A FLEXIBLE LEARNING APPROACH TO FOUNDATION MATHS

The conventional pedagogy of maths teaching in Higher Education is one of transmission. These methods have been shown to fail on a number of counts. The paper describes how a foundation course maths unit was tr ansformed from being teacher and content led into one in which student s took almost complete responsibility for their own learning. The way of working is referred to as 'Supported Open Learning' - the materials used are free-standing, but teachers have a central role in supportin g, directing and giving feedback to the learner. The scheme was design ed to encourage students to collaborate and to use a range of other ma terials, including books and computers. The assessment of the course w as designed to encourage the learners to develop ownership and underst anding of the mathematical concepts. In 1995/96 the course was run for 100 students within a plethora of institutional constraints. Students reported positive attitudes to the new methods.