The effect of a monitoring scheme on tutorial attendance and assignment submission

Burke, Grainne; Bhaird, Ciarán Mac an; O’Shea, Ann

doi:10.1080/0020739x.2012.756553

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…This will not be straightforward; previously we have introduced additional interventions for at-risk students, for example, a peer-mentoring scheme (Burke et al, 2012), and these have had limited success. However, we have also introduced a scheme which monitors, on a weekly basis, student assignment submission and tutorial attendance (Burke et al, 2013), and this has seen a significant increase in student engagement. We hope to extend this scheme in the coming year to also monitor students' attendance at the MSC, and thus identify at-risk students with low levels of engagement earlier in the academic year.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating relationships between the usage of Mathematics Learning Support and performance of at-risk students

Berry

Bhaird

O’Shea

2015

Teaching Mathematics Applications

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The provision of some level of Mathematics Learning Support is now commonplace in the majority of Higher Education Institutions in the UK and Ireland. Most of these supports were initially established with the aim of trying to address the problem of large numbers of first-year students with weak mathematical backgrounds. The centres provide students the opportunity to overcome mathematical issues in their transition from school to Higher Education. This article presents findings from a recent quantitative study at a university, where the range of supports available and levels of engagement have increased dramatically since they were first offered in 2007. We investigated if the Mathematics Support Centre there was still helping the students who needed it most; in particular, we considered students' mathematical backgrounds, the number and length of their visits and their end of year module grades.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating relationships between the usage of Mathematics Learning Support and performance of at-risk students

Berry

Bhaird

O’Shea

2015

Teaching Mathematics Applications

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“…On average, CS students are entering MU with weak mathematical backgrounds, and this may be a significant contributing factor to their poor performance in mathematics examinations. Studies have shown, for example Burke et al (2013), that the mathematical background of first-year students is the biggest indicator of their progression into second year. Interviewees referenced their mathematical backgrounds when describing difficulties with the subject, and while several highlighted the importance of having extra academic support in their transition to HE mathematics, none had engaged with the MPC to any extent.…”

Section: Conclusion and Next Stagementioning

confidence: 99%

“…This may also have influenced their poor performance on exams when they needed to attempt the material on their own. The Department is reconsidering its monitoring system (Burke et al, 2013) to see if there are additional checks that could be put in place to measure the quality of student engagement and also whether certain subgroups, such as CS, need to be considered separately.…”

Section: Conclusion and Next Stagementioning

confidence: 99%

Computer Science Students’ Perspectives on the Study of Mathematics

Bhaird¹,

Mulligan²,

O’Malley³

et al. 2022

MSOR

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In 2019, the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Maynooth University commenced a project which sought to address, through the provision of mathematics learning supports, the issues of poor engagement and retention of computer science students studying mathematics. In this paper, we present preliminary engagement and performance data along with interviews conducted with eight students. We discuss how the quantitative data seemed to indicate that computer science students were engaging at similar levels to their peers, but several factors, including the quality of this engagement and their mathematical backgrounds may explain their poor exam performance. It also emerged that, while students were largely negative about their experiences in large lectures and their awareness of the relevance of mathematics to computer science, they were generally positive about smaller teaching situations such as tutorials, mathematics support drop-in and opportunities to work with their peers.

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“…Perhaps the work most related to a rigorous approach to monitoring engagement involving a mathematics support service is that of Burke et al (2013). The authors describe the delivery of weekly tutorials to first-year students who are assessed in a mathematics module but not studying towards a mathematics degree.…”

Section: Monitoring Engagementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Incoming Data to Monitor Engagement and Inform Mathematics Support Interventions

Lignos

2019

MSOR

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Students who do not engage enough with their studies could place themselves at risk of underperforming or failing. Such a risk may be higher for students who are assessed in one or more mathematics modules and lack the appropriate background knowledge, or do not engage enough with related teaching activities. It has been shown for students who engage with mathematics support, there is a significant impact on student performance and progression in the relevant modules. Thus, improving the mechanisms of engagement with mathematics support should be a priority for any student success strategy.We discuss the monitoring of attendance and performance data of first-year engineering students, as it becomes available, in order to inform interventions which suit the observed student behaviour best. Specifically, the method described was used with first-year engineering students at the University of East London (UEL) during the 2017-8 academic year. We find that when monitoring processes are applied to an already tailored support package, they can often help maintain engagement levels, understand why some students do not engage, and prompt us to differentiate support further.

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The effect of a monitoring scheme on tutorial attendance and assignment submission

Cited by 5 publications

References 4 publications

Investigating relationships between the usage of Mathematics Learning Support and performance of at-risk students

Investigating relationships between the usage of Mathematics Learning Support and performance of at-risk students

Computer Science Students’ Perspectives on the Study of Mathematics

Using Incoming Data to Monitor Engagement and Inform Mathematics Support Interventions

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