AN ANALYSIS OF MATHS LEARNING SUPPORT FOR MATURE STUDENTS IN ENGINEERING: ENGAGEMENT AND EFFECT.

Year 2014, Volume: 1 , 270 - 275, 01.09.2014

Cormac Breen Mark Prendergast Michael Carr

Abstract

The Maths Learning
Support Centre (MLSC) in the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) provides free
mathematical support to all DIT students. This support is primarily delivered
through a drop-in service, where students can receive one to one tuition in any
area of mathematics.  In the first
semester of the 2013/14 academic year, a significant proportion of students
enrolled in engineering programmes that availed of this drop-in service were
mature students (approximately 42%)  This
is despite the fact that mature students constitute a relatively small
proportion of the total student body (approximately 15%).  This motivated the authors to examine the
support offered to these students by the MLSC and also consider their attitudes
towards this support. To this end focus groups were conducted in order to
ascertain the attitudes of mature students in Engineering towards the
MLSC. In addition some quantitative analysis was carried to determine what
effect the MLSC had on student’s academic performance.

Keywords

Mathematics education, mathematics learning support, mature students

References

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