ONLINE LEARNING PREFERENCES, MATHEMATIC DIFFICULTY AND MATHEMATIC-RELATED BELIEFS - A COMPARATIVE CASE STUDY

摘要

There is a growing global concern over the assessment of mathematics achievement among students and postsecondary education still fail to reach adequate levels of proficiency. Mathematics is the backbone of science, technology and engineering related fields and plays a basic role in new theories. Findings from this study may be used to understand and develop computer and advance technology in education as learning and mastery of mathematics are crucial for computer literacy. Questionnaires was administered to 173 first year students commencing a tertiary level course at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) and at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Kuala Lumpur. The study will provide information on learning norms of mathematics differ according to context of each country, beliefs, and demonstrates the results of online learning styles preferences for students from the two different parts of the world. Research findings is significant in understanding teaching-learning process as the classrooms in each country provide a unique characteristics and values of the nation which reflects a direct reference to the wider cultural values. The results show similarities and differences in mathematic related beliefs, mathematic difficulty and online learning preferences among students from both countries.