Conference Session

Mathematics Division Technical Session 3

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Edmund Tsang, Western Michigan University; Kenneth David Domingue, Western Michigan University ; Sarah Gray Hagen, Western Michigan University; Rebecca A. Scheffers, Western Michigan University; Lenore Yaeger; Katherine Fox, Western Michigan University

Tagged Divisions

Mathematics

first-year students a shared opportunity to successfully make the academic and socialtransition to university life. Seminar activities and programs are designed to prepare students fortheir first year and beyond. Students receive instruction in the course from a faculty/staffmember and an upper-level student instructor who both facilitate this unique universityexperience”14.Though an optional course, approximately 50% of first-year WMU students take either a generalor themed FYE 2100. The “classic” sections and the “themed” sections of FYE 2100 all share acommon syllabus and course objectives, including an introduction to college-level research,extra-curricular activities and assignments, and participation in the University Common Readproject

Conference Session

Mathematics Division Technical Session 4

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jennifer B. Daines, Colorado Technical University; Tonya Troka, Colorado Technical University; John M. Santiago Jr., Colorado Technical University

Tagged Divisions

Mathematics

). These courses are often astudent’s first experience with math beyond what they learned in high school. They providecritical prerequisite skills for both Engineering and Computer Science students, and for many,they represent a barrier to not only success, but also entry into those programs. In January of2014, CTU had a 50% withdraw rate in Pre-calculus, and in the summer of that year, we sawsimilar results in Trigonometry. Although we could not determine exact numbers, we knew fromspeaking with faculty and advisors that students were leaving Engineering because they couldnot get past these two critical math courses. The university had seen improvement in studentmastery of course objectives in the prerequisite College Algebra course online, and

Conference Session

Mathematics Division Technical Session 3

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Doug Bullock, Boise State University; Kathrine E. Johnson; Janet Callahan, Boise State University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Mathematics

own sense of what should be taught in calculus, which guided their teaching,assignments and examinations.There was agreement about what c text should be used, and a common syllabus was on file. Yet,as a result of both growth and lack of coordination between instructional faculty, a situation haddeveloped by 2005-6 which students, the mathematics department, and others recognized asbeing problematic. At that time, from a student’s perspective, it appeared to matter more, “whoyou took,” than “what you learned” in terms of their chances of passing the course.1 This wassupported by pass rate data; the average pass rate in 2005-6 was 51% and ranged from 30% to90% depending on who taught the course.2 The variation in pass rate was a confounding