Online Journaling In a Liberal Arts Math Course

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Online JournalingIn a Liberal Arts Math Course

• John C. Savage
• jsavage_at_msugf.edu
• Mathematics Faculty
• College of Technology in Bozeman
• Montana State University
• Presented at the 2006 AMATYC Conference
• In Cincinnati, OH
• November 2, 2006

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Online JournalingIn a Liberal Arts Math Course

• Todays presentation is a condensation of my
  Capstone Project
• The Effects of Online Journaling
• On Student Performance
• In Liberal Arts Mathematics
• which was submitted in partial fulfillment of the
  requirements for the degree of Master of Science
  in Mathematics at Montana State University,
  Bozeman, Montana on July 6, 2005. The original
  document as well as todays presentation are
  linked to my website at
• bozeman.msugf.edu/FacultyPages/savage/savage.htm

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Introduction

• Intent of study
• To explore benefits of writing in a liberal arts
  math course
• Questions for consideration
• Effect on mathematical performance?
• Effect on mathematical writing ability?
• Student assessment of value of writing?
• My assessment of value of writing?

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Experimental Method

• Context Montana State University Liberal Arts
  Math course
• Treatment Four group discussion/writing
  assignments and four individual writing
  assignment for each of four topics (trigonometry,
  financial problems, probability, and statistics)
• WebCT email and threaded discussion feature used
  to administer assignments

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Analysis of Results Writing Participation



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Analysis of Results Course Grade Experimental
Group vs. Control Group




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Analysis of Results Writing Performance of
Experimental Group



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• Online survey of student opinion
• Q1 How many hours per week did you devote to
  homework, study, and prep for this course?
• Q2 What is your assessment of the effectiveness
  of online writing assignments in helping you to
  learn the content of the four unit topics in this
  course?
• Q3 How would you assess the effectiveness of the
  WebCT online quizzes?
• Q4 How would you rate your overall learning
  experience in this class?
• Q5 Do you think writing should be included as a
  component of a math course like Liberal Arts Math?

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Student Survey Results
Question 1 How many hours per week did you
devote to homework, study, and prep for Math 150?
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Student Survey Results
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Student Survey Results
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Student Survey Results

• Responses to Q 5 Should writing be included as
  a component of a math course like this one?
• I seemed to learn a lot in this class and the
  writing assignments just help make those skills
  learned in class more concrete.
• I enjoyed this class because I don't like math
  but I really felt like I understood the material.
  Writing and explaining the equations helped a
  lot.

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Student Survey Results

• Written responses to Q 5 (continued)
• The writing component, for me, was the most
  valuable area in the course to save my self
  respect...As a non-traditional age student who
  has learning disabilities (dyslexia), no
  long-term memory to speak of, and very extreme
  math test anxiety writing gave me the
  opportunity to problem solve in a more relaxed
  frame of mind, to look up the rules, compare
  applications and use my logic. It was empowering
  to see that my contributions were on target in
  the online discussions when more math-able
  students got off the track.

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Student Survey Results
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Summary

• Writing in my Liberal Arts Math classroom -- no
  significant effect on math performance
• Student comments such as The writing component,
  for me, was the most valuable area in the
  course. and Writing and explaining the
  equations helped a lot suggest that writing
  component was invaluable asset to some students
• Student majority said continue writing in future
  offerings of course.
• Writing provided instructor more opportunity to
  connect with students, additional contact time
  with students, and students more interaction time
  with each other.

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Focus for Future Implementations

• More flexibility in types of writing assignments
  not limited to course material
• Weekly assignment on a fixed schedule
• Simplify grading award points based on clarity
  and thoughtfulness of work
• Emphasize weekly interchange between instructor
  and students not mastery of math topics
• Lessen time commitment on part of students and
  instructor

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Example of Group Writing Prompt

• Fourth Discussion Using Standard Normal Tables
• You have been assigned to new discussion groups
  as follows
• In original document, a table assigning students
  to discussion groups appeared here.
• Your third discussion assignment involves using
  the standard normal table in our text to find
  various areas under the curve. The discussion
  format will be online, as we did in the first
  discussion. However, each group member will
  write up their own responses to the discussion
  questions. Your grade will be based on 5 points,
  as specified in the Schedule below.
• Discussion Question
• A standard normal table can be used to find the
  area under the curve between selected z-values.
  This area corresponds to the probability that a
  randomly selected value of x will have a z-score
  that falls between these selected z-values.
  Discuss how you could use the normal table in our
  text to determine the following
• Find the area under the normal curve between z
  0 and z 2.22.
• Find the area under the normal curve between z
  0 and z -1.75.
• Find the area under the normal curve between z
  -1.50 and z 0.5.
• Find P(-2.15 lt z lt -1.45).
• What is the probability that a normally
  distributed variable selected at random is within
  1.5 standard deviations of the mean?
• Schedule

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Example of Individual Writing Prompt

• Writing Assignment 2 Financial Problems!!!
• This individual writing assignment involves one
  of your instructors many financial problems.
  Review the MISC Notes Writing Assignment
  Overview and Guidelines section of WebCT for
  details of what is expected of you. In general,
  remember that you are to provide a written
  explanation of your solution process as you might
  explain it to a less experienced math student who
  wishes to understand how this type of financial
  problem can be analyzed and solved.
• Problem
• Graduate Teaching Assistants at MSU have recently
  been granted a 500 per month raise. Your math
  instructor would like to apply some of his raise
  to his monthly mortgage payment to accelerate the
  payoff of the loan on his house. The original
  terms of his mortgage were as follows
• Loan amount 120,000, 4.875 interest
  compounded monthly, 15-year payoff
• (a) Based on this information, what was your
  instructors original monthly loan payment?
• (b) With this mortgage, how much would he pay the
  lender over the life of the loan?
• Your instructor has made 17 monthly payments on
  the original loan. He intends to increase the
  payment to 1,200.00 for the remainder of the
  loan.
• (c) What is the current outstanding balance on
  the loan?
• (d) How long will it take to pay off the loan
  with the payment increased to 1,200.00?
• (e) Compute the new amount he will pay the lender
  over the 15-year life of the loan.
• (f) Compare this amount to the amount you found
  in Part (b) and determine how much money he has
  saved by increasing his monthly payment to 1,200
  for the remainder of the loan.

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