Mathematics teaching, learning, and assessment in the digital age

Abstract

The role of teaching, learning, and assessment with digital technology has become increasingly prominent in mathematics education. This survey paper provides an overview of how technology has been transforming teaching, learning, and assessment in mathematics education in the digital age and suggests how the field will evolve in the coming years. Based on several decades of research and educational practices, we discuss and anticipate the multifaceted impact of technology on mathematics education, thus laying the groundwork for the other papers in this issue. After a brief introduction discussing the motivations for this issue, we focus our attention on three lines of research: teaching mathematics with technology, learning mathematics with technology, and assessment with technology. We point to new research orientations that address the issue of teaching with technology, specifically describing attempts to conceptualise teachers’ mathematical and digital competencies, perspectives that view teachers as designers of digital resources, and the design and evaluation of long-term initiatives to support teachers as they develop innovative teaching practices enhanced by digital technologies. Our examination shows that learning with technology is still marked by new conceptualizations raised by researchers that can further our understanding of this complex issue. These conceptualizations support the recognition that multiple resources, ranging from paper and pencil to augmented reality, participate in the learning process. Finally, assessment with technology, especially in the formative sense, offers new possibilities for offering individualised support for learners that can benefit from adaptive systems, though more tasks for conceptual understanding need to be developed.