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Seton Hall University

Seton Hall University adopted MyMathLab in its Developmental Mathematics courses during fall 2004 as part of the National Center for Academic Transformation’s Roadmap to Redesign program. Today, students meet twice a week in a lab environment for 75 minutes each time: 20 to 25 minutes are spent in a short lecture, and the remaining 40 to 45 minutes are spent working on MyMathLab.

Homework, quizzes, and tests (but not the final exam) are completed using MyMathLab, which accounts for a total of 75 percent of a student’s course grade. Students are offered unlimited attempts at homework, and both homework and quizzes are started in the lab environment, where the instructor and an undergraduate learning assistant are available for help. The homework and quizzes are then completed outside of class.

In addition to using MyMathLab for assessments, Wendiann Sethi, director of developmental mathematics, draws from MyMathLab’s banks of examples, questions, and sample tests to create the assessments. She encourages use of the program’s interactive learning aids and requires use of its eBook. MyMathLab’s Coordinator Course feature is also “a big plus,” says Sethi. “It maintains the integrity of the assignments across the entire mathematics program. If I didn’t have the Coordinator Course feature, I’d have had to create assignments for each of the 17 sections individually.”

Redesign with MyMathLab has resulted in increased levels of student success. “Students complete more homework than they did before,” says Sethi. “They like the individualized attention they receive in the lab setting. And the support and increased amounts of practice they receive there boost their self-confidence. As a result, they’re more willing to ask questions, and their scores are higher.”

Sethi also reports that students who take the Developmental Math course with MyMathLab apply better study skills in subsequent courses. “They’re already in the habit of doing homework,” she says.

Seton Hall’s developmental math students like the MyMathLab program—so much so that many request it in courses that don’t yet offer the program. More important, MyMathLab works: pass rates have increased, and Sethi sees changes in students’ accountability and study habits that benefit those students throughout their college careers. “MyMathLab works well for our students,” she says. “We don’t plan on changing a thing.”

—Submitted by Wendiann Sethi, Director of Developmental Mathematics