Recruitment and retention of students–an integrated and holistic vision of mathematics support

Abstract

• This is an electronic version of an article published in Students' lack of preparedness for the mathematical demands of higher education is affecting a wide range of programmes in universities worldwide. In the UK this has been recognised at the highest levels and provoked several inquiries.The ability to use mathematics in courses as varied as nursing, biosciences, and business is an essential skill for success. Any factors that diminish students' ability to perform competently will impact upon large groups. Consequences include failure, loss of self-esteem and financial losses. Conversely, strategies that improve performance lead to improvements in retention, progression and cost-effectiveness.This paper details the way a research-led university has faced the challenges and brought mathematics support high up its strategic agenda, leading to a university-wide support strategy. It describes the implementation of this strategy and shares experiences gained for the benefit of policymakers and practitioners who are interested in enhancing their own institution-wide support provision.

Revelations from an online diagnostic arithmetic and algebra quiz for incoming students

“…This lack of student preparedness has consequences for student and staff satisfaction, student self-esteem, retention and progression of students, and financial costs to universities and to students arising through failure to progress or complete a course. 3 According to Kaput 8 , algebra is a route to higher mathematics, but at the same time a barrier for many students which forces them to take another educational direction. On the transition from arithmetic to algebra, Moseley and Brenner 9 noted that ' …moving from arithmetic problems to working with more symbolic representations of relationships with variables in algebra is an area of persistent difficulty for many' (p. 4).…”

“…2 Although it is believed that there is evidence of similar transitional issues in other disciplines in science, it seems that the transition in mathematics is by far the most serious and the most problematic. 3,4 A possible reason for this discrepancy is the many changes that take place in the transition from secondary to tertiary education. These include changes in teaching and learning styles, the type of mathematics that is taught, conceptual understanding, procedural knowledge that is required to advance through and the changes in the level of advanced mathematical thinking needed.…”

Understanding evaluation of learning support in mathematics and statistics

“…Tables provide exact numbers but an accompanying graph or chart can often impart crucial information more readily and make comparisons clearer. For example, Figure 1 below taken from [27] shows the cumulative number of student visits to a learning centre over the two 15-week semesters in each year from 2002/03, when the Mathematics Education Centre at Loughborough University was established, until 2007/08. The growth in demand over the six year period is evidence that sustained efforts to raise awareness of the learning centre have been worthwhile.…”

“…For quantitative performance data such as marks or percentages, relationships are often of interest and are presented in scatter plots. For example, Figure 5 and 6 of [27] are scatter plots of students' overall result in the mathematics course against the result of an initial diagnostic test, with different symbols for students who used or did not use MSLS services after failing the diagnostic test. In fact this data shows the value of linking diagnostic test results with targeted support.…”

“…The growth in demand over the six year period is evidence that sustained efforts to raise awareness of the learning centre have been worthwhile. A table in [27] shows the actual number of students and the number of visits they made together with the departments from which they came, in the year 2007/8. The detailed information in this table is valuable but a chart showing number of students and number of visits by department would provide an even more accessible view to a reader of a report or paper.…”