CETL-MSOR Conference 2015


The 2015 CETL-MSOR Conference SUSTAINING EXCELLENCE was held from Tuesday 8 September – Wednesday 9 September 2015 at the University of Greenwich, London.

Titled “Sustaining Excellence”, the conference explored ways in which learning and teaching in MSOR is meeting this challenge whilst navigating the ever changing higher education landscape.

Keynote speakers were:

– Professor Les Ebdon, OFFA
– David Bowers and sigma Hub co-ordinators – The sigma Network: Planning a sustainable future for mathematics and statistics support
– Professor John MacInnes, University of Edinburgh – Developing STEM skills in the social sciences: the Q-step programme
Staff-Student Partnerships in Teaching and Learning: Hearing from the students themselves
– Emma Collins-Jones, Lynn Long and Inès Righi Promoting a mathematics support centre: what works?

The social program included a lecture and film in the Planetarium at the Royal Observatory Greenwich and dinner in the Painted Hall.

The full conference program may be accessed  here.

Published conference proceedings are available here

Individual abstracts and presentations that have been made available, may be accessed below:

Shazia Ahmed & Sarah Honeychurch

University of Glasgow

An analysis and evaluation of using Facebook groups to support student learning

Hannah Bartholomew

Developing a Foundation Mathematics module to improve student engagement and achievement

Emma Berry, Ann O’Shea and Ciaran Mac an Bhaird

Maynooth University

Investigating relationships between the usage of Mathematics Learning Support and performance of at-risk students

Noel-Ann Bradshaw

University of Greenwich

Flipping Employability: Discovering how to further embed employability into the Mathematics curriculum

Cormac Breen, Ciaran O’Sullivan and Damian Cox

DIT, IT Tallaght, IT Blanchard

Mathematics Learning Support across a Multi-Campus Institution: A Prototype of a Virtual Drop-In Service

Maura Clancy, Anthony Cronin, Cormac Breen, Diarmuid O’Shé and Jonathan Cole

Limerick Institute of Technology, UCD, IT Carlow, DIT, Queen’s University Belfast

Mathematics Learning Support in Ireland in 2015

Emma Cliffe

Working session: Making mathematical content accessible – collaborative documentation of practice and sharing of expertise

Claire Cornock

Sheffield Hallam University

Learning within assessment: developing a deeper understanding through group work assessment

Claire Cornock

Sheffield Hallam University

Teaching mathematics to Business and ICT students in a module based around Excel

Anthony Cronin

UCD

Lecturers’ views on the nature and relevance of qualitative feedback collected at a Maths Support Centre

Michael Cross

University of Bradford

Beyond these shores: The conundrum of the successful graduate who experiences difficulties with maths

Nuala Curley and Maria Meehan

Tales from an intensive eight-week qualitative data collection process in an Irish Maths Support Centre

James Denholm-Price, Suzan Orwell and Peter Soan

Kingston University

First year engagement using clickers

Sally Dodsley and Vandana Sharma

Vision West NottinghamshireCollege

Pump up the V=r2h

Ruth Fairclough and Liam Naughton

University of Wolverhampton

Maths vs Numeracy: Diagnostic Testing of Undergraduate Engineers

Chrystalla Ferrier and Ian Bailey

Within module numeracy support for life sciences students

Leslie Fletcher and Sue Milne

OpenMSR: an open and sustainable A-Z of maths support resources

Jonathan Gillard and Rob Wilson

Cardiff University

A statistical analysis of student feedback and the NSS: what do students really evaluate?

Paul Glaister

University of Reading

Post-16 Mathematics Reforms: A-level and Core Maths

Martin Greenhow, Ceren Cetin, Jan Hanson & Martyn Thomas

Development of maths e.g. for online assessment of adult numeracy and employment aptitude tests

Madonna Herron

Ulster University

The educational uses of pencasts in Mathematics education

Aoife Hunt, Noel-Ann Bradshaw and Mayur Patel

University of Greenwich

Rethinking the final year project report: cutting out the waffle

Diarmaid Hyland, Paul van Kampen & Brien Noland

Dublin City University

Investigating students’ difficulties with differential equations in physics

Abi James and Clare Trott

University of Southampton, Loughborough University

Developing maths text to speech to support learners with print impairments

Meena Kotecha

Reducing mathematics and statistics anxiety through assessment and feedback

Stephen Lee

MEI

When, what and how are changes being made in 14-19 Mathematics education – repercussions for higher education

Richard Lissaman and Trevor Hawkes

MEI, sigma

Working session: The challenges of creating online maths games to encourage independent learning

Wodu Majin

Sheffield Hallam University

Reflections on using videos to teach Mathematics

Mary McAlinden

The reform of pre-university qualifications: What has been happening and what is the potential impact for higher education?

