We are delighted to announce that the Council of the IMA has awarded the first IMA John Blake University Teaching Medal to Dr Lara Alcock. This new IMA prize, which was introduced to the community in 2020, is awarded to an individual in recognition of their significant and sustained contribution to the teaching of the mathematical sciences at university-level. The following citation describes Dr Alcock’s exceptional work in this field.
Dr Alcock is a Reader in Mathematics Education at Loughborough University. She was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship in 2015 and received the Annie and John Selden Prize for Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education in 2012. She is a regular recipient of student-awarded prizes such as Most engaging lecturer, Best lecturer, Most helpful mentor and Most outstanding mathematics lecturer within her university.
Dr Alcock is an internationally-recognised mathematics education researcher, one of the world’s foremost authorities on the teaching of real analysis to undergraduates. She has particular expertise in the area of proof comprehension and self-explanation and has carried out exciting and innovative studies using eye-tracking technology to explore how experts and novices actually read proofs.
What makes Dr Alcock virtually unique as a mathematics education researcher is her ability to communicate the findings of educational research to both academic mathematicians and students. Her writing is accessible and full of practical advice about how research findings can influence the way students learn and the way lecturers teach.
She is author of How to Study for a Mathematics Degree, first published by OUP in 2012. American and German versions of this practical and inspirational book have since been produced. Many UK and international universities recommend that incoming undergraduates read this book before commencing their studies, with some even giving a copy of the book to each of their new undergraduates.
Academic mathematicians are often suspicious of mathematics education researchers, but Dr Alcock’s down to earth practical writing and speaking has overcome this barrier. Her 2018 article Tilting the classroom in the Newsletter of the London Mathematical Society recognised the difficulties involved in full-scale “flipping the classroom” so offered practical, research-informed suggestions of ways to introduce more active learning activities within the lecture theatre (hence tilting rather than flipping). She has been invited to speak on this theme at many universities throughout the country and prompted change in practice amongst many colleagues.
Professor John Blake was an excellent mathematician who was passionate about high quality mathematics teaching in higher education. Dr Lara Alcock is an excellent mathematics educationalist who shares the same passion and who has both directly and indirectly improved the learning of thousands of students in her own university, throughout the country and throughout the world. The IMA is convinced that Professor Blake would have wanted due recognition to be given to Dr Alcock’s work and that he would be delighted that Dr Lara Alcock is the recipient of the inaugural John Blake University Teaching Medal.
