Missouri Course Redesign Initiative
University of Missouri-Kansas City
Course Title: College Algebra
Contact: Ian Besse
The University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) will redesign its College Algebra course, a three-credit course delivered in a standard lecture format. Classes meet for three 50-minute sessions per week, and each section typically enrolls 35-40 students. Total enrollment during AY 2010-2011 was 453, and enrollment is steadily increasing. A single instructor, usually a graduate teaching assistant (GTA) or adjunct instructor, is assigned to each section. This instructor is charged with managing nearly every aspect of the course except textbook selection and final exam creation. Full-time faculty members are rarely involved in the course beyond the role of college algebra coordinator, a position which involves general oversight of the instructors and the creation of a common final exam.
UMKC hopes to address two main problems with its course redesign. First, UMKC’s recent involvement in the national Access 2 Success Initiative revealed that students who enrolled and successfully completed college-level math during their first year are more likely to be retained for their sophomore year. Since the DFW rate in College Algebra is high and on the rise, averaging 30% over the last two academic years, a primary goal is to improve retention and later academic success by lowering the DFW rate. Second, due to the current state of Missouri’s economy, state-funded institutions such as UMKC are being asked to do more with fewer resources, so cost-reduction is also a key goal.
The redesigned course will be based on the Emporium Model. All three of the 50-minute lectures each week will be eliminated and replaced by two mandatory 75-minute lab sessions in an Interactive Math Learning Center and one 50-minute class meeting. Each lab section will consist of approximately 50 students who will work under the guidance of GTAs or adjunct instructors and undergraduate teaching assistants (UTAs). The class meetings will be much larger, consisting of approximately 100 – 150 students. They will be conducted by the one faculty member who serves as primary instructor/coordinator for the course and will be a time to review key concepts and preview of upcoming material and tasks.
Replacing lectures will place more responsibility on students to actively engage in the learning process. Students in the redesigned model will learn math by doing math. In the lab sessions, students will work on interactive tutorials and activities in an online learning environment that promotes active learning and provides immediate feedback. The emphasis on participation in course activities and the ownership of one’s education that this fosters are critical to maintaining student motivation and overall success in math. This change in the course structure also places the instructor in a vastly different role, one focused on providing individualized guidance, another key to student success.
The impact of the redesign on learning will be assessed in the pilot implementation by comparing student performance on a common final exam in the redesign with that of traditional sections taught in parallel. In the full implementation, performance on the same common final exam will be compared with historical data. DFW rates, average grade points earned and success in subsequent courses will also be compared. The redesign team regards ongoing assessment of the redesigned course to be a critical component of its long-term success.
Using the Emporium Model will ensure substantial cost reductions by allowing UMKC to increase the number of College Algebra students taught by each instructor. Removing GTAs and adjunct instructors from the lecture setting and placing them in the lab setting means they will no longer spend time preparing lectures. Additionally, far less time will be spent grading student work. GTAs and adjunct instructors will more than double their College Algebra student load, from one section of 35-40 students to two sections of 50, without changing the number of total hours they dedicate to the course. By consolidating lecture sections, one primary instructor/coordinator will be able to serve the entire College Algebra student population each term with only two or three class meetings each week. These changes will reduce the cost per student from $103 to $67, a 35% decrease. The savings derived from this course redesign will be used to fund subsequent course redesigns.
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