By Doug Ensley

In 2022 the MAA launched two programs with the goal of broadening access to professional development through high-quality, online experiences for the mathematics community. These programs are now fully in place, and we invite you to use them to share your knowledge, experience, and project outcomes with our national network of mathematicians. We are specifically looking for the following, but we welcome any other creative suggestions:

• Those who are currently creating grant proposals for projects that would benefit from national dissemination.
• Those with on-going projects with a desire to broaden their reach.
• Those looking to share their cool ideas and make new connections around common interests.
• Those looking to bring people together around themes of interest or importance to the mathematics community.

What are these two programs?

MAA OPEN Math is a National Science Foundation Division of Undergraduate Education project (DUE-2111260) that provides intensive summer workshops on research-based teaching pedagogy. OPEN Math workshops typically take place over one week.

MAA Virtual Programming offers more flexibility, with formats like stand-alone webinars or short series during an academic term. OPEN Math workshops are evaluated by the Ethnography & Evaluation Research team at the University of Colorado, Boulder, as part of their research (partially funded by DUE-2111273) on the effectiveness of online, teaching-focused professional development.

Why focus on professional development?

We believe that supporting and nourishing the community of leaders/providers/facilitators of professional development can have large effects downstream in our classroom teaching and even upstream in the change-culture of our departments and institutions. We think of professional development as a lever – a simple machine used to move an object at one location by applying a smaller force somewhere else.

Why is the online format important?

Effective delivery of quality online content is important for many reasons. It uses and strengthens the new skills we have developed since the COVID pandemic in teaching & leading groups online. It can make professional development more affordable, more broadly accessible, and more equitable. It can reduce the environmental footprint of running professional development and disseminating research on teaching and learning since no travel is required.

Why the MAA?

The MAA has a long tradition of providing the highest quality of mathematical content, expository presentations, and educational training. Our national and sectional meetings offer first rate programming, but we know that the majority of our members do not attend a national or sectional meeting in any given year, often because of constraints on time or professional development funding. MAA OPEN Math and MAA Virtual Programming were created specifically to fulfill our fundamental mission – advancing the understanding of mathematics and its impact on our world – for the largest possible audience and with the greatest attention on the needs of our members, our society, and our planet in the years to come.

Author’s Note

Doug Ensley is Principal Investigator for the MAA OPEN Math project and Chair of the MAA Committee on Virtual Programs. If you have an interest in getting involved with – or simply learning more about – either of these projects, please reach out to densley@maa.org or programs@maa.org to set up a conversation.

Doug Ensley is Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at Shippensburg University and the Director of the MAA OPEN Math project (NSF DUE 2111260).