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Mathematics education : should technology supplement or replace the traditional delivery methods

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Abstract
Kenya for the first time in the twenty first century is undergoing a rapid demand for post secondary education. Most of the Kenyan universities are over enrolled and almost all of them have opened up a series of campuses and constituent colleges in various centers around the country where parallel degree programs are being offered. Maseno University is by no means an exception in this regard. It has further ventured into a more technology oriented method of reaching the student community in the diasporas through e-Learning. Mathematics courses are among the many programs already being offered through e-learning. This ambitious program lacks face to face contact with the students. Students reach their programs by logging into the e-campus where they obtain electronically guided learning materials which include prepared lesson notes, assignments and other references in various websites. Even though this program is still at its inception, certain teething challenges are bound to arise more especially with regard to teaching, content delivery and mastery of higher level courses in mathematics. The content of this paper highlights some of the challenges which arise in mathematics content delivery through e-Learning. The paper also intends to initiate discussions on what alternative techniques are available to help reach out to the larger community of scholars who wish to advance their mathematics knowledge but are kept out of the learning mainstream due to lack of resources in our institutions.
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Paper presented at Strathmore International Math Research Conference on July 23 - 27, 2012 Abstract only
Kenya for the first time in the twenty first century is undergoing a rapid demand for post secondary education. Most of the Kenyan universities are over enrolled and almost all of them have opened up a series of campuses and constituent colleges in various centers around the country where parallel degree programs are being offered. Maseno University is by no means an exception in this regard. It has further ventured into a more technology oriented method of reaching the student community in the diasporas through e-Learning. Mathematics courses are among the many programs already being offered through e-learning. This ambitious program lacks face to face contact with the students. Students reach their programs by logging into the e-campus where they obtain electronically guided learning materials which include prepared lesson notes, assignments and other references in various websites. Even though this program is still at its inception, certain teething challenges are bound to arise more especially with regard to teaching, content delivery and mastery of higher level courses in mathematics. The content of this paper highlights some of the challenges which arise in mathematics content delivery through e-Learning. The paper also intends to initiate discussions on what alternative techniques are available to help reach out to the larger community of scholars who wish to advance their mathematics knowledge but are kept out of the learning mainstream due to lack of resources in our institutions.
Keywords
Post secondary education, Kenyan Universities
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