Huge enrollments in introductory courses led the math department at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and University (Virginia Tech.) to investigate alternate deliveries for their math courses. Their solution was to incorporate technology to completely revamp the way their introductory math courses are taught. Last Fall 4000 students were enrolled in these redesigned courses, all offered on-line at Virginia Tech’s Math Emporium. The project has been so successful that many other institutions are attempting to model it.
Each year since the Emporium opened, student performance has improved. In Fall 1997, the first year for the redesigned linear algebra course, 68% of the students received a C or better. By Fall 2002, 90% of the students reached or exceeded that mark. Students learn quickly that they have to do the work or they fail.
Many of the math faculty had misgivings when the project started. After all, many people go into teaching because of the personal contact with students. Would they not lose that contact with an on-line course? As it turns out, one on one student-faculty contact has increased significantly. The Emporium is staffed by math faculty and graduate assistants so help is only a ‘low-tech plastic cup placed on your computer’ away. Math faculty claim they enjoy explaining concepts in this environment since the students have already worked through much of the material. Training is provided to all who staff the Emporium to help them become “good listeners, not to solve the problem for the student but to figure out the right question to make the light go on.” They “try to understand exactly what it is that the student doesn’t understand.”
Here at RCTC, we opened our own math Learning Center this semester in GL120. A long way from the Emporium at Virginia Tech but a big step that brings us closer to providing alternative delivery methods to an increasingly diversified student population.