Is Mathematics e-Learning Possible?

Abstract

For centuries, face-to-face learning has been the methodology used in all educational fields. Currently, the emergenceof new technologies has caused that distance education gains ground everyday, mainly because of the cost reduction and removalof both geographical and social barriers. However, in science and technology fields, particularly in mathematics, distance ed-ucation has great troubles, among other causes, due to the specific symbolism of mathematics, and their intrinsic difficulties. Barriers such as virtual office hours or teacher-student iterations —so useful for a joint reflection in complex science fields—often lead to student’s desertion. In this work, as a result of our experience in the Master in Computational Mathematics of theUniversitat Jaume I of Castellón, where we offer an e-Learning student group, we propose a set of guidelines: administrative,academic and organizational; which can help the viability of an e-Learning mathematics pro