Broken out into three separate Webex presentations, the first sessions in the Are Your Students Learning? Webex series combined information on data collection and personal stories from Faculty Advisors already tracking their data. The theme of these first sessions, Gathering and Analyzing Student Success Data, allowed presenters to share the science behind data collection as well as the personal successes that stem from having tangible student results to share.
Each session – one for math, one for science, and a third for English – began with a brief presentation from Clare Masson, Program Manager for Efficacy Research at Pearson. Clare covered the more technical side of data collection – she broke down the various types of studies that data can be collected for and discussed how data mining contributes to successful efficacy studies and sustainable course redesign. It’s important to collect data in order to, “provide teachers with actionable information,” says Masson.
Masson also covered qualitative and quantitative data collection, the importance of being able to get repeat results no matter the variables within the study, and emphasized how Pearson is here to assist you as you get started.
After Masson’s presentation, each session featured a different faculty advisor who shared their own experiences with those attending the workshops. Each presenting faculty advisor brought different experiences and anecdotes to the table to assist their peers in the process of data collection and course redesign.
Dan Mussa, a Mathematics instructor at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
Bob Pribrush, a Chemistry professor at Butler University
Maria Johnson, an English instructor at Dekalb Technical College
The biggest challenge, Johnson noticed, throughout this process was faculty buy-in since it was a lot of technology to work through. In order to properly address this and all challenges related to the redesign, the school put together a team of leaders working toward making implementation even better.
To view the presentation and listen to the recording of these past sessions, please click on the appropriate session:
Don’t forget to sign up for the next presentation in this very informative series. A complete list of dates is located to the left of this article.
What result of your redesign has been most significant? Have you found it useful to capture results and share your hard evidence with others? What tips about data collection and analysis would you give to other faculty?
I like the focus Pearson is putting on gathering solid data about these online tools. I always worry when I see a company doing studies on their own products, because the chances that biases will creep in (unintentionally) is so high.
ReplyDeleteThat said, when I have looked over the results they seem to be done with a lot of intellectual integrity.
One thing I would encourage would be a database of all Mastering/MyMathLab/etc. research projects, whether or not they are ever completed or published. This would make it even more clear that Pearson is not just cherry picking the positive studies, but is instead showing the full data set.
Thank you again for putting on this workshop. I plan on listening to the English taped session since I couldn't make it initially. I ended up going to the session with the soft sciences. It was helpful, but probably not as helpful as the English will be.
ReplyDeleteWe have been analyzing our data for the last 5 years with no problems; however, recently, we have reached a roadblock where no one will give us the data we are looking for (anonymous data that we have been told is accessible to these people). I would have hoped some sort of helpful information would have come from the session I went to about this dilemma; however, it did not.
Hard data has been a great selling point for me in my work with other classes to redesign them. My most recent project was the redesign of the Business Math class. Our department worked closely with the School of Business to create the new class. Using online homework system was a key component since I could show them the success of my students. The professor who co-taught the pilot was sold and is now working with me to look how well homework grade can predict the students final grade.
ReplyDeleteThe MyWritingLab measure of 30% of final grade for English has been the fit that we have found to work. The post test at the conclusion is a positive boost for students. We also supplement with a written "final exam."
ReplyDeleteCarla