Abstract
In this paper, we consider the experiences of mathematics lecturers in higher education and how they moved to emergency remote teaching during the initial university closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic. An online survey was conducted in May–June 2020 which received 257 replies from respondents based in 29 countries. We report on the particular challenges mathematics lecturers perceive there to be around teaching mathematics remotely, as well as any advantages or disadvantages of teaching mathematics online that they report. Over 90% of respondents had little or no prior experience teaching mathematics online, and, initially, 72% found it stressful and 88% thought it time-consuming. 88% felt there was a difference between teaching mathematics in this way compared with other disciplines. Four main types of challenges were associated with emergency remote teaching of mathematics: technical challenges; student challenges; teaching challenges; and the nature of mathematics. Respondents identified flexibility as the main advantage of online teaching, with lack of interaction featuring strongly as a disadvantage. We also consider respondents’ personal circumstances during this time, in terms of working conditions and caring responsibilities and conclude by summarizing the impact they perceive this experience may have upon their future teaching. Forty-six percent% of respondents self-identified as having caring responsibilities, and 61% felt the experience would affect their future teaching.
Highlights
To explore how mathematics lecturers would describe their experience of emergency Toteaching, explore how mathematics lecturers would describe experience of emergency remote it was first of interest to establish a baselinetheir for their prior experience in remote teaching, it was first of interest to establish a baseline for their prior in online teaching
Respondents were asked to rate their experience of online teaching when they first Respondents were asked to rate their experience of online teaching when they first began under a series of headings: three positive and three began under a series of headings: three positive and three negative
A tenth of those who commented here volunteered unprompted that they never wanted to teach online again, this figure is largely in line with other findings on the experience of online teaching [40]. The results of this survey provide a snapshot of a unique period in time, where educators scrambled to adapt to emergency remote teaching in order to ensure the continuation of their students’ education
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, universities around the globe were forced to adapt to emergency remote teaching [1] at short notice and with limited preparation time. Teaching mathematics online presents specific challenges due to the symbol-heavy nature of the subject and the need for discipline-specific software [2]. It is early days in terms of publications emerging about the teaching of mathematics in higher education during the pandemic, but to the best of our knowledge none of them has addressed these issues. There are a number of common themes
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