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Case Studies for Tutor Training in Mathematical Sciences

Case Studies for Tutor Training in Mathematical Sciences. Brien Nolan, School of Mathematical Sciences 21 st November 2005 Brief history and description of tutor training in Mathematical Sciences Case Studies for Tutor Training Solomon Friedberg’s Case Studies programme in Boston College

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Case Studies for Tutor Training in Mathematical Sciences

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  1. Case Studies for Tutor Training in Mathematical Sciences Brien Nolan, School of Mathematical Sciences 21st November 2005 • Brief history and description of tutor training in Mathematical Sciences • Case Studies for Tutor Training • Solomon Friedberg’s Case Studies programme in Boston College • Pilot programme in DCU 2005-06

  2. Tutor Training in MS: background • 1994 David Mack and David Green (Mathematics Education Centre, Loughborough) reported on Service Teaching activities in the School of Mathematical Sciences. • Enhanced training of tutors one of their recommendations. • 1995-2002 Two day training workshop for all new tutors in Mathematical Sciences run by DM/DG and Bromley Kniveton. • Funding from HR discontinued in 2003; continued ‘in house’.

  3. Tutor Training Workshop: 2003-present • Service maths teaching and the role of the tutor (Head of School) • Communication skills and tips for tutoring (Service teaching coordinator) • Learning Mathematics (External experts) • The Maths Learning Centre (Manager)

  4. New element in 2005: Case studies for tutor training • “Teaching Mathematics Graduate Students How to Teach” by Solomon Friedberg, Notices of the American Mathematical Society, 52 (8) p.842 (September 2005). http://www.ams.org/notices/ • An account of the development of training materials for teaching assistants. • Basic notion: as in business and legal education, case studies can accelerate the accumulation of knowledge and experience for beginning tutors.

  5. Tutors in MS in DCU • Research students in Mathematical Sciences; strong background in maths, applied maths, mathematical physics, theoretical physics,… • MSc in Financial and Industrial Maths. H2.1 graduates in e.g. engineering, maths and economics, maths studies, experimental physics, computing, OU,…

  6. Service teaching and the role of the tutor • Definition of service teaching • Service modules in DCU • What type of student to expect • Tutorial system in DCU • Role of the student in tutorials; role of the tutor in tutorials • Contact with lecturer • Notification of absence

  7. Communication skills and tips for tutoring • Introductions and first impressions • Non-verbal communication • Questioning and listening skills • Presentation aids • Setting the agenda • Interaction with students • Tutoring techniques • 6 steps for effective tutoring

  8. Learning Mathematics • What influences learning mathematics? • Implications for teaching • Developing mathematical process skills

  9. Case Studies • With the right foundation, effectiveness increases with experience. • Case studies used to accelerate accumulation of knowledge and experience. • Discussion of different situations that may arise in and around tutorials.

  10. Discussion and analysis of different cases can help to • identify the T&L issues that arise; • address how they can be tackled in the context of previous training and experience. • Anticipate situations/problems that may arise • Focus on conceptual issues rather than technicalities of being in a classroom.

  11. Using the case studies • Friedberg’s team have developed 14 cases included in Teaching Mathematics in Colleges and Universities: Case Studies for Today’s Classroom, Issues in Mathematics Education, vol. 10, Amer. Math. Soc., Providence, RI, 2001. • Includes the case studies and a guide for facilitators. • We identified and used 3 that seemed most relevant to our situation.

  12. Students spilt into groups of 3/3/4, each group given responsibility for one case. • Read all 3 cases, and did some work on their own one. • Back into large group for discussion and analysis of each case study. • Kicked off by synopsis of each case, and answering of initial questions. • Discussion closed by an activity, piece of information, summary question.

  13. Feedback on Tutor Training Workshop • Please write any comments you have on the Tutor Training Workshop held on Friday 30th September. It would be helpful if you could make comments on the different components of the workshop. • It may be useful to frame your responses in terms of what you think should be STOPped, STARTed up and CONTINUEd in the workshop. • Overall, we want to address this question: what aspects of the workshop do you think will be useful in your work as a tutor?

  14. very enjoyable…very interesting debate • too late in the day [3-4.30 pm after 10am start] • most relevant [part of the day] • [too broad:] I was only interested in the case study allocated to my group • [too narrow:] we could have covered a wider range of situations if they had been studied in less detail • did not find the particular case studies relevant • when we were discussing the tutorials amongst ourselves was the most useful • [need to] find a more efficient way to do it

  15. Plans • Develop case studies for the Irish context • Extend workshop to 2 days • Possibly extend discussion of cases to sessions spread over several weeks

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