Here's a little more background on the way CSUEB conducts its basic skills math finals.
About 3 weeks before finals a draft is sent out via email to all the instructors. We had the chance to send in comments and suggestions, most of which related to the degree of difficulty and the uniformity of coverage of the questions. I recall we had very productive dialogs - "gotcha" and too trivial questions were refined to the point where I felt the exam was a lot better than the sample exams from the book publisher.
The instructors were asked not to let on that the final is the same across sections, and from the questions I got from the students (e.g. Will you give us a question on such-and so?) I don't think the students ever caught on that this was a long standing practice. The instructors were assigned a couple problems to correct and we were asked to make up a grading rubric.
After we administered the test we graded the two questions for our class and then turned them in to the office. The office put a cover sheet on it with the list of graders and so as we graded each class we would sign off on the cover sheet. We had to correct them in the office so none would ultimately be missing. We had a correction deadline of Friday at noon, and then over a few pizzas on Friday we finished up and then we could add up the total grades for our own class.
I felt the total amount of effort that I put in for this kind of final was far less than writing and grading my own final. It also provided more interaction between instructors which is a good thing when, as an adjunct, you don't have much business on campus other than coming and going to a classroom.
The course coordinator at CSUEB is Dorothy Fujimura, (510) 885-3219. She's a lecturer there so basic skills education is really her focus.
It may be worth while doing a small trial this semester with 3-4 sections at Ohlone to help you formulate a proposal or at least have a case study before proposing it to the rest of the faculty. I would be glad to participate in that or help in any other way I can.
Hi everyone, We have been talking about having the common final for the Basic Skills classes (Math 190, 191, and 151), and now it's a good time discuss about Math 151 final. We will do the same for Math 190 and Math 191 next semester. Thanks to Tania, Gino, Hans, and Mylene for helping me to come up with this draft. It's up to you to decide if you want to use this final or not. We need at least five people to join us for this experiment. All you have to do is to give your students this final, grade them, and let us (Mylene and I) know the outcomes. Thank you very much for your help. Please let us know if this draftl is good enough. We welcome your inputs to make it looks better. After hearing from you, I will re-organize it , put spaces between the questions, assign points to each questions, etc..., and make it ready for you two weeks before the final. You then just make enough copies for your class and let your students enjoy it. :(|) Have a great weekend. Anh
P.S. This is just the draft. I am waiting for your inputs.
One small suggestion: for 22 and 23, say "solve by any algebraic method" or else they might try to "guess and check"
Also, in my header, I like to give more explicit instructions about what is expected on a word problem, and I take off points for not checking and for not simplifying/reducing.
My only concern is cheating----unless we all give the Final on the same day/same time, what will stop people from sharing the questions?
I'd like to join the common final program. I am just looking for the right time to give them the test. My class is working on chapter 5.4 and it looks like they can do all of them except the last 4 questions. Do you have a deadline for submitting the graded test final exam? - Elaine Cho
Hi again, After sending this final out, I got some good ideas from some of you and will correct them to make it looks better. This final has 25 questions and I think it's too short for two hours. Students deserve to have five more questions. Don't you think so? Please let me know if we can have five more questions, and it would be great if you can give me the questions that you want me to add in. Thank you very much for your help on this. I will send this final again (the good one) right after the Thanksgiving holidays. Have a good week, Anh
Hi Anh, The number of problems depends on the difficulty level, etc., such as how many "word problems" that require a longer period of time to solve. My Math 151A Final, which I'm pretty sure I sent you, has 30 questions, and my Math 151B has 24. I think that we also agreed that once the Final is written, that we have a comprehensive Practice Review that would consist of all of the major concepts in the course, not just the ones being tested on the Final Exam. We'd of course have to keep it to a reasonable number --- my Math 151B has 47 review problems for the 24 question Final. For Math 151A, I've just been giving the students blank copies of their old tests to redo as a tuneup for the Final, and it seems to work out pretty well. If I get around to it, I might make up something similar for Math 151A as I did for Math 151B. I reattached the 2 Finals below.
I agree with Gino. My thinking is, if the questions are a good sample of the content, then the number of problems is not as important. Fewer problems also gives the students time to check. SAM
I don't remember seeing combined work rate problem on chapter 8. With reference to your question 20 on the final, which chapter should it belong to? - Elaine
Eric showed this to me when we were talking about the observation. I think that this is a very cool, easy to implement and measure method of assessing student attitudes. What do you think of doing something like this for measuring our SLOs? SAM
-----Original Message----- From: Eric Brachhausen Sent: Wednesday, November 16, 2011 6:08 PM To: Ilene Katz Subject: RE: math notes
Hi Sam,
Here is a sample photo from an earlier semester. For each capture of dots, I use a different color. Red was the first time, green was the second, and the yellow was the third. The yellow did not show up well in a photo, so I had to put black Xs on them.
