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Daytona State College

Course Implementation

 Course Design

College Algebra is an online, 15-week course. MyMathLab is used for every aspect of the course—homework, quizzes, tests, and the final exam—with the exception of five e-mailed discussion questions (one per each chapter assigned). Students develop solutions that must include the equation and the steps used to solve the equation, and they must explain the meaning of the answer.

The instructor is available for individual help during office hours for 10 hours a week and online during virtual hours.
 

Assessments

18 percent      Homework: Students are allowed three attempts at selecting similar exercises to complete homework correctly.
18 percent      Quizzes
35 percent      Tests
20 percent      Final exam
9 percent        Off-line discussion questions

Use of MyMathLab

Students use MyMathLab to complete homework and take quizzes, tests, and the final exam. The Study Plan and its practice questions are recommended to students who do not score well on tests. Through the program, students have access to a constantly updated overview
of their progress and grade throughout the semester.

Use of MyMathLab contributes 90 percent to each student’s final course grade.

Results and Data

Jennifer Walsh, instructor, created the online College Algebra course—then compared it with the school’s two face-to-face versions of the same course. The results validated what she had already suspected was true: the MyMathLab-enabled, online course promoted higher
pass rates and lower drop/withdrawal/fail rates than did the traditional on-ground courses.

Table 1 shows Walsh’s data. For both fall 2009 and spring 2010, online course pass rates were significantly higher than on-ground pass rates: 25.3 percent and 31.6 percent higher, respectively. Drop/withdrawal/fail rates were even more significant: 62.8 percent lower in fall 2009 and 31.6 percent lower in spring 2010. Figures 1 and 2 illustrate the side-by-side comparison.

Walsh attributes the online students’ success to the interactive aspect of MyMathLab. “Many students prefer taking the course online because they’ll receive immediate feedback and tutoring,” she says. “MyMathLab’s Show Me How to Do This, Help Me Do This, and other learning aids address all types of learners and are essential to my students’ success.”

Key curriculum changes also helped increase student success. “One was to include structure via solid deadlines for all assignments,” says Walsh. “In addition, students have both a homework assignment and a quiz due each week on the sections that were covered that week. The combination of structure and increased practice has enabled more students to stay on task and complete the course.”.

The Student Experience

Walsh is confident that students who complete the MyMathLab-enabled online course are better prepared for subsequent courses. “The amount of work involved in completing an online course is more comprehensive than it is for an on-ground course,” she says. “And the potential for on-time intervention is far greater. MyMathLab enables me to monitor exactly what each student is doing, where the students is having problems, and what concepts need to be addressed. In a face-to-face class, I may not know what an individual student can do until the first test. In class, there are usually a select few who are willing to answer questions and ask questions. Online students are responsible to ask and answer their own questions.

MyMathLab’s Coordinator Course enables Walsh to use the same final exam for all of her courses. She directly ties each question to a learning objective and can assess the success rates on each one.