Case Studies
Coastline Community College, CA
Like most departments in the college, the math department has a largely nontraditional student population consisting mostly of returning adults with family and work obligations. To accommodate this demographic, the department offers a wide variety of classes for students in evening face-to-face courses and online courses and uses either MyMathLab or MyStatLab, as appropriate.
The department is clearly doing something right. Data from the State Chancellor’s Office Data Mart for Spring 2009 indicates that the overall retention and success rates for Coastline’s General Math classes are significantly higher than the statewide average for general math. Coastline’s retention and success in online math classes also surpass the statewide average in general math, with success in Coastline’s online classes almost 40 percent better than the statewide average.
Based on survey responses, students are very satisfied with the quality of instruction, the overall quality of the program, and their own success in the program.
Math Department chair Fred Feldon attributes the department’s success to a variety of factors, including the aforementioned older-student demographic, a collegial department culture, and the intensive and long-term use of technology, such as graphing calculators, teacher computers, tablet PCs, and of course, the MyLab programs.
Coastline Community College
