Incorporating active learning strategies and instructor presence into an online discrete mathematics class

Abstract

Online education offers an attractive alternative to face-to-face classes by providing flexibility to students and efficiencies for educational institutions. Leveraging online technology has the potential to help computer science departments offer a quality educational experience in the face of burgeoning enrollments. However, effective online course design is critical to student satisfaction and learning outcomes. In this paper, we describe the experience of converting a large face-to-face course in Discrete Mathematics to an online format. Particular care was taken to incorporate active learning strategies, such as clicker questions and interactive discussions, in order to enhance student engagement. We describe ways in which we cultivated an active instructor presence in the course through carefully designed pre-recorded videos, online video conferencing, and participation in Piazza, an online social learning platform. In-class tests were specifically designed to provide a meaningful comparison of learning outcomes between a face-to-face and online offering of the course taught by the same instructor. The results indicate that there is no loss in student performance in the online course, even after accounting for demographic and academic differences between the students enrolled in the two courses. There is also no significant difference in performance for at-risk students. End-of-quarter student evaluations show a high level of student satisfaction with the online format, especially in regards to the opportunities to have questions answered and the positive presence of the instructor in the course.