Thoughts on the MMT So Far

Related to the last post, the MMT is a Masters of Mathematics for Teachers, offered online to math teachers by the University of Waterloo.

Having taken 3 full courses now (81.25% cumulative GPA)  and most recently dropped the ball on one  course (doesn't affect my GPA) here are my findings on the program.

First of all, the program is going to take lots of time!  Working and doing a masters at the same time is quite brutal, and the total workload should not be underestimated.  In this context, taking a summer semester off each year really does make sense, as I'm glad I came to my senses at the last minute and decided to drop a summer masters course.

I would seriously expect 4 to 5 years to do this.  Of course there is the option to take time off work and do the program, which is worth considering.  But the overall economics work better if you work and do the masters, even over a longer time period.

Secondly, I've been impressed with some courses and disappointed with others.

The software program (Math 600) was by far the most useful.  It is an excellent place to begin the program with a professor who can't be beat.  She explains in very clear details what you need to do, and if you follow her assignments to the letter you get high marks and learn foundational software programs that will be of great use for the entire program.  I got a 95% in that course and was very satisifed with it.  The fundamental program is Latex which is used for typeset mathematics.

Mathematical proofs was a huge disappointment.  Theory has never been my strong point, but the course itself was taught by the number one professor to avoid, who is the same guy in charge of the History course (see last post).  Even so I plan to take some time this summer to review the proofs material and understand it at a more deeper level.  I scraped by with 75% in that course.

Calculus foundations was interesting but a bit misleading because it was really a course in mathematical analysis, not calculus.  And so this analysis involved another type of theory and proofs.  I got a decent mark in that, 85%, although I still need to review the material in summer as well.

In looking at the course offerings for the upcoming semesters, there is a whole lot more theory on the buffet table, but not as much practical stuff as I would hope to see.  There is finance and modeling, which I want to get my hands on.   I wish there would be a course in cryptography, but I have yet to find it. 

Dropped a Masters Course

Today's weather:  High = 28 Low = 19
Cloudy

For the sake of my own sanity, I had to do it.  As mentioned in previous posts, I'm currently taking a MMT program, which is Masters of Math for Teachers, offered by the University of Waterloo.  The masters degree is online, which means of course that it is designed for people, i.e. teachers, who work and do the course simultaneously.

At this point I must clear up two common misconceptions that everyone I have talked to who isn't taking this program seems to think about this program.  First, this masters degree is not an education masters, I repeat it is NOT about education, or anything to do with a MEd or MA.  This program focuses on hardcore math content knowledge.  The term 'for teachers' doesn't mean that the program is designed to help people become better math teachers.  Rather 'for teachers' simply means those are the people taking the program.

Secondly, this is not one of those online masters degrees you can do in two years, as most people I know seem to have been able to accomplish with various other types of masters degrees.  If it takes you three years to do this program, then you're pushing yourself, either by taking summer courses or multiple courses per semester -- in which case you would likely not be working a full-time job at the same time.

Realistically it will take you 4 years, even 5 years to do this while you're working and taking the program at a reasonable pace.  This was what I wrote in previous blogs, but the ongoing temptation was for me to jump the gun and try to accelerate the pace to 3 years, thus aiming to get it done by June 2014.

Well it turns out that I was under the impression that a certain course 'History of Mathematics' was easier and could be done during summer semester (May through July) because it simply involved reading and essay writing.  Unfortunately I didn't do enough research and signed up for the course from what colleagues said.  I was expecting an easy breezy reading course, after a hardcore run of math content over the past two semesters. 

Nothing could have been further from the truth.  This course was the most brutal one yet, based on many factors.  Workload, types of assignments, and tons of new math content to learn.  Basically we would have to learn a whole new set of math content each week for each mathematician we were learning the history of, in additional to reading and essay writing.  Then a final project worth 60% of the mark where 20 pages was the minimum -- all using a new software program that I'm still getting the hang of.

The worst part of all was that none of this information about expectations was found in the course description, and one could easily believe this was a reading course, strictly going from that.

