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Front Range Community College

Textbook in Use with MyMathLab

Fundamentals of Statistics, 2e, 2008, Sullivan

Quotation:

“With MyStatLab, I know my students are getting the practice they need to succeed in the course.” - Sandra Williams, Faculty, Front Range Community College

MyStatLab Course Structure

Course Design

Introduction to Statistics is an online course. At the beginning of the semester, students receive a course syllabus. They are required to read the course material and complete assignments in MyStatLab according to the deadlines in the syllabus. The instructor answers questions via e-mail, discussion postings, or phone; during virtual office hours; or by appointment in person.

Assessments

  • 60 percent Exams (paper and pencil, on-site, and proctored)
  • 20 percent Homework (completed in MyStatLab, 11 assignments, one per chapter)
  • 20 percent Quizzes (completed in MyStatLab, three per semester, three-hour time limit covering several chapters each)

MyStatLab Implementation

In fall 2007 Sandra Williams adopted MyMathLab in her college algebra course. Its ease of use and efficacy convinced her to try MyStatLab in her spring 2008 Introduction to Statistics course. She was so convinced, she traded the college’s standard statistics textbook for a Pearson title—solely so she could use MyStatLab.

Homework and quizzes are required and are completed in MyStatLab. Use of the Study Plan is optional.

Grades are imported into MyStatLab.

Contribution of MyStatLab to Final Grade

Use of MyStatLab contributes 40 percent of the final course grade.

MyStatLab Course Results

Table 1. Comparison of Student Achievement with and without MyStatLab, Spring 2007 and Spring 2008 (n=47)

Table 1

Although limited in size, data in Table 1 shows that students using MyStatLab achieved noticeably higher averages for homework (9.8 percent), the final exam (2.2 percent), and exams (3.6 percent); as well as a higher course average (6 percent). Williams did not offer quizzes in spring 2007.

“The difference in the overall course average is significant,” says Williams. “The students using MyStatLab were given harder questions—yet still they performed better than overall students in the previous semester. I believe that the students who used MyStatLab actually learned more than the previous semester’s students did.

“With MyStatLab,” says Williams, “students can’t fake their homework like they could with paper-and-pencil homework. They must get the question completely correct to receive credit. For some students, that means working the problem several times.” Williams suspects that another reason the students using MyStatLab earned higher overall course grades was the addition of quizzes to the curriculum. She considered adding quizzes in the previous semester, but the courseware she was using at the time made it less than convenient, and within the context of the program, it was not a value add. Switching to MyStatLab provided her with the tools to make it work. “MyStatLab made it easy to add quizzes to the curriculum,” Williams says. “There are lots of great questions to choose Williams says. “There are lots of great questions to choose from, and the questions are interactive, not just multiple choice.”

What Students Are Saying

The following comments were offered unsolicited to Williams by students in her spring 2008 Introduction to Statistics course.

  • I want to compliment you on your choice of text and accompanying Web site. Both were very well organized and user-friendly.
  • This book made self-teaching a lot easier than previous textbooks I’ve used. It broke down every new concept into small pieces that slowly built on each other, making each new topic easy to master. The software was very easy to navigate and made doing homework much easier than previous software I’ve used. If I ever had a question on how to solve a problem, the software would work through a sample problem with me, helping me to easily understand where my mistakes were being made. I love the new book and software. Hopefully we stick with it—especially for online students who need to replace weekly lectures with self-teaching.

Conclusions

Both the objective data from Table 1 and her more subjective observations of her students have convinced Williams to continue using MyStatLab. “It’s the best statistics product out there,” she says. “My students really like MyStatLab. That means they’re more likely to use it.”

Williams’s students were particularly responsive to MyStatLab’s Help Me Solve This feature. “In paper-and-pencil homework, students can view examples only in the text,” says Williams. “Most students don’t find that useful because frequently there is no connection between the example and the problem they are trying to solve. Help Me Solve This inserts different numbers into the same problem the student is stuck on, and students learn in context how to arrive at the solution.”

Williams plans to explore how she can leverage future use of MyStatLab to improve retention. One potential idea is to offer incentives for extra work in the program.

Meanwhile, Williams will continue tracking data in an effort to establish a more substantial, longitudinal, and defensible picture of MyStatLab’s effect on student success.

