University System of Maryland Carnegie Course Redesign Initiative
Introduction to Psychology (PSYC 200)
Carnegie Course Redesign Final Report
Cohort 1
University of Maryland Eastern Shore
September 7, 2012
Submitted by: Dr. Michael Patterson, Ph.D.
Department of Education
Introduction
Introduction to Psychology (Psych 200) is a general education requirement for 16 out of
18 departments. A majority of the students who enroll in the class are freshmen (76%),
although it is open to freshmen through seniors. During the 2009-2010 academic school
year there were 26 sections taught as “traditional” lectures with an average of 30
students per section. This course served approximately 780 students a year. The goals
of the redesign were to enhance quality of instructional approaches using information
technology, reduce cost, reduce course drift (including inconsistent assessment
practices), reduce DWF rates, and increase active learning by students.
To reduce course drift and course prep duplication, standardized syllabus, presentation
materials and assessment tools were designed by the course coordinator. To make the
course more “interactive”, Smartboard response clickers were employed. This enabled
students to participate in demonstrations of psychology experiments and surveys, and
answer practice exam questions while providing faculty and students with immediate
feedback on subject areas that required elaboration. Finally, to reduce DWF rates a
series of low-stakes paced online quizzes were assigned enabling the student and
instructor to have immediate feedback, indicating areas where further engagement
would be required to foster course mastery.
A. Impact on Student Learning
1. Improved learning:
During the Spring 2012 semester the redesigned PSYC 200 was fully implemented across
the restructured seven sections of Introduction to Psychology. Dr. Michael Patterson
taught two sections of this course while the remaining five sections were instructed by
part-time adjuncts. A significant difference was found examining student performance
(final grades) between the traditional (Fall 2011) and redesigned sections (Spring 2012).
Data collected from instructor final grades show the direction of the student
performance increased from M=73.45 for the traditional sections to M=78.67 for the
redesign (F(1,549)=11.155 p=.001). These results were congruent with a significant
increase in student performance (F (1,12)=13.693 p= .003) found between the redesign
pilot (M= 68) and a traditional section (M= 77.5) taught the previous semester by Dr.
Michael Patterson (Spring 2011).
It should be noted that the majority of adjuncts curved their exams during the Fall 2011
semester, thus inflating the final grades. Yet student performance during full
implementation resulted in a higher mean grade among the different sections. In
addition, many of the adjuncts’ did not record their grades in Black Board making
accessibility to them difficult. In many cases it was not possible to obtain the raw
student scores sans the curved data. However, changes to these practices were made
during full implementation (Spring 2012). All aspects of student performance are now
recorded in Black Board.no grades were curved yet resulted in a higher mean grade
among the different sections.
2. Improved Retention
For the traditional course, an average of 31.9% of students received a D or below. This
percentage was reduced in spring 2012 to 22.5%.
3. Other Impacts on Students
Student’s level of attention in the classroom and general level of enjoyment seemed to
increase for the redesigned course. Much of this can be attributed to shorter lectures
accompanied by in-class activities, such as interactive clicker response experiments and
lesson reviews. Student’s also expressed appreciation for the freedom to complete labs
and quizzes on their own time with a subsequent reduction in scheduled mandatory inclass labs.
Finally, a crucial component to the successful redesign was the presence of a Graduate
Assistant (GA) who held laboratory and office hours for students in order to meet and
receive guidance or any extra help. During the pilot and the course of the full
implementation semester it was apparent that many students relied on the GA for exam
preparation and aid in completing online quizzes or projects in the lab. Assistance
provided by the GA was of the upmost importance to many students since adjunct
instructors, that did not have offices and consequently did not offer office hours, taught
the majority of sections.
B. Impact on Cost Savings
The full implementation of the course redesign of the PSCY 200 Introduction to
Psychology produced cost savings in numerous ways. For example, in accordance with
the redesign proposal, cutting the number of sections from 14 to 7 reduced costs.
Consequently, at least six (30 – 35 occupant) classrooms were freed up every semester
and allowed for a reduction in adjunct faculty that saved up to $28,512 a year in
salaries. Also, student in-class time was reallocated in the redesign towards more online
and interactive learning activities. These changes can potentially decrease the direct
instruction cost-per-student from $768.35 to $272.53, a 28% reduction. Finally, another
benefit of the redesign was fewer repeat students and the inherent costs that would
follow.
C. Lessons Learned
1. Pedagogical Improvement Techniques
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Redesign the whole course:
 Class meets twice a week for 50-minute lectures and activities.
 Fridays are lab days to complete assignments, participate in assigned labs
and receive extra help.
Encourage Active Learning:
 Interactive technology, such as classroom interactive response clicker
activities.
 On-line discussion boards.
 On-line learning activities are utilized in labs.
Provide students with individualized assistance:
 Graduate Assistant for 20 hours a week.
 Friday labs staffed by GA.
Build in ongoing assessment and prompt feedback:
 Online Blackboard quiz for each module.
 Quizzes provide immediate feedback to students and instructors.
Ensure time on task and monitor student progress:
 The course was restructured into 8 modules instead of 15 chapters.
2. Cost Reduction Strategies
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Redesign the whole course:
 Class sections are reduced to 7 from 14 with 60 students in each section.
Ensure time on task and monitor student progress:
 All sections were given the same exams and syllabi to minimize course
drift and allow adjuncts to spend time on other tasks besides preparing
course materials.
3. Implementation issues
One impediment was the varying level of comfort and experience the instructors
had with the technology introduced by the redesign. Significant training was provided
the adjuncts on the use of the new response clicker technology and increasing their
reliance on Black Board was required. Several Smart Board practice and training
sessions were conducted prior and during the Spring 2012 semester. It is expected that
as adjuncts further develop their comfort with the equipment they will appreciate more
what the technology has to offer and subsequently students will benefit more from the
in-class clicker exercises. Most surprisingly, it was discovered that many adjuncts were
not using Black Board for grading purposes prior to full implementation of the redesign.
Consequently, forming a precise understanding of student performance proved difficult.
Continued training on Smartboard Technology, including interactive response clickers,
and Black Board is required to ensure that adjuncts are fully capable and willing to use
the technology in and out of the classroom.
The most significant impediment to the full implementation of the redesign was
the lack of classrooms that could handle a capacity of sixty students on a MWF schedule
and were also compatible with the Smart/Clicker technology. Specifically, adjuncts do
not receive computers from UMES and so are dependent of the Smart Carts provided by
the Education Department. These carts allow the adjuncts to use projected PowerPoint
slides in conjunction with interactive clicker response exercises.
D. Sustainability
Further funding by UMES for the Graduate Assistant position is paramount for
future success of the redesigned Introduction to Psychology course. Failure to provide
the redesign with the means of a graduate assistant would certainly result in a
significant decrease in student performance across all sections.