As a case in point, the first week was all about cryptography, based on the mathematician William Tutte.  He was essentially responsible for cracking the codes that the Nazis used in the war and spying on the enemy communications.  Tutte was able to confirm through his code cracking that the enemy believed the Allied Troops were going to land their ships at a certain bluff spot, when in fact the troops would land at Normandy for the surprise that ultimately won the war. 

Tutte did amazing work in cracking the enemy codes from what they used as a 'Fish Machine' and Tutte essentially built the first computer from scratch in order to do this.

If we only needed to read about this amazing man and write essays on his work, that would be great.  However, the first week of this course also required that we delve deep into cryptography and solve ciphers ourselves, specifically the Vigenere Cipher.  A brutal first written assignment was only worth 8% of the course mark yet I spent nearly 20 hours learning cryptography for the first time and applying it to solve the problems we were required to do.  The directions for the assignment were very vague and so I invented methods of my own that were totally different from the methods that the prof insisted we use.

Based on my learning thus far, I find cryptography to be fascinating, however, this topic would easily be enough to justify a whole math masters course in itself, not just one mere week. 

The sad fact is that after this week, we move on to a new topic with a new mathematician, and have to learn a whole new set of math content related to whoever the guy happens to be.  For example, next week we learn about Euclid, and of course there is new math to learn for that, specifically Euclidean solutions to quadratic equations.  The week after that we get into Islamic mathematicians, and learn a whole new set of math related to their contributions  Of course we need to learn about Islam background too.

All in all, a good course, but let's be honest:  each week is a bloody module in itself!  The workload alone for this course would kill me.  Combined with the fact that May and June are the busiest times of the school year, it was a matter of necessity that I had to drop this course.

There is no penalty, I get my full money back and the drop doesn't show on the transcript, as long as this takes place before May 21.

AP Exam Looming

Today's weather:  High = 30  Low = 20
Cloudy

Grade 12 students are set to write their AP Calculus exam this Wednesday.  They have a very good chance of doing well, based on the results from their practice test I arranged in class last week.  Finally our school got approved for a code, and all the previous mess involved in this process has been sorted out.

Flight Delays: A Serious Problem

Today's weather:  High = 25 Low = 17
Cloudy

I recently came back from a very successful shopping trip to Hong Kong over the May Holiday extended weekend.  However, it was also extremely crowded.  Read all about it here

www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/10285

Our flight was delayed almost 3 hours on the way down.  Not surprisingly, very little information was given to the passengers as to the reason(s) why the flight was delayed, or when it would take off.  They simply told us things like "please wait" and "we will tell you more information later"

Any frequent flyer in China would experience this kind of thing, and it is in fact a normal experience.  The horror stories related to delayed flights would no doubt be dramatic, and I could certainly tell a few of them.

From time to time, passengers have been known to take extreme measures to get compensation, such as refusing to leave the plane on arrival.  My concern is that as flight delays and the whole Chinese air travel experience gets worse and worse every year, the actions that passengers take to get compensated are more and more extreme.

Read about two recent cases in which passengers got out and stormed the tarmac in protest, which is a severe violation of aviation law.

www.szdaily.com/content/2012-04/18/content_6663535.htm

Something has to be done to address this issue of air travel in China as the problem is reaching a crisis point.  Airports in the Pearl River Delta region are the worst of all.  This includes Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong.

http://www.businesstraveller.asia/asia-pacific/news/mainland-china-flight-delays-reaching-serious-levels

Until then, my advice is to always expect delays when flying domestic, build it into your schedule, and be prepared to wait long hours.  Ironically, air travel is the best way I can think of to work on your patience and build your character.

Despite the lack of infomation, airlines and airports undersand how emotional this can be to people, so they at least try their best to help in anyway they can.  This is a gesture that should be appreciated.  They do things like provide food early if the plane is sitting on the tarmac to soothe the passengers' neves.  If you happen to be stuck in an airport in Dalian, then the airport will provide cheerleaders to ease the pain.

http://www.cnngo.com/shanghai/life/china-airport-brings-cheerleaders-soothe-stranded-passengers-578937?hpt=hp_mid

That is a very creative idea.  Next I want to see is massage services at airports.  I bet they would do a booming business.