Introductions

In this video, all the educators will introduce themselves and their roles in the course.

Professor Lianghuo Fan is a Professor in Education and Head of the Mathematics, Science and Health Education Research Centre at Southampton Education School, University of Southampton, UK. From 1998 to 2010, Professor Fan had taught at the National Institute of Education, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He also has extensive experience in education and research in China and the USA.

Dr John Schulz is the Director of the Video & Digital Media Studio and a Principal Teaching Fellow within Southampton Education School, University of Southampton. Besides teaching a wide variety of MSc and Doctoral programmes within the school, John is leading the online Masters programme.

Marcus Grace is Professor of Science Education and the Head of the Southampton Education School, University of Southampton. Marcus was the Director of the Mathematics and Science Learning Centre for the South-East of England. He also taught science and maths in London schools and was Principal at a Berlitz school in Japan for five years.

Dr Christian Bokhove is an Associate Professor in Mathematics Education within Southampton Education School at the University of Southampton. Christian obtained his PhD at the Freudenthal Institute, and is a specialist on the use of ICT in mathematics education. From 2014 to 2017 he led a British Academy project on geometry education in England, Japan and Hong Kong. Christian will be the course facilitator and you can follow his profile.

And what about you?

We’d really like to learn something about you. Tell us a bit about who you are and about your background in the comments.

• Do you have a professional background in education?

• Have you taught mathematics anywhere?

• How much do you already know about Asian maths teaching methods?

• Why are you interested in how maths is taught in Asia?

• What are you hoping to get out of the course?

During the week, the course educators will also post their contributions.

What are your attitudes towards mathematics?

MacMillan and the University of Southampton are carrying out research to see whether learners’ attitudes towards mathematics (ATM) are related to the way they study in a course like this.

We’d like to invite the learners on this course to take part in an optional activity. By taking part in this activity, you’ll allow us to ask you some questions about your attitudes towards mathematics. That insight will help us to not only improve the course but also, more generally, to study the relationship between ATM and the way learners in this course learn. We’ll use the findings to analyse the relationship between ATM and learners’ profiles, and give a summary of these in one of the weekly feedback videos. MacMillan will share anonymous data collected during the activity with the University of Southampton.

To take part in the study, please click the button below. Please then fill in the questionnaire that appears. It should take no longer than 5 minutes to complete.

Take part in the study (you can right-click and ‘open in new window’)

Your responses will not be linked to your FutureLearn identity or your course activity. Summarised findings will be included in one of the weekly feedback videos and aggregate data will be used in journal publications. In any such publication your identity will not be disclosed. All the information collected during this study, will be stored and handled according the university’s Research Data Management Policy and those of Macmillan Education. The Policy can be consulted at http://www.calendar.soton.ac.uk/sectionIV/research-data-management.html. Researchers will work with anonymised datasets.

For questions regarding this research, please contact Dr Christian Bokhove, University of Southampton, directly on C.Bokhove@soton.ac.uk.

Thank you very much,

Dr Christian Bokhove Associate Professor in Mathematics Education, University of Southampton.

Please note that this is an independent research study carried out by MacMillan and the University of Southampton and your participation is subject to the University’s own policies and terms. FutureLearn takes no responsibility for the contents or the consequences of your participation in this study. Your participation in the research has no effect on your course progress, marks or FutureLearn profile.