Evolution of Mathematics Learning Supports at ITT Dublin.

Ciarán O’Sullivan

The 3rd Irish Workshop on Mathematics Learning and Support Centres

5th December 2008 , NUIM.  

ITT Dublin

Located in South Dublin County and was established in 1992.

The Institute caters for a student population of 2,400 full-time and 1,300 part-time students

Good interaction with industry/employers Size enables quick reaction/adaptation

Higher Education in Ireland Binary System Qualification levels (N.Q.A.I.)

N.Q.A.I levels

Universities Institutes of Technology

Level 6 X

Level 7 X

Level 8 X X

Level 9 X x

Level 10 X x

General Background

Evolution of supports 1. September 2003

Engineering Learning Support Unit for year 1 students in School of Engineering

Pro-active and Reactive Supports Space / Manager/Tracking

February 2004 Statistics Clinic

January 2006 ELSU expanded to cover year 1 students in

School of Science - rebranded as LSU.

October 2006 LSU incorporated as part of the CONTINUE (SIF 1 cycle project)

and expanded to cover all full-time students. Milking stool idea.

Evolution of supports 2.

September 2007 Reactive requested sessions complemented by 8 hours of drop-in

clinics.

December 2007 LSU rebranded as CeLT within CONTINUE ( 5 strands: Learner and

Staff Support, PBL, Emotional Intelligence, Learning Styles, Assistive Technologies)

September 2008 Development of Maple TA question bank. Headstart workshop piloted - see handout.

Why is Maths so tough?

Responses to brainstormed question Why is Maths so tough?

Comments on:

Formulas 9

hard to understand/complicated 9

stressful 5

lack of application 5

too many methods/sections 4

boring/don’t like 3

teaching methods comments 2

time consuming 2

big numbers 2

Topics mentioned:

algebra 4

theorems 2

trig 1

stats 1

graphs 1

imaginary numbers

1

In 10 groups of 4 to 5 students at start of workshop.

Evolution of supports 2.

September 2007 Reactive requested sessions complemented by 8 hours of drop-in

clinics.

December 2007 LSU rebranded as CeLT within CONTINUE ( 5 strands: Learner and

Staff Support, PBL, Emotional Intelligence, Learning Styles, Assistive Technologies)

September 2008 Development of Maple TA question bank. Headstart workshop piloted - see handout.

October 2008 New premises in heart of Institute opened

Evolution

Mathematics Learning Supports.

Proactive supports: Headstart Workshop.

Drop-in Clinics - 8 hours.

Statistics Clinic - 2 hours.

Reactive Supports - by student request.

Revision Sessions.

Tracking of Students using all the supports.

Measures of Effectiveness. Student support/development

Usage General By those who may need it most

Performance

Catalyst for change and development in the Institute. Expansion from pilot using a model suitable for ITT Dublin ‘Feedback Loop’ to mainstream knowledge/expertise nad

challenges into teaching and staff development Increased involvement in mathematics learning and teaching

issues in third level Dissemination of mathematics learning and teaching ideas

back to second level.

Measures of Effectiveness (1).

Student support/development

Usage General By those who may need it most

Performance

Record Keeping 1.

Interactions with Learning Supports: Number of e-mail contacts with LSU/CeLT Number of personal contacts with LSU/CeLT Number of students attending Learning Support

Sessions Number of students attending Revision Sessions Number of students attending Maths Drop-in

Sessions

Since September 2003 for Engineering Students

School of Engineering - First Year

TA_EELEC TA_EEMSY TA_EMECH TA_EAMEC School

2003 72 13 90  - 175

2004 63 13 68  - 144

2005 33 27 53  - 113

2006 48 28 49 23 148

2007 25 26 37 23 111

First Year Enrolment by course as of Census Date October 31st.

Code Course titleTA_EELEC Higher Certificate in Electronic Engineering TA_EEMSY Higher Certificate in Mechanical Engineering, Electro-Mechanical Systems TA_EMECH Higher Certificate in Mechanical Engineering TA_EAMEC Ordinary Degree in Mechanical Engineering (Ab-Initio)* School All students in year 1 Engineering

* First intake onto the Ordinary Degree in Mechanical Engiineering (Ab-Initio) occurred in September 2006.

Number of email or personal contacts to LSU

Academic Year Number of contacts with LSU

2003-2004 471

2004-2005 362

2005-2006 236

2006-2007 161

Number of first year students in School of Engineering

2003-2004 175

2004-2005 144

2005 -2006 113

2006 - 2007 148

Record Keeping 2.

Profile of students :Partitioning of Students (in Engineering

since 2003)

First in Family to attend Third level (tracked since September 2007)

Partitioning of Students.

P1 >D (OLC) Maths and studied LC Physics

Students who achieved a grade higher than a D in Ordinary Leaving Certificate Mathematics ( including those who had achieved grades at Higher leaving Certificate mathematics) and who had studied Leaving Certificate Physics prior to entry.

P2 >D (OLC) Maths and didn't study LC Physics

Students who achieved a grade higher than a D in Ordinary Leaving Certificate Mathematics ( including those who had achieved grades at Higher leaving Certificate mathematics) and who had NOT studied Leaving Certificate Physics prior to entry.

P3 D (OLC) Maths and studied LC Physics

Students who achieved ONLY a D grade in Ordinary Leaving Certificate Mathematics and who had studied Leaving Certificate Physics prior to entry.

