The Beauty of eMath

Are you a math-phobe?  Do you lack confidence in your ability to learn math?  Then eMath is for you.  We’ve designed eMath from the perspective of the student, and we are continually updating it as we discover new ways to help our students.  We are also striving to make eMath as user friendly as possible so that each student can log in and begin using the program in valuable ways their very first time.  Having said these things, you need to know that your input is very valuable for us.  Any time you have something to suggest or a criticism to pass on, please email us at [email protected].

Learning Mathematics

Why does it seem so difficult to learn mathematics?  The very heart of the matter in learning anything that requires analytical thinking is the need we all have to connect with the underlying logic.  This means we need to develop more than just a memorized process.  If we stop with a memorized process, our ability to use mathematics is limited by our ability to maintain that memorized process.  Even more, though, our ability to know which process to use when is totally lacking.  So, without a true understanding of the concept, that is, the logic that underlies the process and actually drives its creation, mathematics isn't a very usable tool.  Unfortunately, treating mathematics as a collection of disconnected processes is pretty much the current state of mathematics education in this country.

Designed to Produce Real Knowledge

Now, what is this program designed to do?  What help are we offering you?  Everything we're incorporating into eMath is aimed at teaching mathematics from a conceptual perspective.  We continue to work very hard to facilitate the learning of the underlying logic of mathematics that enables all of us to remember mathematics better, and to truly take it from being 'that class in school that I hated' to being a tool that enables me to problem solve better every day.  Plus, as we begin to understand the underlying logic, those processes that we work so hard to memorize become quite natural because they are actually driven by our understanding.  An understanding of the logic allows us to re-create the processes when we forget some of the details about those processes.

When you first log in to your class on eMath you’ll encounter the page we call the Dashboard.  Among the important items on this page you’ll see a color coded pie chart that shows you your up to date Knowledge Mastery Status.  Each different color represents your level of mastery on each of the concepts you’ve covered so far in the class.  This status is automatically generated and updated every time you do some work inside the program.  You can click on the chart and be taken to a page that gives detailed information about which concepts fall under each of the colored sections.  You will also be offered additional teaching information about each concept for each colored section and specific additional practice to help you improve in the areas you haven’t yet mastered. 

You'll also have access to additional practice on those areas in which you've shown excellence, just so that you can keep cementing those concepts into your knowledge base.  When you step away from things you've learned, coming back again to practice builds your knowledge depth and actually allows you to wrestle with a concept on a deeper level than youdo when you first learn it.  This re-visiting is an important facet of how all of us learn.  Those of us who teach the same material over and over, and do so re-thinking the concepts each time, find this to be very true.  When you force yourself to re-think each time you work with a concept its amazing the new insights that come as a reuslt.

Each problem you work within this program comes with a link to detailed information and explanation of each concept incorporated into the problem, a link to the correct answer, and a link for a detailed solution for the problem.  The concept information includes, along with detailed information about each concept, links to more information and more practice on any one of those concepts because any one of them could be the source of your difficulty with the original question. 

eMath provides lot’s of detailed help right there at your finger tips, right from the first page you open, and all of the help is built on conceptual teaching of the underlying concepts.  No matter what link you click on to generate a practice problem, you will find links to this information.  All of the information is designed to enable you to truly learn the underlying concepts of the mathematics you are being taught.  It is this conceptual learning that will enable you to truly master the mathematics and make it a life long usable tool for you.

Test Preparation Help and More

The assignments available in eMath are designed to help you master the material for the next in-class exam you’ll be given.  However, important information is also provided for your use on a daily basis as you cover material in your class and try to work textbook assignments.  We have incorporated four study guides in eMath that are of a progressive nature.  The first study guide you should go to is the Question Guide which provides another look at the kinds of questions that you’ll see on the coming exam.  Again, each question has all the links to the helpful information.

The second guide is the Question Type guide.  This guide provides detailed descriptions of the concepts underlying each type of question and links to practice those concepts.  Again, each question contains all the links to help with the question.

The third study guide is called the Knowledge Guide.  This study guide provides detailed explanations for each of the concepts covered in a particular chapter.  With each concept there is information on your level of mastery, a link to ‘Help you improve’ your mastery of the concept, and a third link that will take you to the fourth study guide or to a sample problem.

The fourth study guide is the Knowledge Map.  This guide shows a map of how each concept relates to underlying, prerequisite knowledge.  This guide can be very helpful to your understanding of how a previous concept can keep holding you back until you really learn it.  This guide can also help you to more precisely diagnose the difficulty you have with a particular problem type or concept.

It is our recommendation that you make use of these study guides daily as you go through the course so that you are really prepared when you attempt the practice assignments and the pre-tests.  If you use these guides daily, you'll be building knowledge mastery of smaller chunks of math as the class works its way toward each exam and the eventual final exam.

Some Final Comments

So far, statistics have shown that the more you use eMath, the higher your grade will be and the better your level of real mastery of the material will be.  This mastery is essential if mathematics is every going to be a useful tool for you and if mathematics is going to develop your ability to think and analyze as the study of mathematics is supposed to do.  Real knowledge and understanding of just about anything worth knowing takes time, hard work, and persistence.  There is no program out there that will do these things for you, but, given a chance, eMath will enable those students who are really willing to make the effort, to come away from their math class with some very real and useful mathematics in their bank of usable knowledge.

Again, please contact us with questions or input at any time.  We wish you the very best experience in a math class that you’ve ever had!

Thank you!

The eMath Team