Online mathematics teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic: The perspective of lecturers and students

Abstract

The global spread of the novel coronavirus, Covid-19, reached Norway at the end of February 2020. MatRIC, Centre for Research, Innovation and Coordination of Mathematics Teaching conducted a national survey in Norwegian higher education institutions (HEIs) during June-July 2020 to explore lecturers’ and students’ experiences of online mathematics teaching and learning and to enable sharing of solutions to the challenges encountered. One hundred and twenty-seven students and eighteen lecturers participated in this survey. In this presentation, we will share some of the findings of the survey in relation to the following two themes: challenges of learning and teaching mathematics online, and the psychological impact of lockdown on student learning and lecturer teaching. The study findings show that many students missed the social contact, being physically present at the university, and face to face interaction with their lecturers. Additionally, several students experienced a degree of anxiety through the lockdown period to the extent that they perceived their learning was negatively affected. Lecturers took a number of steps to ensure lines of communication remained open. Our findings show that simple actions by the lecturer to open channels of communication can be very effective.