ICOTS 2, 1986: Richard Madsen
PROVISION AND UTILIZATION OF OUTSIDE SOURCES OF ASSISTANCE
FOR UNDERGRADUATES
Richard Madsen
University of Missouri-Columbia
U.S.A.
lntroduction
As Teachers, most of us encourage t h e students i n our classes t o come t o
us d u r i n g special office hours if t h e y wish t o receive extra help. Many s t u dents feel t h a t t h e y should not "waste" t h e teachers' time with t h e i r questions. Others may feel embarrassed t o ask questions i n a one-to-one
setting. Whatever the reason a student may have, we have f e l t t h a t s t u dents who really need help frequently do not get help through the officehour channel. We have t r i e d t o provide a variety of sources of extra help
f o r students. I n t h i s paper we will describe the sources of help and summarize how students utilized these sources over the course of the semester.
Service Courses at the University of Missouri-Columbia
B y a service course we mean a course offered b y the Statistics Department
f o r students majoring i n a field other than statistics. We have three courses
t h a t fall into t h i s category. elementary Statistics (31) is a freshmansophomore level course with an algebra prerequisite. lntroduction t o Probability and Statistics I and 11 (150-250) is a two-course sequence at a
sophomore-junior level with a f i n i t e math and elementary calculus p r e r e quisite. lntroduction t o Mathematical Statistics (320) is a senior-beginning
graduate level course with a calculus prerequisite. All of these service
courses are taught i n relatively small classes. The courses 31, 150, and
250 typically have 25-35 students per section and are taught primarily b y
graduate teaching assistants under the direction of a faculty course coordinator. The 320 course is taught b y faculty members and sections may
r u n t o 60-80 students. Typical total enrollment in all sections of 31, 150250, and 320 would be about 300, 400, and 150 per semester respectively.
I n t h i s paper we will be addressing sources of help for and utilization b y
students i n Stat 150 and Stat 250 courses. Some of the same sources of
help are available t o students i n other service courses as well.
Sources of Assistance
We will discuss f i v e different sources of assistance that have been available
t o students i n 150 o r 250 o r both. The sources range from the personal t o
the impersonal. The descriptions will be roughly i n decreasing order of
personal contact.
ICOTS 2, 1986: Richard Madsen
1. I n s t r u c t o r . Obviously t h i s i s t h e most familiar source o f assistance. I n structors, whether f a c u l t y members o r graduate teaching assistants, are
asked t o keep r e g u l a r office h o u r s (5-10 hours p e r week) d u r i n g which
t h e i r students may g e t help.
2. Stat Lab. T h e Stat Lab is supported financially by t h e Statistics Department. Statistics graduate students s t a f f t h e lab which i s available t o s t u dents i n a n y service course. T h e lab i s open afternoons (1-5) and
Saturday morning (9-12). Students can ask f o r help w i t h general concepts o r w i t h specific problems (other t h a n homework problems).
3. Learning Center. T h e Learning Center i s supported financially by t h e
U n i v e r s i t y o f Missouri. T h e y o f f e r a wide v a r i e t y o f student helps i n
addition t o g r o u p t u t o r i n g f o r students i n many i n t r o d u c t o r y level
courses i n c l u d i n g Statistics 150. T h e g r o u p format means t h a t students
would meet i n a classroom s e t t i n g and would ask questions as a g r o u p
r a t h e r t h a n g e t t i n g i n d i v i d u a l attention.. T h i s service is available f o r
Statistics 150 students twice a week f o r one hour.
4. Audio problem sets. T h e f i r s t audio problem sets were developed f o r
Stat 150 i n 1975 and were u p g r a d e d i n 1980. Audio problem sets f o r Stat
250 were developed i n 1983. T h e purpose o f these sets was t o p r o v i d e
students w i t h assistance i n problem solving. T h e p r i m a r y goal was t o
p r o v i d e assistance f o r t h e s t r u g g l i n g student - one who was b a r e l y
passing t h e course. A secondary goal was t o p r o v i d e some e x t r a problems
f o r good students who wanted e x t r a practice. We made u p sets o f p r o b lems (generally f o u r t o a set) w i t h t w o o r t h r e e problems being somewhat easier t h a n t h e remaining ones so as t o accommodate both groups.
