MyMathLab – Student Learning Outcome (SLO) Quizzes
October 25, 2010 at 4:53 am 4 comments
All of our courses at my college have Student Learning Outcomes (SLO’s) associated with them. These are skills that students should have upon exiting the course. At one point our courses had 9 or 10 SLO’s, but we have recently cut them down to approximately 4 per course.
MyMathLab SLO Quizzes
Based on our original SLO’s, I created a series of SLO Quizzes in MyMathLab. These quizzes have two clear benefits. First and foremost, they help my students to prepare for their final exams. These quizzes also allow me to easily gather SLO data to include in my self evaluation, and I use item analysis to help me determine which subjects will need further review in class.
For example, one of our SLO’s in Intermediate Algebra stated “Students will be able to simplify radical expressions and solve radical equations.” I created a quiz that had approximately 30 questions and it covered simplifying single radicals, adding radical expressions, subtracting radical expressions, multiplying radical expressions, dividing radical expressions, and solving radical equations.
How I Use Them
I open the 2-3 SLO quizzes per week for the last 4 weeks of the semester. This pace forces students to start their final review early, rather than procrastinating and waiting for the end of the semester. I allow my students to take the quizzes as many times as they would like to, with only the highest score counting.
Department-wide Use
If your entire department uses MyMathLab, you can share these quizzes and use MyMathLab to generate department-wide data.
Summary
Do you any questions about SLO quizzes? Please leave a comment, or reach me through the contact page at my web site – georgewoodbury.com.
-George
I am a math instructor at College of the Sequoias in Visalia, CA. Each Monday I post an article related to MyMathLab on my blog. If there’s a particular topic you’d like me to address, or if you have a question or a comment, please let me know. You can reach me through the contact page on my website – http://georgewoodbury.com.
Entry filed under: Math, MyMathLab. Tags: algebra, amatyc, college, developmental math, education, exam review, george woodbury, Homework, ictcm, item analysis, Math, MML, mml item analysis, mml quizzes, my math lab, MyMathLab, mymathlab item analysis, mymathlab quizzes, Pearson Education, quizzes, slo, slo checkpoint quiz, slo quiz, student learning outcomes, teaching, test review, woodbury.
1.
Diane Bauman | October 25, 2010 at 10:38 am
SLO’s seem like a great idea but how did you decide on the slo’s for a course? It seems like it would be very difficult to narrow it down to 4.
2.
georgewoodbury | October 25, 2010 at 11:34 am
We went with very generalized SLO’s. I’ll post a copy later today.
3.
Nancy Pevey | November 1, 2010 at 3:25 pm
That would be wonderful! We currently have 25 SLO– one for each question of the final exam.
4. Student Contract for the Final Exam « George Woodbury’s Blogarithm | November 1, 2010 at 5:40 am
[…] blogged last week about the Student Learning Outcome (SLO) Quizzes that I give in MyMathLab. This semester I will develop a student contract based on these quizzes. […]