How E-Learning Combined with Traditional Teaching Method Works in Math

By Vic Odarve

Although traditional classroom based instruction works well in math, the method can be improved with the inclusion of e-learning technology. This teaching strategy is advantageous in math courses as computers or laptops bring the students to a new heights of modern technology application in mathematical calculations; blogs and  websites facilitate learning instructions outside the classroom lectures and allow the students to study at their own pace. As a result, university can be a world class teaching institution.

University needs E-learning

Yes, math lectures must go hand in hand with our advancement in science and technology especially with computers. This combinative math teaching method allows students to use computers or laptops and its application to mathematical computation. Laptops have programs, such as MS Excel, etc., that would make calculations in courses such as statistics, economics, matrices, linear programming, etc., easier and faster. 

For example, after our traditional board and eraser presentation in classrooms, students must countercheck the results using the computer program. In economics, students learn how to apply the software in computing depreciations, simple and compound interests, and annuities.  In linear algebra, they learn in matrices on how to compute unknown quantities using inverse method, eigenvectors and eigenvalues, and a sort of programming on vectors. In stats, students learn on how to compute measures of central tendency and dispersion using software, and many more in descriptive and inferential. In this manner students will appreciate the importance of computer in math calculations, time savings it entails, and benefits it brings as more accurate, faster and easier. Math solution is at your fingertips!

Modern Technology is a part of our life

Lecturers or teachers can do more tricks!  Quizzes and exams must be solved by manual computation and by computer generated solutions.   It’s another challenge and they will love it!

In addition to the use of computer to do mathematical computation, this math teaching method also encourages the use of websites or blogs to further the course discussion not finish in the classrooms. With web or blog sites, lecturers can post, for example, unfinished classroom business, areas of concentration for students to study on final exams, additional instruction, and exam results of a particular course and post the top performers. Or even post the grades a few more weeks after the exam and let the students see their grades before submission to the Head of Department and Record Office.

Further, students can scan the web or blog and revisit from time to time as often as they want to review the lessons and topics discussed; study at their own pace outside the classroom; believe they have more retention in the lessons especially if we posted video tutorials in a particular course. With blogsites students can ask their questions, discuss their ideas, and even offer some more suggestions thru e-mails and responses. This is something classroom instruction cannot usually offer. 

It is now a rapid changing world where an education acquired 10 years ago is no longer relevant or maybe obsolete today if not upgraded. It is a paradigm shift!

This combined traditional and e-learning method in math teaching is indeed a great help to the students as well as the lecturers. Students appreciate the use of computers in math calculations and lecturers, too, benefited by posting important additional instructions in websites where students can enjoy learning at the own pace outside the classrooms. A whole new package! 

Whether we like it or not, it’s simply the way the technology is heading! And we have to embrace it and slowly and slowly we have a world class university in the making!

How Bad Friends Influence Your Life

                                                             By Vic Odarve

Bad friends do influence your life negatively. They can alter your view of the world by changing our perception and turning you into a different person; bring a tremendous change to your characters, lifestyles, manners, and actions, and destroy your life.

Friends influence study on our lessons

 

While you seek friends for support and encouragement during bad times; find enrichment and guidance in your life’s journey and enlightenment of your soul; bad friends can alter your view of the world, change the way how you look up things in life, and develop you into a different person. Unknowingly you meet bad friends usually in social gatherings. People in upper class of our society usually meet bad friends in parties, religious and civic organizations, political acquaintances, and other forms of activities among society’s bigwigs. 

Influence from bad friends is powerful. It is more serious to the people who live in the upper echelon of our society. Take the case of Ruby; a beautiful woman at early 50’s, established her name by making friends, and held important positions among the social organizations. With her friends, she found a connection to influential lawmakers; amassed wealth and became famous; and acted as conduit to a graft and corruption. Aware of her impending arrest from government for her role, she left the country without any traces. But things go differently for her. She was troubled. She could not sleep and eat well. Few months later, she returned as government witness on a pork barrel scandal that implicated several senators and other famous personalities. Being haunted by her own conscience and why she turned as government witness against her former friends, she concluded by saying, “I don’t want to die with 80 million countrymen hating me. I don’t want my grandchildren being ashamed of me so I felt I have to do something and I have to correct my mistake and I can’t possibly right a wrong with another wrong”. That’s it. She regretted what she had done. Bad friends influenced and eventually ruined her life.

Mathematics Class

Bad friends also bring a tremendous change to your behavior, lifestyles, manners, and actions. By keeping in company and hanging around with bad friends in your work areas, offices, meetings, and other functions, you are strongly connected with their common objectives, likes, and point of views, and gossiping activities. You could not feel and sense the threat at the beginning because slowly and slowly you are engulfing to emulate your bad friend’s way of living in one way or another. Some of the effects are extremely disastrous to your future. You do not know that your constant companionship with these bad friends seems to program your way of thinking and develops into a habit.