Each time, I give every student 2 sticky dots and tell them to put them on the circle segments that best indicate their assessment of their ability. They can put both dots on the same circle, or split them among neighboring circles. Each segment of the circle represents one assessment or measurement. In this case, the class progressed to the point where most people were in the right hand circle.
Hi everyone, I just finished with the Final. I assume this is the "final" version but your inputs are still welcome. Thanks to those who gave me the inputs earlier. If you like this final, all you have to do is to print it out and give it to your students. I would like to know what percent of students scored 70% or above in the final (just this final). Thank you very much for your cooperation. Have a nice Thanksgiving. Anh
Looks good Ahn. I'll have to compare it with a combination of my Math 151A and 151B finals, just for fun, when I get a chance. I put in some separation lines between the problems, and added a coordinate axes for the one graphing problem, if you think that helps. The attachment is below. If you do end up using the changes, please don't mention my having suggested them. Have a great Thanksgiving with your family.
Hi Anh, Thanks again for all of the work on your part in coming up with a common Final. I wanted to mention one thing about the idea of possibly doing some statistics on the percentage of students that scored 70% or higher. At first, it seems like a fantastic idea, but I have to share with you what happened a few years ago at Newark Memorial High School when another teacher and I did an experiment of grading the same exact student test. She had the original test, and I had an ungraded xerox copy of the same test. By the way, we always gave common Chapter tests and Finals in the math department at Newark Memorial High School. To our amazement, the grade that I came up with on the student's test was a full letter grade lower than what the other teacher had given on the same exact test, based on how partial credit was assigned. A month or so later, we conducted the experiment again, and this time my grade was 3 points higher than hers, again on the same test --- maybe, I subconsciously felt guilty about what had happened on the first experiment. So, doing statistics on what percentage of students score 70% or higher is probably not as meaningful as one would expect. Hans idea, which he shared with me after the last Basic Skills meeting with Mikelyn, might solve this problem. Han's idea was to get together over pizza, put all of the common finals in a pile, and have each teacher grade one or two problems from every student's test. I think that would certainly be a much more reliable way of measuring how all of the students did on a particular test, and the tedious grading process may actually not only be more accurate, but also less painful, and more efficient. That type of method was also commonly used in my wife's 3rd grade classes when, for example, all of the 3rd grade teachers would get together to grade writing samples. The idea is great, but I don't know how the logistics of making it feasible could be worked out so that everyone could "enthusiastically" participate. Have a great Thanksgiving.
Hi everyone, What do you think about getting together to grade the final as Gino and Hans have mentioned? For me, I like the idea but I think it's not easy for us to do it. Please let me and Mylene know your opinions. By the way, Gino did a great job on editting the final (Big thank to Gino). He put in some separation lines between the problems, and added a coordinate axes for the one graphing problem, if you think that helps, use it. I resend the latest version. Again, thank you very much to all of you. Happy Thanksgiving. Cheers, Anh
I think the idea is great in itself but maybe everyone teaching Algebra1 ( I am not teaching it)may not be available at any one time together. The adjunct maybe teaching at another college or someone may have another class exam. But if some, can get together it is definitely a good idea. Another solution could also be that in the solution key it be spelled out exactly how many points to deduct for each wrong step. I know it will require a lot of " what ifs" but the graders will be a little closer in uniformity rather none at all. Just a thought. Finally, Anh, I think we should not say each question is worth 4 points. The finally is usually 20-30 % of the grade. I find it easier to make each question worth 10 points and then apply the appropriate weight. This gives me more flexibility i enabling me to deduct even 1/2 point out of ten for a very small error. Perhaps we should say " all problems are worth the same". VP Singh
Yes, all of the responses are great ideas and I also, agree that it might be difficult for people teaching Math 151 to meet and grade finals together. Have a nice day. Mylene
On Nov 28, 2011, at 10:07 PM, Tania Munding wrote:
> Hi, it depends on when you decide to meet to correct tests. I'll participate if I can. I'm ready to give the test you've written to my online class. Thank you for your work. Tania
Hi Anh, I'm sorry to be bringing this up so late, especially since I'm not currently teaching Math 151, but at least for anyone teaching in Newark, I feel that they definitely need to have 2 versions of the Final. I personally do not feel comfortable policing students sitting next to each other at small tables, taking the same version of the test. Also, working in Math Lab in Newark, I hear all kinds of variations of teacher expectations for different classes. Some teachers allow notes, other do not. I personally do not allow notes. If there are formulas that I want the students to have access to, for example in some chapters in Trig, I include them on the last page of the Chapter Exam or of the Final. I always run my tests with blank backs, and I allow students to un-staple the pages of the exam, and to use the blank backs for any scratch work, or even for doing test problems neatly, if they feel I did not give them sufficient room to work out a particular problem on the exam side of the test. Thus, I don't allow any extraneous pieces of "scratch paper", which sometimes turn out to be more than scratch paper, causing an unpleasant situation for all concerned, that could have easily been avoided. (I bring a small stapler to class to re-staple the tests) One more small point, maybe more subjective in nature, is that I always write my tests in a 2-column format. I don't do it for aesthetics, but rather to encourage students to always work down, rather than sideways, as they show all of their steps from the beginning of a problem to its solution. It certainly makes it easier for me to follow their work, and I think it's a good habit for the students to develop. It's not a big deal, but it's just something I've always done, and a format that I require when students do their homework, whether online, or from their textbook. It's so unfortunate to see students in the Math Lab doing online homework for their classes on scratch paper, completely unlabeled and disorganized, and mostly likely destined for the recycle bin. I try to encourage them to keep a notebook, and to copy the problems from the online assignment as if they were problems from their textbook, in a manner that can later be used for reviewing for exams, but as I'm not their teacher, I doubt that my suggestions have a lasting effect. Have a great rest of the week.
