DDIG welcomes you to Roehampton University

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DDIG welcomes you to Roehampton University

• Dyscalculia and numeracy testing workshop
• December 4th 2007

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Bridget Middlemas

• Senior Lecturer at Roehampton University, School
  of Education
• Worked with students with disabilities / chronic
  illness since 1980
• Now based in higher education, and I have the
  dual role of being in teacher education/
  continuing professional development
• I also have a professional background in dyslexia
  support / service management

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Definitions

• dyslexic / dyscalculic students in higher
  education any student who has been diagnosed by
  a qualified educational psychologist as having
  specific learning difficulties / dyslexia /
  dyscalculia, and who has notified the university
  of their disability.
• non-alphabetic text any text that includes the
  substantial use of mathematical symbols, (e.g. k,
  m, ), numbers (43.971, w ), music or dance
  notation (e.g. c, f) scientific or mathematical
  formulae, Roman numerals
• (l, ll, lll etc) , non - Roman letters (e.g. S
  , a or d ) .and so on

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Research Project

• Learning and teaching with non-alphabetic text
  what are the issues for students with specific
  learning difficulties in higher education?

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Rationale

• More than 10 years of anecdotal evidence from
  dyslexic / dyscalculic students, who are
  experiencing significant problems with
  non-alphabetic text (NAT) elements of their
  coursework
• Educational psychology reports do not appear to
  address the issue of why this should be so, or
  what might be done to improve the learning and
  teaching experiences of this group

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Numeracy testing

• Students often find this aspect of their courses
  very stressful
• Little or no appropriate numeracy support offered
  to some students
• Maths workshops sometimes very good, but staff
  are not always aware of the needs of students
  with dyscalculia/ dyslexia.

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Pilot study 2003-5

• Two south London universities
• Interviewed 30 students with specific learning
  difficulties from nursing, engineering, business
  studies, psychology and sociology, and teacher
  education
• Informal, semi-structured interviews were part of
  the initial interview process
• Also read through each students educational
  psychology assessment

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OSCE Objective Structured Clinical ExamThe
OSCE is a 20-minute exam comprising a 15-minute
practical and a five-minute question and answer
session. It tests one of the following core
skills basic life support manual handling of
a patienttemperature, pulse and respiration
blood pressure feeding and drinkinghygiene
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Wheres the maths?

• basic life support pulse, drip rate, medication,
  frequency, time, percentages, temperature,
  breathing rate
• manual handling of a patientweight, length,
  using hoist, angle of bed, adjusting
  crutches/frame.
• feeding and drinkingvolume, weight, frequency,
  fractions, time, temperature.

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Natalie, first year nursing student, age 37

• Some days are far too intense, theres too much
  information to take in all at once
• If I can see a problem visually, Im OK
• My copying is accurate, but I simply cant keep
  up with whats on the whiteboard, then I get all
  my maths wrong
• I never put my hand up, in case people think Im
  stupid

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Michelle, second year studentITE, Secondary
Science, age 19

• Lecturers need to slow down, and not take our
  confidence for granted
• My dyslexia means that I often waste a lot of
  time in class, as I miss little things and then
  get all the calculations wrong
• Im terrified of the QTS numeracy tests

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Katherine, nursing student, age 26, second year

• I have a really bad memory, and cant remember
  instructions when the lecturer just explains
  things verbally
• Some of the lecturers talk far too fast, and I
  cant keep up with the calculations
• I felt bad about maths at school, but its much
  worse at uni
• OSCEs are a nightmare!

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Paul, M.Eng first year, age 32

• Once something's clicked, its fine, but it takes
  so long to go in
• Because Im on a masters course, they all think
  that I can just do it
• Some lecturers are so caught up in their subjects
  that they dont realise we might just be doing a
  short module . They think that were all on the
  same wavelength

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Common themes emerging

• Lecturers often unaware of the impact of dyslexia
  / dyscalculia in the NAT lecture room, or on work
  placements
• Learning support usually very focused on
  text-based coursework, not NAT issues
• Educational psychology reports frequently fail to
  offer any suggestions for the students or the
  lecturing / support staff

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Research questions 2007-9

• Which aspects of N.A.T. are particularly
  problematic for students with dyslexia/
  dyscalculia, and why?
• Is it about memory / listening skills /
  notetaking skills / comprehension / length of
  lesson / speed of delivery / handout design and
  layout / etc?
• Or is it about something else? Such as the
  ability to name and recognise symbols or
  remembering what the symbol is, but having no
  idea how to use that symbol in a N.A.T.
  sentence or algorithm.

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• 2. How does dyslexia / dyscalculia impact on a
  students ability to cope with N.A.T. in an H.E.
  setting?
• Are such students more likely to find N.A.T.
  topics problematic?

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3 groups of students

• Classroom visits to video NAT teaching episodes
  in 3 subject areas (music, nursing and
  engineering) focus groups of 5 dyslexic and 5
  non-dyslexic from each area, plus 10 randomly
  chosen students to confirm the content of the
  questionnaire for each subject area
• 60 students in total, from three south London
  Universities
• Students all 19-30, UK educated, good health

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Intended outcomes of my research?

• Better awareness of the particular learning and
  teaching needs of dyslexic / dyscalculic students
  in H.E. , who are studying on courses with a high
  element of N.A.T.
• To enhance the learning and teaching elements of
  courses with a high element of N.A.T. , and
  thereby improve accessibility to course materials

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Questions / comments?
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Contact details

• Bridget Middlemas, Roehampton University
• b.middlemas_at_roehampton.ac.uk
• Volunteers required for case studies project, to
  gather student stories of coping with NAT in HE,
  especially in nursing, engineering, music,
  teacher education (maths, music and science
  students)