Electrifying
Learning!
Engaging Students with Online
Homework/Activities & Resources using
Mastering
Scott Hildreth
Astronomy & Physics – Chabot College – Hayward, CA
Goals for Our Session
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What is Mastering to me?
How and why I use it
Getting Started
Tips, Ideas, Caveats
Your feedback & questions are
welcome throughout!
Scott Hildreth - Chabot College - October 2010
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An Overview of Mastering
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Online Homework System with 24/7 availability
But much more…
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Great Range of Problems, Tutorials, Quizzes
Dynamic, context-specific hints & feedback
Rich Diagnostics by student/class
Enormous “elasticity” for use across courses
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Let’s See the System - 1
Live example of my physics class from last
spring, showing home screen,
assignments, due dates, etc.
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Ways I Use Mastering
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Required weekly homework assignments
In-class collaborative group work
Lecture – doing problems together
Required reading quizzes & exams
Exam Preparation
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Extra Credit & Remedial Help
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Let’s See the System - 2
View of a typical assignment, and then a tutorial problem
from physics
One of the reasons I’ve found the system to be useful for
my students is the types of questions available, and in
particular, the multi-part tutorial questions with
scaffolding, hints, feedback, and graphics.
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Mastering Captures Data
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Using Results
Cannon, Annie
Einstein, Al
Fermi, Rico
Feynman, Dick
Leavitt, Henrie
Pei, I.M.
Schwarzschild,
Xi, Hua
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Using Results
Cannon, Annie
Einstein, Al
Fermi, Rico
Feynman, Dick
Leavitt, Henrie
Pei, I.M.
Schwarzschild,
Xi, Hua
Success by student
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Using Results
Average Time
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Using Results
Difficulty
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Using Results
Score by Problem
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Getting Started!
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Creating Courses
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Each class has UNIQUE course ID
Shared with students
 Make it easier to identify your course
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Change “MAHILDRETH35293”
to
 ASTRO10SPRING2011HILDRETH
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Creating Assignments
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Create a Standard HW category
Hint options, Late penalties, # Attempts, etc.
 Easy to change later
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As you get comfortable…
Add categories for quizzes, remedial, EC,
 Adjust credit for hints, late work, etc.
 Try simple editor to add/delete/enhance parts
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Using the Item Library
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Sort Problems by difficulty, type, title
Customize credit based on time or difficulty
Track total estimated time & difficulty
Add messages to enhance instructions
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Using the Item Library
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Sort Problems by difficulty, type, title
Customize credit based on time or difficulty
Track total estimated time & difficulty
Add messages to enhance instructions
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Annotating Assignments
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Let’s See the System - 3
Quick demonstration of creating a course, and
adding assignments, and viewing an enhanced
assignment with links to YouTube
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Tracking Student Grades
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Gradebook Views
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Overall
Scores for
every
student
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Adjustable
filters
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Gradebook Views
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Assignment
Scores for
Individual
Students
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Gradebook Views
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Specific Scores on Each Problem
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Gradebook Views
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EVERY
answer given
on every
problem in
every
assignment
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Gradebook Views
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Change credit, extend due dates - instantly
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Exporting Grades
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Easy to
export all
grades to
Excel with a
couple of
clicks…
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Let’s See the System - 4
Illustrating student results with a sample
student account in my physics and
astronomy classes.
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Familiarity breeds
success…
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Over time, you will learn to incorporate
New Tutorial Problems with effective hints
 Which problems need additional hints
 Which problems don’t work as well
 New ways to use the system for your classes
and students.
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Be patient, explore, & experiment!
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Questions? Discussion?
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Check out a resource list & research
http://www.chabotcollege.edu/faculty/shildreth/mastering
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Login to my classes to look around
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Email me with questions!
[email protected]
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Additional Ideas
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What Results Have I Seen Personally?
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What Problems Can Occur?
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Caveats & Gotcha’s
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Personal Goals
 Track
 Take
student usage easily
earlier, positive action
 Students
obviously struggling
 Those working hard, and…
 Those hardly working.
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Personal Goals
 Minimize
faculty learning curve
use one system for both disciplines
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Results: Astro
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Trend: Increase in Retention
Similar trend in Success
Student Surveys:
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90% online AND on-campus say Mastering
Astro helped them succeed.
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Results: Physics
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10% Increase in Retention over prior years
before using Mastering Physics
No major differences in student success (!)
Increase in Force Concept Inventory (FCI)
Normative Gain!?
Student Surveys:
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90% say Mastering Physics is the most
important factor in their success.
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Using Results
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Results: Overall
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Data gives me enormous power!
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Time saved NOT grading gives me enormous
potential!
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How long do students spend on their HW?
What do they miss?
WHY do they miss it?
Revised 20+ labs in two years
Revised every lecture
Staying connected with my students!
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Concerns & Criticisms
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Concerns
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How much time is required to LEARN the tool
on our side…. and,
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How much time away from key concepts is
really required to teach the tool to the
student?
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What about teaching students to diagram
problems, or explain steps of a solution?
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What about Cheating?
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Concerns & Criticisms
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“You won’t really know what they are doing wrong
without looking at paper HW”
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“Some problems don’t lend themselves to computer
mediation”
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“You spend too much time teaching the tool, not the
concepts.”
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“The tool is too complex.”
“The grading system makes errors.”
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Caveats, Gotchas, Gremlins
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Caveats, Gotchas, Gremlins
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Incorrect Answers can occur
Java Plug-in’s need updating
Pay attention to Units (esp. radians vs.
degrees), Significant Figures, Tolerances
Gradebook can be crowded
Using Groups requires manually entering
grades for all members.
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Online is not for Everyone
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But on the plus side…
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More time to focus on teaching
More information to use
More flexibility than textbooks alone
More accessibility
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Cartoons….
Images reprinted in the online presentation and available
online were borrowed with permission from "email.this.book", The Cartoon Bank, Alfred A. Knopf, NY,
1996.
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