Imagine learning to swim by being thrown in the deep end of the pool..

Bloom, W.

Bower, M.

Brown, N.

Donovan, D.

Joshi, N.

Loch, B.

Skalicky, J.

Wood, L.

English

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6 President’s columnA national discipline-specific professionaldevelopment program for lecturers and tutorsin the mathematical sciencesWalter Bloom1, Matt Bower 2, Natalie Brown 3,Diane Donovan4, Nalini Joshi5, Birgit Loch6,Jane Skalicky3 and Leigh Wood 7Imagine learning to swim by being thrown in the deep end of the pool. That isthe way all tertiary mathematical lecturers and tutors learnt to teach mathematicsmore than twenty years ago. It is now common for new lecturers to undergo ashort course in learning and teaching. Unfortunately, these often leave our recruitson the sidelines with pedagogical instruction manuals that emphasise theory butfail to provide practical improvement of their teaching strokes in mathematicalwaters.In 2009, a collaborative team of academics proposed a strategic leadership projectto the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) with the aim of over-coming this problem. The proposal was to create a national framework for pro-fessional development in the mathematical sciences, in order to create a way oflearning about and improving university-level teaching of mathematics. It grewto include teaching in the wider quantitative sciences and was funded later thatyear.The project was led by Leigh Wood, the Chair of the AustMS National Commit-tee on Mathematics Education, and included all the authors of this article, withNalini Joshi, then the President of the AustMS, as deputy leader. The AustMSwas regarded as a crucial anchor for this project, providing professional oversightthrough its National Committee for Mathematics Education, and acting as a po-tential host for developing the program as a national standard.1School of Chemical and Mathematical Sciences, Murdoch University, South Street, Murdoch,WA 6150.2Department of Education, Macquarie University, NSW 2109.3Centre for the Advancement of Learning and Teaching, University of Tasmania,Private Bag 133, Hobart, TAS 7001.4School of Mathematics and Physics, The University of Queensland,St Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072.5School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006 Australia.Email: nalini.joshi@sydney.edu.au6Faculty of Engineering and Industrial Sciences (H38), Swinburne University of Technology,PO Box 218, Hawthorn, VIC 3122.7Faculty of Business and Economics, Macquarie University, Eastern Road,North Ryde, NSW 2113.Classroom notes 7Work on the project started with a survey of heads of mathematical departments,academics and PhD students, with questions related to needs and experiences ofmathematics education and professional development8. Informed by the results ofthe survey, we developed topics for a professional development program as listedbelow.1. Introduction to teaching mathematics2. Models of mathematical learning3. Planning and designing mathematics lessons4. Conducting mathematics lectures or tutorials5. Teaching in service units6. Questioning students in mathematics classes7. Collecting evidence about teaching8. Planning and designing units of study9. Managing units of study10. Assessing students11. Developing mathematics learning communities12. Evaluating units13. Leading mathematical programsThe structure of the program and the content of the modules were also informedby the input of our reference group, which is made up of representatives from theAustMS, the Statistical Society of Australia, the Australian Association of Math-ematics Teachers, the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute, the AustralianCouncil of Deans of Science, the Australian Council of Deans of Business, andEngineers Australia.Selected topics were presented at a workshop which was held immediately afterthe annual meeting of the AustMS in September 2010 in Brisbane9. A report isforthcoming in another issue of the Gazette. Our hope is that such workshopswill become a regular event associated with each annual meeting. Conversely, weanticipate that outcomes from such workshops will inform and shape the wholeprogram as it evolves over a longer timescale.Given the restricted budget of the project, and those in most university depart-ments of mathematics, we decided to create a web-based system of modules todeliver the professional development program. A pilot study is about to be de-livered as we write this short note. More than ten people have signed up to takethese pilot modules. Later in 2011, the whole program will be publicly releasedthrough the website of the Australian Mathematical Society.Our hope is that all new lecturers in the mathematical and other quantitativesciences will undertake these web-based modules. We anticipate that those who8The authors would like to thank the reference group and all who participated in the survey.9We look forward to running a workshop on 30 September, after the 2011 AustMS meeting inWollongong.8 Classroom noteswish to do so may submit their participation in these modules as partial fulfilmentof any locally required teaching and learning programs. We have suggested thatthe AustMS may wish to create a fourth category of accredited membership inorder to recognise such participation.We wanted to develop effective mechanisms for the identification, development, dis-semination and embedding of good individual and institutional practice in math-ematical learning and teaching in Australian higher education institutions. Wehope that this program will raise the profile and encourage recognition of thefundamental importance of teaching in higher education institutions and in thegeneral community. We look forward to getting your feedback and input.

A national discipline-specific professional development program for lecturers and tutors in the mathematical sciences

https://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/31322/1/ClassNotes.pdf

A national discipline-specific professional development program for lecturers and tutors in the mathematical sciences

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