Description: The internet has dramatically transformed social space and time for many people in many different contexts. This dramatic warping of the social fabric has happened slowly over time as digital technologies have evolved and internet speeds have increased. While we are all aware of these changes, the impact is often little understood. There are few monographs about social groups made possible by the internet, and even fewer about educational communities made possible through digital technologies. Inside Mathforum.org details the ways that digital media are used to enhance the practices that teachers and students of mathematics engage in. The book also shows how different kinds of mathematical conversations and interactions become possible through the digital media. Unlike many other educational uses of digital media, the Math Forum's community has provided online resources and sustained support for teachers and students, and it leads the way in showing the power of digital media for education.
Brief description: Wesley Shumar is an anthropologist at Drexel University, Philadelphia. His research focuses on digital media, math education and virtual educational communities. Since 1997, he has worked as an ethnographer at the Math Forum. Currently, he is Co-Principal Investigator on EnCoMPASS, a four-year National Science Foundation (NSF) project designed to build an online community of math teachers through formative assessment and a focus on student problem-solving. He was the Principal Investigator on two other NSF projects, the Online Mentoring Project and the Math Forum's Virtual Fieldwork Sequence. He is co-editor of Building Virtual Communities: Learning and Change in Cyberspace (with K. Ann Renninger, Cambridge, 2002).
Review Quotes: 'This case study of The Math Forum highlights the contributions to mathematics education made by this online math resource center, making clear the essential components of the technology, invisible elements of the social structure its design invites and supports, and the cultural elements (e.g., values, ethos) that affected its original design and that have sustained its life over two decades. Shumar's analysis suggests lessons about building and sustaining communities of practice that have implications for teacher learning, online education more generally, and design of a wide range of other spaces for transformation.' Janet L. Kolodner, Chief Learning Scientist, Concord Consortium