Projects

Professors Catherine Pfaff, Sumon Majumdar, and Robert McKeown team up to deliver GAMES: A Gentle Approach to Math, Excel, and Stats. These two 12-week courses are designed to prepare a diverse set of learners and students, some of whom may lack a strong background in math and stats from High School, to succeed in university business, economics, and the social sciences; Each course was divided into two or three segments and 12 modules to allow for a customized experience; This project was made possible with funding by the Government of Ontario and through eCampusOntario’s support of the Virtual Learning Strategy.

ALEKS, a math learning environment with adaptive questions powered by AI and machine learning, is embedded in the first four weeks of a first-year math for economics course to improve fundamental math skills; student performance on ALEKS is compared with performance during the remainder of the course; Robert McKeown has found that students self-reported that their time on ALEKS increased their self-confidence, understanding, and the likelihood that they would continue in a math-based discipline.

Robert McKeown is the first Academic Director of SNACK — the Student Numeracy Assistance Centre. Founded in the Fall of 2021 with financial support from the Office of the Dean, SNACK supports Liberal Arts and Professional Studies (LA&PS) students to develop their numeracy skills. Students can find help with any of their courses that involve math, stats, computer programming, or Excel. Our Centre offers helpful resources, skill-building workshops, and one-on-one peer tutoring — from basic functions and linear algebra, to complex statistics, tricky equations, calculus, and more, SNACK is ready to help.