Hammad, Sali, Hunter, Gordon and Dimitriadis, Christos (2021) The experiences of teaching mathematics to college students during a pandemic situation : preliminary results from a comparative study between the UK and Kuwait. In: CETL-MSOR 2021 Conference : Celebrating our Past, Embracing our Future; 02 - 03 Sep 2021, Coventry, U.K.. (Unpublished)

Abstract

The Covid-19 crisis from early 2020 until now has been an unprecedented event in the last 100 years. It has required a very radical change in educational practices at all levels, with much teaching and assessment required to be shifted online – an approach of which many academics had little or no previous experience. The recent educational changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to add distance teaching and learning methods have added more variety to the previously existing teaching strategies and more complexity into teaching and learning. Unlike most other research studies, which focus on the learners’ perspectives and needs during Covid-19, this study focuses on the educators’ needs and perspectives of their teaching and assessment strategies and techniques which they use during the pandemic. It specifically focuses on the teaching of university-level mathematics courses, with the aim of finding the best practices which university teachers can use when teaching mathematics to adults in the current pandemic or any period of similar crisis. Through using a comparative methodology and a mixed-method design, we surveyed mathematics academics in the UK and Kuwait, and interviewed those who were willing to discuss their views in greater detail regarding their relevant experiences prior to, in the initial stages (Spring/Summer 2020), and further into (Autumn 2020 – Spring 2021) the crisis. The study is concerned with teaching mathematics to specialist students "service Mathematics", non-specialists (e.g. Science, Engineering or Business students), foundation level students, and any specified combination of those. We wanted to find out how academic staff from two countries with different educational and cultural contexts have dealt with the necessary changes, including varying government and university policies and different levels of student engagement and student attitudes, to teaching and assessment of mathematical subjects. In this presentation, we will present the findings from the survey as the interviews are still ongoing.

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