Teacher's Enrichment Workshop (Nov 2015 at IMSc): Engineering Mathematics
week-long workshop for mathematics teachers of engineering colleges
Sponsored by the National Centre for Mathematics (NCM)
Co-sponsored and hosted by the Institute of Mathematical Sciences (IMSc)
under its "Enriching Collegiate Education" series of workshops


Dates: Monday to Saturday, 23rd to 28th November 2015         Venue: Chandrasekhar Hall, IMSc, Chennai        
Poster of the programme          Pictures of the programme


The context: The broad goal of IMSc's Enriching Collegiate Education series of workshops is to bring research mathematicians and college teachers together in an effort to enrich mathematics education in colleges. It is noteworthy in this context that IMSc is primarily a research institute. This particular workshop was held as a Teacher's Enrichment Workshop (TEW), one of a series sponsored by the NCM. The TEW workshops are funded by the Foundation for the Advancement of Arts & Sciences from India (ARSI).


This week-long workshop was aimed at mathematics teachers at engineering colleges, to enable them to revisit and update content knowledge. The lectures covered some particular topics (see below). Discussion hours offered opportunities to get doubts cleared and work out exercises (both routine and advanced).

List of speakers and topics :

The workshop was free. A working lunch (and tea, coffee, snacks) was provided on all days of the workshop to all participants free of cost. Certificates of participation and attendance were issued.

A complimentary copy of Erwin Kresyzig's Advanced Engineering Mathematics and a small travel allowance were distributed to all participants (from IMSc funds). No prior announcement was made about these.

Accommodation and travel arrangements were left entirely to the participants. Thus this particular workshop was not especially suited or meant for teachers from places not close to Chennai. Teachers interested in the TEW series of workshops were advised to look out for one of them be held close to their place of work (from those listed here).

Details of the selection procedure: Online registration for the programme was opened about a month in advance. Out of 63 registered, 55 were selected, and 25 of these actually showed up for the programme. Along with 4 who showed up for spot registration, the total number of actual participants was 29.

Note on weather conditions: Chennai received a record amount of rain in November 2015 resulting in flooding in many parts of the city including within IMSc campus and the road leading up to it. During the week of the programme, however, there was not too much rain, and the programme was not affected, except perhaps to the extent that it was the cause for many of those registered to not show up.