Summer School Versus Term-Time for Undergraduate Mathematics

Abstract

At The University of Sydney, there exists evidence that students who undertook undergraduate mathematics units at Summer School achieved superior learning outcomes, benefited from higher teaching quality, and experienced better course satisfaction, when compared with standard term-time counterparts. This thesis continues and expands upon the scope of the initial pilot study published in 2009, whereby the authors presented data supporting the above claim. We explore a wide array of prevalent pedagogical issues, with far-reaching implications for Intensive Mode Delivery (IMD) teaching and learning in general. This thesis aims to inform best practices which improve the quality of teaching and learning of undergraduate mathematics, the successful completion of which is mandatory for STEM degrees at The University of Sydney and institutions worldwide. This can be problematic for students who have failed or are at risk of failing, which forms one focus of this research. Such students often have inadequate backgrounds in mathematics from high school, learning difficulties or phobias, or long absences from study. Quantitative and qualitative data, spanning 2007-2016, comes from student unit of study results, closed- and open-ended survey responses, and face-to-face interviews; analysis is performed using standard statistical, mixed-methods, phenomenographical, and grounded theory approaches. We make qualitative observations about students’ relative rates of progress and development of mathematical skills, as well as their observations and experiences of teaching and learning between the two delivery modes. Quantitative data about students’ relative performances and sentiments between term-time and Summer School is also inspected. Whilst discussing potential reasons for the differences between delivery modes, we place our findings within the contexts of modern theories of learning, such as threshold concepts, constructive alignment, and Biggs’ SOLO and 3P frameworks.