Below is the link to the article:
http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/columnists/frank/article_d7810ba7-84a3-5a32-8557-0deae67acff7.html
By JEFF FRANK - jfrank@nctimes.com | Posted: Thursday, September 2, 2010 12:00 am
You never know what can happen once you start sharing your knowledge, says MiraCosta College math instructor Julie Harland.
She should know. About a year and a half ago, Harland began posting math videos on YouTube. Mainly algebra lessons, the videos have gotten more than 100,000 hits over the past year. And they found her an interesting collection of new students.
Harland received an e-mail this summer from a math teacher with the Bard Prison Initiative, a privately funded higher education program for prisoners in New York. Tony Zito, the math curriculum coordinator, told Harland that her videos were among the best he'd seen.
Zito wanted to use them in classes, but the inmates had no Internet access. So he asked Harland if she would send portable versions of the videos that could be installed on prison computers. Not a problem, replied Harland, who shipped several already and will continue to do so as she updates her material.
"My goal is to get out my videos to anyone and everyone. This is just something that came through," Harland said. "It's sort of an ongoing project of mine. I feel I'm giving back to the community."
Harland has taught at MiraCosta for 24 years, four of those as department chairwoman. The YouTube connection only illustrates how things have changed over that time.
"When I started there, we didn't even have voice mail. Secretaries answered the phone. We did everything by hand," she said. "The thing that's so enjoyable to me in teaching is that things keep changing."
Find the math videos at yourmathgal.com.