| Reform movements in mathematics education abound over the past 30 years. The educational community is seeking ways to improve mathematics instruction. This introspection is occurring at all levels, from preschool to post-graduate education. Undergraduate mathematics education is one of these foci. Students report diminished confidence in doing mathematics at each educational level. By the time they graduate with a baccalaureate degree, few report confidence in mathematics or a strong mathematics self-concept.;Research is emerging that expands the notions of previous decades regarding cooperative education and constructivist methodologies to the field of social learning theory and communities of practice. This new paradigm suggests that healthy participation within informal communities can have strong impact on identity of participants. In addition, research suggests that participants in online environments have come to engage each other in interesting ways that promote discussion, feedback, humor, and generally less formal dialogue. It is a reasonable conjecture that online environments may have a positive effect on affect. Finally, the notion of mathematical identities has been the focus of much research, primarily in the context of traditional face-to-face instruction.;There is a gap in research in the overlap of these 3 conceptual areas: social learning theory, online education, and mathematical identity. How does participating in online interactions related to an undergraduate mathematics course affect students' perceptions of their own mathematical identity? This study gathered over 16,000 lines of narratives by 30 students involved in 2 sections of an undergraduate liberal arts mathematics course. These narratives consisted of transcripts of synchronous online sessions, asynchronous discussion thread postings, and focus-group interviews. Global characteristics and trends were analyzed for the entire cohorts. Six students were selected for more in-depth analysis, three from each section. The major findings of the study were that students generally had reduced mathematics anxiety levels, increased mathematics self-confidence, and increased mathematics self-concept. In addition, it was found that female students were more inclined to discuss their personal mathematics identity than their male counterparts. Finally, mathematics background was an obstacle to be overcome for a few students who felt themselves unprepared for collegiate mathematics. |
