Getting to grips with online mathematics education during the
COVID-19 pandemic
Ní Fhloinn, EabhnatORCID: 0000-0002-3840-2115 and Fitzmaurice, Olivia
(2022)
Getting to grips with online mathematics education during the
COVID-19 pandemic.
In: 9th CASTeL STEM Education Research Conferene (SMEC), 24 -25 June 2022, Dublin.
ISBN 978-1-911669-41-8
The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a move to emergency remote teaching in many universities
across the globe, beginning in the early months of 2020. As a result, lecturers and students had to
transition to an online form of education at very short notice. Due to the symbolic nature of the
subject, online education in mathematics presented additional challenges, in terms of representing
mathematical notation and communicating effectively with students online. In May 2020 and again
in May 2021, we undertook an anonymous online survey of mathematics lecturers in higher
education, aiming to investigate their experience of emergency remote teaching and any changes
to their practice as a result. We received 257 and 190 responses respectively, and respondents
were based in 30 countries, primarily in Europe. They reported on the types of hardware and
software they used; whether they opted for live sessions or pre-recorded; the main challenges they
and their students faced; and the changes to assessment necessitated by the move online. In this
paper, we report upon their reflections of their journeys in online teaching, as they compare their
initial experiences of emergency remote teaching with their approaches one year on.