Professor Duncan Lawson

National Teaching Fellow 2005 Professor Duncan Lawson is Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Formative Education at Newman University. At the time of his award, he was Associate Dean in the Faculty of Engineering and Computing at Coventry University. By background, Duncan is a mathematician and much of his work has focused on supporting students (of disciplines other than mathematics) making the transition from pre-university to university mathematics. His work through the Maths Support Centre at Coventry has been influential throughout the sector. In collaboration with Loughborough University's Maths Learning Support Centre, sigma, a HEFCE designated Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning has been set up. The work of sigma has not only been in the two host institutions but has contributed to mathematics support in many institutions - including providing funding to establish maths support centres at Leeds, Bath and Sheffield Universities. Duncan has a particular interest in using technology to increase the quality and availability of mathematics support. This has led to the creation of the website mathcentre (www.mathcentre.ac.uk), which is currently recording over 400,000 hits per month.  Duncan was also a partner in the FDTL4 project mathtutor which produced an extensive set of video tutorials packaged with support materials in an easily navigable format, originally on DVD-ROM but now delivered over the web at www.mathtutor.ac.uk. Current work is focused on providing resources for m-learning, based around video and interactive materials for 3G mobile phones, video ipods and even portable Playstations. In addition to interests in technology, Duncan is exploring wider issues of student engagement. He is currently supervising a PhD student seeking to apply methodologies that have been successful in increasing involvement with health care provision to promoting voluntary engagement by students with maths support provision. Contact details: d.lawson@newman.ac.uk