At Boundless we are privileged to work with leading faculty from around the country. The dedication that these faculty show to their students — that’s what drives us. Today, we are honored to showcase Dr. Kevin Berkopes, Academic Specialist and Director of the Mathematics Assistance Center at Indiana University Purdue University at Indianapolis (IUPUI). A user of Boundless courseware since 2015, Kevin has graciously shared his experiences with the Boundless platform and his thoughts on the future of teaching.
Q: What attracted you to Boundless originally?
A: I was searching for methods to get my work, my curriculum into the hands of my students in more efficient, more cleanly designed, and cost effective ways. I believe that curriculum is ultimately only one small part of the learning experiences that can be created in a mathematics course. The traditional texts available to students are phenomenal reference books, but they have little value in terms of learning materials that can guide the collision of ideas in a course. That work is best left to the teachers and students collectively as guided by their human nature. Boundless provided me with this opportunity to create cost-effective digital courseware as learning materials.
Q: What do you consider to be the greatest benefits that Boundless has provided?
A: Beautifully designed, accessible anywhere courseware. Boundless allows me to create learning experiences where students’ notes, thoughts, work, assessments, and guiding materials are all located in one place and easily findable on multiple devices.
Q: For how long and in what capacity have you been using Boundless?
A: We have been working together for more than a year now. I’m very excited about teaching the next generation of my Mathematics for teaching courses and getting the opportunity to analyze the longitudinal data for how it impacts the development of future teachers’ disciplinary knowledge for the teaching and learning of mathematics.
Q: Can you provide an example of how use of Boundless courseware has helped your students?
A:My courses are paperless mathematics courses and are taught predominantly with Canvas, our high tech classrooms, and Nearpod. Boundless allows me to situate the digital courseware and embed it into all facets of my course including the work done in the classroom, at our Learning Centers, and at home. Students benefit from a very cost effective curriculum to investigate their understanding of the teaching and learning of mathematics.
Q: Would you recommend Boundless to other faculty and institutions?
A: I think the most simple response to this is that paper/chapter textbooks are going to be a thing of the past. The markets will enable this and perhaps the culture will as well. Educational institutions have for too long entrenched themselves in tradition and have not actively taken advantage of how the technology can improve the logistics of teaching. Teaching should no longer be thought of as the distribution of information by the access point of the professor. It is much more than this, and can move that direction if we take advantage of the technology that can drive it to be a collective human endeavor.
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