ISCAP - Matemática - Livro, parte de livro, ou capítulo de livro
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Browsing ISCAP - Matemática - Livro, parte de livro, ou capítulo de livro by Author "Azevedo, Jose Manuel"
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- MatActiva Project – A mathematical dynamic environment to engage students in the learning processPublication . Torres, Cristina; Lopes, Ana Paula; babo, lurdes; Azevedo, Jose ManuelSeveral studies report that mathematical subjects have high failure rates from earlier grades to higher education. Nowadays, higher education institutions are facing many unprepared students with regard to the mathematical skills. Although students avoid mathematical courses, yet science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields keep among the job-growth areas. Aware of this reality, in 2007, a group of Mathematics lecturers from ISCAP (Institute of Accounting and Administration of Porto) started the development of an online project on the Moodle platform called, MatActiva. This project arose as a need to improve learning and increase the levels of success in the first years Mathematic courses. It aims to enhance mathematics education, creating a learning environment aligned with real needs of the students, in which they can learn at their own pace, motivating and encouraging them to overcome the difficulties, and giving them more confidence. It is a whole learning environment that provides innovative resources and carefully constructed materials (e.g. video-lectures, multiple-choice tests, challenges) on topics such as Elementary Mathematics, Calculus, Algebra, Statistics and Financial Mathematics. Nowadays, it is supported by several math lecturers and ERASMUS students. Throughout the development of the project some challenges were found and gradually exceeded. One of them is related with mathematical symbols and the TeX language. Another problem concerns the construction of good multiple-choice questions and how to obtain a good bank of questions. Many doubts also arose when we began producing video-lectures in 2009 as there was little information about that. The project´s success is measured by platform usage´s volume and student´s engagement using learning analytics tools and by student´s opinion, regularly inquired during the project. In addition to continuous improvement of the materials, we plan the development of an app for smartphones and switch to a more recent Moodle version with further capabilities and tools.