Using the National Repository of Online Courses to Increase the Effectiveness of Developmental Mathematics InstructionJan Case

Jacksonville State University

2012 American Association of State Colleges and UniversitiesSan Antonio, Texas

NROCmath.org

The National Repository of Online Courses

A non-profit, open educational resource project of The Monterey Institute for Technology and Education

Funded by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Same content as HippoCampus.org

Demonstrationof

NROC

Technology & Education

Technology might have taken over entertainment & business, but students are not accustomed to technology in the classroom

Our Experience

Joined the NROC pilot program for universities in July 2011

Small scale introduction of integrated media resources in August 2011 Graduate teaching assistant The “if you build it they will come” strategy The “helpful encouragement” strategy

Did they take the bait?Did not use

NROCUsed

NROCMean

number of views

Mean Number of attempts

Test 2 (two missed test)

31 8 2.8 1.9

Test 3 30 11 3.4 2.6

Test 4 37 4 2.0 2.0

Final Tally of Users

41 students were initially enrolled in two developmental mathematics courses at a local junior college that is a primary feeder to our student body.

12 of the 41 (29.3%) used NROC at some

point in the semester

Starting Point: Did only the smart students try NROC? The difference in mean

Compass scores is not significant for any test.

The test means for NROC users are significantly higher for Test 2 ( p = 0.0055), Test 4 (p = 0.0335), and the Final Exam (p = 0.0355).

The mean score for Test 3 is higher, but not significantly

higher (p = 0.187)

Compass Average Test Average

Used NROC

Did not use

NROC

Used NROC

Did not use

NROC

Test 2 29.75 33.13 75.78 49.59

Test 3 32.00 32.59 48.5 35.03

Test 4 28.25 32.91 74.90 28.51

Final Exam

31.36 32.86 47.7 22.00

How much did NROC help? (11.04 points)

543210

120

100

80

60

40

20

0

Test 2 attempts

Test

2 S

core

S 33.7392R-Sq 10.8%R-Sq(adj) 8.5%

Fitted Line PlotTest 2 Score = 50.76 + 11.04 Test 2 attempts

Correlations: Test 2 attempts, Test 2 Score Pearson correlation of Test 2 attempts and Test 2 Score = 0.328P-Value = 0.036

How much did NROC help? (8.418 points)

9876543210

120

100

80

60

40

20

0

Test 3 attempts

Test

3 S

core

S 38.5964R-Sq 16.5%R-Sq(adj) 14.4%

Fitted Line PlotTest 3 Score = 32.70 + 8.418 Test 3 attempts

Correlations: Test 3 attempts, Test 3 Score Pearson correlation of Test 3 attempts and Test 3 Score = 0.407P-Value = 0.008

How much did NROC help? (22.85 points)

3.02.52.01.51.00.50.0

100

80

60

40

20

0

Test 4 attempts

Test

4 S

core

S 35.7246R-Sq 14.7%R-Sq(adj) 12.5%

Fitted Line PlotTest 4 Score = 28.58 + 22.85 Test 4 attempts

Correlations: Test 4 attempts, Test 4 Score Pearson correlation of Test 4 attempts and Test 4 Score = 0.384P-Value = 0.013

What is the best predictor of the final course average?

CoefficientsTerm Coef SE Coef T PConstant 9.65498 1.27402 7.5784 0.000Test 2 Score 0.15810 0.03813 4.1460 0.000Test 3 Score 0.22866 0.03628 6.3024 0.000Test 4 Score 0.11946 0.04178 2.8595 0.009FINAL Exam Score 0.37627 0.02992 12.5778 0.000used NROC No -2.41639 0.70305 -3.4370 0.002

Summary of ModelS = 3.35637 R-Sq = 99.16% R-Sq(adj) = 98.97%

Double-check: Did only the smart students try NROC?

General Linear Model: Course Avg. versus Final Exam Score using Compass scores as a covariate to control for initial differences.

There is no need to control for initial differences in mathematical ability. Analysis of Variance for Course Avg., using Adjusted SS for Tests

Source DF Seq SS Adj SS Adj MS F P

FINAL Exam Score 12 25244.4 20820.9 1735.1 8.79 0.000

Compass PreAlgebra 1 190.8 190.8 190.8 0.97 0.343

Error 13 2566.2 2566.2 197.4

Total 26 28001.4

S = 14.0498 R-Sq = 90.84% R-Sq(adj) = 81.67%

Conclusions

Even with helpful resources that are easy to use, students need a structured format to assist them in making use of the benefits.

The appeal of integrated media resources is independent of initial mathematical aptitude.

There is a measurable positive relationship among uses of integrated media resources and test scores.

What’s next?

NROC will be used again at the junior college. (minimal structure)

NROC will be used in the entry level mathematics courses in the mathematics department. (medium structure)

NROC will be used by our university’s Learning Services department for developmental mathematics courses. (highly structured)

Questions?

Jan Case, Jacksonville State University