Gino
P.S. Anh, please don't feel obligated to write a 2nd version of the test, especially if the teachers giving the test don't feel that it's necessary. If teachers decide that a 2nd version is needed, I will be happy to help, or even just do it myself. Since the Final is already written, it's not that difficult to find equivalent problems of similar difficulty to create a 2nd version.
One more thing --- I hope that we all agree that electronic devices of any type, e.g. phones, etc. are not allowed on the Final, or any exam. I usually bring to class 5 scientific calculators of the $12, 2-line display variety, that I lend out, if necessary.
Hi everyone, It is me again. Gino and Tania want to have another version so that the students cannot 'share' during the final. Not a problem at all. I just made another version. You can have two different versions of this final. I call it Form A, and Form B. Form A is the first one that I have sent it. Form B is this one (attachment). I am sure that all the problems are similar with Form A. I checked it one by one and spent almost three hours for this. I can't find any mistakes yet, but if you do, please email me. By the way, you can decide your own points and go your own way that work for you (spaces, extra papers for students, ect...) Thank you every one for your inputs and participation. I hope this is the FINAL one. Enjoy, Anh
Anh, I only mentioned a 2nd version of the Final because the Newark student seating arrangement, with 2 students to a small table, is difficult to monitor, if there were only one version of the Final. As I'm not currently teaching Math 151, I brought up the topic just in case some of the teachers that are currently teaching Math 151, might hesitate to use the Common Final that you spent so much time and effort to create, including all of the back and forth emails, if there was only one version. In any case, you got the ball rolling, and we can certainly continue to have a dialogue about the Common Final topic, how it can be improved, how to interpret the results, etc. I know that the administration is always looking for data to support the programs that we have in place, and certainly a Common Final would be a great resource for obtaining exactly the kind of data that they are looking for. Thank you for all those extra hours you put in for the "common good", and have a wonderful rest of the semester --- 2 more weeks!
The template I designed to collaborate and work on our course SLOs uses some of Google’s free products. We will be using Blogger and Google Docs. Way back when we started Basic Skills, I created a gmail account for sharing documents etc. I will go over everything during our meeting today. If you can’t make it, you can use the information below to access and browse everything. I am still working on making the templates for each course look nicer. The course blogs are connected to our Basic Skills webpage. The login for everything is:
Thank you for all the support and advice you have given me throughout the semester. Here is the grades for the common final from my class Math 151-04. I have just input the grades for my students at Webadvisor, and pressed the 'summit' button. Is there a way I can make sure the grades are accepted?
Only seven students showed up for the Final tonight. Five passed the exam.
Of the students who did not come to the Final, I notice that they stopped doing their online homework a while ago, so I guess the last two chapters were just too much for them. This is the first time I have had registered students not even bother to take the Final!!!!
Enjoy the break, happy holidays, and health and happiness in new year.
Greetings! If you are teaching Math 190, 191 or 151 classes, you are invited to attend the discussions on Thursday, January 19, 2012. Please RSVP at the link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZB8WPSJ . Have a wonderful winter break! Thank you, Mylene
2:00pm- 4:00pm ( Newark 2119) Let’s talk about SLOs in Math 190, 191 and 151 Courses We will be discussing about the Student Learning Outcome in each of our basic skills math courses. SLO math questions will be handed out and asked to be given to students taking Math 190 & 191 at the beginning and at the end of the course in the spring semester 2012. Participants will be asked to share teaching strategies that have worked for them successfully in teaching basic skills math courses. Let’s talk about how we can help our students be successful in understanding basic mathematics and elementary algebra. Facilitated by Mylene Pelimiano and Anh Nguyen
Hi everyone, It's me again. I am thinking about having the common final again this semester. Please let me know if you want to have the common final. I will send it to you a week before the final. Cheers, Anh Nguyen
Hi everyone, Just want to let you know that the final of this semester will be different from the last one. I will make two different forms of final and send it out soon. Also, the answer keys will be provide so that you can save sometimes when grading.
