https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9641-6032
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ABSTRACT
Active learning in mathematics can lead to deeper understanding than passively listening to a lecture, yet recent studies indicate that didactic teaching dominates online tutorials. This study investigated student participation in three types of activity: solving mathematical problems via polling, on-screen activities on a shared whiteboard and text-chat, during online undergraduate mathematics tutorials. Data were collected from tutorial observations, student and tutor surveys, semi-structured student interviews and a tutor focus group. Results showed high student participation in all types of activity. Students also perceived them as enjoyable and aiding their learning, though with some differences between the types of activity such as those done by text-chat being slightly less well received. Perceived benefits to students’ learning included the ability to attempt similar activities, with suggested benefits such as correcting misconceptions receiving a more mixed response. By demonstrating the successful use of mathematical activities in synchronous online tuition, these results provide motivation for tutors to facilitate essential active learning online.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank their eSTEeM mentor, Diane Butler, for invaluable support and discussions, as well as the tutors and students for their contributions.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Ethics approval
HREC/2744/Rogers. Permission obtained from the OU’s Student Research Project Panel, and individual student consent obtained.
Additional information
Funding
Notes on contributors
Katrine Sharp Rogers
Katrine Sharp Rogers is a Lecturer in the School of Mathematics and Statistics at the Open University. She leads a distance-learning final-year module with over 150 students, as well as producing teaching and assessment material for new and existing distance-learning modules in mathematics and physics. Her research interests are in methods for teaching mathematics at a distance, as well as within her field of applied mathematics.
Claudi Thomas
Claudi Thomas is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Mathematics and Statistics at the Open University. She is particularly interested in the most effective ways in which tutors can support students at a distance, whether this be during synchronous online sessions or by asynchronous means.
Hilary Holmes
Hilary Holmes is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Mathematics and Statistics at the Open University. Her main interests are online learning of mathematics, improving support for disabled students and widening participation in mathematics.