Against Online UCSC Math Classes

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I really think that math is a subject that needs to be taught in person. You can get immediate answers to your questions from the professor.

Over two years ago when I was a freshmen at UCSC I took Math 19a online. Although I ended up doing fine in the class I found it was unbelievable that I was taking a class online at a campus that I lived on. I found it appalling that I was paying the same amount for this online class as classes actually being taught in the classroom. If I had known UCSC offered required intro classes online I would have gone somewhere else. What aggravated me further was the midterm was on a Saturday! If UCSC doesn't have the capacity to have classes in the classroom they shouldn't offer them.

While the online module is certainly useful for practicing basic problems and staying updated on that which is happening in the class, It is distinctly lackluster compared to an in person class. The tests are objectively easier than past iterations of the class, so this is a severe drop in the standard of education among our STEM students. Furthermore, it would be cheaper for me to take a more rigorous class, in person, small class size, and Cabrillo college. Why am I paying more and getting less?

As an individual who has taken two out of the three math classes offered online, I can say that while there were aspects of the online component that helped me specifically, math classes should be taught in person and with fewer people for a more intimate setting. That's the only way to truly engage students.

I think something that would help this petition would be to add more information because this is circulating to many students but the intro doesn't have enough information about whats happening and I don't want to say myself because I don't have the full story. Anyway, I hope they hear us.

Seriously, math should not be online. It's criminal.

A lot of these kids are going to be at a serious disadvantage later in their academic careers if the school continues to neglect their introduction to high level mathematical reasoning. Why pay a premium to go to college if you don't actually get a proper education?

Online calculus serves the wellbeing of nobody but the institution itself and the professors. Students lose out on a quality education by being taught by a program that has seen to have many flaws and typos. For students pursuing a deeper understanding and an education in fields such as mathematics and engineering (STEM, more math based ones), this idea of having an online calculus class is absolutely detrimental to every single aspiring STEM major. The ability to understand the material compared to having a traditional class setting is light years apart. Heading into upper division classes that require deep knowledge of the ideas of calculus significantly ruin the chances of success of these students now and also in their futures.

Math courses requires a greater amount of time, dedication, and respect from both the students and teachers, and online courses diminishesthe respect for the course, decreases the time abs resources to utilize, and lowers the dedication of the student.

I've been in both online and Prof Mitchell's class, and the online version is nowhere near the professor's quality of teaching. If I wanted to learn math online, I would've gone to Kahn Academy, who actually have years of experience and studies on online teaching. However, I came to a university in which I expected to get what I paid for but end up losing my time. It feels like I'm paying to be a lab rat on a very awful experiment.

I worked for three years as a tutor to mathematics at my community college and online classes were a disadvantage to every student. Students gain a very shallow introduction to concepts based on matching their answer to the computer has, rather than understanding the material and being able to apply reasoning skills. This makes online classes worthless for GE credit in Qualitative Reasoning (or UCSC's equivalent), and a handicap for STEM students who will need their base of mathematical knowledge for their academic career. - Computational Mathematics and Applied Physics, 2018.

If I wanted to take instruction online. I wouldn't be going to a UC. I'd just log into Khan Academy.

I had online math classes my freshman year and felt like I learned more in high school comparatively.

I'm paying for an education, not to take a class I could have taken sitting at home

The online math 23a course introduces basic level of knowledge that was easy to understand at first, but when problems with more in-depth show up in homework and exams, I was baffled by the lack of content the online lecture videos were presenting. Most homework problems didn't serve as ways to assure that I understand the materials, but rather forms of extended and more in-depth new materials.

I came here to learn from professors not from booms and online notes. I can do that without attending a university. The university should earn the money we give

As a student who recently finished the online 23A class, I do not feel the course provided adequate preparation for further math-based learning. Much of my learning was done outside of the course, using other materials. The class was taught in a style that encouraged memorization rather than understanding. I did not feel that the course enabled or required me to achieve mastery of the material.

While I don't necessarily believe I was getting a substandard education in my introductory Calculus classes (19A online, then 19B in-person), I do believe that the offering of 23A last quarter was abhorrent, and student's shouldn't be forced to learn from materials that are unfinished. I personally ran into issues with digesting the material, which made the class particularly hard for me.

As a former undergraduate student of UCSC who has taken 19A, 19B, 23A, and 23B in a classroom, I cannot imagine taking such courses in an online environment. I fully agree with Prof. Mitchell's statement, these classes do not translate well online and result in a marginalization of the subject matter. Calculus isn't a cookbook to solve problems, it's akin to a medium of art that describes an object or a landscape Much like art, it requires a mentor to understand the flow and intricacies of the medium.