Hello colleagues, I've never taught Math 151, as I've been doing only the 3-hour 2.5 or 3 unit night classes Math 151A/B, Math 153, Math 152B, and Math 181 for the last 25 years or so. The one thing that students like, for obvious reasons, is review materials, so I have always put something together for every chapter of every course that I've taught, including a review for the Final Exam. Students really appreciate it, and as the review materials cover the concepts that I want them to learn, I don't consider it "teaching to the test". Also, the review materials are always much more comprehensive than one can reasonably test in a 1 hour period or even a Final Exam. I'm attaching what I handed out this week for my Math 153 and Math 151A classes. If anyone is interested, I'll be happy to share my Finals, as well as anything else such as Chapter Reviews, practice tests, etc. for the courses that I've taught. I'll see you all tomorrow.
Gino Paula
On Nov 29, 2012, at 8:51 AM, Anh Nguyen wrote:
Hi everyone, I can't wait to see all of you at noon tomorrow: Friday, 11/30 in HH 218. I will have the stipend form for you to sign. All you need to do is to remember your Datatel ID#. Cheers, Anh
From: Anh Nguyen Sent: Friday, November 16, 2012 2:07 PM To: Mylene Pelimiano; Tania Munding; VP Singh; Mei-Wern Cheng; Thomas Judge; Huyen Nguyen; Higino Paula; Ilene Katz Subject: Math 151 meeting on November 30th
Hi everyone, Hope you all have a great time so far this semester! I am thinking about getting together to talk about the final exam and online HW (MyMathlab, and Hawkes). Also, we should get together for fun too, right? Is it possible for you to come for the meeting on Friday November 30th from 12:00 to 2:00 pm? We will meet in HH 218. Please let me know. Have a great weekend. Cheers, Anh
P.S Please note that adjunct faculty who teach Math 190, 191, and 151 will get paid for this meeting.
Anh, This student was in the learning community last semester, and had an embedded tutor both semesters. Please add this info and this note to the stuff that I sent to you for the program review/SLO report. Thanks, SAM Hi Ms. Katz,
Math used to be my worst subject. I used to dread the thought of taking a math class. Walking into that first 151A class after (a lot) of years since I opened a math book, I didn't know if I would make it through that semester. Now that I walk out of 151B, I don't dread math anymore. I owe a lot of that to you. Thank You.
Hi everyone, The Basic skills Math group had a meeting about the online homework this afternoon. Here are the inputs about the online homework that I've collected from the emails, and at today meeting. 1. Require a lot of paper homework from students along with the online homework they do daily. 2. Encourage students to graph on paper carefully by hand before they looked at the multiple- choice answers. 3. Make students do work on papers and collect the problems randomly.
4. Make tests that match with the assigned homework.
5. Make the notebook suggestion at some point to the students.
6. Post the review sheets, solutions (steps by steps) to the problems online.
If you have any more ideas about online homework, please share with us.
Here is my SLO report on Math 151. The data on this report was collected at the end of Fall 2012 using common final exam.
The results are based on 105 students from three sections.
SLO #2 (Set up stated problems algebraically and solve the resulting equations.) : 48/105 = 46%
SLO #5 (Solve systems of linear equations using graphing, substitution, and elimination methods.)
question 1: 63/105 =60%
SLO #5 question 2: 61/105 = 58%
SLO #9 (Solve quadratic equations using factoring and their applications.),which is word problems, based on three parts.
Part #1: Name the unknown 74/105 = 70%
Part #2: Set up equations 65/105 = 62%
Part # 3: Solve 51/105 = 49%
For SLO # 2: We recorded the number of students who answered it right and got full score; in other words, we didn’t record those who got partial credit for it. For SLO #5: We gave 2 questions, and again we recorded the number of students who got full credit for these two questions For SLO # 9: We gave one question and graded three following steps: 1. Name the variable 2. Set up equations 3. Solve the equations: The data collected showed that word problems is the area that we should concern. SLO #2 and #9 were word problems and the percentage of passing is very low.
Here's a little more background on the way CSUEB conducts its basic skills math finals.
ReplyDeleteAbout 3 weeks before finals a draft is sent out via email to all the instructors. We had the chance to send in comments and suggestions, most of which related to the degree of difficulty and the uniformity of coverage of the questions. I recall we had very productive dialogs - "gotcha" and too trivial questions were refined to the point where I felt the exam was a lot better than the sample exams from the book publisher.
The instructors were asked not to let on that the final is the same across sections, and from the questions I got from the students (e.g. Will you give us a question on such-and so?) I don't think the students ever caught on that this was a long standing practice. The instructors were assigned a couple problems to correct and we were asked to make up a grading rubric.
After we administered the test we graded the two questions for our class and then turned them in to the office. The office put a cover sheet on it with the list of graders and so as we graded each class we would sign off on the cover sheet. We had to correct them in the office so none would ultimately be missing. We had a correction deadline of Friday at noon, and then over a few pizzas on Friday we finished up and then we could add up the total grades for our own class.
