http://ruready.net creating a new breed of math learnergizers with free online college readiness...

http://ruready.net

CREATING A NEW BREED OF MATH LEARNERGIZERS WITH FREE ONLINE

COLLEGE READINESS TOOLS

Nava Livne, Oren Livne, Chuck WightContinuing Education, University of Utah

E-Mail Us: [email protected]

EDUCAUSE Western Regional, San Francisco, CA, May 9, 2007

2 / 16 May 9, 2007 EDUCAUSE Western Regional Conference

Outline

1. Motivation & Goals

2. Tools3. Learning Features4. Site Demo5. Preliminary Results

6. Creating Math Learnergizers:

+

=

?Is It Feasible


Motivation & Goals

• Motivation• Lack of readiness for

intro college math courses• Persistent math gap of underserved students

• Goals• Address individual math weaknesses• Creative math thinking measurement• Automatic scoring and partial-credit• Individual self-paced math learning

academic gap


RegisterFinal Patent Application DOCKET NO. 00846 25702.PROV, January 07

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ExpectationsTest

AssessmentTest

RUReady Site Flow & Demo

SelectCourse

PracticeLevel 1

PracticeLevel 2

PracticeLevel 3

PracticeLevel 4

Dynamic ErrorFeedback

NOAdapt practice to weak topics

YESFeedback

Questionnaire

Certificate

Ready?

Site Demo


Site Tools

• 2 Self assessment testsDiagnose current readiness level

• Student–University expectation match (16 statements)• Math content knowledge (16 questions; OE, MC)

• 4 Self-paced practice levels• Levels are hierarchical: gradual learning• Each level includes sessions: unlimited # • Each session includes 8 OE questions• Each question includes 4 progressive hints


Site Learning Features

1. Adaptive gradual learning• Trains more on weak topics detected by assessment tool • Adapts batches of 8 questions, not individual questions

2. Creativity measurement• Half of the questions are academic• Half of the questions are creative:

they have more than one correct response!


Measuring Mathematical Creativity

Question: Find the coordinates of the center of a circle having radius r = 1 that also contains the points (1,0) and (0,1).

(0,1)

(1,0)

Standard response: (0,0)

"Out of the box”,creative response: (1,1)


3. Interactive error feedback• Visual feedback: student’s response is color-coded• Both correct and erroneous elements are highlighted• Different error types are highlighted in different colors• The analysis is based on comparing the response’s

structure with the correct answer’s structure

Site Learning Features (Cont.)


Dynamic Error FeedbackThe learner is presented with an open-ended question:

“Expand the expression (x-y) ”2

x^2 - 2 x y + y^2

InstructorReference string

Stored in database

LearnerResponse string

Typed on keyboard

(x^2 - y^2)

+x^2 y^2- 2 * *x y y ^ 2-x ^ 2( )

6 Missing Elements WrongCorrect Redundant


4. Automatic Partial- Credit ScoringParser scoring model: uses element highlights

– Fraction of correct elements

– Overall response correctness (right or wrong)

Site Learning Features (Cont.)

Which is more important? (How to choose a?)

y ^ 2-x ^ 2( )

y ^ 2x ^ 2

Score = a*(correct elements fraction) + (1-a)*(correctness)


Scoring Model Validation

PARSER SCORE

TE

AC

HE

R S

CO

RE

Human teacher scoring - parser scoring:

correlation = 0.91 !

regression linehuman 100=parser 97

Parser Demo


Example of a Certificate


Preliminary ResultsStudents’ Gradual Progress:

Practice sessions improve student skills

School Pre–Assess.

Level 1

First Practice Level 1

Last Practice Level 1

AMES

(N=29)

Males 27.7 44.1 54.9

Females 32.0 46.5 81.3

Olympus (N=79)

Males 29.3 47.0 60.7

Females 28.3 48.9 60.8

Content knowledge - mean scores [%]


Detecting Individual Learner Types

Learners exhibit different learning curves in practice sessions

Academic Male

Academic Female

A

C

R = 0.452

β = 0.67

β = 0.35

A

C

R = 0.972

β = 0.84

β = 0.37

Creative Male

Creative Female

A

C

R = 0.512

β = 0.18

β = 0.57

A

C

R = 0.812

β = 0.44

β = 0.96


1. The RUReady online tools address talent loss & bridge the academic gap in math

2. New learning strategy:• Low-stakes individual learning• Learning through immediate error feedback• Creative thinking “out-of-the-box”

3. Level the playing field for every student (free site)4. Partnerships with K-12 and higher ed institutions

Creating Math Learnergizers – IS IT FEASIBLE?

In short, the answer is ‘YES’

+ =


Create a free account: http://ruready.net

Math parser demo: http://ruready.net/demo

E-Mail us: [email protected]

* These links are available on the Conference Website

http://ruready.net creating a new breed of math learnergizers with free online college readiness...

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