Welcome to the Mathematics and Statistics Learning Centre home page - the first port of call for our current undergraduate students and prospective students for any of our programs.
We aim to prepare students for professional careers, not only in mathematics and statistics, but also across the range of pure and applied sciences, commerce, engineering, industry and technology. Our undergraduate subjects train you in essential skills such as logical reasoning, sophisticated problem solving, research skills and oral and written communication. These transferable skills are invaluable for professional life in any discipline.
Oasis is our unified home for mathematics and statistics student support, both online and in person. Oasis currently includes mathSpace, mathAssist, learning resources, and reading packs. Also, consultation hours run for most subjects through semester, through swot vac and up to the exam.
The School's Vacation Scholarship Program provides selected students (from Melbourne or elsewhere) with a supervised introduction to research in mathematics or statistics. It is particularly recommended for students seriously considering University of Melbourne Mathematics and Statistics postgraduate research programs (eg. MSc, RHD).
The Melbourne University Mathematics and Statistics Society, also known as MUMS, was formed to represent maths and stats students at Melbourne University. They welcome anyone else with an interest in maths or stats. They organise a variety of activities, including seminars, trivia competitions, barbecues and of course the annual Puzzle Hunt and Maths Olympics. They also put out Paradox magazine at regular intervals.
Contact
John Banks
Mathematics and Statistics Learning Centre
School of Mathematics and Statistics
Faculty of Science
The University of Melbourne
Victoria 3010, Australia
Tel: +61 (0)3 8344 0010
Fax: +61 (0)3 8344 4599
Dr John Banks
john.banks@unimelb.edu.au
Room G41, Peter Hall building
Phone +61 3 8344 3687
John manages the MSLC and lectures first year mathematics subjects. He also plays a key role in assessing the mathematics and statistics qualifications of students coming into the University.
Dr Paul Fijn
paul@ms.unimelb.edu.au
Room G41A, Peter Hall building
Phone +61 3 8344 2721
Paul is passionate about education, particularly in statistics. With varied interests (his undergraduate degree was completed with majors in Psychology, Cinema Studies and Pure Mathematics) he now researches statistics education, particularly how to improve statistical thinking and communication. He is also a member of the Outreach team, which includes mentoring graduate students and planning public lectures.
Dr Robert Maillardet
rjmail@unimelb.edu.au
Room G48, Peter Hall building
Phone +61 3 8344 8051
Robert conducts research in probability and statistics, has written a popular text on scientific programming using R and produces Video Consultations to assist students to tackle difficult concepts. He teaches mainly first year calculus and second year probability and statistics.
Dr Anthony Morphett
a.morphett@unimelb.edu.au
Room G43, Peter Hall building
Phone +61 3 8344 3879
Anthony’s mathematical background is in logic and computability. He has an interest in mathematics education, and in particular the design and use of technology for mathematics and statistics teaching and learning. Anthony teaches subjects including calculus, linear algebra and statistics.
Rosie Pingitore
rosariap@unimelb.edu.au
Room G42, Peter Hall building
Phone +61 3 8344 0010
Rosie is the administrative assistant for the Mathematics and Statistics Learning Centre. She keeps the administrative wheels running smoothly, including tutorial materials and assignment processing. She liaises with students and staff across all levels in the University and wider community.
Dr Alba Santin Garcia
alba.santingarcia@unimelb.edu.au
Room G45, Peter Hall building
Phone +61 3 9035 4455
Alba does research in the area of Partial Differential Equations, but is interested in many other areas of mathematics such as Geometry, Complex Analysis or Topology. At the moment, she teaches first year subjects and helps coordinate the mathematics section of the University of Melbourne Extension Program (UMEP).
Dr TriThang Tran
trtran@unimelb.edu.au
Room G44, Peter Hall building
Phone +61 3 8344 3878
TriThang does research in Algebraic Topology, although in reality, he is interested in anything to do with mathematics. At the moment, TriThang teaches first year subjects, and tells the occasional bad joke in class.
Tutoring with us
Each year in semesters 1 and 2, we welcome new applications for casual tutoring with the Mathematics and Statistics Learning Centre (MSLC). Casual tutors are employed in a wide range of first and second year subjects. Selection for tutoring work is competitive and the number of new tutors we take on each semester varies quite a lot, depending on student enrolments and the number of casual tutors who wish to continue on from previous semesters.
