FYMSiC 🇨🇦 – First-Year Math & Stats in Canada

FYMSiC News

Announcements

Ni Hao FYMSiC!

A message about the upcoming Symposium on Coding, Computational Modeling, and Equity in Mathematics Education, April 2023:

We are excited to announce an upcoming face-to-face Symposium on Coding, Computational Modeling, and Equity in Mathematics Education, as advertised in the attached flyer. Using a working group format, participants will be invited to work together to explore emerging issues and share experiences and perspectives on different timely topics. The scientific program also features two keynotes, two discussion panels, a poster or project display session, where participants can share their own work (a call for proposals will be announced in December 2022), and a pre-symposium PD day with hands-on workshops for teachers.

See the event website for more details, including our invited contributors to the scientific program: https://cpmath.ca/ccmeme2023/

Please help us spread the word if you are aware of others who may be interested in the event. For any question, email: skhan6@brocku.ca, cbuteau@brocku.ca, inamukas@uwo.ca, or dlevay@brocku.ca

Looking forward to welcoming you at Brock in April 2023!

Steven Khan (Brock U), Laura Broley (Brock U), Chantal Buteau (Brock U), Immaculate Namukasa (Western U), Marja Bertrand (Western U), and Dorothy Levay (Brock U), on behalf of the organizing committee

Hej FYMSiC!

A message from our colleague down under, Deborah King (University of Melbourne):

At the university (and in others across the country) this has resulted in certain teaching and assessment practices moving online through necessity but which may become permanent through expediency for the university, even though they may be quite detrimental to student learning.

We are currently collecting information from institutions about how their institutions have dealt with examinations, and what they propose for the future.

I have attached a notice here with a link to the survey, if you think that this is something your group may be interested in contributing to. As we all know, it is very important to get an international perspective on our practice. It will also go to colleagues in New Zealand, and the UK.

Once the data is collected and analysed, we would be very happy to share the results with you.

So please feel free to circulate the link as far and wide as you see fit!

*****

Dear FYiMaths friends, Many of you have expressed frustration with academic integrity during COVID. We have now received ethics approval to run a research study on what is happening at universities regarding assessment in mathematics. Please take a few minutes to fill out a short survey here or via QR code below. Results will be presented at the workshop in Sydney in a few weeks’ time. For more details on the study please click here.We are gearing up for this year’s workshop and have already received quite a number of abstracts for talks. In order to finalise the programme and know who is coming to Sydney could you please fill in a survey if you are thinking of attending (either in person or via Zoom). Thanks to those who have already completed the survey. The survey can be accessed here or via QR code below.

Results of Survey Bar Workshop details are as follows:When: July 18 & 19Time: 10 am to 5 pmVenue: Western Sydney Uni Parramatta Campus (The workshop will also be run over Zoom but we would really love to see you in person!)Cost: free! Thanks very much to Don Shearman for organising funding for the catering. (Dinner on the Monday night is at your expense.)Theme: Teaching, learning & assessing post COVID: lessons learnt during the pandemic We still have room for a few more talks so if you would like to present please send your expression of interest to fyimathsproject@gmail.com . Please let us know the following:

title
abstract
length – 30, 45 or 60 mins
face-to-face or online

Please submit your expression of interest by Monday 4 July. We are looking forward to catching up face-to-face in Sydney in a few weeks.Professor Deb King, Don Shearman and Michael JenningsFYiMaths National Steering Committeefyimathsproject@gmail.com https://fyimaths.weebly.com/

*****

Dear FYMSiC-ers,

Following the recent CMS session on Authentic Applications, Anton and I are putting together a package containing examples of applications presented by our speakers and we would like to extend the invitation to contribute to this resource to the entire FYMSiC community.

In sharing the resources, we enrich each other’s teaching and find inspiration in each other’s work. Moreover, I believe that our community needs to make an effort to collect our contributions in order to make a bigger impact on undergraduate education in Canada. So I encourage you to submit an application (or two).

Submissions will be reviewed and compiled together into a document that will be posted on the FYMSiC website.

