Computer mediated teaching: a case-study in discrete mathematics

Abstract

Providing distance education students with tutorial assistance is a significant problem for universities such as The University of Southern Queensland where there is a large external student population and some attempt is being made to provide equity of opportunity. Audiographic conferencing is a cost-effective way of providing part of this assistance but certain disciplines present some unique challenges for this technology. This paper describes experiences with audiographic conferencing in a particularly problematic discipline, mathematics. We describe the technology used, its advantages and problems and make suggestions for future technologies.