Missouri Western State UniversityNCAT Mid-Course Sharing Workshop

Lou FowlerAssociate Professor of Accounting

fowler@missouriwestern.edu

Course Redesign

• We redesigned GBA110, Introduction to Business.

• Although smaller class size than some other courses, it suffered from considerable “course drift” and a consistently high drop/fail rate.

• Academic performance of the pilot group improved; however, the drop/fail rate did not diminish.

Students’ Success

• Final exam scores• Pre- and post-test knowledge survey• Validation of learning

Comprehensive Final Exam

• The pilot group did better than the traditional group on the same comprehensive exam.

• The average score on the comprehensive final exam for the pilot group was 81% and the traditional group 79%.

ComprehensiveFinal Exam Results

Knowledge Survey• Significant improvement was noted between the pre-

test and post-test knowledge surveys (administered only to the pilot group).

• Students rated their knowledge of course concepts using the following scale:1. Not confident in my knowledge in this area.2. Somewhat confident in my knowledge in this area3. Very confident that I am highly

knowledgeable in this area

Pre-Test and Post-test Comparisons for GBA110, Introduction to Business Pilot in Spring 2012

Validation of Learning

The next results indicate a close relationship between performance on the final exam andincrease in knowledge of subject matter as measured by the post-test.

Comparison of Post-test and Final Exam Results

Student Issues• The nontraditional students differed from the

traditional students.– Game playing activities – not as engaged– Stock Market Game- more engaged– Grades of the nontraditional students were better.

Issues• Neither groups of students liked the online

Homework Manager.• Students did not like having to read the material and

answer the Homework Manager assignments before coming to class.• Four students did not even get the Homework Manager

access code until mid-way through the course. This definitely hurt their grade.• Grades in the Homework Manager comprised 14% of

the student’s grade.

Full Implementation

• Encourage more traditional-age students to enroll. Currently, the course pre-requisite excludes students who have more than 24 hours of credit.

• For fall, a business simulation will be added, as well as continuing our stock market simulation game.

Biggest Challenges for Fall

• Finding additional lecture time to sufficiently cover course topics. – Student feedback

• Increasing enrollment of our target group of traditional-age students.

• Improving student participation in the on-line Homework Manager.

The Best Part• Instructional cost per student decreased by

nearly 30%.• Missouri Western’s Criminal Justice department

used our design proposal to redesign Introduction to Juvenile Delinquency. In Spring 2012 they reported:• Cost cuts per student by nearly 50%• Student satisfaction was increased; however, no

significant change in grades was noted • Planning to redesign two more additional courses in

the upcoming academic year.

Questions?