Bridging the gap: teaching university mathematics to high school students

Over recent years there has been a lot of emphasis placed on the drop in standards of students entering first year university mathematics in Australia. The tertiary sector struggles to handle this increasing gap and, with pressure to maintain student numbers, a common response has been to reduce the difficulty level of the first year mathematics courses. This approach has had limited success, with students passing first year mathematics but lacking preparation for the higher years. If realistic change is to be made in bridging this gap, then the problem needs to be addressed at both the tertiary and secondary level. We investigate the successes and potential failures of running a tertiary level mathematics course over five years at four high schools in North Queensland. This has been a genuine team approach by both university academics and high school mathematics teachers and forged solid links between the sectors. The presence of academics in the high school classrooms as well as students and teachers attending university activities led to a greater understanding of perceived difficulties on both sides. The `Mathematics into high schools' program proves to be a small but significant start in helping to bridge the secondary-tertiary gap

To screencast or not to screencast

As the type of student entering university changes, we are obliged as educators to adapt our teaching styles to suit the new demographic. With many students unable to physically attend lectures and with the internet being accessible to the vast majority of students, the need for flexibility has become paramount. In a direct response to this need, mathematics lecturers at James Cook University created screencasts for a number of their subjects, both as lecture replacement and as supplement. These screencasts involve screen and audio capture of handwritten, typed or powerpoint lectures created using a tablet computer. This article discusses student opinion on the effectiveness of the screencasts used in teaching mathematics at James Cook University. Examining the students responses to this relatively new technology raises questions on the viability of the traditional face to face lecture and the role academics will play in a technology driven tertiary sector