I felt the total amount of effort that I put in for this kind of final was far less than writing and grading my own final. It also provided more interaction between instructors which is a good thing when, as an adjunct, you don't have much business on campus other than coming and going to a classroom.
The course coordinator at CSUEB is Dorothy Fujimura, (510) 885-3219. She's a lecturer there so basic skills education is really her focus.
It may be worth while doing a small trial this semester with 3-4 sections at Ohlone to help you formulate a proposal or at least have a case study before proposing it to the rest of the faculty. I would be glad to participate in that or help in any other way I can.
Hans de Moor
Hi everyone,
ReplyDeleteWe have been talking about having the common final for the Basic Skills classes (Math 190, 191, and 151), and now it's a good time discuss about Math 151 final. We will do the same for Math 190 and Math 191 next semester.
Thanks to Tania, Gino, Hans, and Mylene for helping me to come up with this draft.
It's up to you to decide if you want to use this final or not. We need at least five people to join us for this experiment. All you have to do is to give your students this final, grade them, and let us (Mylene and I) know the outcomes.
Thank you very much for your help. Please let us know if this draftl is good enough. We welcome your inputs to make it looks better. After hearing from you, I will re-organize it , put spaces between the questions, assign points to each questions, etc..., and make it ready for you two weeks before the final. You then just make enough copies for your class and let your students enjoy it.
:(|)
Have a great weekend.
Anh
P.S. This is just the draft. I am waiting for your inputs.
Hi
ReplyDeleteIt is a very good final.
One small suggestion: for 22 and 23, say "solve by any algebraic method" or else they might try to "guess and check"
Also, in my header, I like to give more explicit instructions about what is expected on a word problem, and I take off points for not checking and for not simplifying/reducing.
My only concern is cheating----unless we all give the Final on the same day/same time, what will stop people from sharing the questions?
-Karen
Hi Anh,
ReplyDeleteI'd like to join the common final program. I am just looking for the right time to give them the test. My class is working on chapter 5.4 and it looks like they can do all of them except the last 4 questions. Do you have a deadline for submitting the graded test final exam? - Elaine Cho
Hi again,
ReplyDeleteAfter sending this final out, I got some good ideas from some of you and will correct them to make it looks better.
This final has 25 questions and I think it's too short for two hours. Students deserve to have five more questions. Don't you think so?
Please let me know if we can have five more questions, and it would be great if you can give me the questions that you want me to add in.
Thank you very much for your help on this. I will send this final again (the good one) right after the Thanksgiving holidays.
Have a good week,
Anh
Hi Anh,
ReplyDeleteThe number of problems depends on the difficulty level, etc., such as how many "word problems" that require a longer period of time to solve. My Math 151A Final, which I'm pretty sure I sent you, has 30 questions, and my Math 151B has 24. I think that we also agreed that once the Final is written, that we have a comprehensive Practice Review that would consist of all of the major concepts in the course, not just the ones being tested on the Final Exam. We'd of course have to keep it to a reasonable number --- my Math 151B has 47 review problems for the 24 question Final. For Math 151A, I've just been giving the students blank copies of their old tests to redo as a tuneup for the Final, and it seems to work out pretty well. If I get around to it, I might make up something similar for Math 151A as I did for Math 151B.
I reattached the 2 Finals below.
Gino
I agree with Gino. My thinking is, if the questions are a good sample of the content, then the number of problems is not as important. Fewer problems also gives the students time to check.
ReplyDeleteSAM
Hi Anh. My final has 25 questions on it... So, my vote is to keep it as 25 questions. Have a nice day! How are you? I hope all is well with you.
ReplyDeleteTake care,
Mylene
Hi Anh,
ReplyDeleteI don't remember seeing combined work rate problem on chapter 8. With reference to your question 20 on the final, which chapter should it belong to? - Elaine
Eric showed this to me when we were talking about the observation. I think that this is a very cool, easy to implement and measure method of assessing student attitudes. What do you think of doing something like this for measuring our SLOs?
ReplyDeleteSAM
-----Original Message-----
From: Eric Brachhausen
Sent: Wednesday, November 16, 2011 6:08 PM
To: Ilene Katz
Subject: RE: math notes
Hi Sam,
Here is a sample photo from an earlier semester. For each capture of dots, I use a different color. Red was the first time, green was the second, and the yellow was the third. The yellow did not show up well in a photo, so I had to put black Xs on them.
Each time, I give every student 2 sticky dots and tell them to put them on the circle segments that best indicate their assessment of their ability. They can put both dots on the same circle, or split them among neighboring circles. Each segment of the circle represents one assessment or measurement. In this case, the class progressed to the point where most people were in the right hand circle.
Hope this is useful.
Regards,
Eric
Eric Brachhausen
Hi everyone,
ReplyDeleteI just finished with the Final. I assume this is the "final" version but your inputs are still welcome. Thanks to those who gave me the inputs earlier.
