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Tammy Muhs Assistant Chair, MALL Director University of Central Florida NCAT Redesign Scholar

Course Redesign: A Way To Increase Student Success. Tammy Muhs Assistant Chair, MALL Director University of Central Florida NCAT Redesign Scholar. University of Central Florida (Founded in1963). 2 nd largest university in U.S.

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Tammy Muhs Assistant Chair, MALL Director University of Central Florida NCAT Redesign Scholar

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  1. Course Redesign: A Way To Increase Student Success Tammy Muhs Assistant Chair, MALL Director University of Central Florida NCAT Redesign Scholar

  2. Universityof Central Florida (Founded in1963) • 2nd largest university in U.S. • 12 Colleges offering Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctoral Programs • 58,587 students (49,900 Undergraduate) • 81% of Undergraduates receive financial aid • 2nd largest amount of FL Bright Futures students • Students from 50 states and 145 countries • Main campus 1,415 acres, 180 buildings • 1,948 Faculty and 8,619 Staff

  3. Traditional College Algebra: • Annual enrollments – 4000+ students • Issues with course drift due to the many different instructors • Large lectures - 384 students per class (3 hours lecture, 1 hour recitation) • Independent sections-49 students per class (3 hours lecture) • Mixed mode sections -21 students per class(1 hour lecture with online component) • Withdrawal rate more than double traditional, lower success rate, lower cost, less space

  4. Motivation to Redesign College Algebra: • Success Rates: Pass rates were down, withdrawal rates were up • Space: Too many students, not enough classrooms • Budget: We needed to do more, with less

  5. National Center for Academic Transformation (NCAT): • UCF Goal – “Fix” College Algebra • NCAT Goal - Increase learning outcomes and success rates while decreasing cost • Received the NCAT Grant in Spring 2008 • Grant provided training and feedback

  6. NCAT Redesign Models: • Emporium (Lab) Model*** • Replacement (Hybrid) Model*** • Fully Online Model • Supplemental Model • Buffet Model ***Typically produces the best results in terms of student learning and cost for Mathematics courses

  7. Cost Reduction: • Change the mix and number of faculty teaching the course • Combine smaller sections into one larger section 5 2 50 1 50 6 3 1 1 50 7 50 50 350 4 50 50

  8. Cost and Productivity Savings: • Capacity - serve more students in same space • Reduction in repeated course attempts • Coordinate all sections of the same course • Benefits • Remove redundancy resulting in improved productivity • Prevent course drift resulting in consistency in course content • Drawbacks • Faculty buy in • Weak Coordinator may result in many sections with issues as opposed to a single or couple of sections

  9. Ways to Spend the Savings: • Course improvement or redesign • Offering additional courses • Serving more students • Distance learning sections • Reduction in teaching load • Training • Balance the budget

  10. UCF’s Redesigned College Algebra • Students meet one hour a week in a large auditorium • Students spend three hours per week in a designated computer facility working on their College Algebra coursework. • Watch videos • Complete homework • Complete quizzes • Work on their individualized Study Plan

  11. Borrowed Space for Pilot:

  12. Course Redesign Improved Success Rates AND Saved Money!

  13. Presidents Class Size Initiative (PCSI)-Internal Grant: • Renovated Space for the Mathematics Assistance and Learning Lab (MALL) • Provides funding for six faculty members committed to improving learning in General Education Program Mathematics • Provides funding for peer tutors and MALL expenses

  14. Mathematics Assistance and Learning Lab (MALL): From Renovation to CompletionPhase I - 95 computers (Spring 2010)Phase II - 100 computers (Summer 2010)Phase III - 120 computers (Spring 2011)

  15. HistoricalSuccess Rate:

  16. Face to Face Class Hour: • Students spend one hour in class • Review concepts from the previous week • Highlight upcoming material • Receive administrative information • Classroom Response System (iClicker) is used to keep students engaged • When a holiday prevents the class from meeting, we use media exercises for the class activity grade

  17. PCSI-Small Within Large: • Students register in sections of 19 students • Creates a learning community • In-class community • Virtual community • Between 15 and 18 of these 19 student sections meet together, at the same time, in a large lecture hall one hour each week

  18. MALL Hours: Students spend a required three hours in the Mathematics Assistance and Learning Lab (MALL) • Weekly online hw and quiz assignments • Students get unlimited attempts on hw due night before class • Students get 7 attempts on associated quiz due day of class • MALL staff provide on-demand assistance • Students are in a proctored environment

  19. Online Testing: • Test Scheduling System (Testing Cal) • Scheduling open for a week and students have multiple time options available • Testing is completed in a proctored environment using a password system • Immediate feedback • Free response questions or multiple choice • Challenge week • ADA time accommodation adjustments • Integrity violations almost non-existent • Cost savings

  20. MALL Staffing: • Faculty • Students • Complete all assignments, become test proctors during testing weeks, and complete training about 14 hours a semester • College Reading & Learning AssociationInternational Tutor Program Certification • Peer tutors ($8.50-$9.00 per hour) • Undergraduate and graduate mathematics students ($8.50-$10.00 per hour) • Graduate Teaching Assistants

  21. Mentors and Progress Monitoring: • Top GTAs are called Mentors • Meet with teaching team weekly • Communicate with students • Hold seminars and test reviews • Help with classroom management • Progress Monitoring • Students Progress is monitored weekly • Students receive weekly feedback via email Communication has been shown to have an important role in learning and understanding mathematics (Knuth & Peressini, 2001)

  22. Progress Monitoring catches students who might fall through the cracks!

  23. Why is this important? • Recent studies have found that successful completion of a math gatekeeper course is a milestone positively correlated with academically successful outcomes (still enrolled in institution, transferred to another institution, graduated) • In a study completed by FDOE, only 57% of the students in the community college system with a W in Fall 2004 re-enrolled in College Algebra within the next two years

  24. College Readiness-Is redesign “ok” for our non-traditional students? FTIC STUDENT COLLEGE READINESS JUNE 2011, EDITION 2011-04

  25. Learning Styles are Different • How much do you believe the Help me solve this feature helped you learn College Algebra? (Fall 2011; n=1266) • 92.1% of students replied with either very much or somewhat • How much do you believe the in-class questions helped you learn College Algebra? (Fall 2011; n=1291) • 50.1% of students replied with either very much or somewhat • During visits to the MALL, do you ask the tutors questions every week? (Fall 2011; n=1313) • 39.8% of the students always ask questions

  26. Instructional Interaction: • Anonymous student surveys in fall 2009, fall 2010, and fall 2011 • 78.6-90.79% of the students felt the redesigned course offered at least as much instructional interaction as their other courses • 35.8%-60.97% indicated that there was considerably more interaction when compared to their other courses

  27. Results and Course Offerings: • Producing favorable results • Active learning has been shown to be an effective method of improving learning outcomes (Prince, 2004, Twigg, 2003) • Increased course offerings • Intermediate Algebra fall 2010 • Precalculus spring 2011 • Trigonometry fall 2011

  28. Questions: Please feel free to contact me at Tammy.Muhs@ucf.edu

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