Last night I put the finishing touches on some of the assignments for my intermediate algebra course, and I wanted to write a little bit about media assignments. In the assignments I created I added some short conceptual and example videos from the textbook. (The goal was to provide some direct instruction and review into the assignment.) I was able to do this by creating a media assignment in MyLab. Creating a media assignment is just like creating a standard…
This semester I am devoting Mondays to getting the most out of MyLab for math instructors – MyLab Monday! If you have topics related to MyLab that you’d like me to address, or if you have questions about MyLab, please reach out to me by leaving a comment or by visiting the contact page on my website: georgewoodbury.com. Starting from Scratch If you are a first time user you will need your Pearson rep to create an account for you….
This Saturday I will be speaking at ICTCM about how I use Learning Catalytics in my Statistics and Algebra courses. Collecting Homework I started slowly in my Statistics courses, using Learning Catalytics to collect “written” homework. I often give written assignments to supplement MyStatLab exercises, and Learning Catalytics allows me to collect certain problems or parts of certain problems. The answers are automatically graded and scores are transferred to my grade book in MyStatLab. This strategy encourages students to do…
This semester I am teaching two sections of elementary algebra using a flipped classroom model. The approach is different than the way I have flipped my statistics course, but has been very effective. I am relying heavily on MyMathLab outside the classroom. For each section that we cover … Students complete a “Flip” assignment before the material is discussed in class. The assignment contains conceptual videos that introduce each topic as well as videos of examples where problems are worked…
I hear many instructors lamenting that their students are not doing their homework to the instructor’s satisfaction. If we agree that homework is an important part of the learning process, then it is important to tackle this problem. Do your students know why they are doing homework? Don’t be so sure that they do. Many students do it because it’s part of the game, because they are told to do it, because they get points for doing it. They should…
Looking forward to my session on the importance of student discovery in developmental math at ICTCM this weekend in Atlanta. I will be sharing innovative approaches for getting your students involved in the discovery of material. When students are engaged and thinking the chances for understanding and success dramatically increase. The session is on Saturday morning from 9-9:30. I will be walking through Interactive Statistics in the exhibitor’s room from 10-10:30 on Friday morning. This is the new product I…
One thing I like to do in class is end with a short assignment to see how well students understand the material from that section. There are a couple of short quizzes that are available in the 4th edition of my combined elementary & intermediate algebra textbook. First, in the Video Notebook (located for students inside MyMathLab) each section of the notebook ends with a 5-question self-assessment quiz that works really well for this purpose. I selected 5 problems that…
I wanted to share one of my in-class strategies for using the videos in my 4th edition combined algebra text. For the latest edition I created over 3000 short videos – conceptual, technology (TI-84), study skills, … In this article I am focusing on the videos I made that correspond to the examples in the textbook as well as the two associated Quick Check exercises. (Each example in the textbook has two corresponding Quick Check exercises.) Round One – Example…
As my students are getting ready for their final exam, I assign a MyMathLab quiz that is connected to a personalized homework assignment. There are 36 questions on the quiz, with 136 related questions on the homework assignment. For each question a student gets right on the quiz, all related problems (typically 4) are removed from the homework assignment. This allows students to focus on the problems they struggled with, which is one of the most important factors in preparing…
The first article has been posted to George Woodbury’s MyMathLab Corner on the Pearson Instructor Exchange. You can check it out here … Getting the Most Out of Online Homework