I have witnessed and participated in in many changes in the educational landscape over my almost four decades in the business. Expressions such as flipped classroom, teacher-centred, student-centred, instructor, facilitator, coach, mentor, project-based learning, explicit teaching and more have contributed to the vocabulary used to describe this evolutionary process.

Through it all however, I believe an important constant to recognise is that teachers and students have different roles to play in education.

Subsequently, I have found the perfect technology solution for my maths classroom to be the marriage of TI-Nspire CAS software for me and handheld units for my students. OK, I also have the luxury of a Navigator system, but that’s really the icing on the cake. And sure, I’m also a big fan of the vast offerings from full computer technologies; laptops, tablets and phones with access to endless data via internet connectivity. I have reflected on this again while reading the VCE Mathematics Review and associated background papers. However, I find myself returning to the proven model of TI software/handheld partnership and conclude that the reason for this is that these are specific built-for-purpose tools rather than high-powered, but generic computing machines. It comes back to that difference in roles of teacher and student and, corresponding with that, a difference in tools. I have heard the argument of ‘why should students use a technology in their schooling that they are unlikely to use in their later working life’. The answer is because it is specifically designed for their schooling.

At every stage in the development of TI educational technologies, the engineers, designers and managers consult established educational research and seek feedback from practicing teachers. The happy tech model that I conveniently employ in my classroom is not just a lucky accident, but the result of careful design. 

For me, the TI-Nspire Premium Teacher Software is simply the best. I use it for demonstrating, generating discussion and collecting student assessment data (with the help of TI-Navigator). I also use it to distribute files to students and collect files and screen-shots back from them. Although the software is my primary tool-of-trade, I still use my handheld unit for straight out portability about the classroom. My standard lesson generally consists of some whole-class instruction (Teacher Software) followed by individual and small-group assistance about the classroom as students work on their assigned exercises (Handheld  unit). I also know that, although students primarily use their handheld units, they also utilise the student software, mostly in their home study, collecting screen-shots for their notes. I have seen this feature to be especially useful for students studying by distance education as they can screen-shot evidence of their working and paste into assignments.

I absolutely believe that the principal role of educational technology is for the enhancement of student learning. However, I also know from experience that what has become the defining factor for most schools and school systems is whatever technology is or isn’t permitted for use in senior exams. Here again, the handheld unit is the best solution (though as I have stated its educational value extends way beyond that of simply being an exam tool). Handheld calculators do NOT have student to student connectivity other than via a physical link cable. Even their capacity for Wi-Fi connectivity (TI-Navigator system) requires fitting a bright yellow Wi-Fi adaptor and communication is only between individual students and the teacher. Further yet, in jurisdictions that specify the lockdown of specified calculator functions for exams, the TI engineers have installed a ‘Press-to-Test’ mode especially for such situations. The point is that the calculators are deliberately designed for this. Computers are not. I have seen situations where schools have tried to use computers for exams – with disastrous consequences. School computer technicians have been challenged to lockdown laptops to prevent students from communicating with each other or the broader internet. The worst I’ve seen is where students tried to access online exams, with the school server collapsing under the stress and panic-stricken invigilators needing to quickly organise paper copies of the exams.

Yes, computers are more powerful machines than calculators, but they are not more powerful in this situation, because they are not primarily designed for the task. The conclusion is very simple – if you seek to incorporate a technology for education, select one that is specifically engineered for education. Want to know more?      https://education.ti.com/en-au        

When I started teaching in the mid 80’s, it was evident then that emerging computer technology was poised to play a significant role in the future educational landscape. I had interacted with my first computer at university in 1980. Although I never actually saw it, I was assured that it existed in a large room somewhere behind the wall where I studiously typed my code. I first saw a personal computer in 1983 and by the time I started in schools a couple of years later, they were reasonably commonplace. Initially school software packages were mostly fixed programs, generally little more than a novelty, but then the first word processors arrived and my typewriter became redundant. For a maths teacher however, the big leap forward was the spreadsheet; a virtually endless page of inter-related computations. This definitely had potential. I remember using this combined with BASIC and LOGO in attempt to build some sort of algebraic function grapher. My endeavour at that only produced limited success. However by the end of the decade, there became various software packages available that achieved the basics of what I wanted.

Although not absolutely ideal, I managed to roster my students access to this useful facility and it greatly enhanced their capacity to realise links between the geometry and the algebra. But wouldn’t it be wonderful if they could access such technology on a full-time 1:1 basis?! Enter the 1990s and you know what happened.

I was at a regional maths conference when somebody placed a miniature (calculator-sized) pedagogically-dedicated device in my hand. Not only did it have an advanced but interactive function-plotter, but also onboard was a powerful and demonstrative statistics package. This handheld device would have been a TI-81 or TI-82.

Within a couple of years the partnership was completed when I got hold of an LCD panel that sat upon an overhead projector while attached to the teacher’s calculator. I could demonstrate, students could follow and explore, and we could all discuss. At about the same time, laptop computers joined the mix but they were incredibly expensive. While the standard practice of many other teachers was to book their class into “the computer room”, I was to be seen walking along the corridor with the LCD panel under my arm as I headed for my next class. I should point out that at that stage the handheld technology was not yet permitted for use in exams. I simply saw it as a pedagogical tool – one that was much more flexible and superior to the computer room model.

By mid 90s the handheld technology had advanced to the point of incorporating a Computer Algebra System (CAS) and it became clear that our examination system of memory tests and algorithmic processes needed to change. The bar was raised and, with the first CAS-active examinations accompanying the new millennium, students were required more than ever before to demonstrate their ability to apply mathematical understanding and real problem solving.

Within the next decade many schools were implementing 1:1 laptop programs, with the computer power and connectivity of these machines far exceeding that of the handheld devices. I thought that perhaps that might spell the end for my beloved handheld device (which by then was a TI-Nspire).

But remember that partnership thing. By utilising a projector screen to share demonstrations from laptop software (TI-Nspire CAS) and having my students simultaneously extend their own explorations with what is essentially the same software but on smaller, more portable handheld devices, we now have demonstration, shared discussion and student investigation all perfectly catered for. This now is the ideal partnership and I am not exaggerating when I say that this is the model that I have now employed in every lesson of every day for nearly all of the past decade. The underlying reason for the success of this ultimate model is simple – the technology I am using was designed and developed specifically for education. Computer and laptop technology, while certainly very useful, are not in themselves task specific and purpose-built education tools. Computer technology will continue to advance but will never match TI handheld devices for their value in portability, pedagogy, and simple convenience as an examination tool.