A Personal Perspective... Technology for Teaching and Learning Mathematics

As a former secondary school Mathematics teacher who is now tutoring part time at the University of Wales Aberystwyth I have had good reason to reflect on the transition between school and university for the students whom I teach. One of the biggest differences between school and university for any student is the way in which teaching and learning happens. Long gone are the cosy classrooms of a few keen A-level Mathematicians. Now in larger universities the student is just a face in a lecture theatre that can seat hundreds. There is a real sense of anonymity where previously each student was known by name. The lecture is the primary means of communicating information at university and is something that is radically different from a classroom-based lesson at secondary school. Even the recommended textbooks accompanying the lecture course are different: brightly coloured books entitled “Advanced Pure Mathematics 4” are replaced by weighty tomes entitled “Basic Undergraduate Calculus”. What was confidently mastered at A-Level is now only the tip of a very big daunting iceberg. There is a subtle but vital change in emphasis too. Now the student has a far greater responsibility to learn than ever before. University brings with it freedom for the first time for many students. Freedom from the constraints of school rules parents and rigidly structured days. At university things are different. The successful completion of a Mathematics degree requires single-minded dedication. Of course there is plenty of time for extra-curricular activities along the way but essentially the under-motivated student will sooner or later fall by the wayside. To be fair to the universities most seem to operate some kind of system to check students’ progress in those vital first months but the main difference lies in the fact that now students have to take a much greater responsibility for their learning. Whereas at school each new concept was presented at a comfortable pace with lots of practice exercises along the way at university concepts are often presented much more rapidly with less time to reinforce new ideas.