Note: I'm re-publishing this post because the of confusion surrounding its original title "Reviving Keller." Turns out it gave the impression that I might be doing some construction work on Keller Bldg.
I've been working on a re-design of a college algebra course here at University Park, and I'm starting to get excited about how it's coming together. The strategy that we choose will become the approach that is used for all sections come fall semester 2008, so the stakes are high. In short, we've settled on a "personalized system of instruction" (PSI) from ID yesteryears. The course details are as follows:
Course Characteristics
- High-enrolling lower-division course (1,600-2,000 students per year)
- Bi-modal distribution of student ability. The class is split into two groups: students who are too advanced for the subject matter (but are required to take it anyway, for various reasons), and students who struggle with math and need to pass this one class to fulfill a requirement.
- All sections of the course use a common textbook
The main issue that the department is looking to address is the diverse skill levels of the students in the course; it's too difficult to teach to the ends of the spectrum simultaneously.
After meeting with the head of undergraduate studies about possible ideas, we're now working on using a personalized instructional approach, essentially a modified Keller Plan. Features of this approach historically include:
- Content chunked into small modules
- A mastery approach to materials; students will have to pass an exam to proceed to the next exam
- Immediate feedback and self-assessment/practice activities
- Reduction in lectures and demonstrations
For our purposes, we will not be reducing lectures and demonstrations. Instead, the lectures will continue as normally scheduled, and students can opt to attend the ones that they feel they need help with. Otherwise, we'll be tracking the Keller approach pretty closely utilizing technology tools that weren't available the last time this strategy was en vogue (late 1960's).
Redesign Features
- Student assessment via 12 mastery exams. Each exam will take place in the new secure testing facility at PSU, and be deployed within our course management system (ANGEL). ANGEL will restrict access to the exams to only allow IP addresses from the facility.
- Practice and self-assessment activities will take place via WebAssign, using practice questions provided by the textbook. These problems provide immediate feedback to students, and can also link directly to relevant portions of the course text. In addition to the problems and feedback, WebAssign allows for a variety of other instructional approaches including stepped solutions & streaming video demos of solutions.
- The lectures will continue as scheduled. Essentially, this will allow a student who might be struggling with the materials to attend the course just as they would any other. The only difference will be that, instead of 3-4 graded exams, they will we required to complete up to 12 mastery exams.
- Tutoring will provide guidance for advanced students who do not want to wait for a lecture topic that is scheduled to come later in the semester. This will allow for true individualized pacing through the course.