The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions, understanding and experiences of the instructor and the students of an online mathematics course in a technical college in Southeast Ohio. The data for this study came from Basic Mathematics and Pre-Algebra courses offered in the college.
The data analyzed in this study came from the student and the instructor interviews, email communications between the instructor and the students, chat session transcripts, weekly email interviews, and the researchers’ observation notes. The researcher interviewed six students and the instructor at the end of the quarter. All the email communication between the instructor and students and all chat sessions were saved and printed out for analysis. The researcher sent weekly emails to students in order to follow their learning from the online environment.
Students chose the online mathematics course for many reasons, among others the Instructor’s helpfulness, personality, and encouragement were appreciated by the students. They also liked other incentives attached to the online courses, for instance; 1) the possibility of starting the course before the quarter starts, 2) online environment, 3) easiness for scheduling, 4) suits to their learning styles. The online mathematics course enabled the students to work on their own pace, own time, and convenience. All students found the online mathematics course different than a traditional one. They benefited from course materials, especially the course website. The data analyses revealed that an online course is a good venue for shy students to justify themselves; additionally they did not feel alienated in their online mathematics courses. Most of the students would prefer registering for another online mathematic course.
The Instructor received enough administration and technical support. He believes that the online mathematics courses were not for every student. Self-motivation, flexibility, being problem solvers and hard working are some of the qualities that online mathematics students should posses. Serving as a one-stop-shopping point did not bother the Instructor. The lack of knowledge on learning theories, especially on constructivism, did not affect the teaching of the course, but the Instructor had good intentions on it. Overall, for the Instructor, teaching mathematics online is different, promising, and challenging.