The use of virtual environment for learning mathematics and statistics in the Lithuanian university of agriculture

Abstract

E-learning has become an important part of the education agenda in the last decade. Virtual learning environments are more often applied in distance education when a teacher and a student meet seldom. However, such an environment could become a rather convenient means, supplementing and providing more variety to traditional learning environments. The Blackboard Learning System Vista was applied for the teaching of the course Mathematics and Statistics for the first year students in the Faculty of Agronomy of Lithuanian University of Agriculture for several years. The students can find the material of lectures, practical tasks that have to be completed and self-control tests that check knowledge and skills acquired with the help of computer based tests. The survey, carried out at the end of the course, indicated the fact that students evaluated such teaching method rather favorably; some of them had several difficulties caused due to malfunctioning of the internet connection sometimes. Still the majority of the respondents enumerated the possibility to study in one’s convenient time as the greatest advantage.