Mathematics major and Honors student Olivia Long wondered about the profession of mathematics professor at a small college like Roanoke. She asked us several questions about the present and the future of our job. Here are the edited results, so that you can get to know us and our job.
Hannah Robbins has recently finished a linear algebra book. The paper crane on her head is from a class taught with music professor Gordon Marsh. The class uses her experience as stand-up bass player and singer in traditional American music bands. Only 999 more cranes to go!
She works with the Calculus curriculum to improve student success rate by evaluating how new processes affect different types of students. These ideas are then used to develop new curriculum. In her classes, she teaches Topology using an Inquiry Based Learning style. She uses project-based learning in all of her classes. This method is slower, but the students grasp the concepts better.
In 2050, she imagines human-human interactions being prominent even as the shift moves away from lectures. She pictures communication being critical and more skills being taught on the process of learning. She also hopes for holograms. She has learned to shift her work away from graduate research due to the difficulty of the specification of her research. She has also learned to include students in her research when she can. Her favorite phrase in class is, “At least I’m having fun” and she enjoys telling cat stories. Her favorite movie is Spaceballs.