IMPORTANT NOTE: From 2019 onwards, all casual staff involved in teaching first or second year subjects will be required to hold a current Working With Children Check (WWWC) under Victorian Government legislation. We do not yet have full details of how the WWWC process will be managed for casual staff, but we currently believe that the university will pay for the conduct of these checks. At this stage, you do not need to take any specific action. We will post updates on this as further information becomes available.
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Requirements
The essential requirement for an applicant to be considered is the equivalent of an undergraduate major in Mathematics or Statistics with a strong record of achievement. This means at least half of your final year of undergraduate study was in mathematics and/or statistics.
Preference will be given to applicants who are currently undertaking a postgraduate degree in Mathematics or Statistics. This does not include postgraduate study in Physics or Engineering.
Limited opportunities are available for final year undergraduate students who are majoring in mathematics and statistics and have a strong academic record. These students may be offered work in the School’s mathAssist program or as assistants in the School’s Workshop classes.
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How to apply
We take applications online using the University of Melbourne’s Casual Tutor Recruitment System (CTRS):
https://ctrs.app.unimelb.edu.au
The first thing you will need to do is create a CTRS account by following the appropriate link on that page. This is a one-off step and you will be able use the same account and personal profile to apply for tutoring in Mathematics and Statistics (as well as several other Schools at The University of Melbourne) in future semesters. When creating your profile, you will be asked to supply
- a copy of your CV.
- a copy of a relevant Academic Transcript, showing details of your studies in Mathematics or Statistics.
so make sure you have these at hand. Once this set-up work is out of the way, you are ready to go in and answer a (very) few standard questions before filling in your available times in a timetable.
If tutoring work for which your Mathematics or Statistics background appears to be a good match becomes available, we will contact you at the email address you supply in the CTRS to arrange an interview.
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What about summer tutoring?
For our summer semester tutoring, application is by invitation only for tutors who have previously tutored with us in the subjects we offer in the summer. This is due to the accelerated delivery schedule of our summer teaching and the difficulty of providing appropriate support for new tutors during the summer period.
Oasis is the home of mathematics and statistics student support, both online and in person. Oasis currently includes mathSpace, mathAssist, learning resources, and reading packs.
Textbooks, practice problems, and additional online support materials will be available here as they become available in the future.
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mathSpace - a place to study with friends
The mathSpace is a social learning space for students to collaborate on their mathematical ideas. Facilities are provided for students to study and work on mathematics together. The mathSpace is located on the ground floor of Peter Hall building and is open during normal building access hours.
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mathAssist - drop-in help for learning mathematics
mathAssist is a drop-in space for Mathematics and Statistics students to develop their mathematical understanding with support from Learning Assistants (formerly known as tutor-on-duty). There is a particular emphasis on remedying gaps in students background or assumed knowledge.
While students are encouraged to seek help with concepts they are having trouble with, mathAssist is not a place to request answers or solutions. Rather, our aim is to aid students in developing critical thinking skills to become better mathematical learners and practitioners and to make sure that students have the assumed knowledge they require for the subjects they are taking.
Your Learning Assistants can help with:
- Problem solving skills
- Critical thinking skills
- Studying techniques
- Fostering collaboration opportunities
- Background knowledge
- Obtaining additional study resources
When and Where: mathAssist is open from 12:00pm-2:00pm, Monday to Friday starting Week 2 of each semester till the end of SwotVac.
It is located on the ground floor of the Peter Hall Building next to the mathSpace.Due to Coronavirus COVID-19, mathAssist is now held online using Zoom. To visit, go to this Zoom meeting between 12-2pm Monday to Friday:
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SMASH - maths and stats help for non-maths subjects
Student Maths And Stats Help – SMASH – is a peer-support programme to help students with mathematics, statistics and quantitative skills that they need for their studies. It’s open to students from any discipline. Students can come to the library drop-in centres and get help from a peer assistant with the maths and statistics needed in their own disciplines.
SMASH is mainly aimed at non-mathematics students. Mathematics and Statistics students are recommended to use mathAssist instead.
When and Where: help is available in the University libraries as part of the study and learning drop-ins programme. See here for the times and locations.
- Reading packs - reading material for prerequisite knowledge
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Learning Resources - for academics and teachers
The Learning and Teaching resources below have been developed by the MSLC to support teaching & learning in the School.
- Conceptual Learning with Interactive Applets - applets for calculus, probability, statistics and other areas
- Chocs and Blocks - an interactive activity investigating sampling and variability
- Sudoku experiment - a tutorial and lab activity covering study design and data collection
The Mathematics and Statistics Learning Centre conducts research into teaching and learning in addition to its major responsibilities supporting the undergraduate teaching program of the Department.
