Online learning environments are being used for teaching and learning of mathematics at university level. Exploiting the potential of digital technology, these Internet-based environments administer computer-generated homework, assistance and feedback for students. This article presents a case-study of a small group of ִundergraduate engineering students’ learning activity in mathematics in an online environment. The study focuses on students’ interactions with the online environment to make sense of the affordances of this environment. Utilizing multiple sources of data aid in analyzing the intentional and the operational aspects of students’ interactions with several resources in this environment. With regard to both of these aspects, the affordances are thus viewed as features of the environment which support students’ engagement with the mathematical tasks. The analyses show that the students incorporated several online resources for solving the tasks posed in the automated system. Students met requirements of final answers in the automated system through varying sequences of mathematical operations for the posed tasks. The conditions of the automated system as well as the rules of the collective activity system played a role in students’ interactions with the mathematical tasks.

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探索网上环境的负担：以电子工程专业大学生的数学活动为例

在线学习环境被用于大学一级的数学教学。这些基于Internet的环境充分利用了数字技术的潜能，为学生管理计算机生成的作业，帮助和反馈。本文提供了一个案例研究，以研究在线工程环境下一小部分ִ本科工程专业学生的数学学习活动。该研究着重于学生与在线环境的互动，以了解这种环境的承受能力。利用多种数据来源有助于分析学生在这种环境中与多种资源进行交互的有意和可操作的方面。关于这两个方面，因此，提供能力被视为支持学生参与数学任务的环境特征。分析表明，学生们结合了一些在线资源来解决自动化系统中提出的任务。通过对所提出的任务进行不同的数学运算序列，学生可以满足自动化系统中最终答案的要求。自动化系统的条件以及集体活动系统的规则在学生与数学任务的互动中发挥了作用。