Challenges and Opportunities: Experiences of Mathematics Lecturers Engaged in Emergency Remote Teaching during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

In this paper, we consider the experiences of mathematics lecturers in higher education and how they moved to emergency remote teaching during the initial university closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic. An online survey was conducted in May–June 2020 which received 257 replies from respondents based in 29 countries. We report on the particular challenges mathematics lecturers perceive there to be around teaching mathematics remotely, as well as any advantages or disadvantages of teaching mathematics online that they report. Over 90% of respondents had little or no prior experience teaching mathematics online, and, initially, 72% found it stressful and 88% thought it time-consuming. 88% felt there was a difference between teaching mathematics in this way compared with other disciplines. Four main types of challenges were associated with emergency remote teaching of mathematics: technical challenges; student challenges; teaching challenges; and the nature of mathematics. Respondents identified flexibility as the main advantage of online teaching, with lack of interaction featuring strongly as a disadvantage. We also consider respondents’ personal circumstances during this time, in terms of working conditions and caring responsibilities and conclude by summarizing the impact they perceive this experience may have upon their future teaching. Forty-six percent% of respondents self-identified as having caring responsibilities, and 61% felt the experience would affect their future teaching.

Responsive Dashboard as a Component of Learning Analytics System for Evaluation in Emergency Remote Teaching Situations

“…The result of the present study can be compared with 10 of these relevant papers [68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76][77]. While other researchers have analyzed the effects of ERT on high school teachers [68], state universities [69], and the challenges faced by educational institutions [70], for the proposed model, the developed EvalMathI system was tested to be able to answer questions Q1-Q4, questions that support the development of the model for the evaluation system (LAEM), and also validate the software instrument called EvalMathI.…”

“…In another study [ 73 ], the authors dealt with the evaluation of the quality of courses in ERT situations, proposing a dashboard of indicators for decision making. However, the present study found results in the content of each course evaluated through EvalMathI in terms of the intra- and interdisciplinary relationship and the intra- and intercurricular relationship.…”

Has the COVID-19 Pandemic Affected Mathematics Achievement? A Case Study of University Students in Social Sciences

“…Several studies tried to explain the impact of the rapid transition to online mathematics teaching during the pandemic on students' academic development [12][13][14][15][16][17]24,26,28]. In April 2021, Soesanto et al [9] encouraged researchers to bridge the still large research gap regarding the causality of implementing online mathematics learning in times of crisis in order to contribute to developing pedagogical strategies to improve university students' mathematics performance and attitudes.…”

“…Further investigation showed that the application of STEM online learning has helped to increase students' creativity and the rate of STEM research by both students and faculty members. The findings of [26] indicate that for many mathematics lecturers in higher education, the move to online teaching has been a beneficial experience that will impact their future teaching.…”

A Survey of Research on the Impact of the COVID-19 Closures on the Teaching and Learning of Mathematics at University Level in Ireland

“…More than 30% of the responses came from mathematicians working in Ireland. The results of the analysis of the survey data have been published in [24], [25], [26] and [27].…”