Abstract:

It is usual that many of the new degree courses have, in their first years, basic math subjects whose fundamentals are Calculus and Linear Algebra. These subjects are often structured in lectures and practical classes, some of which are developed by computer in the computer labs.

At the beginning of the period of computer practice sessions, the teacher usually gives written material with which, first, the students are instructed in the use of software to be used and, second, similar problems to those made by hand on the blackboard are solved using the software as a tool.

This material has a drawback: the difficulty of explanation and learning, written on paper, of the steps to follow in a computer. Experience tells us that it is necessary to spend much of the time that is available to teach the management of the software and work with basic exercises, impeding implementation of the software to larger problems, more like those they will encounter later in their professional lives.

That is why we have created multimedia teaching materials that, together with written support, enable self-learning. These materials are multimedia tutorials for each computer practice session, through which we facilitate the use of the software (Mathematica in our case) to work the concepts related to the contents of these subjects.

Keywords:

European Higher Education Area, self-learning, multimedia tutorial teaching, Mathematics with Mathematica.