Promoting Numeracy in University and Beyond

Teaching and even designing a numeracy course in university is certainly not like teaching a mathematics course. Curriculum, goals, focus, examples, prerequisites, and especially students are all very, very different. This is why, in this commentary, I explore questions such as what is numeracy, who is numerate, why teach numeracy, what is the difference between a mathematics task and a numeracy task, and how to create a numeracy curriculum. I share my work and observations in the numeracy course that I have taught. Discussions and examples are provided for instructors to gain a better grasp on how to think about and teach numeracy and to help their students develop and improve numeracy skills. My perspectives are drawn from my own personal experiences teaching mathematics and numeracy and writing numeracy tasks, as well as research and collaborations with both mathematics and numeracy educators.