Our research aims to support innovations in teaching and learning, including the implementation of new technologies. As part of this research program we run an Occasional Seminar Series, which incorporates talks by Centre staff as well as invited external speakers. If you are interested in giving a talk as part of this Series, please email Dr Robert Maillardet, the Series Coordinator, (rjmail@unimelb.edu.au). For seminar announcements, subscribe to the mailing list here.
Previous seminars
Swan Delta 2019: Reflections of Change
Paul Fijn, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne
This seminar highlighted some of the ideas, innovations, challenges and research presented at the Swan Delta conference, and how Paul intended to incorporate some of these elements into his teaching. Some key themes explored included interdisciplinarity, effective use of technology and evaluation of educational changes.
The slides from Paul's seminar are available here.
Taking the aaarrrggghhh out of teaching statistics with R: Using R Markdown
Sue Finch, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne
This seminar discussed the various challenges posed by different software packages in teaching Statistics and by R in particular, and described a structured innovation designed to foster the right pedagogical goals, using R Markdown (including providing exercises and solutions). It presented feedback from participants in a trial course and outlined what was successful, and some possible improvements.
Getting ready for the new Canvas LMS - a report on the Semester 2 pilot subjects
John Banks and Lawrence Reeves, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne
The University's LMS migrated from Blackboard to Canvas for all subjects in 2020. Three Mathematics and Statistics subjects used Canvas in Semester 2 2019 and this seminar was a report on those pilots.
WebWork - What worked?
Tom Wong, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne
This seminar reported on a pilot of the online homework system WebWork in the first year subject Introduction to Mathematics (MAST10012). It also considered suggestions of what could be improved next time and things to consider if implemented in other subjects.
Making assessment part of active ongoing learning
Jen Palisse, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne
This workshop explored alternate assessment methods to allow students to take more ownership of their learning. The main example was a high school level exercise concerning the introduction of index laws in Year 8 where students had to generate the index laws for themselves before proceeding with further exercises to reinforce the rules. This approach aims to give students ownership of their own learning as the mathematics that they are using is their mathematics, not the teacher's.
WebWork: An exploration in implementing an online homework system
Thomas Wong, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne
This seminar explored the idea and feasibility of using an online homework system (WebWork) to complement the existing assignment system. WebWork has been used to partially automate assignments in pre-calculus algebra, single and multivariable calculus, differential equations, linear algebra, discrete mathematics, probability, statistics, and complex analysis.
Origami in mathematics education: from Kindergarten to Graduate school
Michael Assis, School of Mathematics of Statistics, The University of Melbourne
Presented relevant resources and many practical applications for the inclusion of origami in teaching at all levels of mathematics education.
Using Class OneNote as a teaching/learning tool in small to mid-sized classes
Alysson Costa, School of Mathematics of Statistics, The University of Melbourne
Reported on the comprehensive use of OneNote for lectures/assignments/tutorials/discussions as trialled in a third year subject.
Interactive activities to engage a large introductory statistics class
Sharon Gunn and Anthony Morphett, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne
Presented a suite of interactive activities to engage students with statistical concepts.
CALC 101 - A survival guide for first year lecturers
Thomas Wong, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne
Reported on two techniques to assist first year teaching - a LaTeX typesetting requirement for assignment submissions and the use of an online forum for students to promote student interaction.
Wolfram computing tools in primary, secondary and tertiary education
Craig Bauling, Wolfram Technologies
The Inaugural Seminar in this series was held in November 2016 and concerned the introduction of Mathematica tools into primary and secondary school teaching in Victoria.
Consultation times are currently available for the following subjects.
Please be well organized before you ask for help! Be clear as to the nature of your problem - for example, you might make a list of points on which you are stuck, or write out in detail your best attempt at a problem that you cannot complete.
Note that a different set of consultation times will run during swot vac and up to the exam. These will be posted on this page at the very end of semester.
These pages contain information about undergraduate mathematics and statistics options to help you plan your course. Please choose from the options below.
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First-year Mathematics and Statistics
Information for students choosing first-year subjects.
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Majors in mathematical and statistical sciences
Information for students wishing to specialise in mathematics, statistics and related areas.
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Diploma in Mathematical Sciences
Study mathematics and statistics alongside another major with the concurrent diploma.
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Mathematics and Statistics electives or breadth
Study mathematics and statistics to complement another discipline.