My area of interest

I haven't quite narrowed down my focus on my area of interest for this course but perhaps someone (Dr. Ferdig?) can offer some specific direction if what I propose is too broad. I also have 2 options in mind and, after attending a particularly inspiring presentation at the SIGCSE conference today, I am inclined to choose my second option. Here are the two I am considering but I am leaning toward Option 2:

Option 1: I have always been very interested in how, given the fact that people in online classes do not interact face-to-face, it may be possible for a teacher to respond to students without any positive or negative connotations that may arise from preconceived notions about certain demographic features like race, age, gender, and so on. While many online instructors request students to post introductions or short biographies, I don’t. I like the idea that I am interacting with students solely on the basis of their performance in my class. Even with introductions, online classes still cut down on interactions based on preconceived notions of these factors or other forms of stereotyping.

It has occurred to me that using avatars instead of photos and text bios might reduce preconceptions affecting student-teacher (and student-student) interaction even more.

Therefore, this semester I would like to learn a lot more about avatars. I know some large corporations conduct online meetings with members using their avatars. Second Life is a venue that has fascinating applications. This is one area I am considering pursuing this semester.

Option 2: The second area of interest I have in mind is to develop new ways to teach Logic to my Programming Logic students through historical sources. Presently I am "lead instructor" for a course entitled Programming Logic and Design. This is my favorite course. However, every semester I am dismayed at how many students find logical thought so difficult. Learning to use truth tables, compound conditions, and the like seems to be harder for students than I imagined it would be. Since it is not hard for me, I often find myself frustrated because I cannot find ways to make it clearer to my students. I need to find a way to get students to reason and think logically and most of the conventional methods do not seem to do the trick.

The presentation I attended this morning was given by 3 professors at New Mexico State University. They use historical sources by studying the works of logicians and philosophers as a vehicle to get students to understand and use reasoning systems. These professors teach students at a much higher level than those I teach at Santa Fe College. However, I believe their premises would work at my level if I do some hard work to create viable options for my students.

I would propose, over the course of the semester, to study the works of such mathematicians, logisticians, and philosophers as Aristotle, Euclid, the Stoic philosophers (especially Chrysippus), Bertrand Russell, Alfred Whitehead, George Boole, and Ludwig Wittgenstein and, using their principles, design modules and/or exercises for my Programming Logic class.