If you like this final, all you have to do is to print it out and give it to your students.
I would like to know what percent of students scored 70% or above in the final (just this final).
Thank you very much for your cooperation.
Have a nice Thanksgiving.
Anh
Looks good Ahn. I'll have to compare it with a combination of my Math 151A and 151B finals, just for fun, when I get a chance.
ReplyDeleteI put in some separation lines between the problems, and added a coordinate axes for the one graphing problem, if you think that helps. The attachment is below.
If you do end up using the changes, please don't mention my having suggested them.
Have a great Thanksgiving with your family.
Gino
Hi Anh,
ReplyDeleteThanks again for all of the work on your part in coming up with a common Final.
I wanted to mention one thing about the idea of possibly doing some statistics on the percentage of students that scored 70% or higher.
At first, it seems like a fantastic idea, but I have to share with you what happened a few years ago at Newark Memorial High School when another teacher and I did an experiment of grading the same exact student test. She had the original test, and I had an ungraded xerox copy of the same test. By the way, we always gave common Chapter tests and Finals in the math department at Newark Memorial High School. To our amazement, the grade that I came up with on the student's test was a full letter grade lower than what the other teacher had given on the same exact test, based on how partial credit was assigned. A month or so later, we conducted the experiment again, and this time my grade was 3 points higher than hers, again on the same test --- maybe, I subconsciously felt guilty about what had happened on the first experiment. So, doing statistics on what percentage of students score 70% or higher is probably not as meaningful as one would expect.
Hans idea, which he shared with me after the last Basic Skills meeting with Mikelyn, might solve this problem. Han's idea was to get together over pizza, put all of the common finals in a pile, and have each teacher grade one or two problems from every student's test. I think that would certainly be a much more reliable way of measuring how all of the students did on a particular test, and the tedious grading process may actually not only be more accurate, but also less painful, and more efficient. That type of method was also commonly used in my wife's 3rd grade classes when, for example, all of the 3rd grade teachers would get together to grade writing samples.
The idea is great, but I don't know how the logistics of making it feasible could be worked out so that everyone could "enthusiastically" participate.
Have a great Thanksgiving.
Gino
Hi everyone,
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think about getting together to grade the final as Gino and Hans have mentioned?
For me, I like the idea but I think it's not easy for us to do it. Please let me and Mylene know your opinions.
By the way, Gino did a great job on editting the final (Big thank to Gino). He put in some separation lines between the problems, and added a coordinate axes for the one graphing problem, if you think that helps, use it. I resend the latest version.
Again, thank you very much to all of you.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Cheers,
Anh
I think the idea is great in itself but maybe everyone teaching Algebra1 ( I am not teaching it)may not be available at any one time together. The adjunct maybe teaching at another college or someone may have another class exam. But if some, can get together it is definitely a good idea.
ReplyDeleteAnother solution could also be that in the solution key it be spelled out exactly how many points to deduct for each wrong step. I know it will require a lot of " what ifs" but the graders will be a little closer in uniformity rather none at all. Just a thought.
Finally, Anh, I think we should not say each question is worth 4 points. The finally is usually 20-30 % of the grade. I find it easier to make each question worth 10 points and then apply the appropriate weight. This gives me more flexibility i enabling me to deduct even 1/2 point out of ten for a very small error. Perhaps we should say " all problems are worth the same".
VP Singh
All of this sounds like good ideas to me.
ReplyDeleteSAM
Yes, all of the responses are great ideas and I also, agree that it might be difficult for people teaching Math 151 to meet and grade finals together. Have a nice day. Mylene
ReplyDeleteOn Nov 28, 2011, at 10:07 PM, Tania Munding wrote:
ReplyDelete> Hi, it depends on when you decide to meet to correct tests. I'll participate if I can. I'm ready to give the test you've written to my online class. Thank you for your work. Tania
Hi Anh,
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to be bringing this up so late, especially since I'm not currently teaching Math 151, but at least for anyone teaching in Newark, I feel that they definitely need to have 2 versions of the Final. I personally do not feel comfortable policing students sitting next to each other at small tables, taking the same version of the test.
Also, working in Math Lab in Newark, I hear all kinds of variations of teacher expectations for different classes. Some teachers allow notes, other do not.
I personally do not allow notes. If there are formulas that I want the students to have access to, for example in some chapters in Trig, I include them on the last page of the Chapter Exam or of the Final. I always run my tests with blank backs, and I allow students to un-staple the pages of the exam, and to use the blank backs for any scratch work, or even for doing test problems neatly, if they feel I did not give them sufficient room to work out a particular problem on the exam side of the test. Thus, I don't allow any extraneous pieces of "scratch paper", which sometimes turn out to be more than scratch paper, causing an unpleasant situation for all concerned, that could have easily been avoided. (I bring a small stapler to class to re-staple the tests)
One more small point, maybe more subjective in nature, is that I always write my tests in a 2-column format. I don't do it for aesthetics, but rather to encourage students to always work down, rather than sideways, as they show all of their steps from the beginning of a problem to its solution. It certainly makes it easier for me to follow their work, and I think it's a good habit for the students to develop. It's not a big deal, but it's just something I've always done, and a format that I require when students do their homework, whether online, or from their textbook. It's so unfortunate to see students in the Math Lab doing online homework for their classes on scratch paper, completely unlabeled and disorganized, and mostly likely destined for the recycle bin. I try to encourage them to keep a notebook, and to copy the problems from the online assignment as if they were problems from their textbook, in a manner that can later be used for reviewing for exams, but as I'm not their teacher, I doubt that my suggestions have a lasting effect.
