When it comes to university-level mathematics in engineering education, it is getting harder and harder to bridge the gap between the requirements of the curriculum and the actual mathematic skills of first-year students. A constantly increasing number of students and the consequent heterogeneity make it even more difficult to fulfil this task. This article discusses the possibility of complementing an introductory course in mathematics with learning environments designed by the international ROLE project in order to use a MOOC to provide an internal differentiation of large learner groups such that it gets easier for students to gain the knowledge needed for the content of the curriculum.

This article examines the project Vorkurs mit Open Educational Resources in Mathematik (VOERM) (Mathematical Introductory Course with Open Educational Resources (OER)) that as first offered at the Bonn-Rhine-Sieg University of Applied Science in the winter term of 2013. The course was conducted in September and October 2013. The course is not part of the curriculum but is taught every year during orientation. The objective of the project is to turn parts of the course into a MOOC. Following a short summary of the actual situation, we will present the idea of the project as well as research questions and aims. Furthermore, we reflect on the experience and possible future developments.

Keywords

differentiation of learners · Mathematics · MOOC · orientation · role