I have 18 students, most of whom are either first or second-year students. Most are mathematics majors, although some are also double majoring in an engineering discipline or majoring in statistics with a minor in mathematics. ATG: How far into the course was the class before it went online? How much notice did you have to prepare for online teaching, and how did you prepare? JN: The semester is 15 weeks long, and we found out that we’d be transitioning to an online format 9 weeks in. We were told about this transition during our spring break, and NC State cancelled classes the following week to give faculty time to prepare. That week was very help 42 Against the Grain / June 2020
ful for me, as I was able to read articles on useful technology for online classrooms, practice using this new technology, and determine how to best structure my future lectures, homework, and exams. The most valuable resource for me during this preparatory week was Twitter. I follow all sorts of academics on my Twitter page, and my feed was full of suggestions for how to be accommodating of students’ needs during this trying time. For example, many professors were advocating to just give all students A’s at the end of semester because of the extreme difficulties some may be facing. While I didn’t adopt this strategy, I was sure to be clear with my students that all course assignments were now secondary to their health, happiness, and well-being. I am continuously telling students now that they can consider all assignments due on the last day of finals. ATG: What platform or software are you using for the class? JN: We are currently using the Zoom software to meet for synchronous lectures and office hours. Because my students are now scattered throughout the country and may have difficulty maintaining their previous schedules, I record each lecture (a built-in Zoom function). I also use the Moodle platform for online course management. On my class’s Moodle page, I now post all previous assignments with solutions, in-class assignments, class re-
cordings, lecture notes, and the textbook pdf. With so many possible challenges for all of my students during this transition, my goal is just to make class material as accessible for students as possible. ATG: You mentioned a textbook. Can you tell us about the textbook you use? JN: Professor Jo-Ann Cohen from NC State has written her own lecture notes for this class and made them openly available to students and faculty teaching this course. I am happy to use this resource because my students are not required to spend any money on a course textbook. I’ve enjoyed these course notes because they encourage students to think critically about course definitions and their implications. For example, we begin with proofs on even and odd numbers early on in the course. Instead of simply stating that “a whole number cannot be both even and odd,” Dr. Cohen’s book asks students to explore what might happen if a whole number were both odd and even (answer: this number would end up contradicting the definition of being either odd or even!). ATG: How common is it for your colleagues to assign textbooks not produced by a traditional publisher? JN: It isn’t common. Dr. Cohen’s book is one of the first of its kind that I knew about. The majority of math classes are taught from textbooks published commercially. But I am very encouraged by Dr. Cohen’s book and hope to see more open access books like this one offered for students. ATG: Do you assign any library resources in the class? JN: I have not. But students often ask me how they can get extra practice on problems before exams or how to access more material explaining class topics differently. In these cases, I always direct students to other textbooks available for checkout at the university library (during the switch to online courses, I now direct students to websites, eBooks, or YouTube videos). ATG: In teaching math, is that a typical approach to library resources? continued on page 44
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