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This paper explores analysis of feedback data collected from student consultations at two mathematics support centres at universities in Australia and Ireland. Unstructured text data was collected over six years and includes qualitative data on student queries collected during the consultations from mathematics and statistics related subjects. Topic modelling and clustering algorithms are used to uncover key themes in the data across stages. Common areas of difficulty experienced by undergraduate students at both universities are investigated and a comparison between them is shown. The results suggest that, despite institutional differences, there is considerable overlap in the types of mathematical and statistical difficulties experienced by students in their first and second year of university at these institutions. We discuss how the ability to uncover such common mathematical and statistical themes with the aid of text mining techniques can be used to improve the support provided by mathematics support centres in terms of providing an efficient and effective service. The code for analyses at both institutions is provided in a GitHub repository so other academic support centres may use it. Outcomes of this analysis have implications for mainstream mathematics and statistics instructors who wish to gain further insights into their students' learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Closed captioning of instructional videos is a topic that has not seen much discussion despite its importance for hearing-impaired students and recent legal ramifications if videos are not appropriately captioned. In particular, it is unclear what best practice in captioning videos should be to benefit all learners in disciplines such as mathematics with a reliance on the development of visual explanation while providing audio narration. In this paper, we report on a study undertaken at an Australian university, to investigate the perceived level of usefulness of captions and their automatic translations in a mathematics course. We discovered that students broadly agreed that captions are a useful learning feature: to allow flexibility of where and when a video is watched, but also to help understand speaker accents, and clarify explanations that are difficult to hear in the recording. Due to the high levels of use and perceived educational benefits of closed captions in online video but limited literature, there is a significant need for new research in this area. An urgent discussion is needed to explore how students engage with closed captions, how they may support learning, and to investigate implications on instructional design of mathematical videos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is general agreement in Australia and beyond that quantitative skills (QS) in science, the ability to use mathematics and statistics in context, are important for science. QS in the life sciences are becoming ever more important as these sciences become more quantitative. Consequently, undergraduates studying the life sciences require better QS than at any time in the past. Ways in which mathematics and science academics are working together to build the QS of their undergraduate science students, together with the mathematics and statistics needed or desired in a science degree, are reported on in this paper. The emphasis is on the life sciences. Forty-eight academics from eleven Australian and two USA universities were interviewed about QS in science. Information is presented on: what QS academics want in their undergraduate science students; who is teaching QS; how mathematics and science departments work together to build QS in science and implications for building the QS of science students. This information leads to suggestions for improvement in QS within a science curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

There is international agreement that quantitative skills (QS) are an essential graduate competence in science. QS refer to the application of mathematical and statistical thinking and reasoning in science. This study reports on the use of the Science Students Skills Inventory to capture final year science students’ perceptions of their QS across multiple indicators, at two Australian research-intensive universities. Statistical analysis reveals several variables predicting higher levels of self-rated competence in QS: students’ grade point average, students’ perceptions of inclusion of QS in the science degree programme, their confidence in QS, and their belief that QS will be useful in the future. The findings are discussed in terms of implications for designing science curricula more effectively to build students’ QS throughout science degree programmes. Suggestions for further research are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Australian Federal Government and Australian universities have embarked on a bid to raise the profile of learning and teaching (L&T) in universities. Current strategies include increased funding of competitive grants for L&T projects, a wider range of teaching awards and fellowships and a controversial new national competitive Learning and Teaching Performance Fund. Despite these initiatives, advertised positions still target strong researchers, rather, and rewards for L&T initiatives are meagre. To assess the likely impact of these efforts, this report offers findings on the L&T culture among two distinct groups of Australian science, technology and engineering academics: a comparison of the research and L&T behaviours and attitudes of 22 senior academics, and the L&T perceptions and needs reported by 32 academics across all levels. The results are unequivocal: (1) senior academics still perceive that there are far higher professional rewards for research activities than for L&T activity, place far higher value on research leadership roles than L&T leadership, and gain far more job satisfaction from research activities. Moreover, they feel that their seniors support and encourage them far more strongly for research efforts than for L&T efforts; (2) academics at all levels still experience a lack of role models, support and reward for L&T activities; and resent L&T policies that neglect discipline-specific needs. The implications are clear. Unless rewards and support for L&T activities become comparable to those for research, and mainstream job opportunities materialize for academics who invest substantial time in L&T activities, national and institutional rhetoric strategies to encourage L&T activity will continue to be judged as window-dressing and be received with cynicism; and changes in academic behaviour will be marginal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learning support in mathematics and statistics has arisen and developed in response to student needs in many universities. After discussing background to such support, this article gives a brief overview of learning support in mathematics and statistics in Australian universities as found in an Australian Learning and Teaching Council project and of the provision in Queensland University of Technology. Qualitative and quantitative data on student usage and student progression are discussed. Analysis of data for students studying mathematics and statistics contributes to growing evidence that such learning support is fulfilling needs across the range of student capabilities, including students choosing mathematics degree programs. The article closes with discussion of the contribution of learning support in the spectrum of learning in mathematics and statistics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]