T h e problems i n a set were on specific topics from i n t r o d u c t o r y statistics. Students were t o l d about t h e audio problem sets a t t h e s t a r t o f t h e
semester. T h e y could p i c k u p sets of problems a t t h e "audio lab" and
w o r k on them a t t h e i r convenience. Short answers t o t h e problem sets
were also made available a t t h e audio lab. O u r goal was t o p r o v i d e s t u dents who had d i f f i c u l t w i t h solving t h e problems w i t h a detailed solut i o n t o those problems. T h i s was done b y tape recording a detailed d i s cussion as t o how t o solve t h e problem.
T h e tapes, problem sets, and solutions were all available a t a c e n t r a l l y
located lab. T h e lab is open 72 hours p e r week d u r i n g t h e semester.
5. Computer problem sets. T h e computer problem sets were developed i n
1982 and 1983. T h e basic idea was t o p a t t e r n t h e problems a f t e r those of
' t h e audio problems, b u t t o t r a d e t h e personal touch p r o v i d e d b y a person
discussing t h e problem on tape f o r some f l e x i b i l i t y p r o v i d e d b y t h e computer.
T h e problems were made u p similar t o t h e audio problems and s h o r t
answers were made available. T h e solutions were programmed t o be used
b y students interactively. We used an Apple I I + computer w i t h Apple
Pilot as t h e software. (PILOT stands f o r Programmed I n q u i r y , Learning
o r Teaching. )
ICOTS 2, 1986: Richard Madsen
The features o f PILOT t h a t were most important i n programming t h e solutions were t h e lesson t e x t editor and the graphics editor. Of lesser
importance were t h e character set editor and t h e sound effects editor.
The lesson editor will p r i n t t e x t on t h e screen, jump t o various parts of
t h e program, accept answers from t h e keyboard, and provide some appropriate response based on t h e answer. Since the lesson editor has t h e
capability of jumping t o different parts of t h e program depending on t h e
response, it is sometimes possible t o suggest reasons f o r getting the
wrong answer i n addition t o g i v i n g t h e r i g h t one.
The graphics editor has features common t o many graphics programs. It
is quite easy, f o r example, t o show a Venn diagram with some relevant
region shaded in. It is also possible t o give a graph of a normal curve
w i t h some tail o r central area shaded in. Bar graphs can also be drawn.
The character set editor allows the construction and use of special symbols such as IJ,
0 , and
P as well as integral signs,
, etc. The
sound editor can add some variety.
The biggest problem with the computer problem sets is that they are v e r y
labor intensive. Further, t o make them most helpful t o the student I f e l t
t h a t t h e program should encourage t h e students t o refer t o their t e x t book. Hence i n appropriate places page, equation, o r table references
were given. This obviously requires t h a t all programs be updated whenever t h e textbook is changed.
Utilization o f Sources o f Assistance
We have t r i e d t o keep the use of these sources of assistance b y students
s t r i c t l y optional. The students i n the service courses were given a handout
d u r i n g t h e f i r s t week of the semester i n which the sources of assistance
were b r i e f l y described. As a general rule t h e classes were given no f u r t h e r
encouragement about using the sources.
Information about utilization was obtained through either a question a t the
end of the final exam given t o all Stat 150 students or through a separate
question sheet handed o u t d u r i n g a regular class period. I n this way we
were able t o get information from 80-90% of t h e students.
I n Table 1 is a summary of results f o r Statistics 150 from Fall 1982. The
questions related t o frequency of use of various sources. No distinction was
made between simply using the audio problem sets alone and using t h e sets
i n conjunction w i t h the tapes. The same was t r u e for t h e computer problem
sets. The 300 respondents came from 12 different sections taught b y seven
d i f f e r e n t instructors. Chi-square tests f o r homogenity indicate no highly
significant differences among instructors relative t o frequency of use of
the d i f f e r e n t sources. Table 2 gives a summary of Winter 1983 data which
is f o r 11 d i f f e r e n t instructors covering 17 sections. It is interesting t o
note t h a t t h e frequency of use i n both cases decreases as the source of
assistance goes from the personal t o the impersonal. It is also true, however; t h a t the instructor and Stat Lab assistant can answer general questions about general lecture material and required homework problems
ICOTS 2, 1986: Richard Madsen
whereas t h e audio tapes and computer programs can o n l y help w i t h specific
supplemental material. It is reasonable t o assume t h a t differences i n u t i l i z a t i o n relates t o substance and n o t j u s t form.
Table 1. Utilization in Fall 1982
Never
Instructor
114 (38%)*
1-2 times
- Statistics
150
3 o r more times
total
118 (39%)
Stat Lab
Audio
problems
Computer
problems
* % o f total respondents t o a g i v e n question.