Front Range Community College

School Years: 2
Course: Introduction to Statistics
Environment: Online
Type of Data: Success Rates, HomeWork
Date 2008

Download

Case Studies

View All Case Studies

Front Range Community College

Textbook in Use with MyMathLab

Fundamentals of Statistics, 2e, 2008, Sullivan

Quotation:

“With MyStatLab, I know my students are getting the practice they need to succeed in the course.” - Sandra Williams, Faculty, Front Range Community College

MyStatLab Course Structure

Course Design

Introduction to Statistics is an online course. At the beginning of the semester, students receive a course syllabus. They are required to read the course material and complete assignments in MyStatLab according to the deadlines in the syllabus. The instructor answers questions via e-mail, discussion postings, or phone; during virtual office hours; or by appointment in person.

Assessments

  • 60 percent Exams (paper and pencil, on-site, and proctored)
  • 20 percent Homework (completed in MyStatLab, 11 assignments, one per chapter)
  • 20 percent Quizzes (completed in MyStatLab, three per semester, three-hour time limit covering several chapters each)

MyStatLab Implementation

In fall 2007 Sandra Williams adopted MyMathLab in her college algebra course. Its ease of use and efficacy convinced her to try MyStatLab in her spring 2008 Introduction to Statistics course. She was so convinced, she traded the college’s standard statistics textbook for a Pearson title—solely so she could use MyStatLab.

Homework and quizzes are required and are completed in MyStatLab. Use of the Study Plan is optional.

Grades are imported into MyStatLab.

Contribution of MyStatLab to Final Grade

Use of MyStatLab contributes 40 percent of the final course grade.

MyStatLab Course Results

Table 1. Comparison of Student Achievement with and without MyStatLab, Spring 2007 and Spring 2008 (n=47)

Table 1

Although limited in size, data in Table 1 shows that students using MyStatLab achieved noticeably higher averages for homework (9.8 percent), the final exam (2.2 percent), and exams (3.6 percent); as well as a higher course average (6 percent). Williams did not offer quizzes in spring 2007.

“The difference in the overall course average is significant,” says Williams. “The students using MyStatLab were given harder questions—yet still they performed better than overall students in the previous semester. I believe that the students who used MyStatLab actually learned more than the previous semester’s students did.

“With MyStatLab,” says Williams, “students can’t fake their homework like they could with paper-and-pencil homework. They must get the question completely correct to receive credit. For some students, that means working the problem several times.” Williams suspects that another reason the students using MyStatLab earned higher overall course grades was the addition of quizzes to the curriculum. She considered adding quizzes in the previous semester, but the courseware she was using at the time made it less than convenient, and within the context of the program, it was not a value add. Switching to MyStatLab provided her with the tools to make it work. “MyStatLab made it easy to add quizzes to the curriculum,” Williams says. “There are lots of great questions to choose Williams says. “There are lots of great questions to choose from, and the questions are interactive, not just multiple choice.”

What Students Are Saying

The following comments were offered unsolicited to Williams by students in her spring 2008 Introduction to Statistics course.

  • I want to compliment you on your choice of text and accompanying Web site. Both were very well organized and user-friendly.
  • This book made self-teaching a lot easier than previous textbooks I’ve used. It broke down every new concept into small pieces that slowly built on each other, making each new topic easy to master. The software was very easy to navigate and made doing homework much easier than previous software I’ve used. If I ever had a question on how to solve a problem, the software would work through a sample problem with me, helping me to easily understand where my mistakes were being made. I love the new book and software. Hopefully we stick with it—especially for online students who need to replace weekly lectures with self-teaching.

Conclusions

Both the objective data from Table 1 and her more subjective observations of her students have convinced Williams to continue using MyStatLab. “It’s the best statistics product out there,” she says. “My students really like MyStatLab. That means they’re more likely to use it.”

Williams’s students were particularly responsive to MyStatLab’s Help Me Solve This feature. “In paper-and-pencil homework, students can view examples only in the text,” says Williams. “Most students don’t find that useful because frequently there is no connection between the example and the problem they are trying to solve. Help Me Solve This inserts different numbers into the same problem the student is stuck on, and students learn in context how to arrive at the solution.”

Williams plans to explore how she can leverage future use of MyStatLab to improve retention. One potential idea is to offer incentives for extra work in the program.

Meanwhile, Williams will continue tracking data in an effort to establish a more substantial, longitudinal, and defensible picture of MyStatLab’s effect on student success.

Front Range Community College

School Years: 2
Course: Introduction to Statistics
Environment: Online
Type of Data: Success Rates, HomeWork
Date 2008

Download