Abstract
The focus of this chapter is on the implications of globalisation and internationalisation of education for adults returning to study mathematics at all educational levels in the post-compulsory years. These inter-related phenomena bring tensions and contradictions for mathematics educators arising from competing needs for institutions to give greater flexibility to students – who are tending to form an increasingly diverse cohort – while controlling or even reducing tuition costs: Dangers arise from the commodification of education and particularly from the assumption that mathematics, and indeed new learning technologies, are culture- and value-free. The work of Basil Bernstein forms the basis of an analytical distinction between mathematics and numeracy as different discourses with different forms of pedagogy with consequences for program design and delivery. Sociocultural activity theory is employed as a theoretical foundation for analysis of new learning technologies in order to assist developers and users in the design and appropriation of pedagogical resources. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the tensions in mathematics/numeracy education in relation to internationalisation, together with some recommendations for program developers utilising new learning technologies
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FitzSimons, G.E. (2008). Globalisation, Technology, And The Adult Learner Of Mathematics. In: Atweh, B., et al. Internationalisation and Globalisation in Mathematics and Science Education. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5908-7_19
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