Barbara Kensington-Miller

It's Not the Done Thing: Social Norms Governing Students' Passive Behaviour in Undergraduate Mathematics Lectures.

Students often play a passive role in large-scale lectures in undergraduate mathematics courses: they observe the lecturer demonstrate mathematical procedures, but they rarely engage in authentic mathematical activity themselves. This study uses semi-structured interviews of undergraduate students to investigate the implicit and explicit social norms and expectations that influence students to maintain their passive roles during lectures. Students were aware that their passivity was influenced by social norms, but perceived these norms as necessary for allowing the lecturer to get through the content in the allotted lecture time, while enabling students to avoid being publicly embarrassed in the lecture. However, the students appreciated opportunities to work on examples in small groups during lectures. We argue that the success of small group interactions during large-scale lectures depends on students and lecturers establishing supportive social norms, and adjusting their lecture goals from ‘covering the content’ to ‘developing mathematical understanding’.

Developing new academic developers: doing before being?

A small group of new academic developers reflected on their induction into the profession and wondered if things could have been done differently. The researchers decided to question the directors of three tertiary academic development units about how they recruited new developers, what skills and competences they looked for and how they inducted new appointees into the role. This article interrogates the interview data, employing Winter’s ‘dilemma analysis’ to tease out the ambiguities, judgments and problems inherent in the issues of employing new academic developers. Finally, the authors discuss ways of enhancing the induction experience for new academic developers.

The chameleon on a tartan rug: adaptations of three academic developers’ professional identities

This paper builds on discussions of academic developers’ identity experienced as a discomfiting, troubled, and often marginal space. Three experienced academic developers, located in research-intensive institutions in three different countries, using auto-ethnographic writing and a shared narrative inquiry, explore moments of congruence and conflict. While there are elements that sustain them in their job, the categorisation of their role can impact on their ability to do their job, undermining their credibility. This can prevent them from engaging in research that could enrich practice in their institutions and inform institutional strategy or change the culture in teaching and learning. Instead they are forced into discomfit: having to defend their right to be involved in the institutional discussions. The most worrying issue is the pervasive trend in the change of academic developers’ status (from tenure-track academic peers to professionals).

Just do it: flipped lecture, determinants and debate

This paper describes a case study of two pure mathematicians who flipped their lecture to teach matrix determinants in two large mathematics service courses (one at Stage I and the other at Stage II). The purpose of the study was to transform the passive lecture into an active learning opportunity and to introduce valuable mathematical skills, such as debate, argument and disagreement. The students were told in advance to use the online material to prepare, which had a short handout on matrix determinants posted, as the lesson would be interactive and would rely on them having studied this. At the beginning of the lesson, the two mathematicians worked together to model the skill of professional disagreement, one arguing for the cofactor expansion method and the other for the row reduction method. After voting for their preferred method, the students worked in small groups on examples to defend their choice. Each group elected a spokesperson and a political style debate followed as the students argued the pros and cons of each technique. Although one lecture does not establish whether the flipped lecture model is preferable for student instruction, the paper presents a case study for pursuing this approach and for further research on incorporating this style of teaching in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics subjects.

Peer Mentoring: Stories of Three Mathematics Teachers.

Mentoring is a professional development strategy well documented. Peer mentoring however, is relatively new and was provided as a professional development strategy for a group of secondary school mathematics teachers working in low socio-economic schools. Through the stories of three teachers, the year-long study identifies the features critical for successful peer mentoring and its effectiveness for teachers. Overriding all other features was the importance of building a relationship and allowing time for this. Also significant were recognising each relationship was unique, and the importance of communication, commitment, and a clear structure. An unexpected outcome of the study came from the professional development meetings when the teachers met as a group on a regular basis. The connections that formed and deepened became significant for peer mentoring as they provided the groundwork for relationships to get established. This opened up the possibility for more teachers to be involved in peer mentoring who under normal circumstances would not naturally work together.

Crossing New Uncharted Territory: Shifts in Academic Identity as a Result of Modifying Teaching Practice in Undergraduate Mathematics.

