College Students' Perceptions Of Learning Environment In Online Mathematics Classes: A Qualitative Study
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Date
2014
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Mathematics and Science Education Program
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Doctor of Education
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This item is made available by Morgan State University for personal, educational, and research purposes in accordance with Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. Other uses may require permission from the copyright owner.
Abstract
Technology has become an important aspect of people's daily activities to the extent that institutions of higher education could not resist the temptation of offering online courses. In the past decade, the number of online courses at colleges has increased tremendously. Mathematics is a subject that is usually associated with negative attitudes, high anxiety, and low achievement among college students. Therefore, online mathematics classes could pose greater challenges for curriculum development and delivery. Barry J. Fraser (1998) defined learning environment as "the social, psychological, and pedagogical contexts in which learning occurs and which affect student achievement and attitudes" (p. 3). This study used a qualitative method to investigate college students' perceptions of these three components of the learning environment in online mathematics classes. The participants had taken at least one online mathematics class prior to the time of interview; none with the researcher. The results revealed students' negative perceptions of all three components of the learning environment in online mathematics classes. The participants expressed concerns about inadequate use of technology, lack of interactions, lack of interpersonal connections, lack of innovative teaching approach and inadequate support for self-learning. The participants' expressed high satisfaction with the flexibility and convenience that the online learning environment offered. This portion of the findings was not surprising, because the results of other studies have also named "convenience and flexibility" as students' most favorite aspect of online classes regardless of the subject.