Proposal for a Hybrid MA112 Course
with ‘Modules’
Proposal Team:
(So far)
Audi Byrne*
Sonna Farmer*
Iain Moffat
Gabriella Pickett
*Instructors volunteering to teach the hybrid MA112 in Fall 2010.
I.
Overview: Hybrid Course Design
In the proposed course redesign, a subset of MA112 (2-4 sections) will be taught in a hybridized
method using centralized modules. Most of the MA112 courses will be still be taught
traditionally.
Course material for the hybrid course is centralized, with materials collected and available
online. Instructors work as teams to build the course content for a module, and material may be
added incrementally over time. Instructors independently choose what they lecture about and
what group activities are done in class. Ideally, multiple lectures by different instructors would
be collected over several semesters. All the work needn’t be done the first year; teachers can rely
on lecturing as usual if some online materials are not yet prepared.
Course material is divided into m modules. (See Module description, Section III.)
Students meet 2 times per week.
 One meeting is an obligatory lecture.
 One meeting is an obligatory problem session.
In addition, biweekly quizzes and exams are proctored and must be completed on campus.
II. Course Redesign Motivation, Anticipated Course Benefits
A large fraction of students drop out of or fail MA112. Common obstacles in the course are a
weak background in mathematics and low engagement in the course. Many students fail the first
and second exams and do not drop the course because they expect to do better or because they
must maintain full-time student status.
Here, we propose a redesign of the course into modules that aims to increase engagement and
accommodate varying backgrounds. The strength of the proposed model is that it will pointedly
and specifically address student needs as a student-centered model.
a. Improved Course Efficiency
The main advantage of a centralized course material is that teaching materials are pooled and
subsequent years benefit from material already developed. Instruction is standardized and
structured so that components may be taught by graduate students and instructors may organize
and “team teach” a course (for example, by dividing modules up among themselves), freeing
schedules for other activities (e.g., conferences).
Eventually, though perhaps not immediately, homeworks and quizzes will be collected and
graded online. Standardized assessment and maintaining grades online will increase efficiency,
especially if graduate students or an automated program take care of the grading.
Students that cannot pass early modules (students that would also not pass the course) will not
expend teacher resources in the higher modules.
b. Improved Course Effectiveness
It is also hoped that this course redesign will improve student success in MA112 in the following
ways:
(1) Within a module, students can be presented material in a variety of ways among
which the students can self-select. Many of these ways may be self-directed tutorials,
so that students can learn on their own, freeing instructors from time-intensive
tutoring.
(2) In higher level courses, instructors can direct students with identified weak areas in a
particular module to “refresh” on that module.
(3) There will be heightened communication among instructors regarding the variety of
effective teaching methods that are used.
III. Description of Modules
A. Definition of a Module
A module is a mini-course on a particular topic. Modules must be passed sequentially; a student
cannot take the exam for Module#2 until they have passed the exam for Module #1. A module is
completed when a student passes the quiz for the module. A student can retake the exam up to 3
times to improve their grade. The mini-course will have (1) a classroom component, (2) an
online component and (3) a lab component.
1. Classroom component: lectures and group activities for each module are provided over a
narrow period of time in the semester, corresponding to the allotted time for each module in
sequence in the semester. Student attendance is not mandatory and class sizes can be made very
large.
2. Online component: Minimally, each online module has an associated problem set covered
in class, a practice quiz and a quiz. Within one semester, each module will also have a
presentation on the module material (a taped lecture, or powerpoint presentation, etc.)
Additionally, youtube movies of problem solutions, applets and any other materials (!) that an
instructor can think of that will be helpful for learning the material will be collected in the
module.
3. Lab component: In addition to a classroom and online components, students can also meet
with tutors in the tutoring lab or instructors in office hours. The tutors should report to the
instructors if many students are struggling in a module and require additional resources. Since
cheating is a problem with online courses, exams must be proctored. When a student is ready to
take an exam, they show identification and only then are given a hard-copy of the quiz and a
password to submit their solutions online.
B. Development of Modules
Initially, a team of n instructors will be assigned to each module. Each team will design the
module by placing the minimal materials online and determining the best use of class time, 2
lectures per week. Once developed, modules are commonly owned and shared by subsequent
instructors. Instructors can freely add resources to a module each semester, but a system of
agreement must be devised for removing any resources.
Example of a module on linear functions.
50 minute lecture: covering basic ideas and concepts about lines
50 minute group activity: a variety of problems selected by the instructor
online materials:
5-minute on-line tutorials describing how to solve each problem type
practice quiz with solutions
quiz: at least 3 distinct versions of identical difficulty accessed only by an instructor or graduate
student to be printed for the student
IV. Example MA112 Syllabus
This hybrid course includes one mandatory 50-minute lecture on Monday or Tuesday and one
mandatory 50-minute application session on Wednesday or Thursday. Attendance of the sessions
represents 10% of the student grade.
The lecture will present key concepts and theory and the activity session will provide an
opportunity to work on assigned problems in groups. Classroom space permitting, the sessions
will be ‘open’ in the sense that students can attend any of the Monday/Tuesday lectures or
Wednesday/Thursday activity sessions. Students are encouraged to attend more than one session.
8 Course Modules
Course material is divided into 8 modules. Each module will correspond to approximately 2
weeks of course material.
Module 1
Module 2
Module 3
Module 4
Module 5
Module 6
Module 7
Module 8
Chapter 1: Functions (3 weeks)
1.2-1.4 The real line, the coordinate plane, equations and graphs.
1.6 Functions
1.7 Linear Functions
1.8 Quadratic Functions
Chapter 2: New Functions from Old (3 weeks)
2.2 Other common functions.
2.3 Absolute Value and Square Root Functions
2.4 Composition of Functions
2.5 Inverse Functions
Chapter 3: Algebraic Functions (5 weeks)
3.2 Polynomial Functions
3.3 Finding Factors and Zeros of Polynomials
3.4 Rational Functions
3.5 Other Algebraic Functions
3.6 Complex Roots of Polynomials
Chapter 5: Exponential and Logarithmic Functions (3 weeks)
5.2 The Natural Exponential Function
5.3 Logarithm Functions
5.4 Exponential Growth and Decay
Module Quizzes
There are 8 quizzes, one for each topic module, that must be passed in order to pass the course.
To take a quiz, students will attend one of the proctored quiz sessions available on Fridays.
Students must pass module quizzes sequentially. A student may take each module quiz three
times, and will retain their best score.
Written Exams:
There will be a written mid-term (between module 4 and module 5) and a written Final, worth
20% and 30% of the course grade respectively.
Grading:
Course grades will be calculated as follows:
Attendance: 10%
Module Quizzes: 40%
Mid-term Grade: 20%
Final Grade: 30%
Sonna suggested incorporating measures to make sure that students attend the mandatory
session. So far, attendance is worth 10% of their grade, but we could have something more
punitary such as an F if they miss more than 4 sessions.
V. Near And Far Planning Solutions: MyMathlab
Near: The first year, instructors that volunteer to teach the hybrid course will oversee module
development by incorporating the minimal module components, present the weekly lectures and
problem sessions, and proctor the Friday quiz session. A graduate student salary is requested
for funding and providing additional proctored quiz sessions.
Far: In the second year, a graduate student may direct the problem session as well, while
instructors direct more resources towards adding supplementary materials to the modules and
streamlining online assessment.
A significant anticipated challenge is the initial upfront cost of developing online materials,
especially module quizzes and automated grading/grade recording. Since there are 8 module
quizzes and students can take each quiz up to 3 times, the resource cost of not having efficient
quiz generation, grading and recording will be quite high.
It is recommended that in the first year of implementation, we enroll in a pre-developed online
program, such as MyMathlab. These programs provide tools to easily design quizzes, provide
automated grading and record keeping for each student. Further, programs like MyMathlab
provide a great deal of supplemental instructions materials that would take math faculty years to
develop and debug.
While using a program like MyMathlab, we can perform the experiment to determine if the
module method is both effective and efficient. If we like the module method but do not like
MyMathlab, we can develop an independent ancillary online course, incrementally over time.
VI. Perceived Course Priorities / Avoiding Common Pitfalls:

STRUCTURE: MA112 students require a highly structured course
 lectures and problem sessions with required attendance
 homeworks and quizzes due frequently
 NOT a self-paced course

ENGAGEMENT: Over half of students at USA work over 20 hours per week. Many
of them have family obligations. They are generally over-committed.
 active learning (working through problems, applications)
 goal-oriented learning (must excel in independent modules)
 community-based learning
o students work together in HW sessions
o students participate in online discussion

WARY RELIANCE ON TECHNOLOGY: In course development, technology
should not be a bottle-neck. While low-tech solutions may be less efficient, they may
ease the transition.
o written multiple choice exams can be printed and graded by a TA or instructor
quickly, whereas writing online exams may be frustrating and time-consuming
o materials used should be non-proprietary (not connected with a particular
textbook so we do not have to rebuild modules with a new book)

WRITING SKILLS: A chief criticism of online learning is ‘computer syndrome’:
short attention span, superficial understanding and passive investigation.
o Activity sessions focus on written problem sets.
o Quizzes and exams MUST be written.
 computers are only used to submit responses
o How can questions be designed to test writing skills?
o How can questions be designed that will encourage the development of
writing skills that are still easy to grade?

ADDRESSING A VARIETY OF BACKGROUNDS
 availability of tutorials on remedial topics
 multi-media materials to reach different learners
 identification of and contact with poorly performing students

INCREMENTAL AND FLEXIBLE: we develop a vision regarding where we are
going but
o do not need to implement all changes immediately
o allow flexibility to adjust to problems in real time