TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Technology used in The University of Alabama’s Math Technology Learning Center won the top award in an international competition recognizing the world’s technology with the most impact in support of learning.
MyMathLab, software used in the UA math center and developed in conjunction with Pearson Higher Education, won a Platinum Award – the top honor – in the IMS Global Learning Consortium’s 2009 Learning Impact Awards held in Barcelona, Spain. This technology was selected from among 36 finalists world-wide for the award.
The IMS Global Learning Consortium is a global, nonprofit, member organization that strives to enable the growth and impact of learning technology in education and corporate learning sectors. IMS’s news release announcing the winners is at http://www.imsglobal.org/pressreleases/pr090514.html along with a slideshow highlighting some of the positive impacts the center has made on UA students.
The finalists, which also included UA’s use of Tegrity Campus 2.0 – which enables students to view lectures and supporting materials online – were selected from among all entries worldwide. The three dozen finalists were invited to showcase their projects in presentations in Barcelona.
UA’s use of Tegrity was also named Best Classroom Capture Solution in the competition, and MyMathLab also won as Best Assessment Solution.
Prior to UA’s 2001 launching of the Math Technology Learning Center, UA student success rates in Math 100 averaged 40 to 45 percent but have increased to 60 to 75 percent since. The competition presentation also cited student retention rates increasing by at least 10 percent over the last five years.
The UA center, located in Tutwiler Hall, is not just a math lab, but a different way of helping students learn math. The software and flexibly scheduled math lab attendance allows students to learn at their own pace, via computer, getting individual tutoring whenever they need it. The software enables students to work exercises and take quizzes that are instantly graded. The software alerts students to wrong answers and will guide them step-by-step to correct solutions. Free from the task of routine grading, teachers are able to provide individual tutoring as needed.
Dr. Zhijian Wu is chair of UA’s department of mathematics. Jamie Glass is coordinator of the lab, Sam Evers is introductory mathematics director, and Camille Steiner is a mathematics instructor who was instrumental, along with Glass, in the early stages of the center.
About 10,000 students per year attend the center, including students enrolled in beginning and intermediate algebra, finite mathematics, three pre-calculus courses and a business calculus course.
UA’s Math Technology Learning Center is based on the Math Emporium at Virginia Tech that was established in 1997 by Dr. Robert “Bob” Olin. Olin, now the dean of UA’s College of Arts and Sciences, was, at that time, chair of Virginia Tech’s math department.
The UA Center was made possible, originally, via a $200,000 Pew Grant, and was later awarded a $1.3 million FIPSE (Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education) grant.
Tegrity Campus is an Internet-based tool that automatically records classroom lecture audio and video and seamlessly synchronizes it with any visuals displayed on a classroom projector including Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, Web sites and other images. Professors can then post lectures for students to view or to download to portable devices, such as MP3 players, using a link in WebCT/eLearning.
Tegrity was piloted at The University of Alabama by the Office of Educational Technology in the College of Arts and Sciences under the direction of Dr. Carmen Burkhalter, senior associate dean and senior information officer in the College. In the 2008-2009 academic year, 6,094 viewers accessed Tegrity for 83,267 individual views for a total of 33,827 hours.
Contact
Chris Bryant, media relations, 205/348-8323, cbryant@ur.ua.edu