The changes in academic identity a teacher may undergo, as they modify their teaching practice, will vary depending on their experiences and the support they receive. In this paper, we describe the shifts in academic identity of two lecturers, a mathematician and a mathematics educator, as they both made changes to their teaching practice by implementing new questioning techniques in a large undergraduate mathematics course. Both the lecturers were members of the research group, which became their community of practice. Our findings recommend that lecturers endeavouring to step out and try changes to their teaching practice, particularly with large groups of students, belong to a community of practice. The community of practice provides a place for shared reflection, new learning, and opportunities to negotiate new identities.

Surviving the first year: new academics flourishing in a multidisciplinary community of practice with peer mentoring

ABSTRACT When new academics begin university life, the support they receive in their departments can vary. For many their initial experiences of the new job can be daunting. In this article 10 new academics from a range of disciplines were involved in a community of practice, known as Catalyst, to support them finding their feet within the university. Catalyst is a special community of practice; it is structured, multidisciplinary, one semester long, meets fortnightly and has no restriction on numbers. It also includes peer mentoring, where the new academics meet in pairs or small groups between meetings to foster further support at a deeper, more personal level as they talk about critical aspects of beginning an academic path. In the process they learn more about each other and build strong professional friendships. In this article, the community of practice is evaluated through analysis of journal notes kept by the author, together with semi-structured interviews and a focus group by an independent researcher. In particular, working collaboratively away from their disciplines provided space to learn about institutional and departmental expectations, but more importantly the opportunity to discuss difficult issues that often arise for new academics in a supportive environment.

Māori in partnership: a peer mentoring model for tertiary indigenous staff in New Zealand

This article presents a professional development programme which brought an indigenous minority group of tertiary staff together. We describe a peer-mentoring model, piloted in 2009 at The University of Auckland, New Zealand with university staff in order to promote staff advancement. The participants were all Māori, the indigenous people of New Zealand. The strengths of the model were: it gave Māori staff a rare opportunity to work with other Māori in a context where their culture was the norm with regards to language, spirituality, humour, and whakawhanaungatanga (togetherness); it mediated the effects of isolation that Māori staff often feel when working in large institutions; and, provided affirmation of Māori in a large institutional environment. This case study suggests that the model of staff development would be applicable to other indigenous minority groups, by adopting a similar approach and adapting the model to the specific cultural practices of the group.

From invisible to SEEN: a conceptual framework for identifying, developing and evidencing unassessed graduate attributes

ABSTRACT Academic transcripts record students’ learning, providing a grade which indicates the student has achieved a certified level of disciplinary knowledge and skill. However, recognising what a graduate has accomplished during a course, or over a programme is much more involved: it includes not only disciplinary awareness but students’ learning processes (e.g., autonomous learning), social aptitude (e.g., diversity awareness and collaborative skills), and even their professional readiness (e.g., time-management and resilience). Such learning is often invisible on university academic rubrics and transcripts, and may be difficult for students to articulate and evidence to others. In this article, we introduce the concept of ‘invisible’ graduate attributes at the tertiary level, distinguishing such unassessed/unassessable attributes from more visible graduate attributes. We then introduce our conceptual framework, SEEN, for articulating, evidencing and actively developing ‘invisible’ attributes. We argue that the SEEN framework provides the basis for a toolkit for students, lecturers and employers.

Catalyst: Developing a Community of Practice for Supporting New Academics

This chapter presents a community of practice, known as Catalyst, which was introduced to support new academics finding their feet within the university. Catalyst is a special type of community of practice; it is structured, multidisciplinary, one semester long, meets fortnightly and has no restriction on numbers. In addition, it includes peer mentoring, where the members of the community of practice meet in pairs or small groups between meetings to foster further support at a deeper, more personal level. These are structured in such a way that the members talk with each other about critical aspects of beginning an academic path and in the process learn more about each other, building strong professional friendships. Catalyst offers continuity throughout the first semester, but creates long-lasting networks. While the focus is always on building community, the aim is to introduce new academics to the expectations of the university enabling them to have a quicker and smoother transition into their respective departments. In the chapter, the lessons learned in setting up Catalyst for new academics, are discussed. The findings from a group of ten new academics from a range of disciplines, who were involved in Catalyst for one semester, are presented. In particular, provides space for the group away from their departments to work collaboratively while learning about institutional and departmental expectations, and to discuss difficult issues that often arise for them.