Abstract:

The purpose of this study is to investigate students approach to learning in the flipped mathematics class using live interactive technologies. Participants were 345 first and second year mathematics students from a university in the Gauteng province of South Africa. The question posed in this study was: How did students approach learning in the interactive mathematics class? In order to answer this question mixed method was used. Firstly, the Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST Short Version) was used to better understand the students’ approaches to learning in a live interactive mathematics classes. Secondly, live interactive teaching in-class were conducted using clicker technology to determine whether students engaged with the learning content outside the classroom. Finally, students’ summary reports with open-ended questions was used to determine students’ perception on the use of flipped learning and interactive teaching in-class. The reliability ASSIST Short Version was computed by Cronbach’s alpha, α values ranged between .75 and .83. For the content validity the results show that the value of KMO = .769 was acceptable while the Bartlett’s test of sphericity was also statistically significant (p < 0.001). Construct validity was ascertained by computing through AMOS a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The results show that the Chi square (χ2) was statistically significant [χ2 = 210.94, df = 132, p < .0001]. The goodness of fit statistics were: TLI = .948, the CFI = .947, and the RMSEA = .054. The result showed that Strategic Approach was the most dominant among the participants and there was a correlation between strategic and deep approach. Live interactive teaching as well as the flipped learning were effective in promoting deep and strategic approach to learning among students. It is important to take into cognisance that if lecturers wish to ensure that teaching will be engaging and satisfying, they need to think carefully about integrating interactive technologies in their teaching.

Keywords:

Live interactive teaching, interactive technologies, students’ approaches to learning, mathematics, higher education.