Abstract:

In contrast to synchronous face-to-face learning in the classroom, distance education as experienced during the Corona pandemic requires a high degree of self-organization from primary and secondary level students. Furthermore, the lack of direct personal communication is considered an inherent problem for students learning from home. Through the Corona pandemic, these challenges have had to be met by a temporary solution. With an exemplary focus on the situation in Germany, we introduce MathCityMap@home as one promising concept for distance learning. MathCityMap@home enables an interplay of synchronous and asynchronous mathematics education supported by digital technology. The MathCityMap app asynchronously provides stepped hints, checks the student’s solution and presents a sample solution. In addition, the usage of the optional feature Digital Classroom allows teachers to easily monitor the students’ learning progress and provide personal support and feedback via a chat function in real time. In order to evaluate the usage of MathCityMap@home, we analyse the interplay of the asynchronous functionalities with the synchronous possibilities provided by the Digital Classroom. In a mixed-methods design, the uses of MathCityMap@home which were conducted during the German Corona school break are analysed. The results show that the asynchronous elements are used in about 44% of all students’ solving processes. In addition, the synchronous chat messages are used for organizational aspects, didactical support and personal communication between students and teachers. The study indicates that both, teachers and students, use the provided elements for distance education in a meaningful way. Based on our analysis, implications for the further development of educational tools in general for distance learning can be drawn.

Keywords:

Distance Learning, Synchronous Learning, Digital Technology, MathCityMap@home.