Assignment 3, Weekly Update

To date, my literature review has focused on three areas:

1. Identifying needs of Community College students to improve remedial math skills.
2. Technology learning tools that provide for a new type learning environment and how they address the learning needs identified above.
3. Factors that limit access or diminish the success of students in achieving their goals in learning remedial math.

Though the first part of the literature review does not relate directly to technology, it lays the foundation to identify and discuss needs of community college students to determine what needs exist, and the degree to which the current technology is meeting them. The second part considers the different applications of technology for community college students and how they relate to assisting students in achieving their educational goals. The third part identifies limitations to the technology, that include access, usage, and the failure of technology to adequately address the identified needs of students.

When studying students' needs in math studies at the community college level, little consideration is specifically given to andragogy. Part of the first section of the literature review will be to incorporate these ideas within the study and to flesh out how the lack of these considerations may impact the research being reviewed.

The second part of the literature review will consider different types of technology that are being used at the community college level, the features of the particular programs being studied, and what components of the technology the study yields as being successful. These findings will also be compared with similar programs as well as the concepts studied in andragogy.

The third part of the literature review will consider research that concludes the limitations of technology in not meeting the needs of math students in the community college level. These will be compared to consider commonalities between the research, inconsistencies between the research and the reasons (including those related to andragogy) why the technology failed to address the needs of the students.

Any good articles related to this field would be appreciated, as I would like to prepare a solid literature review on this topic.

Assignment 2, Topic Choice

My topic choice for my Master's thesis is the impact of online tools for instruction and assessment toward learning remedial mathematics at the community college level.

At Crafton Hills Community College, the math department uses the Hawkes Learning system - an online system used in conjunction with class instruction that offers instruction, practice and demonstrating mastery within a topic. Within basic math and pre-algebra, instructors use the 'certify' feature of the program in lieu of homework, and are able to electronically track student progress, amount of time spent by students in the program and number of standards mastered.

This topic is relevant for several reasons. First, it can demonstrate the role of technology to provide intervention in student learning that is always available outside of the classroom. Second, students are able to obtain instant feedback on their answers to continually refine their understanding. Third, teachers are able to collect hard data to determine time and effort on the part of students to determine if they are making the effort to learn in the class - something far more difficult to do with large piles of homework assignments.

To complete the study, I will have to obtain research on similar programs in different phases of development to determine what features of the program are effective and which can be improved. Additionally, I will need permission from the department and instructors to the data and grades of their students that they accumulate during the semester of study. Third, I will need access to students and be able to survey them about the features of the program they believe to be effective or ineffective to determine correlates between the online program, student achievement and classroom instruction.

Assignment 1, Timeline

Given that I still have many courses to complete to graduate, there is no real rush to complete my project. Nonetheless, I will be designing my timeline for below as if I will be completing it for this spring. I have attempted to adjust the calendar slightly since I have yet to gather my data that was recommended to be completed by January 9th.

January 17 - Identify Topic, Develop research questions and methodology

January 24 - instrument development, begin data collection

February 3 - complete data collection, begin data analysis

February 9 - complete data analysis, begin completing writing and editing final draft

February 17 - Preliminary Literature Review complete

March 9 - Thesis complete include full literature review: submit to first reader

April 9 - Get approval from first reader to submit to second reader.

May 9 - Submit for Format review.