The Study Support Centre (SSC), within the Robert Gordon University (RGU), aims to provide students with assistance in Mathematics, Writing & Communication skills, Information & Communication Technology applications, Statistics, Study Skills and support for dyslexic students. The SSC offers students independent assistance through individual and small group tuition outwith their normal programme of study, as well as Computer Assisted Learning (CAL) packages, specialist software for special needs students and text based self-learning materials. The SSC has created a basic mathematics diagnostic assessment, which we give to first year students in many Schools. Currently, in collaboration with the School of Engineering, an engineering principles diagnostic assessment is being designed and implemented.

In this unit we see how finite and infinite series are obtained from finite and infinite sequences. We explain how the partial sums of an infinite series form a new sequence, and that the limit of this new sequence (if it exists) defines the sum of the series. We also consider two specific examples of infinite series that sum to e and pi respectively. (Mathtutor Video Tutorial) This resource is released under a Creative Commons license Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works and the copyright is held by Skillbank Solutions Ltd.

A mathtutor extention where David Acheson discusses the key element surprise in mathematics. This resource is released under a Creative Commons license Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works and the copyright is held by Skillbank Solutions Ltd.

This leaflet defines sine, cosine and tangent of angles in a right-angled triangle and gives some standard ratios. (Engineering Maths First Aid Kit 4.2)

One of the ways in which two vectors can be combined is known as the vector product. When we calculate the vector product of two vectors the result, as the name suggests, is a vector. (Mathtutor Video Tutorial) This resource is released under a Creative Commons license Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works and the copyright is held by Skillbank Solutions Ltd.

The Mathematics Clinic is provided throughout the teaching year.

• Offered on a drop-in basis to ALL university students accessing mathematical modules.
• Timetabled to be accessible to all Stage One and Stage Two specialist mathematics students, (main users: Stage One students in first semester).
• Clinic is staffed by friendly, approachable and experienced members of staff.
• Feedback confirms student appreciation of this facility.

The past decade or so has seen a huge growth in the number of mathematics support centres within UK higher education institutions as they come to terms with an increasing volume of students who are poorly prepared for the mathematical demands of their chosen courses. In other parts of the world we observe similar developments. In the early years many centres were short-lived enterprises staffed either by concerned volunteers who found a few hours in the week to offer additional support, or alternatively by part-time staff on short-term contracts. More recently, we have observed a trend to more substantial support centres many of which attract central funding and dedicated staff. Given this trend there is a need to ask whether our efforts are worthwhile, how we might know this, and whether we can justify ongoing funding. This talk by TONY CROFT from Loughborough University at the 3rd Irish Workshop on Mathematics Learning Support Centres, 2008, NUI Maynooth will describe some of the challenges associated with acquiring data on effectiveness. Various ways in which we can measure our success will be explored. Finally, several exemplars will be provided of work being undertaken to capture the sort of evidence required to secure continued funding of mathematics support centres.

Cheryl Voake, Lisa Taylor and Rob Wilson. (2013) Transition difficulties from FE to HE - What is the situation and what can we do about it? MSOR Connections, Volume 13, Issue 2: 6-14. DOI: 10.11120/msor.2013.00014 A common complaint from staff in Higher Education (HE) is that students arrive from Further Education (FE) providers with a lack of awareness of what to expect at university. This is manifested by an unpreparedness and, in some cases, an unwillingness for autonomous learning and self-responsibility. This study was designed to assess student awareness and preparedness for HE, with a particular focus on Mathematics. This was achieved via FE student and teacher questionnaires and a focus group, which crucially allowed judgement between studentsâ?? perceived awareness and their actual awareness. The focus group also gave FE students an opportunity to quiz HE students on their experiences and opinions, and gave the HE students the opportunity to provide information they felt was missing from their own transition to university.

It is often useful to rearrange, or transpose, a formula in order to write it in a different, but equivalent form. This unit explains the procedure for doing this. (Mathtutor Video Tutorial) This resource is released under a Creative Commons license Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works and the copyright is held by Skillbank Solutions Ltd.

It is often necessary to rearrange a formula in order to write it in a different, yet equivalent form. This booklet explains how this is done.

A common mathematical problem is to find the angles or lengths of the sides of a triangle when some, but not all, of these quantities are known. It is also useful to be able to calculate the area of a triangle from some of this information. (Mathtutor Video Tutorial) This resource is released under a Creative Commons license Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works and the copyright is held by Skillbank Solutions Ltd.

In this mathtutor extention video, Alyson Stibbard explores triangular numbers, dicusses their properties and explains how to calculate them. This resource is released under a Creative Commons license Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works and the copyright is held by Skillbank Solutions Ltd.