Case Studies
University of Alabama
The University of Alabama (UA) Department of Mathematics currently teaches approximately 3,500 precalculus students—all with MyMathLab. An early adopter of learning software, UA was delivering precalculus classes with MML as early as January 2001, and it had full implementation in intermediate algebra by fall 2001. Today, the university uses MML across a full spectrum of formats, and for most of its precalculus courses.The school couldn’t be more pleased.
Unlike many institutions, UA wasn’t forced into alternative teaching and learning formats by a need to reduce costs or contain large-enrollment courses. UA simply wasn’t experiencing the success with traditional formats that it wanted. The school wanted more for its students: more learning, more retention, and more opportunity to succeed.
The initial transition from a traditional lecture-based format to the student-centered Web format was a challenge for some students, but the discomfort seemed to dissipate after only one or two semesters.Today, UA students wouldn’t have their courses any other way.
Pass rates of 40–45 percent are a thing of the past at UA. Now, success rates regularly register in the 70–75 percent range. However, Joe Benson, Senior Associate Dean in the College of Arts and Sciences, sees MML as a means for ensuring more than just higher grades. “MML offers the challenge of self-discipline,” he says. “Students are learning to take on more responsibility. Assessments indicate that students like the freedom to work when they want to. Frequently, freshman need prodding, but they soon realize that if they do the work, they will be successful.”
Visitors to UA’s 240-computer Math Technology Learning Center expect to see a hubbub of activity. What they end up seeing is more surprising. “Students are doing math,” Benson says. “They have pencils and paper, and they’re working. In our lab, the computer is for introduction to concepts and for getting help. By doing the actual math on their own, our students are having a deeper learning experience and they are better equipped for upper-level courses. In fact, many students are requesting that the MML format be applied to even-higher-level courses, recognizing that this is the most productive—and enjoyable—way for them to learn.”
A boon to the whole department, the cost savings associated with MML have allowed the department to reduce course sizes and to offer additional support where needed. “However,” says Benson, “the decision to use MML was based on helping students learn math better, to be more successful. If it didn’t work, we’d go back to a traditional format—financial benefit or not. The bottom line is simple: Students learn math by doing math. And MML enables students to do math.”
