Abstract:

We have previously proven, that educational technology can be used to improve the student performance in mathematics learning significantly. In a two-year study, an educational tool called ViLLE was utilized in an elementary school mathematics education by replacing one lesson a week with a ViLLE lesson, where the students solved automatically assessed mathematics exercises and played educational math games. Still, though the results in relation to the student performance and motivation have proven to be very good, we have not previously collected systematic feedback from the teachers utilizing the tool. In this paper, we present a study where the feedback collected with comprehensive survey on teachers’ opinions and attitudes towards utilizing educational technology in mathematics education is analyzed. More than 50 educators teaching lower level elementary school mathematics using the ViLLE tool answered the survey. Based on the analysis of the answers, the teachers seem to be really satisfied with the automatically assessed mathematics exercises, and are keen to use them in the future as well. We also analyze teachers’ opinions on the effectiveness and the usability of the tool, the difficulty level of the exercises and the need for on-classroom support when using the tool. Finally, we present some possible changes to be made on the tool and the exercises based on teachers’ feedback and comments.