Assisting adult learners within a maths learning centre
Ní Fhloinn, EabhnatORCID: 0000-0002-3840-2115
(2007)
Assisting adult learners within a maths learning centre.
In: ALM 14: International Conference on Adults Learning Mathematics, 26-29 Jun 2007, Limerick, Ireland.
DIT Students’ Maths Learning Centre is a relatively new initiative, having been in existence for just over two years. The centre aims to provide mathematical support in a relaxed, non-judgemental atmosphere to any DIT
student whose programme contains a mathematical element.
For the past two years, about a fifth of the students who attended the centre were adult learners, falling into three specific categories: full-time mature students, part-time students and apprentices. While these students display many characteristics in common with traditional learners, each group faces additional challenges. Because many mature students have not studied maths in some time, they often need specific help revising basic topics at the
start of the year in order to cope. For part-time students, time is of the essence, and so they often find it difficult to attend drop-in sessions, tending
instead to avail of our e-learning resources. Apprentices spend ten weeks in DIT, twice, during the duration of their four-year apprenticeship, meaning their infrequent encounters with formal maths are sometimes baffling to
them.
In this paper, we look in detail at the challenges facing each category of adult learner within DIT and how the Maths Learning Centre is striving to assist them to overcome these challenges.