INTENSIVE AND COMPRESSED SCHEDULES

Intensive and Compressed Schedules



Intensive and Compressed Schedules

Introduction

In an effort to improve student success in college algebra, many 2-year colleges have restructured the college algebra curriculum to incorporate technology. Such restructuring efforts have included making the course available as either an online or hybrid class (i.e., part online, part face-to-face), requiring students to use instructional software that accompanies their textbook (e.g., Pearson's MyMathLab), and requiring students to learn and use graphics calculators or computerized algebra systems such as Mathematica. Associated with these restructuring efforts are of studies that have examined the impact of technology on student achievement and attitudes toward mathematics (e.g., Adams, 1997a, 1997b; Affouf & Wals, 2007; Gallo & Moore, 2002; Hagerty & Smith, 2005; Hollar & Norwood, 1999; Klein, 2005; Lawton, 1999; Magoun, Richters, Saydam, Owens, & Smith, 2008; O'Callaghan, 1998; Stephens & Konvalina, 1999). As is so often the case with educational research, though, the results of these and other similar studies are mixed. For example, findings from Hollar and Norwood, as well as from Lawton, and from O'Callaghan generally showed that students who participated in a technology-enhanced college algebra curriculum had more positive attitudes toward mathematics and were more confident about their ability to do mathematics. However, Gallo and Moore found no significant achievement or attitude effect with respect to using graphics calculators, and Klein found no achievement differences between students who used and did not use MyMathLab; Klein also concluded that MyMathLab had a negative effect on students' beliefs about how much time was needed to solve mathematics problems. Other efforts to improve student performance in college algebra have included examining the extent to which prerequisite courses (Sworder, 1997), students' attributions (Cortes-Suarez & Sandiford, 2008), students' understanding of word problems (Carlson, 1997; Lane, 2006), and students' understanding of functions (Runde, 1997) predict success. The results of these and related studies are also mixed and inconclusive.

A restructuring effort that may also predict success but that seems to have been overlooked in the literature is the manner in which college algebra classes are scheduled. Traditional 3-credit-hr, semester-length (i.e., 15 weeks) courses such as college algebra historically have been offered three times a week on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (MWF) for 50 min per class, twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday (TR) or Monday and Wednesday (MW) for 75 min per class, and occasionally once a week on Saturday or on one weekday evening for 150 min.

Purpose of Paper

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between class scheduling in college algebra and student achievement. The targeted class schedules were Monday-Wednesday-Friday (MWF), Monday-Wednesday (MW), Tuesday-Thursday (TR), and Saturday. The MWF classes met for 50 minutes per class session, the MW and TR classes met for 75 minutes per class session, and the Saturday class met in the morning for 165 minutes with a 15-minutes break. The college algebra course examined in the study was MAC 1105, which pertained to a specific set of course objectives published by Florida's Division of Community Colleges, ...