Skip to main content

Request info

How Perception, Math Anxiety and Mindset Affect Student Success in Undergraduate Distance Learning Mathematics Courses

Stephanie Bowers

Proposed research abstract

The research study proposed will use student self-reporting and student success throughout the course to answer the following questions:

  1. In what ways, if any, does anxiety about mathematics affect students’ success in undergraduate distance courses?
  2. In what ways, if any, do students’ perceptions about mathematics affect their efforts to do mathematics in undergraduate distance courses?
  3. In what ways, if any, does a “growth” versus “fixed” mindset affect students’ math anxiety and the level of success in undergraduate distance mathematics courses?
  4. What tools can help improve confidence and success in undergraduate distance mathematics courses?

The results of this study could help online distance education mathematics instructors to address potential issues that may undermine students’ learning in such courses. The research links to OSU’s strategic plan Phase III to provide a “transformative education experience for all learners” and to “strengthen impact and reach throughout Oregon & beyond”. It will also provide “leadership in research, scholarship and creativity”, since the study uses previous research regarding math anxiety in traditional courses and could create new literature relating these ideas to distance learning. This also creates an opportunity for additional research in related distance education topics.

Return to 2017-18 research fellows and projects.