About Us
Over the past number of years,
the Mathematics Learning Centre has been involved in the evolution
of a mathematics skills upgrading program that is fundamentally
relational. The full-time mathematics learning instructors' primary
concern is for the overall well-being of the learner, but not at
the expense of academic integrity. This has been a great challenge,
because it has required the development of new techniques in the
teaching/learning of mathematics. Students at our Centre, who have
been granted entry into our post-secondary institution, have been
exposed to years of mathematics education which cannot possibly
have been all bad. And yet, they have under-achieved in
mathematics. These students are clearly capable learners, for they
have achieved high standards in other disciplines and/or other
activities. So it is insufficient for us to merely offer them more
standard instruction in the core areas of mathematics. We must
delve deeper into the root causes of what has been a largely
vacuous learning experience for them.
This then is what has been at the core of the evolution of our
program. And because it is relational, and each year’s
student body brings with it a slightly different set of
experiences, we re-evaluate and adjust our program, if necessary,
at the end of every academic semester. We believe this willingness
to constantly be open to change, based on our experiences with our
students, is the reason for our program’s success.
Recently, we have integrated this relational model for instruction,
into our orientation program for new instructional assistants
(full-time and part-time) at the Centre. Initially, we believed it
was the best way to communicate ‘our ways’ to the new
instructional assistants, but we have now identified an important
spill-over benefit. The new part-time instructional assistants are
teachers from all levels of the K-12 educational stream. Some have
years of experience there, some are recent graduates from the
Faculty of Education, and some are currently students in the
Faculty of Education. The establishment of a comfortable,
non-threatening dialogue amongst ALL instructional assistants at
the centre, in place of formal ‘training’, has provided
a mechanism for the permanent staff of the MLC to learn from the
experiences of these other teachers. This, in turn, has allowed us
to revise our own program accordingly, to make it even better
suited to our incoming student body. Consequently, the continuing
evolution of our program is now being guided not only by new groups
of students from the K-12 system, but also by its teachers. We
provide an even better experience for our students, and the
teachers transfer into their own classrooms in the schools,
whatever they deem workable to ease the transition for future
school graduates.
We also have an undergraduate teaching assistant in each class. We
have incorporated these individuals in our relational model of
instructional ‘enhancement’. In this manner, we can
capture the benefits that a peer relationship brings to a learning
experience. These individuals find it a challenge to participate in
our program at this level, but we have found them to be very
cooperative and often, quite dedicated to the task. We believe that
incorporating them in the whole process enriches their involvement
with us at the Centre and also enhances the relationship they will
have with students in our program.
This relational model appears to suit all of us. Our students are
responsive to our instruction, and all the instructional assistants
at the Centre find the working environment both stimulating and
supportive. We feed off each other’s energy and enthusiasm,
and students sense that.
