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GATEWAY INITIATIVE . Hillsborough Community College Fall 2007 Preliminary Results A Formative Evaluation. Preliminary Formative Analysis Fall 2007 Results. To provide feedback to participating faculty as quickly as possible ( Got Class, p. 40).
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GATEWAY INITIATIVE Hillsborough Community College Fall 2007 Preliminary Results A Formative Evaluation
Preliminary Formative Analysis Fall 2007 Results • To provide feedback to participating faculty as quickly as possible (Got Class, p. 40). • To answer initial questions at the pilot stage: • Are things working the way we expected? • What do the initial outcomes suggest? • Are there any surprises? • What can we learn that will improve the process?
FALL 2007 • INTERVENTIONS - TWO PILOT COURSES: • MAC-1105 (College Algebra) • Cumulative Homework • In-class Group Review • PSY-2012 (General Psychology) • Team-Teaching • Use of Clickers (Electronic Student Response System) in the classroom • BASELINE DATA – THREE COURSES: • ACG-2021 (Financial Accounting) • CGS-1000 (Intro. To Computers & Technology) • ECO-2021 (Principles of Microeconomics)
Data Collection Strategy • Pretest and Posttest • Questions addressed identified learning outcomes • Three scores for each student: • Pretest Score • Posttest Score • Gain Score (Posttest Score – Pretest Score) • Students’ Grades in the Course were Not Affected • Surveys of Student Characteristics • Descriptive and Demographic Information • Students’ Perceptions
RESULTS OF ANALYSES • ANOVA/ANCOVA • Compared Gain Scores for Experimental and Control Groups in each intervention. • No Significant Differences between Experimental and Control Groups • MAC-1105 • PSY-2012
SURPRISE!!! • Distributions of Gain Scores revealed some “negative gains.” • GAIN SCORE = (Posttest Score – Pretest Score) • These students scored higher on the pretest than on the posttest.
Things were not working the way we expected. • Negative Gain Scores • Observed in both Control and Experimental sections of the pilot courses • (MAC-1105, PSY-2012). • Observed in all three of the courses collecting baseline data. • (ACG-2021, CGS-1000, ECO-2023)
What Went Wrong? • Because it did not affect their final grades, students were not taking the posttest seriously. • Tired of being tested • Ready for Winter Break • No incentive to do their best • Marking answers at random (all 1s, all 5s, patterns) • Leaving answers blank
What Was Learned Scheirer (1994) recommends using formative evaluation in a pilot situation to collect information on the feasibility of activities and their acceptance by recipients. • Posttest – Not Feasible, Not Accepted • Negative gain scores – evidence that the posttest is not accurately assessing students’ KSAs. • Not a valid measure. • No conclusions can be based on these results. • A valid measure must be found for use in the future. Scheirer, M. A. (1994). Designing and using process evaluation. In J. S. Wholey, H. Hatry and K. Newcomer (Eds.), Handbook of Practical Program Evaluation (pp. 40-68). San Francisco : Josey Bass.
How Will We Improve the Process? • Lead Faculty Acted Quickly and Decisively • MAC-1105 • Posttest questions imbedded in the final exam • PSY-2012 • Performance on posttest worth extra credit • Implemented in Time for Spring Posttests
EXPECTED RESULTS • Tying the posttest to the final grade appears to have corrected the problem. • Lead faculty grading SP08 posttests report seeing a difference. • We are expecting meaningful results from the revised posttest procedure as we conclude our first year of the study.
“What were your biggest obstacles in learning (this subject)?”
“What additional resources would have helped you to be more successful ( in this class)?”
“Which of the following helped you the most to succeed in (this class)?”
PERCEIVED HELPFULNESS OF INTERVENTIONS EXPERIMENTAL SECTIONS ONLY MAC-1105 • Group Test Review (n=150) • Helped the Most – 44.67% • Other Resources that Helped – 48.67% • Cumulative Homework (n=98) • Helped the Most – 47.96% • Other Resources that Helped – 60.20%
PERCEIVED HELPFULNESS OF INTERVENTIONS EXPERIMENTAL SECTIONS ONLY Psy-2012 • Clicker Technology (n= 80) • Helped the Most – 55.0% • Other Resources that Helped – 58.75% • Team-Teaching (n=58 ) • Helped the Most – 24.14 % • Other Resources that Helped – 20.69%
LOOKING FORWARD • Students’ feedback suggests that these interventions ought to be effective. • Spring semester’s results should provide a more realistic picture of their impact on students’ learning outcomes.