When I first heard about he PFF program from my mentor L.C. Kappe, I have to admit that I was not too excited to take part in it. I assumed, wrongly, that the program was going to be a bunch of indoctrination sessions on technology in the classroom and calculus reform ideologies. What I came to find out was that it was anything but this.
Probably the most valuable experience I had in the program was the opportunity to go to various undergraduate colleges in my area and make presentations to their students and faculty on topics not standard in their curriculums. These presentations were valuable because they gave me the opportunity to speak with interested undergraduates on topics in mathematics close to my own interests, they served as warm-up talks for my job interviews in the spring, and I got to meet faculty members from departments different from my own and hear about their departments and how they operate. Aside from all this, these trips were a lot of fun too. Other graduates students from Binghamton came along for them and it gave us a chance to know each other better.
As part of the PFF program we also had various presentations and discussions (formal and informal) on the academic job search, curriculum reform, effects of class size on learning, and usages technology in the classroom. These discussions gave me an opportunity to learn the various points of view and facts on these topics and also afforded me the opportunity to develop my own approaches to and points of view on them.
All in all, I felt that th PFF program was a valuable aid for me in my final year of graduate school. Critical to the success of the program at Binghamton University was the guidance of Professor Kappe. She was really able to put the whole program together and keep it working smoothly throughout the academic year.