MELEES — e-support or mayhem?

Abstract

T his paper reports on progress in developing a web-based environment to support non-specialist mathematics students taking University level Mathematics as a compulsory subject in their first and second years. The scale and diversity of the service teaching provision at Nottingham invites the use of a technology-based framework in order to make available the 'good practice' features developed both locally and elsewhere. Initially the twoyear development is focusing on{• establishing a supportive environment;• providing feedback to students, their lecturers and importantly to their home Schools; • identifying and supporting e-learning strategies; • improving student motivation; Current activities have been primarily directed to the first three bullet points.The e-learning project MELEES (Mathematical Electronic Learning Environment in Engineering and Science) aims to develop a dedicated infrastructure for the non-specialist mathematics (service) provision to Engineering and Science. The framework enables existing local e-learning initiatives to become embedded and to assist teaching staff in providing learning support materials. An important element is to incorporate existing learning materials available from ongoing HEFCE and other initiatives such as FDTL and TLTP together with wider availability such as collated by the LTSN Engineering and LTSN Maths, Stats & OR Network.The principal challenge within the service teaching of mathematics is to address the needs of students who have not chosen the subject as a main area of study. Such students are often not provided per se with as extensive a support structure as that associated with their main subject area(s). It is important to note, as Prosser and Trigwell [1] suggest, that students' perceptions of their situation are related to their learning outcomes. As Petocz and Reid [2] assert, it is therefore critical to enhance the learning environment in mathematics with an appropriate structure, and to ensure that students are aware of the existence of this structure and the support it can provide them. Such a learning environment involves balancing the needs of the curriculum (content, assessment and outcomes) and of the participants (students, tutors and lecturers) for whom support can be provided at a number of levels. In a service teaching environment the stakeholders of the students programmes in client subjects are also both contributors and consumers. Providing links to the students overall programme of study, and the relationships with mathematics, will enable students to appreciate the importance and relevance of their mathematical knowledge and skills to their chosen degree programme.

Relationship between learning outcomes and online accesses

“…For the 84 students involved, every doubling of number of accesses corresponded to an increase in the final result of about 4%. While a causal relationship cannot be inferred from this observation, it contrasts with the results of other contemporary studies that find no relationship between accesses and results (for example, Bedgood, 2002;Hibberd et al, 2003). It certainly lends support to the general thesis that, under appropriate conditions, online study provides a significant benefit to overall student learning.…”

“…Bedgood (2002) reports on the relationship between access and results for US students of chemistry at Arizona State University, and concludes that "student use of the web resources is not necessarily predictive of subject performance" (p.23), with the sole exception that the very weakest students seemed to use the materials significantly less than other students. A report on the British MELEES (Mathematical Electronic Learning Environment in Engineering and Science) project (Hibberd et al, 2003) provides data that indicate a non-significant relationship (correlation of 0.09) between access and outcome. The authors' conclusion is that this "confirms that the provision was seen as helpful to students from all ability ranges" (p.32).…”

“…Two investigations which include such information are reported by Bedgood (2002) and Hibberd et al (2003): in each case, the results seem to indicate that students' use of the online learning environment does not significantly improve their learning outcomes.…”

Using a VLE to Enhance Assessment for Learning Mathematics in School Scector

“…Manipulative do not only make learning easier but are also fun to work with, and most SENs students enjoy working with manipulative technology [25] as this enhances their practising number skills and use of images. The potential advantages of using computer-based manipulative technologies for teaching, learning and assessment in order to facilitate flexible provision within Mathematics has been apparent for many years [26]. [25] states that special education needs students always struggle to understand ideas that are too abstract, thus Mathematics class is particularly challenging, and while some students might be able to understand many mathematical concepts by listening to the teacher's explanation on a board, many students do not learn effectively from the instruction provided in their regular mathematics classes.…”

“…For the special educational need students however, this will not be enough. They therefore often need a hands-on approach to their learning [26]. The VLEs have been embraced by students including the SENs students and teaching staff as means of providing integrated and versatile support mechanism to school sector education, including the KS4 special needs learners.…”