The GRE Project

1. The GRE Project Sarah VanStelle

2. People Involved in the GRE system • Dr. Malott - supervises and oversees BATS and all of the subsequent R&D systems, including the GRE system.

3. Jody Miller • Second year Master’s student, responsible for overseeing the first year master’s student Callie Simms, and myself.

4. Callie Simms • First-year master’s student who runs the GRE project, and supervises me, Sarah VanStelle. Callie is also responsible for monitoring the performance of the students in the GRE classes.

5. Me – Sarah VanStelle • I am an undergraduate Senior, graduating on April 29th!!! • I am responsible for monitoring student performance of undergraduates in the GRE class. • I also give Callie and Jody my ideas hoping to improve the GRE System as a whole.

6. GRE/BATS/BRSS – many Acronyms • The Graduate Record Examination (GRE) project is a subsystem of BATS. The Behavior Analysis Training System (BATS) is Dr. Malott’s program which encompasses all of his research and development projects.

7. More GRE…. • The GRE is another part of BATS responsible for monitoring student performance on the GRE class. The purpose of the GRE project is to prepare students to take the GRE and also help them plan and prepare for graduate school applications.

8. The GRE Mission Statement • “The GRE course is designed to help students study for the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) and prepare for graduate school using performance management techniques. We monitor student performance, provide deadlines and specify point contingencies to help ensure students spend time studying for the GRE. Our goal is to provide guidance and relevant materials to inform students about the GRE and graduate school application.”

9. What we Do • The GRE project, like many of the other projects in BRSS, is designed to prevent procrastination in students taking the GRE course by using self-management techniques.

10. How do you ensure the self-management works? Performance Management! • The GRE project managers monitor student performance to prevent waiting until the last minute to study for the GRE, take the GRE, and prepare for graduate school.

11. Why is this necessary? • Without the self-management techniques enforced in the GRE course, most students would not study adequately for the GRE, and subsequently, would have to take the GRE more than one time.

12. So how does all of this work? • Our Weekly points consist of categories for: • Students have to do equally well in all of these categories in order to do well in the course because our grading system follows Dr. Malott’s grading matrix. Task Verification Form Hours Graph Homework Quiz Attendance

13. What about the Contingencies? • In the GRE system we implement our own performance management contingency which is a negative reinforcement escape contingency (reinforcement by the prevention of the removal of a reinforcer). • Our performance management contingency is an analog to the avoidance of loss of a reinforcer. By making the study response, the student avoids losing the opportunity for points, and the delay is too great for it to be plain old avoidance of loss.

14. Contingencies Continued… • The weekly class meetings in which points can be lost is both a sizable and probable outcome; the fear of loss of points is what controls the behavior. • So, if the students attend the class and complete their assignments, they have no fear for loss of points and therefore the future frequency of the behavior will increase.

15. The Three-Contingency Model: Completing GRE Tasks GRE student completes one hour of graduate study Infinitesimally greater amount of tasks completed Given amount of tasks completed Will lose opportunity to obtain points during class GRE student completes one hour of graduate study Will not lose opportunity to obtain points during class Fear of losing opportunity to obtain points during class GRE student completes one hour of graduate study No fear of losing opportunity to obtain points during class Ineffective Natural Contingency Performance Management Contingency Inferred Theoretical Contingency

16. My Responsibilities in the GRE class • I created a class list during both classes for both semesters (four total), which contains each students contact information, along with their pre-semester, mid-semester, and post-semester GRE scores.

17. More of My Responsibilities On a weekly basis I check task verification forms and other assignment “proofs” to monitor student performance. I also send weekly e-mail assignment reminders, records, and graphs of student performance.

18. Still More Responsibilities I am responsible for recording and printing grades for all of the students in the GRE class and for grading weekly quizzes. Lastly, I help to improve the GRE project as a whole; I give my suggestions about the syllabus, CD, and class presentation improvements to Callie, and some of my ideas will be incorporated into fall 2006 class changes.

19. When I entered the System • Because the system is fairly new, there were all of the basic components, syllabus, assignment guide, quizzes, some job-aids • Now the basics needed to be revised, and more technical things could be created

20. Major Disconnects/Problems • We needed a revised assignment guide with updated dates and page numbers because the Kaplan book was now mandatory for our students.

21. Revised Quizzes and Syllabus Quizzes needed to be changed to accommodate the new book and to hopefully result in better student performance on the quizzes. The syllabus needed to be revised because there was a lot of confusion about course policies and procedures.

22. First Disconnect & Solution • The first disconnect that Callie and I worked to solve after the fall 2005 semester was updating the assignment guide. • The assignment guide was a very easy fix, and is something that needs to be done every year, because a new edition of the Kaplan book that our class uses comes out yearly.

23. Solution One Continued…. • The intervention for the assignment guide was very simple; we changed the quiz dates, assignment dates, and week numbers to correlate to the new semester. • Secondly, I added a specific category that shows students in which category points will be added to their task verification form by adding “GRE Hours” instead of just “Hours.”

24. Second Disconnect & Solution We received average ratings on an evaluation we handed out in the fall 2005 semester asking students various questions about their understanding of the syllabus. The second disconnect had to do with the course syllabus.

25. Fall Data 2005 – Last Semester Average Rating = 3.3

26. About the intervention! • The intervention was implemented in the winter 2006 semester and consisted of the power point presentation that Callie and I developed. • The power point presentation explained confusing parts of the syllabus in more detail, and seemed to hold the students interest more than just reading through the syllabus, because it is very long and can be confusing.

27. Proof that it worked • We received better ratings on our syllabus evaluation during the winter 2006 semester which lets us know that our presentation/intervention seemed to help solve our disconnect.

28. Winter 2006 – This Semester Average Rating = 4.2

29. Third Disconnect & Solution • The third disconnect that I am currently working on is how to get students to perform better in the GRE class. Better performance in the GRE course will hopefully lead to better performance on the GRE • Performance on quizzes seems to be what is dragging down grade averages. Every other category is fine; that is why we focus on quizzes.

30. What we are trying • Turning the “quiz points” category into an in class assignment in which students would complete worksheets right when they get to class designed to test them over their homework assignment from the previous night. Changing the quiz structure to reflect the content of the reading versus the problems in the hope that students cannot easily go through and memorize specific answers. • Hand back the quizzes and allow students to “red – pen” their correct answers with an explanation, and turn them back in for full points. (this is what we are currently trying) Considerations:

31. Personal Experience within the System • Jody and Callie have definitely gone out of their way to help me not only with BRSS but with graduate school and other issues I have had. • They have both supported my decisions and helped me with applications, letters, the GRE and my vita, which was very much appreciated.

32. Yes, I still have more to say about Jody and Callie • I have learned a lot more from Jody and Callie than just technical skills or other skills related to BRSS/graduate school. • I am lucky enough to have two wonderful people as my supervisors, both of whom have shown me what it’s like to be dedicated to their work and have inspired me to do the same.

33. All of us in the GRE System!

34. Any Questions??? Thank you !