A modularized tablet-based approach to preparation for remedial mathematics

ABSTRACT

Basic arithmetic forms the foundation of the math courses that students will face in their undergraduate careers. It is therefore crucial that students have a solid understanding of these fundamental concepts. At an open-access university offering both two-year and four-year degrees, incoming freshmen who were identified as lacking in basic arithmetic skills were engaged in an experimental technology-enhanced workshop designed to provide them with a deeper understanding of arithmetic prior to their initial remedial coursework. Customized online content was created specifically for this experiment, and the first implementation (n = 27) yielded statistically significant improvement, not only from pre-test to post-test, but also in the subsequent remedial course. This paper also analyses the accuracy of students’ self-assessment from pre-test to post-test, as well as student attitudes about this experimental approach.

KEYWORDS:

• Developmental math
• remedial math
• online instruction
• WeBWorK
• tablet instruction

Subject classification codes:

• 97U50
• 97D40

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1.  http://webwork.maa.org.

2. Peer leaders are undergraduates who have been trained in providing students with helpful feedback and problem-solving strategies. http://pltlis.org.

3. An ‘icebreaker’ is an activity, game, or event that is used to welcome and warm up the conversation among participants prior to collaborative exercises.

4. Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division.

5.  http://www.cuny.edu/academics/testing.html.

6. 85%–100% reported confidence in their addition, subtraction and multiplication skills on both pre- and post-tests.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by an internal grant from the CUNY Office of Internal Affairs.