University of North Texas Department of Mathematics Mary Ann Teel

THE MATH REDESIGN TEAM Second semester development phase, will pilot in Fall 2008 Part of the Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) of UNT and the Texas Course Redesign Project –Five-member team, one tenured faculty, two lecturers and two graduate students work with design teams from three other courses in a Community of Practice Work jointly with North Central Community College, an area two-year area college –Common goal of increased student learning and success in entry-level math courses.

TARGET COURSES Math1010: Fundamentals of Algebra, annual enrollment ~2500 –Service course for students who do not place into college algebra by the Accuplacer and for students who are THEA deficient (THEA is a state of TX college- readiness assessment) Math1100: College Algebra, annual enrollment ~3500 –College algebra is a core math course for most non- science majors Math1010/Math1100, new offer piloted in Fall 2007 with great success –Math1010, 5-wk accelerated delivery; Math1100 completed in remaining 10 weeks.

THE CONCERN – LOW STUDENT SUCCESS Entry level math courses are “gateway” courses for many students. Math1010 –Spring 2007 – 40% DFW rate –Fall 2007 – 37% DFW rate Math1100 –Spring 2007 – 44% DFW rate –Fall 2007 – 48% DFW rate NOTE: Students who pass Math1010 and then take Math1100 have a 65%DFW rate!!!

TRADITIONAL COURSE DELIVERY Three lecture hours/week. Instructors lecture; students “listen” and some “take notes” UNT has a well-staffed math lab open 70hr/wk UNT has an extensive Supplemental Tutor/Instructor program Very large sections – in fall, 300+ student section; several 100-student sections and many ~50-student sections Limited to no instructor-student interaction Inconsistency among sections – professors, lecturers, adjuncts and graduate students, many first year; variations in content, emphasis and delivery, even with dept syllabi

REDESIGN APPROACH AND METHOD Weekly math redesign team meetings, NCTC participates Monthly QEP meetings with other course redesign teams Monthly math team meeting (with NCTC) and with U of AL consultant participating by videoconference (open to all institutions in Texas doing math redesign) Develop clearly-defined objective and assessable student learning outcomes (SLOs) Write test items to measure student achievement of SLOs “Test” the test items for validity... still in progress Explore redesign models, visit successful math redesign sites (VATech, U of AL, LSU)

THE PILOT – FALL 2007 Two sections each of math1010, math1100 and combo math1010/math1100 Pilot emporium lab slated to be completed June 2008 for Fall 2008 pilot sections, lab to be tested Summer 2008 Lab will have card-swipe reader for electronic attendance, 40 ISP locked computers and additional seating for five students with laptops Three required lab hours and 1 required class meeting per week, graded component Goal – increase time on task. Students learn math by DOING math, not just watching it.

COMPARING TRADITIONAL TO REDESIGN Collecting data from current math1010 and math1100 courses Math 1010 –Pre-Test – All sections will take a 10-question pre-test the first week of classes; currently validating test items –Post-Test/Final – All sections will administer a final with the pre-test questions AND other common test items. Individual instructors will write the remaining questions. Student response to common questions used for comparison Math 1100 –Pre-Test – Still under discussion –Post-Test/Final – will continue with our current policy of common departmental final

COST SAVINGS Possible Sources of Savings –Use of lower-cost instructional personnel –Differential staffing in the lab –Automated grading –Much smaller “footprint” of class –Emporium redesign will reduce the instructional cost per student

ISSUES AND OBSTACLES Writing the SLOs...essentially done Selecting a course delivery system... done Locating a convenient site for the pilot lab... done Remodeling the lab site to house emporium... Developing curriculum for the 1-hr experiential component class meetings... still in progress

THE EXPERIENTIAL COMPONENT (Face-to-Face One Hour/Week) What we’ve considered thus far for Math 1010 –College acclimation and study skills –Preview of weekly course material –Related math topic projects, math instructors think these are great... ONLY math instructors What we’ve considered thus far for Math 1100 –Preview of weekly course material –Related, more in-depth math topic projects –Projects that demonstrate relevance of math for non- math majors –Ongoing, story-line type project that utilizes course topics, e.g. “TV Show Lost”

Dotting the I’s, Crossing the T’s (Ready by Fall 2008) Finalize syllabi for pilot courses Complete development and validation of test items Revise SLOs as need arises Set up courses in MyMathLab (our course delivery platform choice) for pilot courses Finalize all-sections pre-test for Math1010 Develop and implement faculty and staff training Trial run of emporium equipment, AND Decide upon, develop and test the material (project, lesson previews, etc.) for the experiential component meetings