Have a great rest of the week.
Gino
P.S. Anh, please don't feel obligated to write a 2nd version of the test, especially if the teachers giving the test don't feel that it's necessary.
If teachers decide that a 2nd version is needed, I will be happy to help, or even just do it myself.
Since the Final is already written, it's not that difficult to find equivalent problems of similar difficulty to create a 2nd version.
One more thing --- I hope that we all agree that electronic devices of any type, e.g. phones, etc. are not allowed on the Final, or any exam.
I usually bring to class 5 scientific calculators of the $12, 2-line display variety, that I lend out, if necessary.
I always give at least two variants of any tests. I thought that you will provide two variants of the Final. Otherwise I'll give my own Final. Tania
ReplyDeleteHi everyone,
ReplyDeleteIt is me again. Gino and Tania want to have another version so that the students cannot 'share' during the final.
Not a problem at all. I just made another version.
You can have two different versions of this final. I call it Form A, and Form B.
Form A is the first one that I have sent it. Form B is this one (attachment).
I am sure that all the problems are similar with Form A. I checked it one by one and spent almost three hours for this. I can't find any mistakes yet, but if you do, please email me.
By the way, you can decide your own points and go your own way that work for you (spaces, extra papers for students, ect...)
Thank you every one for your inputs and participation.
I hope this is the FINAL one.
Enjoy,
Anh
Anh,
ReplyDeleteI only mentioned a 2nd version of the Final because the Newark student seating arrangement, with 2 students to a small table, is difficult to monitor, if there were only one version of the Final. As I'm not currently teaching Math 151, I brought up the topic just in case some of the teachers that are currently teaching Math 151, might hesitate to use the Common Final that you spent so much time and effort to create, including all of the back and forth emails, if there was only one version. In any case, you got the ball rolling, and we can certainly continue to have a dialogue about the Common Final topic, how it can be improved, how to interpret the results, etc. I know that the administration is always looking for data to support the programs that we have in place, and certainly a Common Final would be a great resource for obtaining exactly the kind of data that they are looking for. Thank you for all those extra hours you put in for the "common good", and have a wonderful rest of the semester --- 2 more weeks!
Gino
Hi all,
ReplyDeletePlease keep this email!
The template I designed to collaborate and work on our course SLOs uses some of Google’s free products. We will be using Blogger and Google Docs. Way back when we started Basic Skills, I created a gmail account for sharing documents etc. I will go over everything during our meeting today. If you can’t make it, you can use the information below to access and browse everything. I am still working on making the templates for each course look nicer. The course blogs are connected to our Basic Skills webpage. The login for everything is:
Hi Anh,
ReplyDeleteThank you for all the support and advice you have given me throughout the semester. Here is the grades for the common final from my class Math 151-04. I have just input the grades for my students at Webadvisor, and pressed the 'summit' button. Is there a way I can make sure the grades are accepted?
Stay well, Happy Holiday.
Elaine Cho
The result for my 151 using the comming final is approximately 66% passing with 70% or better.
ReplyDeleteHello
ReplyDeleteOnly seven students showed up for the Final tonight. Five passed the exam.
Of the students who did not come to the Final, I notice that they stopped doing their online homework a while ago, so I guess the last two chapters were just too much for them. This is the first time I have had registered students not even bother to take the Final!!!!
Enjoy the break, happy holidays, and health and happiness in new year.
-Karen
Greetings! If you are teaching Math 190, 191 or 151 classes, you are invited to attend the discussions on Thursday, January 19, 2012. Please RSVP at the link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZB8WPSJ . Have a wonderful winter break! Thank you, Mylene
ReplyDelete2:00pm- 4:00pm ( Newark 2119) Let’s talk about SLOs in Math 190, 191 and 151 Courses
We will be discussing about the Student Learning Outcome in each of our basic skills math courses. SLO math questions will be handed out and asked to be given to students taking Math 190 & 191 at the beginning and at the end of the course in the spring semester 2012. Participants will be asked to share teaching strategies that have worked for them successfully in teaching basic skills math courses. Let’s talk about how we can help our students be successful in understanding basic mathematics and elementary algebra.
