Challenges and Opportunities: Experiences of Mathematics Lecturers Engaged in Emergency Remote Teaching during the covid-19 Pandemic

2021

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Table 1.

Profile statistics of survey respondents (

n

= 257), showing their gender, age, years of

experience teaching mathematics in higher education, and current employment status.

Number

%

Gender

Male

135

52.5%

Female

118

45.9%

Non-binary

1

0.4%

(Blank)

3

0.8%

Age

20–29 years

16

6.2%

30–39 years

61

23.7%

40–49 years

69

26.8%

50–59 years

71

27.6%

60+ years

38

14.8%

(Blank)

2

0.8%

Experience teaching math in higher education

0–1 year

8

3.1%

2–3 years

13

5.1%

3–5 years

20

7.8%

5–10 years

34

13.2%

10–15 years

31

12.1%

15–20 years

34

13.2%

20+ years

117

45.5%

Employment status

PhD/Postdoc

3

1.2%

Short-term contract (

≤

1 year)

16

6.2%

Long-term contract (>1 year)

28

10.9%

Permanent

205

79.8%

Retired but teaching

4

1.6%

(Blank)

1

0.4%

The highest proportion of respondents were based in Ireland (30.4%), which is where

both researchers are also based, with the majority of respondents based in Europe at the

time the survey was distributed (93%). In total, respondents from 29 different countries

took part in the survey [

18

].

Both the subjects taught by respondents in the semester under review, as well as the

class sizes, could influence their approach to online teaching or their experience of such.

Almost three-fifths were teaching students majoring in mathematics, with just over half of

respondents teaching service-mathematics students (students who are required to study

one or more mathematics modules as part of their degree programme, but do not specialise

in mathematics). Respondents also indicated their class sizes, with small being up to 30,

medium being 30 to 100, and large over 100. Of the 256 responses, 59.4% had small classes,

50.4% had medium classes and 22.7% had large classes. The number of scheduled contact

teaching hours that respondents had planned to do per week, pre-pandemic, was of interest

as it would give a rough indication of the teaching workload involved. Sixty-five percent

of respondents taught 8 h a week or less.

2.5. Limitations of the Study

1.

93% of respondents are employed in Europe, with 30% of respondents in Ireland,

meaning that the results may not be generalizable to other continents.

2.

The survey was only distributed in English, and was conducted online, advertised via

mailing lists and online conferences. We do not know how representative a sample it

is of mathematics lecturers as a result.

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Mathematics