AMATYC 2015 Self-Paced Mastery Learning for Developmental Mathematics The Community College of Baltimore County Lisa Brown Assistant Professor Tejan Tingling Assistant Professor

About CCBC Public, two-year college system with 3 campuses and 3 extension centers  Total Enrollment(2014): 67,319  Credit enrollment: 33,064  Part-time: 29,307 (89%)  Female: 58%  Minority students: 53%  Total completers: 18,098

 Math Center started in 1972 at Essex Community College  Designed as a review of topics  Modules covered Arithmetic, Algebra I, Algebra II, and some College Algebra  Self-paced mastery format  Presented with programmed texts by Alwin and Hackworth The Beginning

 Students take a diagnostic test covering all of the material in the common course outline during the first week of class.  Professors make up an individualized “Success Schedule” for each student showing the material, not mastered on the diagnostic test, that they must complete.  Students use textbook and receive individual help from their professor and tutors in order to learn the material.  Students show they have mastered a section of material by passing tests with an 80% and final with a 70%. These assessments are repeated until these desired scores are achieved Self-Paced Mastery learning

 Two full time support staff hired responsible for data management and record keeping  Geometry added as its own module; later incorporated into the Arithmetic section  Modules converted from separate courses (010, 011, 012, 013) to one course (013 with grades indicating progress); Intermediate Algebra converted to lecture  Math Library created  Videos created to assist students with learning  Dedicated room for tutoring Evolution of program

 NSF grant to turn tutoring room to 20 computer classroom using program software written by faculty; eventually all Math Center classrooms converted to computer classrooms  Three colleges were merged into one: The Community College of Baltimore County.  New courses (from 013 to Pre-algebra and Beginning Algebra)  Merged departments (from 20 to 45 members)  new procedures (from pass/fail to letter grades) : When everything changed

Math 081 data (1682)Math 082 data (3133, 1127 from Math 081) A79 (4.7%)245(7.8%) B293 (17.4%)598 (19.1%) C189 (11.2%)464 (14.8%) R73 (4.3%)90 (2.8%) F/FX604 (35.9%)391 (12.5%) Misplaced10 (0.6%)4 (0.1%) W160 (9.5%)86 (2.7%) More than one semester 274 (16.3%), 106 (38.7%) passed 1255 (40.1%), 736 (58.6%) passed Math Center Data from Spring 2011 to Summer 2015 (5209)

Before and Now

Evaluation Strengths  Ability to complete more than one course in a semester  Students do not have sit through lectures on material they have already mastered  Can take their time studying material that is more difficult  The course has consistency regardless of the professor  Students must master a concept before moving on to new material Weaknesses  May not complete the course in one semester  Students may miss more class time  Students may not do work outside of class  Minimal professor flexibility  Students may become frustrated if they are not passing a specific topic

 Study materials are consistent throughout the course in presentation, practice, and assessment  Students can access study materials online  Student have immediate feedback on their tests  Materials is presented and tested on in smaller chunks  Passing test can be highly motivating  Finishing the course early and/or completing two courses in one semester can also be motivating More Strengths

 A Blackboard course is an organized way to give students access to all of the materials for the course  Students use Blackboard because it is their site  Students do not visit department and faculty websites often  Faculty and department websites can be hard to find  A Blackboard course can be copied and used in multiple sections Blackboard Course

 Faculty written online textbook  PowerPoint study materials  Videos  Online homework that correlates with the Textbook Exercises and Textbook Review Problems  Discussion board with threads for each section of the textbook  All resources that have been made in the past are available for professors to access. Pre-Algebra Resources

 Introduction of each topic  Written examples  Practice problems with more than 500 video links  Textbook exercises for each of the 57 section  Cumulative review problem sets  Summaries at the end of each of the 7 chapters  Courses/Schools-and-Academic- Departments/School-of-Mathematics-and- Science/Mathematics/MATH-081-Textbook.aspx Courses/Schools-and-Academic- Departments/School-of-Mathematics-and- Science/Mathematics/MATH-081-Textbook.aspx Pre-Algebra Online Textbook

 The textbook material presented concisely in slides  Contains video links  Links to textbook exercises  Instructs students on how to navigate the learning materials  Designed for students to view on their own Pre-Algebra PowerPoint Study Materials

 Videos were created using Camtasia Software  Uploaded to YouTube  Subtitled  Unlisted YouTube Video  Turned off all settings for viewer comments on YouTube Pre-Algebra Videos

 Faculty written online textbook  Videos  Practice problems  Practice tests  Resources that have been made in the past are available for professors to access. Beginning Algebra Resources