Andrew McGettigan and Rich Cochrane

Fine Art Maths Centre at Central Saint Martins – a case study report on Mathematics support in a unique setting

Andrew McGettigan and Rich Cochrane

Working session: Two-point linear perspective & the mathematics of viewpoints

Maria Meehan

Three years reflecting on the relevance of the large lecture, and the verdict is …

Alison Megeney

Middlesex University

Engaging with Mathematics: how mathematical art, building mathematics, robotics and other activities are used to engage students with university mathematics and promote employability skills

Greta Millwood and Ioannis Lignos

University of East London

Re-pacing mathematics support to transcend the propensity for “cramming”

Zainab Munshi, Davide Penazzi & Jo McCready-Fallon

Challenging the dominant discourse in first year’s mathematics students in approaching their own studies

Noha Nahari, Bryan Mac Donald & Eabhnat Ní Fhloinn

Designing a mathematical diagnostic test using paired questions and certainty-based marking approach

Caitríona Ní Shé, Sinéad Breen, Connor Brennan, Frank Doheny, Fiona Lawless, et al

Maynooth University University, St Patricks College, AIT, Dundalk Institute of Technology, DCU 

Identifying topics and concepts that First Year students struggle with in Mathematics

Alun Owen and Mark Johnston

Experiences from setting up a new university Mathematics programme from scratch

Alun Owen, Ellen Marshall & Scott Smith

Resources for statistics support

Chetna Patel

University of Sheffield

Maths diagnostic testing and beyond: Five years on

Christine Pereira

Brunel University

Making statistics accessible to non-maths students: challenging conventions

Vesna Perisic

University of Greenwich

Facebook v Blackboard discussion forums in support of Teaching and Learning Mathematics

Ros Porter and Hannah Bartholomew

Sheffield Hallam University

When will I ever use that? Giving students opportunity to see the direct application of modelling techniques in the real world

Nadarajah Ramesh, Noel-Ann Bradshaw & Tony Mann

Working with employers to enhance employment outcomes for Mathematics students

Chris Roast and Roxanne Leitão

Sheffield Hallam University

Visualising and Evaluating Spreadsheets

Lois Rollings and Tracy Seraphin

University of East London

Working session: Flipping the worksheet

Peter Rowlett and Ewan Russell

Nottingham Trent University

Developing professional skills in Mathematics undergraduates: three years of practice

Maria Ryan

Using a joint assessment to make Mathematics real and relevant

Sharon Strawbridge

Overcoming Maths Anxiety; some practical ideas and personal reflections

Eva Szatmari

Birkbeck College, University of London

The challenges and rewards of running a school wide Mathematics and Statistics support solo

Harry Tolley & Helen Mackenzie

sigma

Senior management perspectives on Mathematics and Statistics support in the HE sector in England

Páraic Treacy & Fiona Faulkner

University of Limerick

Trends in basic Mathematical competencies of beginning undergraduates in Ireland, 2003-2013

Cheryl Voake-Jones, Emma Cliffe and Jane White

University of Bath

Student enhancements of mathematics support provision – two very different approaches

Jeff Waldock

Sheffield Hallam University

Designing and using informal learning spaces to enhance student engagement with Mathematical Sciences

Philip Walker and Sonia Hussain

University of Leeds

How do our students revise?

Iain Weir, Rhys Gwynllyw & Karen Henderson

University of the West of England

A suite of statistics e-Assessments with supporting materials

Comments from conference feedback:

“The historic venue was amazing – having the conference dinner in the Painted Hall was a fantastic bonus. The talk at the Planetarium was pitched at just the right level. The standard of talks, both plenary and contributed, was extremely high. This must rate as one of the best CETL-MSOR ever.”

“It was fantastic, and definitely made me feel inspired. I think the most difficult thing will be deciding what to focus on. It was also valuable to be updated on the changes in GCSE and A-level curriculum.”

“Thoroughly enjoyed it; very well organised; extremely friendly conference as ever. Possibly 4 parallel sessions instead of 5 would have been better – felt like I missed a lot of interesting talks!”

“I had not been to this conference before and did not know quite what to expect. I really enjoyed it (and the Planetarium show was superb!)”