Many teachers as well as students insist, ``Why shouldn't we use calculators? They'll always be around, and we'll never do long division in real life.'' This may be true. It's also true of most math. Not many of us need to figure the circumference of a circle or factor a quadratic equation for any practical reason. But that's not the sole purpose of teaching math. We teach it for thinking and discipline, both of which expand the mind and increase the student's ability to function as a contributing individual in society: the ultimate goals of education.

What is not a waste is ensuring that students comprehend and can use automatically the basics of math so that when their brains are ready for algebra, geometry and calculus, the ability to understand is implanted and ready to go. Judi Buenaflor; Allentown, Pa

don't get it! Every fall the new telephone book arrives, filled with lots of informa- tion and with loads of new numbers, so why don't we design a class that covers this material? Nowhere do we teach this infor- mation. Why don't we expect folks to study the telephone book and memorize the numbers? Grudgingly, I am forced to admit that no real justification for memo- rizing telephone numbers exists, as tempt- ing as it might be for me to teach this course

"The successful outcome of any educational program is highly dependent on how the students learn and how effectively they can function at the workplace after completion of their study."

This is an online wikibook that may serve as a good resource for the students that will be enrolled into my class. My current course, which is part 2 of 2, covers music from the Baroque to 20th Centuries. Students in my class can use this resource for both part 1, and part 2 of my class as it covers music from Medieval times to the present. It covers terms, vocabulary, compositions and composers. I believe that my students and I could use this as a reference point to an overview of each musical period.

In the video Award-Winning Tools, Tips and Techniques for Online Instruction, Dr. Shea states that a good learning environment is "learner-centered, knowledge-centered, assessment-centered, and community-centered".

"Students in both asynchronous and synchronous settings performed well. However, students taught using asynchronous videotaped lectures had lower satisfaction with the method of content delivery, and preferred live interactive sessions or a mix of interactive sessions and asynchronous videos over delivery of content using the synchronous or asynchronous method alone."

or access through UAlbany Library via Ebscohost. http://search.ebscohost.com.libproxy.albany.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=23584245&site=ehost-live