The Department for Continuing Education is considering offering a course covering some aspects of undergraduate mathematics for those who have not had a chance to study mathematics at this level or those who simply want to update their skills. The intention is to cover a spectrum of key topics without going into great depth. This questionnaire is designed to establish whether there is any need for such a course, and to obtain feedback on the preferred format and content of such a course.

Unless specified otherwise in the question, you are asked to evaluate each of the statements provided below using the following five point Lickert scale:

1. Strongly agree
2. Agree
3. Neither agree nor disagree
4. Disagree
5. Strongly disagree

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* 1. I believe a tertiary level mathematics course would be of use.

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* 2. Assuming that such a course would be a good idea, please rank your preference for the five course formats proposed below (selecting 1 for your preferred format and 5 for your least preferred format):

  1 2 3 4 5
1. A ten-week course involving two hours of attendance on one evening a week.
2. A series of three weekend courses, involving Saturday and Sunday attendance, on three weekends over the course of a calendar year.
3. A series of six day schools, involving single day attendance on six days (perhaps at weekends) over the course of a calendar year.
4. A ten-week online course with tutorial support, allowing flexible study within each week of the course.
5. An online course, with tutorial support, plus a summer school in Oxford.

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* 3. Please indicate your level of agreement with the following statements about the content of the course (with 1 being strong agreement and 5 strong disagreement).

  1 2 3 4 5
1. I believe the course should be concerned exclusively with mathematical topics.
2. I believe the course should be a mixture of mathematical topics and topics associated with teaching mathematics.
3. I think the course should be geared to the existing school syllabi and simply extend and flesh out subjects taught in the existing curriculum.
4. I think that topics should be chosen based on their importance within mathematics itself.
5. I think topics should be chosen based on their appearance in current undergraduate level courses in mathematics.

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* 4. Our courses always include an element of formal assessment. Please indicate your level of agreement with the following statements (with 1 being strong agreement and 5 strong disagreement).

  1 2 3 4 5
1. I think that course assessment should consist only of assignment papers given during the run of the course.
2. I think that course assessment should consist of assignment papers plus a longer project, which would be completed after the teaching in the course has finished and permit the student to explore a topic in depth.
3. I think that course assessment should consist both of assignment papers and a short examination covering basic material.
4. I think that one component of course assessment should involve a personal presentation given to the other students.

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* 5. Please indicate your level of agreement with the following statements about the course materials (with 1 being strong agreement and 5 strong disagreement).

  1 2 3 4 5
1. I think that the course should contain some computing using open source software and standard office tools.
2. I think that the course should involve no computing packages whatsoever.
3. I think that the course should require the use of a personal calculator from time to time.
4. I think that the course should require the students to have access to a PC and the Internet.
5. I think that the course should be delivered entirely in printed form without needing computers.
6. I think that the course should have one or more set texts which would be required reading.
7. I think that the course should have an associated website containing course materials, a student discussion area and additional information.
8. I think that the course should primarily be an online one, with the majority of study materials provided electronically.

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* 6. This course could involve a formal Certificate at FHEQ Level 4 (equivalent in standard to the first year of an undergraduate course). One consequence of this would be that the course would have to be considerably longer than ten weeks and would involve more formal course assessment. Please tell us how important to you it would be if we were to offer a formal qualification for the course; bearing in mind that any course leading to a formal qualification at Oxford has to include some element of attendance.

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* 7. Please indicate your opinion of the relative importance of the inclusion of the following topics in the course (with 1 being very important and 5 being not important at all).

  1 2 3 4 5
1. The foundations of calculus
2. Multivariate calculus and analytical geometry
3. Modern geometry
4. Set theory
5. Modern algebra
6. Basic topology
7. Mathematical logic
8. Probability
9. Statistics
10. Applied mathematics
11. Mathematical modelling
12. The history of mathematics
13. Computers in mathematics
14. The theory of computing
15. Mathematical physics

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* 8. If you have any further comments or suggestions, please make them here:

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* 9. We are entirely happy for you to fill in this questionnaire anonymously but should you wish to record your name, profession, and contact information, please do so here. By providing your contact information, we will assume that you are happy for us to contact you for further information.

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