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Keeping Pace: Using a Lockout System in
Emporium-Model Developmental Math Classes
Jessica Delgado & Allie Scheel
Kapi̒olani Community College
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What does Self-Paced Math 24 look
like at Kapi̒olani CC?
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Class meets twice per week, 50 minutes per class
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Course is divided into 10 modules with all work being completed in
MyMathLab
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Each module is 2-3 sections of material with either a 1- or 2-week deadline
Students complete one section of homework followed by an open-book/note
quiz
 Students must earn 95% or higher on each homework to move on to the
corresponding quiz and 85% or higher on each quiz to move on to the next
homework
 If students do not earn 85% on a quiz, they must continue taking it until they do
At the end of each module there is a proctored, closed-book/note test in which
students need to earn 75% in order to pass
 If students do not earn 75% on a test, they must continue taking it until they do
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In the past…
Instructors offered
students a
“recommended”
schedule to follow in
order to complete the
work in a timely fashion
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Schedule was printed
in the course syllabus
and handed out the
first day of class
Course completion rates
hovered around 50%
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Most recently:
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Fall 2013:
50.8%
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Spring 2014: 38.3%
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Fall 2014:
56.0%
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The change…
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Beginning in Spring 2015, some instructors decided to use
the recommended schedule as a guide for setting
appropriate due dates for each module
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If students do not complete the module by the due date, they are
locked out of the program
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Typically the term “locked out” refers only to module tests.
Thus, if students miss a deadline, they can continue to work on
the homework and quizzes.
Students must then communicate with their instructor when they
are ready to take a module test so that it can be unlocked
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The impact…
Spring
2015
Fall
2015
Spring
2016
(so far)
Can this be personalized?
While the overall course design is the same for all
self-paced courses, different instructors implement
various procedures for students who miss deadlines.
The following is a sample of a “module ticket” used by
one instructor:
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Sample of another instructor’s use of an “extra assignment”:
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Sample of a “module score sheet” used by another instructor:
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Additional personalization…
Various instructors utilize different ideas which
highlight the importance of timely completion beyond
physical worksheets or assignments. Such strategies
include:
 2% bonus on the module test for completing the
module on time
 Point deduction under the participation category of the
overall course grade if a deadline is missed
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Weight of category is 5% so not a catastrophic impact
(but students do not necessarily realize this)
 Time trackers
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 Portfolio checks
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In addition…
In an effort to try and combat the issue of students nearly finishing the
course but not quite making it, several instructors have scheduled the
lockout deadlines so that students finish all modules by 1-2 weeks prior to
finals week.
Spring
2015
Fall
2015
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Negative aspects of the lockouts
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Time
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The lockout system requires a bit more time and effort from the
instructor because of the individual tailoring of unlocking tests
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Frustration
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Reduced student autonomy
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Some have argued that placing deadlines takes away from the
notion of “self-paced” or “self-directed” learning
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What about Math 25?
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We originally piloted the idea in Math 24 only because it is
the lowest math course offered at Kapi̒olani so conceptually
we thought more students could pass. Math 25 has more
material than Math 24 (eleven modules versus ten), and it is
more difficult.
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After some success during the Spring 2015 semester in Math
24, a few instructors implemented deadlines in Math 25
during the Fall 2015 semester
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Many of those students came from a Math 24 course with similar
design the previous semester
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Textbook transition following Fall 2015 so there would have been
no continuation of progress into a future semester
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In the past…
Similar to Math 24, course completion rates for Math 25 also hovered
around 50% with some outliers
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Most recently:
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Fall 2013:
33.3%
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Spring 2014: 50.7%
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Fall 2014:
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Spring 2015: 49.6%
54.5%
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The impact…
Fall
2015
Spring
2016
(so far)
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Math 82
(STEM
pathway)
The Future
Math 75X
(non-STEM
pathway)
What can these lockouts teach us for our transition into
the new developmental math rolling out in Fall 2016?
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Math 82
At Kapi̒olani, Math 82 will only be offered in an emporium design
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Students will take an initial “test” to determine the number of
topics they know and need to know
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From there, an individual study plan will dictate what each
student must learn in order to complete the course
Students will likely be studying different topics each week, but
lockouts could still be used:
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Must complete ____ topics per week
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Must work for ____ hours per week
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Math 75X
Math 75X will be taught as a lecture/lab with an emphasis on
collaborative learning
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While the notion of “lockouts” may not fit as well for this course
design, the corresponding idea of short-term deadlines certainly
can
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Homework
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Rather than make all homework assignments due by the end
of a chapter, make it due each week
Quizzes
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Give small weekly (or semi-weekly) quizzes to keep students
accountable for recent material learned