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The Teaching of Mathematics and Computer Science at St Anne's
The informal account which follows focuses on the teaching for the first and
second years of the course. (As in all colleges, teaching for the specialised
options in the third (and fourth) years is organised more centrally, through
intercollegiate classes.)
- The Teaching Arrangements
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Most people's A-level classes are a mixture of new material being
broadcast to all the students in the room, which isn't very interactive,
combined with more personal and individual teaching using questions and
answers and practical participation. At Oxford, these two kinds of teaching
are separated out and undertaken by different organisations in different
places.
Lectures are run by the University's Faculty of Mathematical Sciences and
around two hundred people sit down, for an hour at a time, to take notes on
the basic course material as it's demonstrated on a whiteboard or
blackboard. It's not really possible for the lecturer to enter into a
dialogue with the students, but good lecturers always have a sense of how
the room is taking it, and good audiences soon realise that even this
apparently one-way conversation is a cooperative effort. A structured
programme of 10 to 12 lectures per week covers the syllabus at a roughly
even pace and sets the rhythm of the term. There are usually five or six
courses running at a time, each lasting four to eight weeks, and each
presented by a different lecturer. The courses in any one term are largely
independent of each other, but build on the courses of the term before, and
this is one reason why students find it helpful to use the vacations to
solidify their understanding of the courses just completed. [link to Maths
lecture list on University website? H]
Personal and interactive teaching takes place in far smaller groups, in
tutorials of one to three students at a time and in classes of perhaps five
to ten. All first- and second-year teaching in this style for St Anne's
students takes place within the College. A team of five tutors in the
College works with year-groups of between eight and ten students. Although
you only attend three or four hours of tutorials or classes each week,
preparation for them occupies most of your working time, because a written
assignment will be set for each. These assigments are normally sheets of
questions given out a week in advance and handed in the day before the
meeting, so that your tutor will have a chance to mark it in advance. It's
different from maths at school: no more will you be told "here are ten
identical examples to work through". The problem sheets usually aim
instead to explore variations and offshoots of the theory, and to stimulate
discussion. But they also provide practice in the tricks of the trade, and
build up your ingenuity when faced with new problems.
Classes are useful for more routine or example-based topics, where
techniques are being practised, and are often informal: students and tutor
take turns at a blackboard and anyone can speak out, so that general
discussion often takes over for a while. By constrast, tutorials are
invaluable for exploring the subject in depth and for unravelling the
knottier points of the course. Since the pupil/teacher ratio is usually only
2:1, time can be spent on exactly the areas you don't follow:
`Why does my `proof' not work?', `I don't follow this bit in my lecture
notes', ... . No two tutorials on the same topic are ever quite the same.
it's possible, too, to take a much broader view of the subject than the
lectures can, answering questions like: `Why do it this way?--why not do it
in a different way altogether?', `Why do I have to study this topic in pure
(applied) mathematics when I want to be an applied mathematician (a pure
mathematician)?', `What does this theory lead to?'... .
The tutorial system is a key feature of the way teaching is organised in
Oxford, and is highly valued by both tutors and undergraduates. Tutorials
are a bridge between research mathematicians and students coming to the
subject for the first time, and this exchange of perspectives can be highly
productive on both sides.
The University's formal assessment of your work takes place in two
examinations: a first-year exam for some reason known as Moderations, or
Mods; and Finals, at the end of the third year. (If you opt for a four-year
course, there's a further exam at the end of the fourth.) In the Mathematics
course, projects and assessed course-work only occasionally come up. There
are however two assessed projects that all first-year Mathematics students
must complete. These aim to make students familiar with Maple, a
computer-algebra program. Maple is like a graphical calculator, but a lot
more powerful: it can handle systems of equations, integrate,
back-substitute, solve problems and so on. (Students in Computer Science,
Mathematics & Computer Science or Mathematics & Philosophy aren't
assessed on Maple, but are welcome to take the course anyway.) In the
computation courses (Computer Science or joint honours Mathematics and
Computer Science), many courses have a compulsory practical component.
Occasional examinations, and `mock' examinations from time to time as
revision aids, are not the only measure of progress. Each of your tutors
writes a short termly report, which is read to you and discussed with you.
(Equally, you are invited to comment on your tutors and lecturers.)
One of your tutors is assigned to act as an academic advisor throughout your
time in Oxford, and looks after your welfare. But, in any case, the
continuing round of tutorials and work going backwards and forwards means
that students and tutors inevitably stay in close touch, with feedback both
ways all the time.
Teaching and learning at St Anne's is a team effort. The students, sharing
classes, tutorials and library books, become a close community almost at
once. One of the great pleasures of being a tutor at St Anne's is that the
tutors also form a close-knit team. Students in upper years give informal
presentations on the optional courses they've taken, to help students
following them, and there are regular social events. Taken all together,
there are around forty mathematicians in College at any one time, and all of
us know each other.
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The teaching week
Course Guidance
Course Handbooks
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