Here are the general submission guidelines:

the submission should be at most 5 pages in length;
the submission should contain enough detail so that another instructor can somewhat easily adopt it (half-baked ideas will be considered as well);
the application should be authentic and/or appealing (I won’t provide definitions of those terms for the sake of flexibility and variety, but no sliding ladders please);
make sure to cite the necessary sources and sources used.

Below is the template you can follow to describe your application. This will hopefully result in a collection of applications with a consistent look, making it easier to parse and use effectively.

template

[This is a Word file. Copy and paste the text in the Word file into your tex editor. WordPress does not like tex files, or even simple text files. Sorry for the inconvenience.]

Please submit your contributions to Kseniya at kgarasch@gmail.com by July 31st.

If you have any questions or comments, please email me (Kseniya) as well — I’d love to hear from you.

Looking forward to all the amazing applications,

Kseniya Garaschuk (Fraser Valley)

H-E-L-L-O FYMSiC !!!

Let’s get some young people to flex their math skills in a cool and inclusive contest! ☺

A fantastic message brought to you by our DEAR AMENDA (York):

Here’s the website: https://cariboutests.com

Aside from the contests, there are math games, puzzles, past contests, etc … The site is an excellent resource for young people interested in math. Brock University math professor, Thomas Wolf, is the founder.

Congratulations

On June 21, 2022, Rachael Lewitzky successfully defended her PhD thesis, Exploring Post-Secondary Instructors’ Approaches to Teaching Introductory Statistics Courses Online under the supervision of Dr. Doug McDougall at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto.

Lauren DeDieu (Instructor, University of Calgary) received the 2022 University of Calgary Teaching Award for Full-time Academic Staff. Press release: https://taylorinstitute.ucalgary.ca/awards/recipients

Sean Fitzpatrick (Instructor III, University of Lethbridge) received the 2022 University of Lethbridge Excellence in Teaching Award. Press release: https://www.ulethbridge.ca/unews/article/dr-sean-fitzpatrick-earns-excellence-teaching-award

Cindy Blois (Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, University of Toronto) was awarded the University of Toronto Teaching Fellowship. For more information: https://memos.provost.utoronto.ca/2021-22-recipients-of-the-early-career-teaching-award-and-teaching-fellowship-pdadc-31/

Burcu Karabina (Lecturer, University of Waterloo) and Amanda Garcia (Lecturer, University of Waterloo) received the 2021-2022 UW Excellence in Online Course Design Award. Press release: https://uwaterloo.ca/math/news/amanda-garcia-burcu-karabina-online-course-design

Asia Matthews (Mathematics Tutor, Quest University) was awarded the MAA Dolciani Mathematics Enrichment Grant. For more information: https://www.maa.org/programs-and-communities/outreach-initiatives/dolciani-mathematics-enrichment-grants

Rebecca McKay (Assistant Professor, University of New Brunswick) received the 2022 Neil Scott Education Leadership Award.

Pamini Thangarajah (Professor, Mount Royal University) is honoured with the 3M National Teaching Fellowship. Press release: https://www.mtroyal.ca/AboutMountRoyal/MediaRoom/Stories/2022/05/mru-mathematics-professor-honoured-with-3m-national-teaching-fellowship.htm

Bravo Caelan Wang for securing an Instructor position at the University of Manitoba!

Congratulations Jerrod Smith for receiving tenure with promotion to Senior Instructor at the University of Calgary!

Hats off to Kseniya Garaschuk for being successfully promoted to an Associate Professor at the University of the Fraser Valley!

Congrats Lauren DeDieu for receiving tenure with promotion to Senior Instructor at the University of Calgary!

Thank you for all of your hard work and dedication

to mathematics and statistics education!

For past FYMSiC News, please visit the Past News.

FYMSiC Online Teaching Meet Ups

Online Teaching Meet Ups are a great virtual space to have a conversation about math and stats teaching and learning with students and educators. Each meet up has a specific theme such as ‘How to teach ‘em math proofs in first-year and beyond?’ or ‘What is CEGEP?’ or ‘Transitioning to university: high school teachers’ experiences and views’, which may be accompanied by a couple of presentations – but for sure, a healthy, therapeutic and cathartic dialogue is always there about teaching and learning!

