Abstract:

Do students’ emotions and behaviours influence their learning in mathematics classes, and if yes, how and why? Based on a qualitative research design, evidence on how the use of Electronic Voting Systems (EVS) has influenced students’ emotional and behavioural engagement with university mathematics learning is presented. The results show that the use of EVS enables students to diagnose their level of understanding of learning material, relative to the rest of the class. EVS use also helps, in real time, to stimulate, maintain, and re-focus student attention during mathematics instruction. A favourable perception of the learning environment as being altruistic appears to have influenced students to emotionally identify and align themselves with mathematics learning goals. There is enhanced interactivity in EVS-facilitated lectures, including positive student competitiveness, while the EVS anonymity utility also enhances increased student participation rates. However, a major disincentive to student engagement is the use of EVS-based mathematics questions with low cognitive demand. This research is a contribution to how specific educational technology-based interventions influence student engagement.

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