Doing Ethnographic Research at The Math Forum Wesley Shumar Department of Culture and Communication Drexel University

The Math Forum ( The Math Forum is an interactive and inquiry-informed digital library, or virtual resource center, for mathematics education now a partner with Drexel University Brings together teachers, students, researchers, parents, educators, and others to participate in online interaction, collaborative projects, dialog and debate, to ask and answer questions, to pose problems and provide solutions The site has grown to attract 3.5 million accesses and almost 800,000 visitors per month Project contributions and discussions are archived and currently the Forum is composed of over 1,600,000 web pages A searchable Internet Mathematics Library of 7,000 mathematics Web sites, and an Internet newsletter ed weekly to 3000 subscribers

Math Forum Projects Include: Ask Dr. Math- a pioneering Ask-an-Expert service built around a staff of more than 225 ‘Math Doctors’ around the globe, ranging from college students to world famous university-based mathematicians Problem of the Week- provides students at all grade levels with math challenges and problems that change on a weekly basis Teacher2Teacher- is a peer mentoring service developed in collaboration with the Council of Presidential Awardees in Mathematics Internet Resource Collection - a comprehensive collection of materials and resources designed to assist teachers and others in using the Internet as a classroom and at home tool to enhance math education and curricula Public Discussion Groups- operated within the Math Forum cover a wide range of topics related to math and math education Development of Web-based Teaching Materials and Projects- includes activities that involve students, teachers and other professionals in the development of teaching resources and online learning

Math Forum Projects Include: Symposia, Workshops and Professional Development Materials- developed and offered by the Math Forum Class2Class- an exchange forum enabling teachers to collaborate with other peers in different locations WebUnits- Teacher generated teaching units, lesson plans and activities Math Forum Newsletter- a weekly electronic publication of online math resources and activities Math Tools- a collection of software tools for all platforms and a community of interest around those tools that shares interests, resources and collaborates together Virtual Math Teams- new NSDL project to develop online collaborative teams that design and solve problems in the PoW environment

Math Forum as Virtual Community Forum culture from its inception assumed that community is an important part of the communication process Forum vision of internet communication –conduit to connect people –store resources –make those resources readily available to others A way to foster better mathematical interactions and offer better math content Forum staff creating an environment conducive to good creative work

Research Questions Our goal has been to evaluate the process of community building, the research questions that grow out of this goal are: 1. Does the Forum provide a meaningfully different type of learning tool/enhancement for mathematics education? What kind of a resource does the Internet provide for teachers, students, and/or parents and other citizens? What kind of facilitation, adjustments of existing resources and/or mentoring relationships need to be made to meet the strengths and needs of different users? What is the impact of the Internet on the development of mathematical thinking?

Research Questions 2. What role does the concept of community play in Forum development? Additionally, what leads to institutional sustainability and growth, volunteer participation and collaboration, and partnerships for a virtual resource center? What are the usage and changed usage patterns of different groups of participants? What adjustments are necessitated by the pressures of scaling up and simultaneously developing a self-sustaining infrastructure? What is the impact of scaling up on project development, partnerships, and Forum staff organization?

Research Questions 3. Taking the Forum as an exemplar of a link between research and practice, what new potential does the internet provide for linking research and practice? What is the relation between research in both mathematics learning and student cognition and ongoing practice as reflected in Forum-based: project development, student learning, curriculum development, professional development?

Virtual Community Why is it interesting or useful to think about educational digital libraries as virtual communities? What are the characteristics of work and interaction in a virtual community? –Time space transformation, the traveling salesman problem –Generalized reciprocity, gifts keep giving

Characteristics of Online Community Some online groups function like Foraging Bands –Egalitarian –Reciprocity –Mechanisms for limiting status difference –Focused on process not product

Importance of Theory Ethnographic research is often theory driven Online communities/social groups require a theoretical framing in order to grasp the object of study Two examples of a powerful models for online research--activity theory and symbolic construction of community

Activity Structures Important model for framing the social structural context of human practice Avoids some of the pitfalls of being “too focused on the screen” Moves from micro to macro Pays close attention to the individual level of activity

Symbolic Construction: Boundaries Structure –Open/Closed –Egalitarian/Hierarchical –Centralized/Distributed –Participation Focused/Reification Focused Culture –Self/Other –Contextual Fluidity of Self/Other boundary –Discursive Strategies of Identity

Sustainability Ethnographic research is valuable for understanding “the native’s view “Native’s view” is framed within a socio/cultural context This framework supports sustainability by: –Understanding the motivation of heavy users and leadership –Modeling the online offline interaction –Seeing how users “strategize” with these resources –Looking at shifts in identity and shifts in social imagination –Understanding social change

Summary Culture of the Math Forum Central to its development –Community focus –Supporting individuals through technology –Seeing contradictions as opportunities to problem-solve –Vision of what an online center can be, rich in resources and active community