View All Case Studies

University of Central Florida

The University of Central Florida (UCF) adopted MyMathLab in 2005 for its College Algebra course. At that time, all sections of the course used the program for common homework and quiz assignments. In spring 2008, as part of a grant from the National Center for Academic Transformation, the school redesigned the course as a modified emporium model using MyMathLabPlus.

All assessments are completed using MyMathLabPlus. Students are required to complete weekly homework assignments, for which they are offered an unlimited number of attempts. Once students have scored at least 70 percent on a homework assignment, they are permitted to take the assignment’s associated quiz, which may be attempted up to seven times. Tests and the final exam are taken in a dedicated testing lab. Coordination of course assessments is facilitated by MyMathLabPlus’s Coordinator Course feature.

Students attend one lecture a week and spend at least three hours in a computer lab working on MyMathLabPlus—on homework, quizzes, practice tests, the Study Plan, virtual assignments, or test scheduling—or watching other course-related multimedia content. The lab is open 60 to 70 hours a week and is staffed by instructors, graduate teaching assistants, undergraduate teaching assistants, and peer tutors.

Tammy Muhs, mathematics coordinator, reports that redesigning UCF’s already successful adoption to include MyMathLabPlus, required lab time, and homework mastery resulted in an additional 56 percent increase in the fall semester success rate since fall 2007—from 50 percent to 78 percent.

Muhs attributes the data gains to both the convenience and effectiveness of MyMathLabPlus’s interactive features and the commitment and vision of both the mathematics faculty and the support team. “College Algebra was restructured to provide our largest course enrollment with a small-within-large environment,” says Muhs. “Students receive all of the benefits of an interactive and individualized online learning program plus one-on-one instruction from a faculty cohort that is focused, trained, and committed to providing its students with consistent, coordinated instruction. Students choose (1) when to access course materials based on their individual schedules and (2) which of the available instructional resources to use based on their individual academic needs.”

Based on the success of its College Algebra course redesign, UCF plans to redesign Intermediate Algebra and Precalculus by using the same model and MyMathLabPlus. 

—Submitted by Tammy Muhs, Mathematics Coordinator