Keynote – Broaden the Purpose of Learning Mathematics

Our personal stories have never been more important in giving us a sense of identity and belonging in our fragile and changing world. They have become needed catalysts and levers to re-examine the purposes of learning mathematics for all our students. The critical emergence of anti-racist math education in Ontario has caused us to re-examine the universal and historic themes of joy and wonder that have crossed all cultures, civilizations, and socio-economic situations. Mathematics must be seen through a prism that refracts all its possibilities and enchantments. Through powerful narrative, we can ensure that all our students who pursue mathematics–practically or personally– can find their unique voice and purpose in learning mathematics.

Sunil Singh is an author, storyteller, and a porous math educator. He taught math, physics, and English for 19 years, including teaching at an International IB School in Switzerland, before embarking on a new journey of sharing his passion for math history/narrative with people all around the world. He works at Amplify to help build/curate rich storytelling into the K to 12 math platform and at Mathigon as a content writer. He has also given workshops at The Museum of Mathematics in New York and The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. His third book is titled Chasing Rabbits: A Curious Guide to a Lifetime of Mathematical Wellness (foreword written by Jo Boaler).

Discover Maple Learn – Maplesoft

Maple Learn is an online math tool offering a unique digital notebook environment where you can solve problems like you would on paper, only better! Use it to solve a problem step-by-step, explore a topic, jot down notes or practice a concept. It can handle all the math from high school, community and two-year colleges, and introductory math courses in university, as well as courses that make use of math, such as economics, business, and physics. Join this presentation to see Maple Learn for yourself.
Max McKee, Maplesoft

Revolutionizing the Way Students Learn with IntroMath

In an ever-evolving world, as more and more people gravitate towards technology and we all adapt to change, the question remains; how do we ensure students make that transition while not sacrificing the breadth of knowledge that they are obtaining in a classroom environment, but at the same time are able to keep the learning going outside of it? Introducing IntroMath. IntroMath was built with the everyday student in mind. A platform meant to eliminate fear and math anxiety with unique, captivating lessons that take the student on a visual journey, all the while teaching them mathematical concepts through real-world scenarios and then allowing them to master their skills through an engaging world class experience. Join us as we take you on a ride through our IntroMath platform and show you why students just can’t get enough!
Shoeb Mozammel and James Howell, Vretta Inc.

Back to the…Classroom with ALEKS
Learn how ALEKS delivers a personalized learning experience to your students that is focused on the topics you intend to cover for your course. With Gen Z students learning remotely over the past two years, ALEKS will help you understand where your students are relative to your course topics, position them on a Constructive Learning Path to bridge any
knowledge gaps they may have, and set them up for success in your course. Join the conversation around our Gen Z research: How do they learn? What tools do they use? How can the evolution of ALEKS impact your remote, hybrid, and in-class deliveries?

Greg Nosal and Kim Brewster, McGraw Hill

New Product Showcase: Freehand Grader for MyLab Math

Educator feedback is an important part of new product development at Pearson. Join us for a presentation on the Freehand Grader prototype, an exciting new feature of MyLab Math, which allows students to show the handwritten work they complete to solve problems within the digital learning platform. This is an opportunity to provide important
feedback that will help shape the final iteration of this exciting new product launch. We look forward to showing you what we’ve been working on.

Melody Vincent, Pearson

Knewton Alta: A Mastery-Based Personalized Learning Platform

Join us for a discussion of Knewton Alta, a mastery-based adaptive platform that provides students detailed answer explanations, just-in-time instruction, and remediation to prerequisite skills. Develop and design a Knewton Alta course aligned to course learning outcomes. Alta’s content is based on curated and ground-up content making it textbook
agnostic. Connect with us today to learn how easily you can help students to retain, recall and apply their knowledge in the future.

• Personalized learning path through adaptive, mastery-based learning model.
• Strategies to identify at risk students for early intervention with Alta dashboard analytics.

Justin Deyell and Courtney Deyell, Wiley

Your Math Courses Your Way
Education is evolving, and over the past few years faster than ever, especially in the realm of Hybrid and online instruction. There also often seems to be a bit of a tradeoff between online/ digital convenience, and instructional value. However there doesn’t have to be. In this session we will outline how Möbius by DigitalEd can take your course to the next level through engaging prebuilt content, unique question types, and integrated fully editable OER content. Deliver your math courses your way, No compromise!

Stephen Abouldahab, DigitalEd

OCMT: Tip of the Iceberg: Numeracy on the Decline

The iceberg that sank the Titanic was visible on the horizon but was deemed not to be a threat to the famed institution and marvel of engineering that was the world’s largest ship at that time. We all know what happened next…
For the past decade numeracy in the province and across the country has been a hotly debated topic, with a variety of mitigation strategies put in place to address gaps before students enter the college system. In recent years, new research has shed light on the ‘Numeracy Iceberg’ and the growing numeracy gap for incoming students. We know it’s
coming, but what can be done? Learn more about the OCMT and how it can be used to assess and close numeracy gaps before the ship has sailed for incoming student cohorts.

Emily Brown Sheridan College, James Howell Vretta

A Computational Thinking Course for Business Students

During a recent review of the Bachelor of Commerce degree programs at Fanshawe College, a mandatory breadth course in computational thinking was added to the Bachelor of Commerce curriculum. The decision to add a computational thinking course was made, in part, because the skills developed by computational thinking align with the essential skills required for careers in the 21st century. In this presentation we will discuss the skills developed by studying computational thinking and how theses skills benefit students from all disciplines, the development of the computational thinking course, including learning outcomes, content, and assessments, that is now part of the Bachelor of Commerce programs at Fanshawe College, and the challenges of offering such a course.

