Quantitative diversity: disciplinary and cross-disciplinary mathematics and statistics support in Australian universities: A report for the Australian Learning and Teaching Council in the Leadership for Excellence in Learning and Teaching Program

Executive Summary In 1973 a Counsellor in Mathematics was appointed at the Australian National University. This was the first example in Australia of recognition of the need for learning support in mathematics and statistics. Learning support in mathematics and statistics in universities is defined here as any facility or program providing extra assistance in mathematics and statistics for students during their enrolled study in a university degree program, whether undergraduate or postgraduate, with such assistance being additional to the formally scheduled classes and activities of their enrolled course. There has always been, and always will be, need for reliable and expert help for students in numeracy, mathematics and statistics across a wide range of disciplines in universities. There are few disciplines at the tertiary level that do not rely at some stage on at least some quantitative confidence, whether the dependence explicit or implicit. Like language, mathematical skills and thinking underpin much in other areas, and tertiary study asks for them to be accessed and used confidently and promptly in new and sometimes taxing contexts. It is this transferability of mathematics and statistics that is the source of both their power and their challenge. The totality of mathematics teaching in a university comes from mathematics and statistics departments, within courses in other disciplines, and learning support in mathematics and statistics. The components and their mutual arrangement within this totality depend on the university, its courses and structures. However in all types of universities, the need for learning support in mathematics and statistics has been increasing rapidly, with students from all faculties, including postgraduates, seeking support for their learning and survival. Factors of this increasing student need include changes in school educational emphasis over the past two decades, diversity of entry pathways, increased pressures on universities, decreased prerequisites, decreased numbers of mathematics and statistics providers, and the increasingly quantitative and problem-solving needs of a modern technological society. McInnes and James (1995) identified lack of mathematical skills and confidence as a barrier for success for many students, and, if anything, the situation has worsened since then. In the past fifteen years, in almost every university in Australia, at least some form of learning support in mathematics and statistics has been started. In 2007, 33 of Australia’s 39 universities had at least some form of support. However because this is usually in response to specific needs and often dependent on highly-motivated individuals, there has been a lack of consistency, sustainability and knowledge of this learning support. Also, as described in this report, although individuals had made contact and interacted at some conferences, Australia had not previously had the benefits of the variety of higher education systems in the UK, starting with the Teaching and Learning Technology Projects in 1992, that have consistently emphasized a national within-disciplines, across-universities approach. The challenge for this Project was to develop national capacity and networking in cross-disciplinary mathematics and statistics learning support to enhance student learning and confidence. Through a range of processes of discovery, communication, collation, collaboration, cooperation, conferencing, auditing, analysis and annotation, the Project has brought together knowledge, awareness, understanding and resources to build leadership capacity and national community of practice. Through its synthesis and analysis, the Project has also produced an account and guide for the university sector on the need for, and provision of, learning support in mathematics and statistics.