2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

MATH 101 was introduced in [1] as a response to the deficiencies in the area of mathematics shown by a considerable number of first-year engineering students from Universidad Galileo in Guatemala. In essence, MATH 101 is an innovative remedial course with two key characteristics: virtual and adaptive, i.e., based upon a diagnostic test and constant assessment; the course platform presents to each student virtual learning modules adapted to his own needs. Besides the content personalization, MATH 101 enhances the student’s learning experience by combining audiovisual material (e.g. more than 330 video lectures) and teaching-learning activities (e.g. a bank with over 2100 problems) in more than 70 virtual learning modules following active learning methodologies and the learning by doing principle [2]. While the instructional design and implementation of MATH 101 were presented in [1], this paper focuses on analyzing the results and quantifying the impact of the first implementation of MATH 101. To determine such impact, two key aspects were evaluated: (i) the academic benefits and (ii) the student’s perception of this course. The data analyzed in this study were collected from a sample of 86 freshmen engineering students from Universidad Galileo enrolled in MATH 101. All the statistical analysis of these data is presented in this paper.

To establish and measure the academic benefits of MATH 101, we contrasted the results of the diagnostic test administered at the beginning of the course with those from the final evaluation. These non-standardized tests cover topics in the following four areas: arithmetic, algebra, simple mathematical models, and trigonometry. The results derived from comparing the grades obtained in these tests are encouraging: the average grade was increased by 59% and the standard deviation was reduced by 34%. Moreover, about 62% of the students who completed MATH 101 satisfactorily not only approved the first engineering mathematics course but also obtained an average grade of 80 (out of 100) points. These numerical results imply a meaningful improvement in basic operational and problem-solving skills in arithmetic, algebra, and trigonometry, the latter being the area with the most significant improvement. Thus, the statistical analysis suggests that MATH 101 provides the students with the opportunity to reinforce their knowledge of basic mathematics and prepare them for the first university-level mathematics course.

The quality of the educational resources and the content delivery are two aspects that cannot be omitted in the design of a virtual course since they have a high correlation with the student’s academic performance. A five-point Likert scale satisfaction survey (based on [3]) was used to determine the students’ perception of the following three aspects: course interface, quality of the educational resources, and the overall course benefit. The overall results obtained in these three areas were more than satisfactory. Most of the students agreed on having a good user experience with the course platform and even more importantly, about 97% of them perceived that MATH 101 had a positive impact on their academic performance in their first mathematics course. Some areas of opportunity, such as the feedback provided to the students, were also identified by this instrument. We conclude the discussion with the improvements to be included in the second version of MATH 101 to achieve even better results with prospective students of this course.

References:

[1] A. Alvarado, “MATH 101: An Adaptive Remedial Course”, Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN, https://peer.asee.org/40581.

[2] H. W. Reese, “The learning-by-doing principle”, Behavioral Development Bulletin, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 1–19, 2011, doi: 10.1037/h0100597.

[3] D. Lederman, “How College Students Viewed This Spring's Remote Learning,” INSIDE HIGHER ED, May-2020. [Online]. Available: https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2020/05/20/student-view-springs-shift-remote-learning.