This document summarizes lessons learned from a college algebra course taught online for the first time. The course had high dropout rates and low pass rates. Key issues identified were the instructor's inexperience with online teaching, students being unprepared for online learning and underestimating the time commitment, and a mismatch between some students' preferences and online learning. Suggested fixes included improved student advising about online courses, training students and faculty in online learning skills, and ensuring faculty are prepared to teach online.

1. Lessons Learned from a
First-Time Online College
Algebra Course
Jon M. Ernstberger
LaGrange College
#maase2014

2. Online College Algebra
● Fall 2013 course
● Open to traditional and nontraditional
students
● 17 -> 15 Students as of DOR
● 7 students took the final--not all passed.
This class went badly. Why?

3. Theories
1. Teacher inexperience in delivery/planning.
2. Students unprepared for content.
3. Incorrect student expectations for
time/difficulty of the course.
a. College culture
b. Insufficient advice

4. Teacher
● Taught multiple college algebra sections
(never online till F2013).
● Been hybridizing courses for five years.
● Taught and developed online courses
through multiple terms/years.
● Taken third-party training courses for online
delivery of courses.

5. Course Design
● Traditional content
● Introductory presentation/discussion
● Topical approach (rather than chapterwise)
● Online lectures (Smartboard, Geogebra,
etc.)

6. Course Design, cont.
Assignment stakes
o Low - mid-lecture (using Moodle ‘Lessons’)
questions
o Medium - WebAssign graded hw assignments
o High - Paper exams with flexible opportunities

7. Confession...
● Videos long, dry1
● The low-stakes
assignments were
zero-stakes until
after exam two.
1. Juho Kim, Philip J. Guo, Daniel T. Seaton, Piotr Mitros, Krzysztof Z. Gajos, Robert C. Miller. "Understanding In-
Video Dropouts and Interaction Peaks in Online Lecture Videos."

8. Student Makeup
● 17 Students - Two withdrew almost instantly
● 11 Traditional (73%), 4(6) Nontraditional
● 10/15 had already had college algebra
● 5 Freshmen, 6 Sophomores, 4 EC

9. Pretests
● Only 7/15 students
completed the
online pre-test!
● Compared to two
other sections of 28
students each.
● Not strong
students.

10. Scores
● Exam One: 57% (retake to earn points)
● Exam Two: 40%
● Exam Three: 65%
● Final Exam: 70%
Average climbs due to increasing scores and
withdrawal of failing students.

11. Student Commentary
● Positives
o Instructor communication, feedback, fit/finish of the
course, helpfulness, concern, and respect
o Planning of the course
o Medium-stakes assignments
● Negatives
o Technical mishaps (?)
o Self-teaching
o Math

12. Student Commentary, cont.
● Improvements
o Less homework
o Make this delivery mandatory!
“I would not recommend taking an online math class.
Definitely needs to be taught in a classroom not over
emails and videos!”

13. Student/Course Mismatch
“... I am a student that likes to be in the classroom when I
am learning and like having the teacher there to assist me
when needed.”

14. What Did We Learn?
1. Need more information for advising.
2. Students are no longer tech-savvy.
3. Students are unable to manage time.
4. Some faculty unprepared to teach courses.
We’re not the only ones![2]
[2] Xu, Di, and Shanna Smith Jaggars. "Online and Hybrid Course Enrollment and Performance in Washington State
Community and Technical Colleges. CCRC Working Paper No. 31." Community College Research Center, Columbia
University (2011).

15. Fixes-Advising
● Faculty body is working to ensure that only
exceptional first-years can take online
courses.
● Each student has a maximum number of
courses he/she can take online per term.
● Each student has a maximum number of
hours he/she can take online total.

16. Fixes - Tech-savvy students
Introduce two courses:
1. Introduction to personal computing.
Terminology, basic functions, calendaring,
and electronic communication.
2. Introduction to online courses.
Navigation through the LMS, gradebooks,
etc.

17. Fixes - Faculty Preparation
● Partner with a 3rd-party to offer educational
opportunities.
● Conduct workshops on campus.
● Offer webinars on campus.
● Offer stipends to provoke people to teach
online/hybridized courses.

18. Works Cited
[1] Juho Kim, Philip J. Guo, Daniel T. Seaton, Piotr Mitros, Krzysztof Z. Gajos,
Robert C. Miller. "Understanding In-Video Dropouts and Interaction Peaks in
Online Lecture Videos."
[2] Xu, Di, and Shanna Smith Jaggars. "Online and Hybrid Course Enrollment
and Performance in Washington State Community and Technical Colleges.
CCRC Working Paper No. 31." Community College Research Center,
Columbia University (2011).

19. Contact
jernstberger@lagrange.edu
https://plus.google.com/+JonErnstbergerLC