MyMathLab & WebAssign: Students’ Perceptions of their use in Mathematics

Abstract

Enhancing students’ conceptual understanding and encouraging them to be involved in the classroom discussions are important for instructors of mathematics. The use of technology is an essential part in teaching and learning mathematics as emphasized by The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Principles and Standards for School Mathematics. Web-based homework management systems provide alternatives to the traditional pen-and-paper based approaches. These systems provide a flexible instructional tool that offer students immediate feedback, track their performance, facilitate student-centered environment, allow instructors to give students more frequent assignments, provides the instructors with the ability to create multimedia enhanced questions that can include video, animation, or audio and facilitate students’ communications with their instructor. The goal of using these programs is to enhance students’ learning and understanding of the different mathematical concepts. The purpose of this paper is to present students’ perceptions of the advantages and disadvantages of using web-based homework management systems, in particular MyMathLab and WebAssign.