- Demo of Intros-Blockly: https://stevenclontz.github.io/Intros-Blockly/
- Source: https://github.com/stevenclontz/Intros-Blockly
- View SpaTeXt: https://spatext.clontz.org/
- Run Coq: https://coq.vercel.app/scratchpad.html
- Fact: Many talented students of abstract mathematics, even those who will successfully defend a PhD dissertation someday, will not be in research faculty positions.
- Of those, many will go into tech, often teaching themselves how to code or relying on previous CS coursework.
- Proposal: Why not scaffold mathematical engagement, even abstract mathematics, with technology?
- Open-source infrastructure for student mathematical projects:
- GitHub - repository for storing/sharing open-source code
- Free pro account for students and educators: https://education.github.com/discount_requests/application
- GitHub Codespaces - free virtual computers to write/run code in a webbrowser (no installs!)
- Example of push-button activation: https://github.com/PreTeXtBook/pretext-codespace
- GitHub - repository for storing/sharing open-source code
- Open-source technologies to consider utilizing:
- Python/SageMath (lots of math functionality built-in)
- HTML/Javascript (dissemination as static websites that can be accssed by directly visiting a URL)
- Obvious problem:
- No one taught us how to do this stuff!
- Less obvious solutions?…
- Find a tech solution for a problem you have in your faculty responsibilites, and convince yourself learning how to build it will save you time.
- (Protip: it probably won’t, but maybe it will help others…)
- Convince leadership to value this work as scholarly activity.
- Find a tech solution for a problem you have in your faculty responsibilites, and convince yourself learning how to build it will save you time.
- GitHub projects that need more mathematicians:
- PreTeXt-Runestone, ecosystem for authoring, publishing, and researching open-source educational resources
- CheckIt, framework for authoring open-source randomized assessments exportable to both print and LMS
- pi-Base, database of topological spaces based upon Steen/Seebach’s Counterexamples in Topology text
- The standard reference for general topology questions on Math.StackExchange
Call to action
The best way to get started is to get involved in a community!
- PreTeXt-Runestone Zoom dropins: announcements
- CheckIt-App channel on Alternative Grading Slack: invite
- pi-Base or anything else: email me
Open question: how do we build infrastructure for faculty to support students in this way?