Implementing additional maths support for Health Science students Nicola McIntyre, Linda Thomson, Gerry Golding

Background SDK100 – Science and Health: an evidence-based approach Prior to 17J, maths support was provided at dayschools (plus online alternatives) and via a maths workbook Adequately met needs of some students, but too basic for some students and too complex for other students Maths backgrounds of students on SDK100 are incredibly diverse: Students with maths qualifications Many students with low level/no maths qualifications and very low confidence levels “I’ve got an adversity to maths; a complete block”

What did we do? This project trials an alternative approach to maths tuition, removing maths from the first tutorial and replacing it with: Series of 18 short videos (screencasts) each covering one mathematical concept Follow-up maths worksheets Follow-up interactive workshop (offered twice) These were evaluated in the workshop (via polls), post- workshop questionnaire and interviews.

Maths video evaluation Number of views of each video: (17J presentation: 1500 students; 18B presentation: 900 students) Title Number of views Number types 147 Working with numbers 91 Brackets 69 Decimals (rounding, arithmetic and fractions) 62, 44, 29 Fractions 1 – 4 61, 48, 35, 28 Percentages 1 & 2 27, 22 Rounding (sig figs) 56 BEDMAS 1 & 2 71, 50 Powers 107 Scientific notation and worked example 43, 23

Maths videos evaluation Within-workshop feedback Have you watched the maths videos? If so, how many? No. of responses “Not sure which videos these are. I have watched a few on different areas of the OU site” “Unfortunately did not read about the videos until earlier today and was busy trying to do my TMA 01”

Maths videos evaluation Within-workshop feedback “I seem to understand better with the videos”. “I have some understanding, but some parts are a bit daunting!”

Maths videos evaluation Questionnaire feedback (16 respondents) I liked having the option to choose which maths videos best fit my needs (1 = strongly disagree and 5 = strongly agree) In general, how would you rate the usefulness of the maths videos? % response “Having someone explain rather than reading it makes it easier to understand especially if you are struggling on an aspect of it.” “you can watch over again until the penny drops” “Handy to have information presented in different formats”

Maths videos evaluation Questionnaire feedback (16 respondents) No. of responses GCSE/Scottish standard grade No formal maths qual University level maths

Maths videos evaluation Summary Students liked the option to select topics to suit their needs Students liked being able to pause, rewind and re-watch the videos Feedback from all 3 sources suggests that videos are useful but need to be more prominent in the module website

Design and our expectations Workshops Design and our expectations 2 module-wide workshops offered Advertised via CAMEL and via tutors (ie not in the LEM) Emphasised that this is for students with little/no maths qualifications and little confidence Expectation that students would engage with preparatory materials was emphasised Not recorded Described as workshops To make it clear that these would be interactive and therefore differentiated from other tutorials. To emphasise importance of preparatory materials Two SDK100 tutors selected and briefed on format of workshop: Instructed to use polling at start to gauge areas where students needed most support Instructed to start off with a practice question, without prior teaching of concepts, to gauge students’ current understanding Further explanations to be provided if students struggling

Workshops What happened…. Evening workshop: 64 attendees Lunchtime workshop: 36 attendees (9 students attended both) Tutors used polling to prioritise concepts to be covered Tutors used polling to check whether students had engaged with preparatory materials Many students hadn’t engaged with prep materials therefore not ready to go straight to practice questions 47% of students in workshop 1 and 36% in workshop 2 had not watched any videos. 48% of students in workshop 1 and 41% of students in workshop 2 had not completed any worksheets Extremely vibrant, interactive workshops with most students engaging via polling pods and chat box

Within-workshop feedback Workshop evaluation Within-workshop feedback Maths confidence at start of workshop Effect of workshop on confidence levels % response Workshop 1 (56 respondents) Workshop 2 (22 respondents)

Within-workshop feedback Workshop evaluation Within-workshop feedback

Within-workshop feedback Workshop evaluation Within-workshop feedback “it was good to work with other students collaboratively and nice to be able to ask questions etc” “being able to ask questions has helped and having it said (if) different ways” “Having someone talk to me rather than reading it, and being able to tell me where I have gone wrong.” “i think the group needs to be smaller and research on what people are struggling should be taken into account as some needed help in other areas but didn’t get a chance”

Questionnaire feedback (12 respondents) Workshop evaluation Questionnaire feedback (12 respondents) Interactivity levels compared to other tutorials Importance of provision of workshop (1 = not at all Important, 5 = very important) % response % response

Suggestions for improvement: Smaller groups and more workshops Workshop evaluation Summary Praise for patience of tutors, quality of teaching and “down to earth” approach to support Several students commented that workshops helped to build confidence/reassure them 2/3 students interviewed rated the workshops as the most important element of the maths support Suggestions for improvement: Smaller groups and more workshops

Engagement with the worksheets? Worksheet evaluation Engagement with the worksheets? Within-workshop feedback % response Questionnaire feedback % response In the questionnaire, 86% of students rated the worksheets as a 4 or a 5 on a scale of 1 – 5

Conclusions Lessons learned This approach to maths support allows students to chose the resources which best fits their needs The resources are pitched appropriately for the target students This approach helps build confidence for some students and provide reassurance for other students that their maths skills are adequate Encouraging students to engage with preparatory work is a challenge Students thought the workshops are an essential component (videos not enough for most students) Need more workshops covering more topics Videos need greater visibility on module website Previous educational qualifications not necessarily good indicator of current ability and confidence Lessons learned

Thanks to….. Acknowledgements Isabella Henman and Ann Keohane for running the workshops SDK100 module team for allowing us to pilot this eSTEeM for funding for this project