Electrifying Learning!

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Electrifying Learning!
Engaging Students with Online Homework/Activities
Resources using Mastering

• Scott Hildreth
• Astronomy Physics Chabot College Hayward, CA

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Goals for Our Session

• What is Mastering to me?
• How and why I use it
• Getting Started
• Tips, Ideas, Caveats
• Your feedback questions are welcome throughout!

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An Overview of Mastering

• Online Homework System with 24/7 availability
• But much more
• Great Range of Problems, Tutorials, Quizzes
• Dynamic, context-specific hints feedback
• Rich Diagnostics by student/class
• Enormous elasticity for use across courses

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Lets See the System - 1

• Live example of my physics class from last
  spring, showing home screen, assignments, due
  dates, etc.

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Ways I Use Mastering

• Required weekly homework assignments
• In-class collaborative group work
• Lecture doing problems together
• Required reading quizzes exams
• Exam Preparation
• Extra Credit Remedial Help

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Lets See the System - 2

• View of a typical assignment, and then a tutorial
  problem from physicsOne of the reasons Ive
  found the system to be useful for my students is
  the types of questions available, and in
  particular, the multi-part tutorial questions
  with scaffolding, hints, feedback, and graphics.

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Mastering Captures Data
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Using Results
Cannon, Annie Einstein, Al Fermi, Rico Feynman,
Dick Leavitt, Henrie Pei, I.M. Schwarzschild,
Xi, Hua
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Using Results
Cannon, Annie Einstein, Al Fermi, Rico Feynman,
Dick Leavitt, Henrie Pei, I.M. Schwarzschild,
Xi, Hua
Success by student
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Using Results
Average Time
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Using Results
Difficulty
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Using Results
Score by Problem
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Getting Started!
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Creating Courses

• Each class has UNIQUE course ID
• Shared with students
• Make it easier to identify your course
• Change MAHILDRETH35293
• to
• ASTRO10SPRING2011HILDRETH

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Creating Assignments

• Create a Standard HW category
• Hint options, Late penalties, Attempts, etc.
• Easy to change later
• As you get comfortable
• Add categories for quizzes, remedial, EC,
• Adjust credit for hints, late work, etc.
• Try simple editor to add/delete/enhance parts

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Using the Item Library

• Sort Problems by difficulty, type, title
• Customize credit based on time or difficulty
• Track total estimated time difficulty
• Add messages to enhance instructions

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Using the Item Library

• Sort Problems by difficulty, type, title
• Customize credit based on time or difficulty
• Track total estimated time difficulty
• Add messages to enhance instructions

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Annotating Assignments
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Lets See the System - 3

• Quick demonstration of creating a course, and
  adding assignments, and viewing an enhanced
  assignment with links to YouTube

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Tracking Student Grades
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Gradebook Views

• Overall Scores for every student
• Adjustable filters

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Gradebook Views

• Assignment Scores for Individual Students

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Gradebook Views

• Specific Scores on Each Problem

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Gradebook Views

• EVERY answer given on every problem in every
  assignment

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Gradebook Views

• Change credit, extend due dates - instantly

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Exporting Grades

• Easy to export all grades to Excel with a couple
  of clicks

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Lets See the System - 4

• Illustrating student results with a sample
  student account in my physics and astronomy
  classes.

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Familiarity breeds success

• Over time, you will learn to incorporate
• New Tutorial Problems with effective hints
• Which problems need additional hints
• Which problems dont work as well
• New ways to use the system for your classes and
  students.
• Be patient, explore, experiment!

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Questions? Discussion?

• Check out a resource list research
• http//www.chabotcollege.edu/faculty/shildreth/mas
  tering
• Login to my classes to look around
• Email me with questions!
• shildreth_at_chabotcollege.edu

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Additional Ideas

• What Results Have I Seen Personally?
• What Problems Can Occur?
• Caveats Gotchas

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Personal Goals

• Track student usage easily
• Take earlier, positive action
• Students obviously struggling
• Those working hard, and
• Those hardly working.

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Personal Goals

• Minimize faculty learning curve
• use one system for both disciplines

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Results Astro

• Trend Increase in Retention
• Similar trend in Success
• Student Surveys
• 90 online AND on-campus say Mastering Astro
  helped them succeed.

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Results Physics

• 10 Increase in Retention over prior years before
  using Mastering Physics
• No major differences in student success (!)
• Increase in Force Concept Inventory (FCI)
  Normative Gain!?
• Student Surveys
• 90 say Mastering Physics is the most important
  factor in their success.

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Using Results
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Results Overall

• Data gives me enormous power!
• How long do students spend on their HW?
• What do they miss?
• WHY do they miss it?
• Time saved NOT grading gives me enormous
  potential!
• Revised 20 labs in two years
• Revised every lecture
• Staying connected with my students!

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Concerns Criticisms
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Concerns

• How much time is required to LEARN the tool on
  our side. and,
• How much time away from key concepts is really
  required to teach the tool to the student?
• What about teaching students to diagram problems,
  or explain steps of a solution?
• What about Cheating?

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Concerns Criticisms

• You wont really know what they are doing wrong
  without looking at paper HW
• Some problems dont lend themselves to computer
  mediation
• You spend too much time teaching the tool, not
  the concepts.
• The tool is too complex.
• The grading system makes errors.

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Caveats, Gotchas, Gremlins
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Caveats, Gotchas, Gremlins

• Incorrect Answers can occur
• Java Plug-ins need updating
• Pay attention to Units (esp. radians vs.
  degrees), Significant Figures, Tolerances
• Gradebook can be crowded
• Using Groups requires manually entering grades
  for all members.

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Online is not for Everyone
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But on the plus side

• More time to focus on teaching
• More information to use
• More flexibility than textbooks alone
• More accessibility

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Cartoons.

• Images reprinted in the online presentation and
  available online were borrowed with permission
  from "e-mail.this.book", The Cartoon Bank, Alfred
  A. Knopf, NY, 1996.