Abstract:

This paper presents a blended learning project designed to improve the low success rate, around 30%, in a Financial Mathematics Curricular Unit taught during the second semester in a Higher Education Institution. An existing online project developed on Moodle platform facilitated online learning, which was complemented with a face-to-face training course designed to assist students with significant learning difficulties and reinforce key concepts in this subject. The online component includes: diagnostic, practice, and formative interactive quizzes, all with a suggestion of solution step by step and with instant feedback that supports learning; SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) packages, with step-by-step problems where students input their answers, receive immediate feedback, and get hints, which engages students and helps them learn by doing; and structured interactive lessons, carefully designed to follow a logical progression and actively involve students through several forms of interaction. Such resources promote autonomous learning, enabling students to engage with the content in a flexible, self-paced environment. The complementary classroom sessions were designed to reinforce crucial financial mathematics topics centered on their application as well as clarify doubts and provide practical problem-solving to solidify the understanding of different concepts and address misconceptions. The results of this blended approach were highly positive, 96% of participating students passed the Financial Mathematics curricular unit. Moreover, all the participants reported that this project significantly contributed to their academic success. These findings suggest that a well-structured hybrid learning model can substantially enhance student engagement and performance in mathematically demanding subjects and provide a sustainable pedagogical model for similar higher education curricular challenges.

Keywords:

Financial Mathematics, Blended Learning, Online Education, Student Success, Higher Education, SCORM, Quizzes.