P4 D (OLC) Maths and didn't study LC Physics

Students who achieved ONLY a D grade in Ordinary Leaving Certificate Mathematics and who had NOT studied Leaving Certificate Physics prior to entry.

PNT Not Trackable Students for whom complete leaving certificate results were not available or relevant( eg mature students)

Performance

Year 2 enrolment as % of the students in year 1 in September of the previous year by course:

TA_EELEC TA_EEMSY TA_EMECH TA_EAMEC School

2004 54.2% 84.6% 68.9% NA 64.0%

2005 66.7% 61.5% 83.8% NA 74.3%

2006 75.8% 55.6% 77.4% NA 71.7%

2007 43.8% 46.4% 59.2% 65.2% 52.7%

Usage - example.

Number of students with at least one LSU interaction

%

P1 (n = 28) 22 out of 28 79%

P2 (n = 34) 22 out of 34 65%

P3 (n = 18) 16 out of 18 89%

P4 (n = 33) 25 out of 33 76%

Number of first year engineering students with at least one LSU interaction in Academic year 2005/2006 by partition

Performance - example.

Number of students in each partition with at least one LSU interaction and who passed year 1

Number of students with at least one LSU interaction not passing year 1

P1 (n = 28) 17 out of 20 5 out of 8

P2 (n = 34) 13 out of 18 9 out of 16

P3 (n = 18) 8 out of 9 7 out of 9

P4 (n = 33) 5 out of 7 20 out of 26

Performance in year 1 of first year engineering students who had at least one LSU interaction in Academic year 2005/2006

Performance – example table explained.

Number of students in each partition with at least one LSU interaction and who passed year 1

Number of students with at least one LSU interaction not passing year 1

P1 (n = 28) 17 out of 20 5 out of 8

17 students of the 20 who passed in the P1 partition of the first year students (28 students in this partition) had at least one LSU interaction in the year.

5 students of the 8 who did not pass in the P1 partition of the first year students (28 students in this partition) had at least one LSU interaction in the year.

113 in year 1

28 in P1 34 18 33

20 pass 8 fail

17 had > 1 LSU 3 had 0 LSU 3 had>1 LSU 5 had 0 LSU

Performance – example table explained.

Performance - example by %.

% of students in each partition with at least one LSU interaction and who passed year 1

% of students in each partition with at least one LSU interaction and who did not pass year 1

P1 (n = 28) 85% (n=20) 63% (n=8)

P2 (n = 34) 73% (n=18) 56% (n=16)

P3 (n = 18) 89% (n=9) 85% (n=9)

P4 (n = 33) 71% (n=7) 76% (n=26)

Performance in year 1 of first year engineering students who had at least one LSU interaction in Academic year 2005/2006

Performance into year 2- example.

Number of students in each partition with at least one LSU interaction in 05/06 and who passed year 2 in 06/07

Number of students with at least one LSU interaction 05/06 and who did not pass year 2 in 06/07

P1 (n = 20) 15 out of 18 2 out of 2

P2 (n = 18) 11 out of 16 2 out of 2

P3 (n = 9) 7 out of 8 1 out of 1

P4 (n = 7) 3 out of 3 2 out of 4

Performance in year 2 in 2006/2007 of engineering students who had at least one LSU interaction in their first year (Academic year 2005/2006)

Measures of Effectiveness. Student support/development

Usage General By those who may need it most

Performance

Catalyst for change and development in the Institute. Expansion from pilot using a model suitable for ITT Dublin Feedback Loop to mainstream teaching and staff development Increased involvement in mathematics learning and teaching

issues in third level Dissemination of mathematics learning and teaching ideas

back to second level.

Measures of Effectiveness (2). Catalyst for change and development in the Institute.

Expansion from pilot using a model suitable for ITT Dublin ELSU to CeLT

Feedback Loop to mainstream teaching and staff development Keyskills project Re-design of Mechanical and Electro-Mechanical Higher

Certificates and the introduction of Ab-initio Ordinary Degree in Mechanical Engineering. Key decisions made regarding Mathematics pre-requisites and arrangement of learning outcomes influenced by the LSU tracking and insights.

Formal mechanism for feedback of issues from Mathematics learning support sessions and headstart sessions into mainstream teaching - workshop being piloted this academic year.

Measures of Effectiveness (2 ctd.) Catalyst for change and development in the Institute.

Increased involvement in mathematics learning and teaching issues in third level

Engagement with Mathematics Learning and Support Workshops NDLR CoP

The Mathematics and Statistics Service Teaching Community of Practice:www.ndlr.ie/mshe

Colloboration with other HEIs to submit a SIF2 cycle proposal in this area.

Dissemination of mathematics learning and teaching ideas back to second level.

Development of colloboration with 6 local schools enhanced - in May 2009 workshop planned for the teachers from these schools.

Challenges

Getting student engagment early.

Funding (in these straightened times).

Measuring Effectiveness.

Acknowledgements.

Funding HEA Information Technology Investment Fund  Measure 3:

Improved completion rates. HEA SIF 1 - CONTINUE project

Ideas and practical support Mathematics Learning Centre Loughborough University Glasgow-Caledonian University CONTINUE project partner institutes BIT, Carlow IT Colleagues at DIT, DCU and UL Mathematics Learning

Centres

Acknowledgements.

Colleagues at ITT Dublin

Rosemary Cooper, Aideen Reddy , Margaret Phelan at CeLT

Donal Healy, Noel Gorman, Martin Marjoram, Paul Robinson.