Teaching mathematics at a distance: learning from practices at Universitas Terbuka

Abstract

Teaching mathematics in distance education has uncovered many problems and possibilities. The objective of this paper was to expose the obstacles and potentials ofdistance education based on practices of Universitas Terbuka in offering mathematics courses. The method used was a case study in teaching PMAT4210 – Statistics for education offered by the study program of mathematics education, Universitas Terbuka, and enrolled by thousands of students. The discussion in this paper included the effects of self-learning material which was provided by Universitas Terbuka, face-to face tutorial, and online tutorial to students’ learning results. The solely source of data was the database of the student record system of Universitas Terbuka. The data then was analyzed by using ANOVA to analysis the effect of those learning supports services to the students’ final examination results. The lessons from the study included how to develop learning materials that could be learned in self-directed learning mode and how to provide effectively a student learning support service.