The number of students studying sciences in Europe has steadily declined to such an extent that this is seen as a threat to the competitiveness of Europe. In France the decline has been about 5% each year during the past several years. Inquiry Based Study, IBS, is the paradigm that is generally seen as a possible way to increase students’ interest in sciences.

The attached file is the anonymous evaluation of a calc I course at Florida State University in spring 2007. The course was, for most of the students, obligatory, and they were not motivated to study. The response rate to the survey was about 70%. The attachment contains also a summary of students responses.

With proper use of information and communication technology, ICT, we can industrialize instruction by making the delivery of education more effective, and by offering instructors tools that alleviate routine things such as grading of papers. ICT has the potential to industrialize instruction.

We have not, however, seen the right applications and services, which really make the difference in education. On the contrary, sometimes the use of ICT in education has resulted to worse outcomes.

Problems that an instructor faces when using technology in his or her everyday work are discussed. Standards are crucial, but such is the ease of use as well. A consequence of the latter is that PowerPoint emerges as probably the most important tool facilitating the job of an instructor. In synchronous on-line teaching situations, there is almost no choice today. The development of instructional technology is very fast and current technical solutions may become obsolete in several months rather than years. Will PowerPoint still prevail?

The presentation will discuss proper use of technology to improve mathematics education in general and to make the delivery of education affordable. The introduction of calculators in high schools have had an adverse effect in mathematics education. What should be done now?

The opening remarks of the JEM Workshop on "New and Emerging Technologies in Mathematics Education" discuss the potential impact that virtual reality systems, like the Second Life, may have for educational online services and content.

This paper describes the experiences of synchronous on-line teaching of a basic calculus course at the University of Helsinki. Based on the problems encountered, the company WebALT Inc. (webalt.com) has developed services and publishes content (see a preview of the WebALT Calculus Course) which are tailored to support synchronous on-line teaching.

The optimal modular design of elearning materials is discussed in these opening remarks of the MapleTA workshop organized by WebALT Inc. and hosted by the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. The talk is in Finnish. Feedback of FSU students using the WebALT materials is also dicussed.