Facilitated by Mylene Pelimiano and Anh Nguyen
81.8% got 70% or above (Passing Grade);
ReplyDeleteOut of these 36% got 90% or above "A";
4% got 80% "B";
20% score below 70%;
40% score 70%-80% "C"
Thank you. Tania
Hi everyone,
ReplyDeleteIt's me again. I am thinking about having the common final again this semester. Please let me know if you want to have the common final.
I will send it to you a week before the final.
Cheers,
Anh Nguyen
I would definitely be interested, but I'm only teaching the M151B this semester.
ReplyDeleteThanks.
Gino
Hi everyone,
ReplyDeleteJust want to let you know that the final of this semester will be different from the last one. I will make two different forms of final and send it out soon. Also, the answer keys will be provide so that you can save sometimes when grading.
Hello colleagues,
ReplyDeleteI've never taught Math 151, as I've been doing only the 3-hour 2.5 or 3 unit night classes Math 151A/B, Math 153, Math 152B, and Math 181 for the last 25 years or so.
The one thing that students like, for obvious reasons, is review materials, so I have always put something together for every chapter of every course that I've taught, including a review for the Final Exam. Students really appreciate it, and as the review materials cover the concepts that I want them to learn, I don't consider it "teaching to the test". Also, the review materials are always much more comprehensive than one can reasonably test in a 1 hour period or even a Final Exam. I'm attaching what I handed out this week for my Math 153 and Math 151A classes. If anyone is interested, I'll be happy to share my Finals, as well as anything else such as Chapter Reviews, practice tests, etc. for the courses that I've taught.
I'll see you all tomorrow.
Gino Paula
On Nov 29, 2012, at 8:51 AM, Anh Nguyen wrote:
Hi everyone,
I can't wait to see all of you at noon tomorrow: Friday, 11/30 in HH 218.
I will have the stipend form for you to sign. All you need to do is to remember your Datatel ID#.
Cheers,
Anh
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Anh Nguyen
Sent: Friday, November 16, 2012 2:07 PM
To: Mylene Pelimiano; Tania Munding; VP Singh; Mei-Wern Cheng; Thomas Judge; Huyen Nguyen; Higino Paula; Ilene Katz
Subject: Math 151 meeting on November 30th
Hi everyone,
Hope you all have a great time so far this semester!
I am thinking about getting together to talk about the final exam and online HW (MyMathlab, and Hawkes). Also, we should get together for fun too, right?
Is it possible for you to come for the meeting on Friday November 30th from 12:00 to 2:00 pm? We will meet in HH 218.
Please let me know.
Have a great weekend.
Cheers,
Anh
P.S
Please note that adjunct faculty who teach Math 190, 191, and 151 will get paid for this meeting.
Anh,
ReplyDeleteThis student was in the learning community last semester, and had an embedded tutor both semesters. Please add this info and this note to the stuff that I sent to you for the program review/SLO report.
Thanks,
SAM
Hi Ms. Katz,
Math used to be my worst subject. I used to dread the thought of taking a math class. Walking into that first 151A class after (a lot) of years since I opened a math book, I didn't know if I would make it through that semester. Now that I walk out of 151B, I don't dread math anymore. I owe a lot of that to you. Thank You.
Hi everyone,
ReplyDeleteThe Basic skills Math group had a meeting about the online homework this afternoon.
Here are the inputs about the online homework that I've collected from the emails, and at today meeting.
1. Require a lot of paper homework from students along with the online homework they do daily.
2. Encourage students to graph on paper carefully by hand before they looked at the multiple- choice answers.
3. Make students do work on papers and collect the problems randomly.
4. Make tests that match with the assigned homework.
5. Make the notebook suggestion at some point to the students.
6. Post the review sheets, solutions (steps by steps) to the problems online.
If you have any more ideas about online homework, please share with us.
Have a great weekend.
Anh
Here is my SLO report on Math 151. The data on this report was collected at the end of Fall 2012 using common final exam.
ReplyDeleteThe results are based on 105 students from three sections.
SLO #2 (Set up stated problems algebraically and solve the resulting equations.) : 48/105 = 46%
SLO #5 (Solve systems of linear equations using graphing, substitution, and elimination methods.)
question 1: 63/105 =60%
SLO #5 question 2: 61/105 = 58%
SLO #9 (Solve quadratic equations using factoring and their applications.),which is word problems,
based on three parts.
Part #1: Name the unknown
74/105 = 70%
Part #2: Set up equations
65/105 = 62%
Part # 3: Solve
51/105 = 49%
For SLO # 2: We recorded the number of students who answered it right and got full score; in other words, we didn’t record those who got partial credit for it.
For SLO #5: We gave 2 questions, and again we recorded the number of students who got full credit for these two questions
For SLO # 9: We gave one question and graded three following steps:
1. Name the variable
2. Set up equations
3. Solve the equations:
The data collected showed that word problems is the area that we should concern. SLO #2 and #9 were word problems and the percentage of passing is very low.
IMPROVEMENT PLAN: will post soon