Abstract

In contemporary higher education, developing students’ complex mathematical understanding is challenging, and the integration of a digital learning ecosystem offers a promising approach to support effective mathematics learning. The purposes of this study were to (1) investigate current conditions and needs for mathematics learning within a digital learning ecosystem, (2) develop a mathematics teaching model based on a digital learning ecosystem, and (3) examine the results of implementing the developed model with undergraduate students. The participants consisted of 40 stakeholders involved in mathematics teaching and learning for the needs analysis, five experts for model evaluation, and 40 undergraduate students enrolled in a calculus course at Shandong University, China. The research instruments included a needs analysis questionnaire, a teaching model evaluation form, lesson plans based on the developed model, and a mathematics learning achievement test. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and paired-samples t-test. The results of the study showed that stakeholders identified a clear need for developing a digital learning ecosystem–based teaching model, experts evaluated the developed model at a very high level, and students’ posttest learning achievement was significantly higher than their pretest scores. This study contributes a systematically developed mathematics teaching model that demonstrates the practical integration of a digital learning ecosystem to enhance undergraduate mathematics learning.

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