Involving students in creating maths and stats resources

CETL-MSOR 2025, Liverpool

Tom Coleman

2025-09-04

About me

• Lecturer (Education Focused) at the School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St Andrews

• passionate about language and accessibility in mathematics and statistics

• enjoys cricket, coffee, and crosswords

• contact me at tdhc@st-andrews.ac.uk

Problem

need for accessible and inclusive maths/stats resources

• traditional textbooks can be difficult to parse for non-specialists, technically inaccessible, expensive, intimidating…

• diverse backgrounds: every country has their own curriculum, language; Masters courses attract wide backgrounds of students…

• lack of local support: minimal central maths/stats support at institution

• increased need for competency in maths/stats

Solution

• creating a free-to-use, high-quality bank of inclusive and technically accessible learning resources in mathematics and statistics, suitable for everyone

  • in addition involving students gives learners agency in their resource creation, teaches transferable skills not often found in maths and stats degrees, obtains diverse perspectives on learning…

• end product: STARMAST (starmast.org) - St Andrews Resources in Mathematics and Statistics

Resources (1/3)

• inclusive: strict guide on use of language (‘you’ not ‘we’, nothing easy, simple terms, minimal jargon, avoid context), emphasis on doing

  • polemic written
  • use of interactive figures provided by Desmos and R Shiny

• accessible: available for use by all users

  • accessible html, printable pdf, editable Word documents provided for all guides via Quarto
  • mp3 narrations provided for all guides

Resources (2/3)

• free-to-use: available anywhere at any time, with no cost (an open educational resource)

  • website, CC licensed

• granular: for each topic

  • study guide: explains the key concepts, contains many examples (and usually interactive figures, Desmos/R Shiny), quick-check problems at the end
  • question sheet and answer sheet

  other resources such as fact, proof, overview sheets

Resources (3/3)

• development in conjunction with educators across schools at the University of St Andrews:

  • (now) sent to incoming MSc Statistics students on conversion courses
  • (soon) will be provided as support resources for maths and stats in subjects such as chemistry, environmental sciences, medicine
  • (later) prioritisation of topics where support is most required (from manipulating fractions to multiple regression(!))

Mechanism: VIP (1/2)

Vertically Integrated Project:

• multi-year, multi-semester ongoing research project (with some leeway)

• students in any year can apply

• awards module credits, and students get a grade for their work

• allows students to participate in the same project across multiple years

Mechanism: VIP (2/2)

our VIP:

• small group, weekly meetings, hands-on supervisor involvement

• attracting wide range of students

  • mathematicians, statisticians, economists, cell biologists, computer scientists, art historians…
  • from first-years to final years

• assessment: 20% fortnightly reflective logs, 30% posters and group presentation, 50% final portfolio and reflective report

VIP outputs from students

• website backend: domain name, security, search engine optimisation, hosting, custom website style, cookies, analytics, feedback boxes, emails, mailing list, progress trackers…

• branding and marketing: colour scheme, logo, outreach plans, social media, ads and posters…

• accessibility work: automatic narration of guides, interactive figures (flow-chart for hypothesis testing), built-in graphical calculators (desmos)…

• content: guides on algebra, geometry, calculus, stats…

What’s gone well?

• outstanding range of outputs

• excellent student buy-in to an impactful and meaningful project

• high student satisfaction amongst enrolled students

• good integration of interdisciplinary skills

What could be better?

• quality of written outputs can be inconsistent

  • increased staff time for quality control

• potential duplication of assessment modes for returning students

• some student group friction

Future plans (1/2)

• more content

  • 50+ topics hopefully by end of summer 2026 (and then more than that), videos, podcasts, more interactivity…

• get the site out there!

  • market inside and outside the University (emails to DoT’s/student services, conferences, maths/stats support networks, schools, libraries…)

Future plans (2/2)

• soon-ish: reflective article on student involvement

  • Involving students in creating accessible mathematics and statistics support resources via a Vertically Integrated Project, in preparation

• way off in the distance: research/education development leave for the project, measuring impact of resources, impact funding/case study

How to keep in touch

• check us out at starmast.org :) where you can join our mailing list, or leave comments on individual guides

• follow us on instagram @starmast_

• contact me at tdhc@st-andrews.ac.uk: any ideas, feedback, comments, most welcome :)

 

thank you for listening!