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Having technology available in the classroom can be both a gift and a curse. Technology is a gift because it is an excellent tool that enhances both the teaching and learning experiences. However, technology can also be seen as a curse when it comes to cheating. Cheating has always been prevalent, but “thanks” to advancements in technology, students today can cheat more easily, more frequently, and more quickly. So, how can teachers deal with digital cheating?

This website gives twenty-two tips on “How to Handle Technology Enhanced Cheating.” It also provides links to websites that have software to help teachers detect cheating/plagiarism and popular websites used for cheating.

This is a great list of tips for teachers to have. Some things I would do to discourage cheating in my class would be to (1) make sure the assignment/project motivates my students enough that they would not even think about having to cheat to complete it, (2) make the assignment requirements clear (not allowing for any misinterpretation that would possibly allow cheating), and (3) continually remind my students of the consequences they would face if they cheated.

Digital Divide Network (DDN) has a lot of information about the digital divide. Anyone can subscribe to its articles on the digital divide via RSS feed. DDN membership is open and free to anyone. Members can join a mailing list, be a part of a community, participate in DDN events, and create their own DDN blog.

DDN describes itself as, “…an interactive online community featuring an array of interactive collaboration tools to help digital divide activists around the world to work together.” It is a great website to stay up to date with the progress being made and the news about the digital divide.

As a teacher, I would want my students to be aware of the digital divide, and DDN provides good resources about the digital divide.

This website has good math lesson plans available for algebra, geometry, probability and statistics, and even lesson plans that show math’s connection to other subjects such as music and science. The lesson plans are also provided in a printer-friendly format for teachers’ convenience. At the end of each lesson plan is a link to contact the original lesson plan creator via e-mail. This is helpful if teachers have further questions about the lesson plan they want to use. New lesson plans are continually added to the page, so teachers should often check for updates.

These lesson plans will definitely come in handy for my math class. I am especially most interested in the lessons that show how math is related to other subjects and is not just in its “own world.” I would recommend this website to my fellow math teachers.

This website allows math teachers to create worksheets for pre-algebra, Algebra I, and Algebra II. There are several templates available for customization. The full version must be purchased in order to use all the software’s features, but there is a free trial and free Algebra I and pre-algebra worksheets (although they cannot be customized). There is also a web page full of great suggestions for math class activities to make math more engaging and enjoyable for students. This software is another excellent timesaver for teachers.

This software would be invaluable to me in my future math class. I especially like how this software would help me stay organized by eliminating paper copies of worksheets, tests, and quizzes if they are all saved on the computer. It would also discourage cheating by allowing me to create multiple versions of a quiz/test easily without having to redo an entire quiz/test from the beginning.

provides resources for teachers, students and parents, technology coordinators, and administrators. Their tutorials are available in both English and Spanish. Teachers can sift through the tutorials by their available platform (PC, Mac, or both), the name of the program they need help with, their state’s standards, or what subject they teach.

Although a subscription is required to have complete access to the website’s features, there are some free video tutorials. A subscription gives one access to over 35,000 software training movies (with at least 500 new tutorials added every 45 days), valuable educational resources, and online newsletters and technology tips. Atomic Learning can help teachers save precious class time needed to “teach the technology” and spend more time on the course content.

I would definitely want to have full access to Atomic Learning for my math class to help with the different technologies I would use. Any time-saving tool is a treasure to a teacher, and Atomic Learning does that for teachers.