SUNY College at Old Westbury
Course Title: College Algebra
Contact: Jim Llana
SUNY College at Old Westbury plans to redesign College Algebra, a four-credit course typically taught by adjuncts in a traditional lecture format. Enrolling ~600 students annually in 18 sections, the course attracts students from all majors since it meets the college math proficiency requirement for the majority of students who do not do so through transfer or taking appropriate high school courses. The course also serves as a gateway to higher math courses required in some majors.
College Algebra is targeted for redesign because of the difficulties that it presents to students and its importance to the curriculum. The traditional course faces several academic problems. The success rate over the past five years has been poor with an average passing rate of 62% in the fall and 54% in the spring semesters. A second problem is inconsistency across sections as instructors do not always cover the required material. This inconsistency is a likely contributor to the problem that the course does not always adequately prepare students for pre-calculus.
The course redesign, using the Replacement Model, will reduce lecture time by 50%. Students will be required to spend three hours each week in a computer lab working online. Using MyMathLab, they will solve problems, complete homework assignments and take quizzes and receive individualized assistance from lab instructors. Two hours of lectures each week will offer comprehensive and systematic presentation of the course content, emphasize the relative importance of the topics and explain techniques for solving problems.
The redesign will also incorporate a two-track feature, one for students who are interested in meeting the proficiency requirement and one for those who will move into pre-calculus, to better serve specific student needs. The latter track will include an extra unit of material. Students will be able to make up the gap between the two tracks in a short non-credit course over a semester break. Students will have the option of switching tracks when appropriate. The quality of the course will be enhanced by creating an active, student-centered learning environment that consistently will prepare students for future study.
Student learning outcomes will be assessed by comparing performance on common final exams in parallel sections during the pilot phase. Eight traditional sections, each with 33 students, and one redesigned section with 75 students will be offered in fall 2008 and spring 2009. Baseline information from these parallel sections will be used to assess student performance when the course is fully implemented in fall 2009, enrolling 300 students in four redesigned sections (75 students). Additional assessment strategies include comparing course completion rates as well as tracking student success in pre-calculus.
The operational cost of College Algebra will be reduced by decreasing the number of sections from 18 to 8 and increasing section size from 33 to 75 students. Full-time faculty will be reduced from two to none and adjuncts decreased from 16 to 8. The redesigned course will reduce the cost-per-student from $176 to $155, a 12% decrease. The savings will be used to support the advanced pre-requisite track for the pre-calculus course. Full-time faculty will also be available to teach other courses.
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