Negative influence from bad friends knows no boundaries. Even a short time in company, the influence is great. It can change the world! Imagine what happened to the daughter of newspaper magnate and publisher Randolph Hearst. The kidnapped Patricia Hearst, his 19-year-old daughter, after 3 month long in company with kidnappers, became friends and converted herself a member of the terrorist organization. She sympathized of the cause of Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) and participated willingly in the bank robbery. Just a short period of friendship, the daughter of a wealthy and famous family became a robber. It ruined her life!

The same thing happened to once a shy and religious friend of mine. In one of the invitation for a dinner, he was seen lifting a red wine to his bag secretly; drinking too much, talking negatively about other people in excess, and doing some illegal activities. These lifestyles were developed gradually from his constant company from his bad friends. He slowly and slowly adopted similar interests and behavior from his friends. Birds of feathers spent time together! Bad friends ruined his life!

There are many ways to avoid falling to bad friends. Look, associate, and surround yourself only  with friends that give with positive influence; hang only to those that are supporting and enhancing your life; and filter their background and stick to one with the same mission and ambitions in your life.

Indeed, bad friends negatively influence your life far more powerful than you imagine. It can change your outlook in how you perceive the world and behave you in darker side. By putting yourself in the midst of bad friends, like Ruby on the pork barrel scam and Patricia Hearst on bank robbery with kidnappers, you are inviting to a disaster. Bad friends, like a giant black holes sitting quietly at the center of our Milky Way, are lurking for someone impending for his own destruction. The bible puts it 2 Cor 6:14-15;

14Do not make unsuitable covenants with those who do not believe: can justice walk with wickedness? Or can light coexist with darkness, 15 and can there be harmony between Christ and Satan? What union can there be between one who believes and one who does not believe?

The choice to join bad friends is yours. After all life is what you make it!

Questionable Credibility Kills!

Questionable credibility kills! Individuals with highly questionable credibility often do not practice what they preach; not honest and fair in dealing with others; put themselves first before taking care for others; and doing promises but do not fulfill them. 

Honesty during exams

Apart from being like a gifted persons who talk with strong and remarkable persuasion like Hitler and Marcos, these individuals often play as right hand to those in powers; influence the company’s owners, its relatives, inner circles, celebrities and government officials, and among the institution’s bigwigs; and allow themselves to serve as conduit for  kickbacks and corruptions.

These people do not practice what they preach. When I attended a seminar a year ago, no less than a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court preached that every citizen must pay right taxes in order for a government to survive. To my surprise, a few months later, he was brought to a court trial

Teach them to be trustworthy

and found guilty of tax evasion and not declaring huge assets. Now he is languishing in jail. He is not honest; he did not practice what he preaches. His credibility kills!

Honesty speaks well on credible individuals. When the three senators explained that they did not get any cents from the scams worth millions of dollars, opinion polls survey showed that most people believed the opposite. After a year of investigation, they are found of graft and corruption. These senators are definitely lying to the public; hence they are not honest. They are not credible. Their credibility kills!

Person with questionable credibility cannot be trusted. A suppose leader, who was trusted by his supervisor to review and work out the individual performance of the group, secretly managed to give salary increases to herself and her favorite selected few. It was only discovered when the group complained in unison to the owner of the institution. She is indeed not fair to others. She is not credible. Her credibility kills!

In many instances, my friend borrowed money during emergencies and promised to return just after few days. But when the days gone, he seemed to forget to return the money; the next time around he was not entertained. Other friends followed the same move. He is not credible!

If your credibility is questioned; people lose their trust and often feel betray, stop coming to you for help and prefer others. It has lasting negative impacts especially to your friends, and worst, condemn you as liars. It may come to a point that nobody believes when you tell the truth. Most friends describe these people as pious persons who went to Mass, said novena every day and regularly visited the church every morning. But beware! Credibility sinks as deep as the bottomless pit!

Credibility is our own choice of path in our life. It is like a commitment; to be like a liar or not. In math, it is like a domain, the lower and upper limits in integral Calculus, representing the area that covers your life. It is believability. If credibility is questionable, a "credibility gap" is said to exist. Nobody wants to befriend you except people with the same color as yours!

Like that of the Chief Justice and senators whose investigation are carried out by media; an individual's credibility can sustain world-wide discredit by a televisions expose. Individual’s credibility is now more vulnerable than ever .Professional survival depends upon credibility.

On the other hand, good reputation and strong credibility truly help us increase our opportunities and chances for success. We must commit to practice what we preach; be honest and fair in dealing with others; can be trusted in discharging our responsibilities; do fulfill what we have promise and adhere to moral values and principles more than friendship can offer. Credibility counts a lot!

Some people mostly politicians and socialites, living in high places in our society, are no longer credible as expected. That’s why some are languishing in jails. Their credibility kills!