Abstract

ONLINE LEARNING OF MATHEMATICS AMONG NIGERIAN UNDERGRADUATES: THE COVID-19 EXPERIENCE

Lawal, Ruth F. (Mrs)1 and Awofala, Adeneye O. A. Ph.D2

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The world awoke to a global biological threat in December 2019, which has since changed the course of human relationships across continents. The reality of this is also felt in the educational sector at all levels and has brought about new norms. In rising to the occasion, experts seek the safety of human lives and continuously advocate for an unprecedented shift to online learning to stem the tide of the disease while keeping up with instructional demands. To fit into these new demands, mathematics instruction has to adopt technology-mediated content. This necessitated the study on the usage and preference of online mathematics learning among 361 undergraduates in South-Western Nigerian tertiary institutions before and during the lockdown imposed by the pandemic. The study embraced both quantitative and qualitative inquiry using an online researchers-made survey instrument to gather data. Frequency, percentages, mean and standard deviation were adopted for descriptive statistics while paired sample test and independent samples t-test were employed for inferential statistics. Qualitative data were categorised into themes and analysed. Findings from data analysis revealed that a little above one-fifth of the undergraduates preferred online learning of mathematics to the conventional approach. A significant difference was found in students? usage of online mathematics learning before and during the lockdown in favour of usage ahead of the lockdown. The disparity between male and female preference for online mathematics learning was found to be insignificant. Among others, the study suggested that the government should liaise with communication firms to sponsor tertiary students? data subscriptions in addition to the adoption of blended learning which could serve as a gradual inclination for optimal learning of mathematics online. Keywords: COVID-19, mathematics, online learning, tertiary education, undergraduates.

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