Table 2. Utilization in Winter 1983
- Statistics
150
Frequency o f Use
Never
1-2
3-4
Instructor
145 (37%)*
142 (37%)
59 (15%)
Stat Lab
204 (52%)
105 (27%)
39 (10%)
-
5 o r more
total
41 (11%)
387
41 (11%)
389
Audio
problems
Computer
problems
* % o f total
respondents t o a g i v e n question.
I n Fall 1984 t h e r e was a textbook change i n Stat 150 i n all except t w o sections. Consequently t h e r e are o n l y 68 responses f o r t h a t semester (see
Table 3). However, Statistics 250 s t i l l used t h e original t e x t so t h e r e were
270 responses f o r Fall 1984 (see Table 4). T h i s semester we asked more
detailed questions about utilization o f audio and computer problem sets. We
suspected t h a t some students used t h e problems themselves f o r practice
a n d checked t h e i r answers w i t h t h e s h o r t answers t h a t were made available
b u t d i d n o t use t h e tapes o r computer t o f i n d t h e c o r r e c t answers. T h i s
does seem t o have happened.
ICOTS 2, 1986: Richard Madsen
Table 3. Utilization in Fall 1984
- Statistics 150
Frequency of Use
Never
lnstructor
30 (44%)*
1-2 .
3-4
5 o r more
20 (29%)
12 (18%)
6 (9%)
total
68
Learning
Center
Stat
Lab
Audio
problems
Audio
tapes
Computer
problems
Comp ut e r
solutions
* % of total respondents t o a given question. Values under 5% not shown.
* Based on those who made use of audio o r computer problem sets.
Table 4. Utilization in Fall 1984
- Statistics 250
Frequency of Use
Never
Instructor
129 (48%)
1-2
78 (29%)
3-4
5 o r more
total
42 (16%)
20 (7%)
269
Stat
Lab
Audio
problems
Audio
tapes
.
221 (82%)
28 (10%)
-
* % of total respondents t o a given question. Values under 5% not shown.
* Based on those who made use of audio problem sets
ICOTS 2, 1986: Richard Madsen
I n comparing t h e utilization o f computer problem sets as shown i n Tables 1
and 2 (1982-83) w i t h t h a t shown in Table 3 (1984) we see a considerably
h i g h e r percentage o f use i n Table 3. One difference i n procedure i s t h a t i n
1982-83 students were t o l d where t h e problem sets were available on
campus, b u t t h e y had t o go o u t o f t h e i r way t o g e t them. I n 1984 (when
t h e enrollment was smaller) t h e problem sets were automatically g i v e n o u t
i n class. T h i s suggests t h a t when t h e students have e x t r a problems in t h e i r
hands t h e y are more a p t t o use them t h a n if t h e y have t o g e t them themselves.
We mentioned i n earlier discussion t h a t i n 1983 (Table 1) t h e r e did n o t a p pear t o be differences i n i n s t r u c t o r s relative t o f r e q u e n c y o f use. T h a t i s
n o t t h e case i n Table 4 (1984 - Statistics 250) as one o f t h e f i v e d i f f e r e n t
i n s t r u c t o r s stood o u t as h a v i n g s i g n i f i c a n t l y more utilization t h a n t h e
others.
Summary
T h e most f r e q u e n t l y utilized source (used about 50-65% o f t h e students) was
consultation w i t h t h e i n s t r u c t o r d u r i n g office hours. T h e n e x t most f r e q u e n t l y used source was t h e Stat Lab assistant. T h i s may indicate t h a t
students are interested i n g e t t i n g answers t o general questions on concepts
o r specific problems.
T h e supplemental problems w i t h audio-taped solutions o r computer solutions
were p r o v i d e d as special materials f o r students wanting e x t r a help i n p r o b lem solving. T h e y were n o t intended f o r use by all students. We f o u n d
t h a t students tended t o use t h e problems (and t h e s h o r t answers p r o v i d e d
w i t h them) without using t h e detailed solutions provided. T h e y were also
more a p t t o use t h e problems if t h e y were g i v e n d i r e c t l y t o them r a t h e r t h a n
h a v i n g t o go o u t o f t h e i r way t o g e t them. T h e percentage of students u s i n g
t h e problem sets was somewhat smaller (10 t o 40%) t h a n t h e percentage
g e t t i n g personal help, b u t t h e t o t a l number o f students who used them o v e r
t h e years has been large, due t o t h e large enrollments i n service courses.