Upcoming meet up …

♦ Wednesday, July 6th at 2:00 p.m. (EDT)

Title: Math Comics & Multisection Coordination

Presenters: Anton Mosunov & the UW MathSoc Cartoons Team

Zoom link: https://ucalgary.zoom.us/j/92491711332?pwd=QkJFc1NjS2wxeTVGcUhoZllOOVFhQT09

Passcode: fymsic

Most recent meet up …

♦ Coming soon …

Save the date …

♦ Wednesday, July 27th at 2:00 p.m. (EDT)

Theme: Scaffolding in Courses

Pre-readings: Yes, we will be assigning some homework for this meetup to help facilitate discussion. We’ll send out a link to the readings in early July. 😉

♦ Wednesday, August 24th at 2:00 p.m. (EDT)

Theme: Reflection & Check-in: Are we ready for 2022-2023?

For past FYMSiC Online Teaching Meet Ups & Events and Resources mentioned and discussed, please visit the Meet Ups page.

To join our emailing list for FYMSiC Meet Up Information and other FYMSiC Updates, please email a.burazin@utoronto.ca.

Other Math & Stats Education Events

♦ July 14-15, 2022: McMaster Conference on Education & Cognition, Hamilton, ON [Hybrid]: https://edcog.mcmaster.ca/

♦ October 21-23, 2022: National Numeracy Network Annual Meeting, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico [In Person]: http://www.nnn-us.org/

♦ December 2-5, 2022: Canadian Mathematical Society Winter Meeting, Toronto, Ontario [In Person]: [information to come]

Fields Institute Mathematics Education Forum

Meeting Information: http://www.fields.utoronto.ca/centres/centre-mathematics-education

The Fields Institute Mathematics Education Forum promotes discussion of issues in mathematics education at all levels, with special emphasis on education in the Province of Ontario. The Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences serves as the host of the Forum, but does not determine the agenda or the conclusions of the Forum. It is the goal of the Forum to consider objectively new ideas and diverse views in mathematics education, to facilitate consensus and to promote the enhancement of mathematics education in Ontario and Canada.

The Forum’s mandate is to foster the development of new ideas, methodologies and materials with respect to possible changes that could improve education in mathematics, and to work for the implementation of such changes.

University of Waterloo Mathematics Teaching Seminar

The Mathematics Teaching Seminar at the University of Waterloo is a biweekly meeting featuring discussions on undergraduate mathematics teaching. Participants in the seminar include lecturers, research faculty, and graduate students from all four of Waterloo’s mathematics departments and the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science, as well as faculty members and teaching enthusiasts from around the world. Those who would like to attend are encouraged to reach out to the organizers, Blake Madill (bmadill@uwaterloo.ca) and Zack Cramer (zcramer@uwaterloo.ca).

FYMSiC Newsletter

Latest issue …

Issue 10 – July 1st, 2022

Our eleventh issue is coming out in October 2022. If you wish to contribute to our Newsletter, please visit the Newsletter page.

Please send your contributions in Microsoft Word or LaTex (source) formats to: newsletter@firstyearmath.ca

For the eleventh newsletter issue, the contribution deadline is on Friday, September 30th, 2022 by 11:59 p.m. (PDT).

FYMSiC Repository

The First-Year Mathematics and Statistics Courses Repository is a resource supporting an ongoing national dialogue about teaching first year mathematics and statistics at Canadian universities. This shareable dynamic online database contains extensive data collected from mathematics and statistics instructors across the country. Data includes course content, resource and technology used, learning outcomes, modes of delivery, connections with other courses, as well as informal descriptions of various practices in teaching these courses.

It is our hope that instructors (i.e., our contacts at all participating universities, or their colleagues) will keep the database up to date, as well as provide missing, and additional information.

The main purpose of the First-Year Mathematics and Statistics Courses Repository is to provide an open, organized and comprehensive resource of information about first-year mathematics and statistics courses at Canadian Universities. We hope to enrich the content as we move along.

