We teach different Mathematics courses designed for engineering students. One of these courses is Calculus, which is an important part of the curriculum of most of the students in our university. Usually, this course consists of a four-hour weekly lecture (standard frontal teaching) and a two-hour weekly tutorial, plus homework assignments. Students take midterm and final pencil-and-paper exams.
In our teaching we encounter problems that are difficult to solve in a face-to-face teaching framework. Many of our students are not interested in Mathematics: they are not intending to specialize in it, and they see it as a necessary evil. Some students came from schools that aim to make Mathematics teaching as simple as possible, focusing on standard methods and paying little attention to students’ understanding of basic mathematical concepts. This problem is particularly acute when students begin to study Mathematics at university. Similar problems were mentioned in the paper of Naidoo & Naidoo (2007).