University of Maryland Baltimore County

Department of PsychologyEileen O’Brien, Ph.D.

Introductory Psychology

University of Maryland System Course Redesign

General education requirement course180+ students per section7 sections per year4 credit course3 ½ clock hours each week for instruction15 weeks of classLarge lecture halls4 unit multiple choice examsLecture style2 FT Grad TAs (GTAs); managing exams and

recording grades; administrative tasks.

Failure rate peaked at 30% (Grade of D,F); withdrawal rate as high as 10%

60% class attendance rateLack of preparation for class–limited

discussionOverwhelming amount of course contentFaculty not requesting to teach this coursePoor performance on multiple choice exams –

(e.g., class exam mean of 62% on unit examsPoor student evaluations re: content, learning,

environmentCourse Drift

Faculty teaching the course*Lecturers and Adjuncts

ProvostDean of Arts and SciencesDepartment Chair*Faculty Development Director*Student Learning Resource Center Director*Blackboard Administrator*Evaluator*Graduate TAs*Undergraduate Student**Review team for timeline tasks

Maintained 1,000 students per year; section size to 200.

from 7 to 5 course sections per/yr

Applied 3 credit hrs/wk to course meeting; 1 credit hr/wk for online “labs”

Created online labs – simulations, practice quizzes, online chapter tests (self-paced).

lecture time; shift to discussion Integrated CPS questions to

interactivity and attendance Created common multiple choice

exams across sections Added weekly small group activities to

interactivity Assigned 1½ GTAs for database

management and student support Sequenced content for more engaging

start Created Peer Mentors for class

activities, tutoring, and exam prep

Impact on Final Grades

Redesign sections compared to the Traditional section shows significantly proportionately fewer Cs, Ds and Fs and greater As and Bs, χ2(N=768,df=4) = 44.2, p<.001.

Course Withdrawal Rates

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10 Spring 2004

Fall 2004

Spring 2005

Spring 2005

Fall 2006

Spring 2006

Spring2008R

Spring2008T

Fall 2008R

Fall 2008 had the lowest withdraw rate (3.2%) documented since 2000. The range has been 4.1% to 10.3 %.

05

1015202530354045

A B C D F stopped

Spring 2009 Fall 2009 Spring 2010 Fall 2010 Spring 2011

Grade Distributions for Psyc1002009-2011

Student Satisfaction*

What was good about the redesign: “the ability to do labs on-line when ready or to review

information online,” “small group work and discussion in class,” and “in-class movies and videos.”

What needs to be improved with the redesign: “review questions students got wrong on tests; discuss

questions that lots of students got wrong,” “more clicker questions,” “make PowerPoints available on-line.”

*focus group data

Faculty Satisfaction*

What was good about the redesign: “removed pressure to teach every topic in the book,” “freed up time for scholarly activities, less need for

office hours or lecturing an additional hour a week.”

What needs to be improved with the redesign: “faculty need training in technology, use of platforms,

and software,” “accuracy of online test banks.”

*faculty interview data

Reallocation of Resources

Decreased the number of sections required each semester and increased class size.

Decreased withdrawal rates; retaining students. Decreased the need for two faculty each year; free to

offer an additional upper level course each semester. Freed up classroom space for the University to teach

other courses on campus. Decreased the need for graduate teaching assistants

from 2 grad students to 1 grad student. Leveraged existing resources to fund undergraduate

Peer Mentors; using some our savings to build the program.

Proposal- Summer 2010; Pilot – Fall 2010; Implementation-Spring 2011

Developmental Psychology (3 credits)

Replacement Model

class meeting to 4 times/semester; shift to Unit discussion sessions

Created faculty agreed upon final exam to test critical concepts

use of essays online for each unit testing online with weekly chapter

exams Weekly discussion board entries Videos with online questions after

viewing Assigned 1 GTAs for database

management and student support Targeted course drift, technology

use, student enrollment

Outcomes

Course grade distributions maintained; SCEQs remain high

Uniform course delivery with departmental agreed upon critical content

Failure rate maintained at 5% number of students enrolled writing assignments two faculty a year teaching the course Freed up classroom space for additional

courses to ½ GTA Cost per student $158 to $74 per student

($63,200/yr to $29,600/yr)

Proposal- Fall 2011; Pilot – Spring 2012; Implementation-Fall 2012

First Year CompositionReplacement Model

Using small groups Building in use of

software for writing assignments

Using peer mentors Standardizing all

sections Combining two

courses delivering the same outcomes

Consolidating faculty effort

Introduction to Sociology

Replacement Model

Increasing enrollment Using technology for

course content delivery Standardizing syllabus

and content Using peer mentors Writing assignments in

class with groups Online practice quizzes

and mastery assignments

Organic ChemistrySupplemental Model

Online activities outside of class

In-class discussion sessions instead of lecture

Peer mentors to tutor and work through lab assignments

Standardize all sections with common text and content

Students will work in groups.