This semester I am teaching Calculus II. My class is small and intimate with a dozen students, half of whom were in my Calculus I course last semester. The biggest challenge I have as an instructor of Calculus is the variety of knowledge students enter the course with. Some students have taken Calculus in High School, while other students may not have seen the prerequisite material before. As an instructor, how can I make Calculus refreshing and enjoyable for all students in the course?
Recently, I came across a great resource to supplement my Calculus lectures when I was searching the internet for ways to enhance tomorrow's lecture on L'Hospital's Rule: Khan Academy. Salman Khan, not to be confused with the Bollywood actor, has posted 1800+ self-narrated, self-produced online tutorials on various topics in math, science and humanities. The collection of Calculus topics spans an introduction of limits to Green's theorem. He quit his job as a hedge fund manager to fulfill his mission to provide a world-class education to anyone, anywhere. Amazing!
Khan Academy's free mini-leactures are a wonderful resource for students who need to brush up on their Algrebra and Pre-Calculus, or those who would like to revise concepts discussed during lectures. I highly recommend Khan's conversational approach to communicating the ideas of Calculus in a simple, understandable way. See it for yourself at http://www.khanacademy.org/ and maybe you can find ways to contribute to this fantastic endeavor in making Mathematics and other subjects accessible to all.
Recently, I came across a great resource to supplement my Calculus lectures when I was searching the internet for ways to enhance tomorrow's lecture on L'Hospital's Rule: Khan Academy. Salman Khan, not to be confused with the Bollywood actor, has posted 1800+ self-narrated, self-produced online tutorials on various topics in math, science and humanities. The collection of Calculus topics spans an introduction of limits to Green's theorem. He quit his job as a hedge fund manager to fulfill his mission to provide a world-class education to anyone, anywhere. Amazing!
Khan Academy's free mini-leactures are a wonderful resource for students who need to brush up on their Algrebra and Pre-Calculus, or those who would like to revise concepts discussed during lectures. I highly recommend Khan's conversational approach to communicating the ideas of Calculus in a simple, understandable way. See it for yourself at http://www.khanacademy.org/ and maybe you can find ways to contribute to this fantastic endeavor in making Mathematics and other subjects accessible to all.
