Getting to grips with online mathematics education during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a move to emergency remote teaching in many universities across the globe, beginning in the early months of 2020. As a result, lecturers and students had to transition to an online form of education at very short notice. Due to the symbolic nature of the subject, online education in mathematics presented additional challenges, in terms of representing mathematical notation and communicating effectively with students online. In May 2020 and again in May 2021, we undertook an anonymous online survey of mathematics lecturers in higher education, aiming to investigate their experience of emergency remote teaching and any changes to their practice as a result. We received 257 and 190 responses respectively, and respondents were based in 30 countries, primarily in Europe. They reported on the types of hardware and software they used; whether they opted for live sessions or pre-recorded; the main challenges they and their students faced; and the changes to assessment necessitated by the move online. In this paper, we report upon their reflections of their journeys in online teaching, as they compare their initial experiences of emergency remote teaching with their approaches one year on