A discussion of the production and delivery of a graduate course in mathematics education delivered using e-mail, listserv and World Wide Web facilities

Abstract

Developers of distance education course materials recognize the possibilities that exist within the framework of emerging computer and communications technologies and how they might be applied to future distance education courses. This project monitored the development of an existing graduate level education course into a distance education course integrating the technologies of the World Wide Web and asynchronous computer conferencing through the use of a listserv. An analysis of the course was conducted and based on four separate evaluation tools: a set of three online questionnaires, a reflective journal kept by the author, an interview with the instructor of the course, and an analysis of both the students' and instructor's postings to the listserv. -- The results of this project indicated that the students found the course to be satisfactory and that the technologies used were adequate for the transmission of course content and viewpoints in spite of some initial technical difficulties. Problems occurred with student visualization of some of the posed problems and subsequent solutions since descriptions were solely text based. Students also had difficulty in sending attachments with e-mails. It was noted that, despite the students’ feeling that access to the instructor was adequate and that the response time to all messages was prompt, there still existed a feeling of isolation. Students missed the face-to-face interactions and sense of collegiality that occurs in the traditional classroom setting.