Interest is a key motivational variable in higher mathematics education, yet there is a lack of theory-based interventions that are designed to increase interest. On the basis of the expectancy-value theory of achievement motivation, we investigated how reflecting on the utility value of mathematics affects interest. The current research was aimed at identifying effects and key characteristics of interest-fostering reflections. In a randomized controlled trial, N = 58 German preservice teachers were asked either to reflect on the utility value of mathematics or write a mathematical text. Interest was measured before and after the intervention. Unlike findings from prior studies, the path analysis did not reveal any effect of these reflections on interest. However, the quality of the reflections predicted future interest in addition to prior interest, indicating possible benefits of utility-value interventions. To better understand the underlying relation between reflections and interest, we performed an in-depth analysis of the quality of students’ reflections and presented characteristics of interest-fostering reflections.

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Mathematics learning support centres (MLSC) are widely established and evaluated in English-speaking countries (such as the UK, Ireland and Australia). In most of these countries, several national surveys on MLSCs exist. They give an overview of the number of MLSCs as well as their characteristics in these countries. In Germany, there is a lack of studies on MLSCs and the landscape of MLSCs has not been described yet. This article presents basic information concerning counts of MLSCs and their characteristics at universities. Based on a three-step approach of analysing university homepages and additional personal contact via email or phone calls, we gathered typical MLSC features (e.g. staff quantities and qualification, opening and support hours, supported study programmes). We analysed 190 universities from a web-based register on study programmes. In total, we found 61 MLSCs located at 51 German universities. Another 16 support centres were specialized on mathematics didactics, which means they focussed on didactical and methodological support for preservice teacher students and often provided different teaching materials. Thirty-eight centres were located at universities (62.3%) and 23 MLSCs at universities of applied sciences and comparable universities (37.7%). The MLSCs were different in their sizes of staff and opening hours, and both the numbers of staff and the service hours differed greatly. The student groups MLSCs at German universities focus on differ concerning characteristics like study programme or semester. We will provide the main categories describing these groups. We seek to answer research questions concerning the characteristics of MLSCs in Germany and discuss the results compared to international findings. This information is useful for further international collaborative research, for example a standardized international survey. From a national perspective, these findings support networking and collaborations between the MLSCs as well. As some German MLSCs are facing financial cuts, these results might help in gaining additional funding.

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ZusammenfassungLernstrategien haben für den Lernprozess eine hohe Bedeutung. Ihre Nutzung an der Hochschule ist immer wieder Gegenstand empirischer Untersuchungen. Allerdings existiert kein Instrument, das die Besonderheiten der Mathematik als Lerngegenstand und die dafür üblichen universitären Arbeitsweisen berücksichtigt. Wir wollen diese Lücke schließen und stellen dafür einen neuen Fragebogen vor, der anhand von acht quantitativen Erhebungen und zwei qualitativen Tests entwickelt und validiert wurde. Die Besonderheiten der Hochschulmathematik werden sowohl auf Ebene von Itemformulierungen als auch in neuen Skalen berücksichtigt. Das Instrument ist dennoch so allgemein gehalten, dass es mathematikspezifische Lernstrategien über verschiedene mathematikhaltige Studiengänge wie das Fachstudium, die Lehrerbildung sowie Ingenieurs- oder Wirtschaftswissenschaften abbilden kann.

We investigated university students’ study of mathematics in the digital setting context of the COVID-19 pandemic. We gathered data from a survey of 89 students enrolled in a ‘Linear Algebra 1’ course including affective variables, learning strategies, social relatedness and resources considered useful. The results indicate students’ high effort and self-regulation and a high variation in affective characteristics and social relatedness. All the traditional aspects of mathematics teaching (lecture, tutorials and lecture notes) were rated as particularly useful. In addition, the videos from external resources were rated as equally useful as the teaching team’s videos. In contrast, traditional literature such as textbooks was rarely considered useful. The most useful resource rated was communication with peers, underlining the important role of social learning despite fully digital learning environments. Finally, a cluster analysis based on students’ rated usefulness of the resources led to three different user-types. Whereas the ‘digitals’ find the external digital resources very useful (videos, webpages, etc.), the ‘traditionalists’ rate the digitalized traditional resources best (lecture, tutorials, etc.). All resources receive uniformly good ratings from a third group (‘all resource users’). We reflect on our findings in light of the pandemic and describe directions for future research.

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When the COVID-19 pandemic began, many universities switched to fully online teaching. This unexpected switching to online teaching was challenging for both teachers and students, and restrictions that were put in place because of pandemic made this challenge even greater. However, new ways of teaching might also open new opportunities for students’ learning. The research question driving our study was as follows: how do students regulate their learning and specifically their choice of resources and peer learning in university mathematics classes that are fully taught online as offered during the COVID-19 pandemic? We report on a longitudinal, qualitative study in which students recorded a brief audio diary twice a week over one whole semester (14 weeks). We focused on three students who completed 70 interviews in total and finished the semester with varying degrees of success. The results show how the students structured their studying (e.g., the roles that deadlines or synchronous teaching events played). They illustrate the strengths and limitations of digital materials provided by the lecturer and the use of complementary media. Further, the pandemic uncovered the double-edged role of simple, often anonymous exchanges (e.g., via Discord servers), with few binding forces for either side, and the significance of stable learning partnerships for students’ success. Our research highlights aspects that should be focal points when comparing traditional instruction and online instruction during the pandemic from a self-regulatory perspective. Practical implications refer to how these aspects can be combined sensibly in fully online courses, but also in blended learning contexts.