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University of Idaho

MyMathLab Course Structure

Course Design

Students must attend a focus group each week and spend a minimum of three hours a week in the Polya Math Center, which is available more than 80 hours a week and staffed by trained undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty. All other course work can be done from anywhere because all material, including all content lectures, can be accessed online.

In the one-hour, weekly focus group, students are given study strategies and guided through exactly what to do in order to successfully learn the current material.

During the three-hour weekly lab requirement, students may supplement their learning in any number of ways:

• Attend any one of nine live lectures repeated throughout the week
• Do MyMathLab homework assignments. During each nontest week there is a homework assignment of 50 to 80 problems.
• Take quizzes using MyMathLab. During each nontest week there is a 10-problem quiz.
• Watch online lectures
• Request help
• Do practice exercises on MyMathLab

Assessments

• 13 percent Participation (7 percent for class participation, 6 percent for lab hours)
• 12 percent Homework/quizzes
• 55 percent Tests (four tests)
• 20 percent Final exam

MyMathLab Implementation

Students use MyMathLab to complete weekly homework assignments and quizzes, which contribute 12 percent to each student's final course grade. Students must accurately complete at least 75 percent of the weekly homework assignment in order to take the quiz. Students are encouraged to watch specific online lectures and take notes prior to working on the homework assignments. Quizzes may be attempted up to 10 times.

Students are required to spend at least three hours a week in the lab. Lab time is excused for any week in which students earn a least a 95 percent combined score on the homework and quiz. To help them study for exams, students work through optional test objective assignments and practice tests in MyMathLab.

All grades are exported and uploaded into a homegrown database system.

MyMathLab Course Results

At the onset of course redesign, students completed traditional paper-and-pencil textbook homework assignments. In fall 2003, students were offered the choice of completing a traditional homework assignment or one through MyMathLab. Instructors soon realized that students who chose the MyMathLab option were better prepared for exams. In fall 2004, instructors tracked student success vis-a-vis both of the homework options and concluded that students who completed their homework with MyMathLab were far more successful in the course than students who chose the traditional homework option. See Table 1.

Table 1. Fall 2004 Developmental Math Pass Rates for Those Students Who Took the Final Exam

Shortly thereafter, the MyMathLab homework option was changed from optional to required. The ABC rate for Intermediate Algebra students has increased by more than 7 percent since the course redesign was implemented. Table 2 illustrates the individual grade comparisons for Intermediate Algebra before and after redesign. Of note is that the number of As increased by 40 percent and the number of Fs decreased by 38.8 percent.

Table 2. Final Grades for Fall Intermediate Algebra, 1997 to 2006

Additional data reveals that of those students who attend focus groups each week, fulfill lab time requirements, attempt all homework and quizzes, and take each test at least three times, more than 96 percent will pass the course.

In addition, faculty have noticed the following secondary results of redesign:

• Although hours in the classroom have decreased for teachers, the number of student contact hours has increased.
• Forty to 50 students finish the course early each semester.
• Classroom space requirements have decreased by two-thirds.
• Cost per student has decreased.
• It has been possible to reach out to rural-area schools and promote dual enrollment.

Redesign has also enabled participation and success in math for students in the University of Idaho College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP), a program that assists students who meet the definition of migrant/seasonal farmworkers or children of migrant/seasonal farmworkers.

In fall 2006, 27 out of the 29 CAMP students earned an A, B, or C in Developmental Math. In spring 2007 of the subsequent semester, 21 of the 27 students who passed Developmental Math enrolled in Math 143. Twenty of the 21 students passed.