Slides of the presentation (containing a broader context of our First-Year Math project and information about the Repository) that Veselin Jungic gave at the meeting of Canadian Mathematics and Statistics Department chairs in Ottawa, March 2019.

To access the FYMSiC Repository, please Register (if you have not already) and Log In.

FYMSiC Teaching & Learning Resources

Latest share …

We heard you FYMSiC! Check out our new FYMSiC BOOK REVIEWS page: https://firstyearmath.ca/fymsic-book-reviews/

If you wish to add a Teaching & Learning Resource to the FYMSiC Website, please email a.burazin@utoronto.ca.

For previous Latest Shares, please visit the T&L Resources page.

FYMSiC Recent Publications

Burazin, A. (2022). Snapshot from a bumpy academic year, through a math professor’s lens, University Affairs. Retrieved from: https://www.universityaffairs.ca/opinion/in-my-opinion/snapshots-from-a-bumpy-academic-year-through-a-math-professors-lens/
Burazin, A., Jungic, V., & Lovric, M. (2022). From the Lecture Notes of . . ., Crux Mathematicorum, 48(5). Retrieved from: https://cms.math.ca/publications/crux/issue/?volume=48&issue=5
Chen, P., Sibia, N., Zavaleta, A., Liut, M., & Williams, J. (2022). Investigating the Impact of Voice Response Options in Surveys. ACM SIGCSE 2022, 1124.
Holden, T., & Burazin, A. (2022). Mandatory Assignments and Learning Achievements in a Mathematics Service Class, PRIMUS. Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1080/10511970.2022.2040666
Lewitzky, R. A. (2022). Facilitating learning in online undergraduate mathematics and statistics courses, International Journal of E-Learning, 21(2), 163-179. Retrieved from: https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/218702/

For previously announced Publications, please visit the T&L Resources page.

FYMSiC Related Communities

First Year in Maths is a network of over 200 mathematicians, statisticians and educators teaching in universities, colleges and schools in Australia and New Zealand.

FYMSiC Vision

We believe that only by sharing experiences, gathering data, and looking at research-based decisions and strategies, our mathematical teaching community can come up with ideas and initiatives for university faculty and instructors to restructure their programs and to respond to the demands that the realities of today’s living place on us and our students.

It is our belief that the contacts at a national level (such as the Mathematics Education Session at the CMS conference in Waterloo in December 2017, the First Year Conference in April 2018 at the Fields Institute, and the Winter CMS Session in Vancouver in December 2018) will connect, and unite Canadian teaching and research faculty in their efforts to provide the best, and most adequate, post-secondary math education possible, and will provide a forum for all involved to learn about the complexity of issues related to teaching mathematics. We see the national dialogue as an ongoing process that will keep us all connected and strengthen our community.

FYMSiC FAQ

1. Who is the intended audience?

All interested faculty in mathematics and statistics departments in Canada, mathematics and statistics department chairs, college instructors, high school teachers (grade 12 mostly) interested in knowing what’s going on in level 1 mathematics and statistics, as well as education developers and publishers.

2. How will this information be shared?

The information is shared with approved members of the repository. Those who are interested will fill out a questionnaire. After the application information has been verified by the page administrators, and it has been determined it fits with the purpose of the repository, access (login and password) will be granted.

3. How frequently is the data updated?

This would depend on the curators at each institution. As the main purpose of the database is to provide a snapshot of teaching level 1 mathematics and statistics, it would be ideal if the curators visit their part of the database as often as possible, to correct existing data and enter missing data.

4. How do I sign up to access the Repository?

Send an email to Veselin Jungic (SFU) [vjungic@sfu.ca] or Miroslav Lovric (McMaster) [lovric@mcmaster.ca].

5. Is this done under CMS (Canadian Mathematics Society)?

No. This is a grass roots initiative led by Miroslav Lovric and Veselin Jungic, in part supported by the Fields Institute, Simon Fraser University, McMaster University and the EDC Grants for Exchange.