For Staff
We believe that the most effective support for students studying or using mathematics will happen when we work closely with other staff involved in the students' university experience.
We welcome teaching and professional staff to work closely with us to give the students the best experience of mathematics. Contact us to discuss how we can work together for your students. Read below for more details on MLC activities.
Drop-in academic support
On-campus MLC drop-in support
The MLC Drop-In Centre is a safe place where any University of Adelaide student can talk with a friendly tutor about any maths (including statistics) related to any course. It can be any maths big or small, and doesn’t have to be a “maths course”. Students drop in without making appointments, sit down, and a tutor will approach them to talk about their maths. Students can visit as often as they want and stay as long as they need.
Location: Level 3 East, Hub Central
Opening days: Mon to Fri from early January to mid-December.
Opening hours: 10am to 4pm during Semester 1 & 2 teaching and SWOT, and 1pm to 4pm otherwise.
Online MLC drop-in support
Students can also access the MLC Drop-In Centre virtually via a video chat platform. The link is available on the MLC website during the same hours as the on-campus Drop-In Centre.
Learning Support Classroom
The Learning Support Classroom is a space on Level 3 East, Hub Central, where lecturers and course coordinators can book tables to run their own drop-in support for students in specific courses. Course coordinators can email the MLC to discuss booking a table.
Learning resources
The MLC website has many learning resources online, including handouts, worksheets, and videos from all past course-specific revision seminars. The MLC can create a page specifically for a course or cohort. Please email us for further information.
Course or cohort-specific academic support
The MLC provides a range of academic support activities within courses. To arrange activities for a specific course or cohort, email the MLC with information about the course and what activity you are interested in, and we will set up a meeting to discuss further.
Promotional visit
An MLC lecturer will present for under five minutes to tell students about the MLC. Lead time needed: one week.
Short learning skills presentation
An MLC lecturer will visit a class and present for 10 to 20 minutes on a single mathematics or study skill. Lead time needed: two weeks.
In-class support tutor
MLC lecturers or tutors can attend existing classes such as laboratories or workshops alongside the usual course teaching staff, in order to help students with mathematical skills in situ. Lead time needed: four weeks.
In-course workshop
MLC lecturers can design a workshop in consultation with course coordinators, and teach it within the course timetable. For example, taking over a week of tutorials to teach an aspect of statistical literacy. Lead time needed: three months.
Extracurricular seminars
MLC lecturers can run an extracurricular seminar or workshop for specific cohorts on mathematics or learning skills. Lead time needed: three months.
Orientation and Outreach
One Hundred Factorial
Everyone is welcome to the MLC’s puzzle, art and games sessions, which are called One Hundred Factorial. Session are weekly during Semester 1 & 2, and monthly during university breaks.
Welcome activities
The MLC can provide mathematical play activities at welcome events for new students. To discuss the possibilities, email the MLC. Lead time needed: four weeks.
Outreach activities
The MLC has several hands-on mathematical workshops they can present for school students or teachers, or can design new ones. Email the MLC to discuss including an MLC activity in an existing event, or a new standalone activity. Lead time needed: four weeks.
Discussion and training for teaching
Our lecturers are experts in helping people learn, and love to discuss teaching practice with staff. If you want to discuss some aspect of teaching mathematics, please contact us. We can also run workshops for your tutoring staff.
MLC coordinator Dr David Butler writes a blog which mainly discusses learning and teaching approaches in the MLC, which many people say is helpful to them. Some interesting blog posts are:
- SQWIGLES: A guide for action and reflection in one-on-one teaching, which concerns an acronym we use in the MLC to help the tutors support students to learn how to learn.
- The Solving Problems Poster, which concerns our version of Polya's problem-solving heuristic.
- Four levels of listening, which concerns a framework for how teachers can listen (or not) to student ideas, and the kinds of questions that allow for those kinds of lisening.