Valerie Watts Fanshawe College

Evolution of Pre-Health Sciences: Pathways for Statistics

You spoke, we listened. In the absence of resources specifically for the Pre-Health Sciences program, we sought out to create high quality, relevant resources to fill the need. After culminating feedback from all 24 Ontario colleges, and producing a model of best fit, the first edition of the resource was launched in 2017.Fast Forwarding 5 years,
after the successful launch of Statistics for Health Sciences, our model was ready for refinement. We asked 10 experts from different colleges for an in-depth analysis of all the variables, collated their data, examined the residuals, and improved our model. And today we are excited to unveil version 2.0. Join the session to hear from the new author
on the team and learn about the expansion and evolution of the Statistics for Health Sciences resources!

Sean Saunders Sheridan College and Myriam Thanasse Algonquin College

Engaging Students with Practical Examples Through Functions for Health Sciences

The Pre-health sciences pathway program to streamline college students into the Health Sciences field has grown tremendously over the years. We are seeing a growing demand from students with interest in degree programs from Registered Nursing to the Life Sciences. This has now expanded our course offerings to satisfy the admission requirements for these specific degree programs. With a new course developed in an online only environment, I had to be very selective about compiling an offering to engage my students. With in-person teaching imminent, I’ve carefully curated a complete offering that is highly engaging and adaptive to any method of teaching. In this course, we provide a topical overview of relevant functions and foundational discussion of statistical methods of analysis Join the session to learn about my journey and share my experience in crafting a resource that is foundational for any student with interests in the Health and Natural Sciences.

Anthony Tavares Sheridan College

Even More Pictures at an Exhibition: Graphical Representations of Winter 2021 Student Performance in Math Courses

At the 2021 OCMA conference, we showed visual depictions of student achievement in Fall of 2020 on their in-person mathematics assessments (we were fortunate to have one per course during emergency online delivery) and online assessments. This presentation will show similar visual depictions for student performance in Winter 2021
when students had even more opportunity for in-person mathematics assessments during emergency online delivery. Do the same patterns emerge? We’ll show visual depictions of student achievement but will leave the interpretations up to you. Come wander the halls of this new art gallery to see what you see!

Anahita Izpadpanah, Julian Jarosh, Chris Lynes, Stephanie Manson, Sandra Thyssen
Fanshawe College

Math…now in Technicolour!

What do colouring books, iced tea, sandwiches, and meteorology all have in common? The answer is math, but it’s not what we might expect! Come and (re)discover some beautiful historical mathematical results that have a modern-day twist! We may even find a few ways to inspire our students to explore the creative side of mathematics with some of these powerful, yet fun, results!

Sean Saunders Sheridan College

Re-imagining Numeracy as an Essential Employability Skill

A short presentation of the evolution of the Numeracy concept and its effect on teaching practice sets the tone for a presentation of an OCMC driven proposal to reform the Essential Employability Skill for numeracy. A good amount of time will be dedicated to discussion of the proposed conceptualization including a search for improved language
and possible effects on math and numeracy education in the colleges. (Contributors: Mona Nouroozifar Humber College and Sean Nix Mohawk College)

Taras Gula George Brown College

Re-thinking Statistics for Business from a Canadian Perspective

The pedantic University-level text, with references to mostly American Data and methods that eschew modern technology, is the mark of a bygone era of teaching college statistics in Canada. At the 2018 OCMA, at the Fern resort, three Canadian math and stats advocates reimagined what teaching Statistics from a Canadian perspective
could be. With diverse perspectives on teaching, and the methodologies used, but united with a common goal, they collaborated to produce the first edition of Statistics for Business, which has been well received across the country since its release. By rethinking how we teach statistics, and incorporating modern technology and relevant Canadian data with Excel, this resource package is quickly becoming the gold standard of teaching Statistics for Business. Join the brains behind this journey to learn how the OCMA’s past collaborations have brought to life a fresh and exciting future for Statistics for Business.

Joshua Emmanuel Humber College, Sean Saunders Sheridan College,

Teaching and Learning Mathematics in an Ontario College: Academic vs. Applied

In 1965, William Davis and the Ontario government inaugurated Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology. Given the descriptors “Applied” and “Technology”, it was a given that mathematics was to play a major role in the colleges’ programs. How has this worked out? What about the potential and actual strain between “Applied” and “College” that
mathematics professors and students have experienced over the years?

Don VanderKlok Lambton College

Tasty Morsels of Economics for Math Teachers

Mathematics is an essential tool in the field of economics, and economics in turn provides many interesting applications and examples for math. In this talk, I’ll present both the theoretical background behind examples commonly used in college math courses (such as supply and demand curves and profit optimisation) and provide what will hopefully be new and interesting economics examples appropriate for the college mathematics classroom.

Gordon Craig, Sheridan College

How important are numerical grades?
We have met the challenges of assessing students, choosing the evaluation type, ensuring proper grading, and providing meaningful feedback. These became even more complicated with online and hybrid learning. Grades are a standard tool of students’ evaluation. How can we ensure that grades reflect the students’ level of understanding? Should the grading process be one-way or two-way communication? Besides evaluation, what other roles grades play in the learning process? Join us to discuss various approaches to grading and how our perspectives may change over time.

Natalia Pshenitsyna Sheridan College, Cameron Redsell-Montgomerie Mohawk College