Online Learning Reflection

         After experiencing an online Mathematics course (The Math of Finance), I feel I have experienced the promises and pitfalls of online learning.  Granted I only took one lesson of the course offerings, which was being offered as a sample lesson, but the results were interesting.  For starters, I was given an introductory scenario involving the interest rate on varying mortgages, so I can see how the class would be authentic and applicable.  The lesson clearly identified the objectives as well as the intention of the varying activities as to how they were going to help meet the objectives.  The first assignment involved accessing prior math knowledge and simple computation processes that would be needed to complete the mathematics of the problem at hand.  The software allowed you to flip through problems and see the answers.  As a student, it was my responsibility to complete the problems on paper at my desk.  It was unclear to me how to use the software to physically type or compute within the program, but paper and pencil at my desk worked just fine.  Then I was able to check my answers in the following slides.  One issue I could see a younger student having is the motivation to complete problem, knowing the answer will subsequently be given.  Additionally, the method of how to achieve the correct answer or an explanation was not given, simply the answer. 

            When the more difficult math processes were introduced, the software entailed an interactive matching activity: matching the mathematical steps of the process to the numerical representation of that step.  I personally struggled to answer the more difficult questions.  The positive side of the program is that is required a correct answer in order for me to proceed, however, when I did not achieve the right answer, it offered not explanation or extra help to explain or clarify.  This is where the class differed from face-to-face learning, because I had no one to ask why I was getting the problem wrong.  Eventually through guessing and checking I moved on in the lesson.  The closure of the lesson involved additional practice examples with step-by-step examples with explanations.  This enabled me to ultimately conquer the material, though I would argue that I wasn’t always positive what mathematical process I was computing, but I was able to copy the model and continually repeat the process to achieve the correct answer.  There was a lesson quiz at the end, which I was not personally able to access, but I suspect I could have fared well.  Another issue of accountability and assessment reliance was brought to my attention.  There is nothing that would have stopped me from having another person over my shoulder completing the quiz.  Additionally, I could have had the example documents open on my computer to view and model the mathematical process.  In conclusion, in order for this course to be a rich learning experience I would have to MAKE it one.  I would have to be self-motivated to learn the material and not just memorize the process.