Mathematics Bridging Education Using an Online, Adaptive E-Tutorial

Abstract

This contribution describes and evaluates a postsecondary remediation program in mathematics, aiming to ease the transition from high school to university and to improve the success rates in the first year of bachelor studies. The remediation program consists of the administration of an entry test and the organisation of voluntary bridging education in the format of an online summer course, using the adaptive e-tutorial ALEKS. Participants are prospective students of the university programs business and economics of Maastricht University, and are mostly students with an international background. Effect analysis suggests a strong treatment effect of successful participation in the summer course. However, given the quasi-experimental setup of this study, with non-equivalent groups, selection effects may be responsible for part of that effect. Correction of the treatment effect by applying the propensity score method indicates that indeed a selection effect is present, but that a substantial treatment effect remains, of about 50% the size of the effect of being educated in advanced math versus basic math, in high school.

Investigating the relations between motivation, tool use, participation, and performance in an e-learning course using web-videoconferencing

“…This summer course is part of a wider summer course program that has been offered since 2004 to over a thousand students and has been fully integrated in the admission and application processes of the respective business school (See Rienties et al, 2009;Rienties, Tempelaar, Waterval, Rehm, & Gijselaers, 2006). Participants who successfully completed the summer course have been found to be more likely to successfully complete the first year of the Bachelor program (Rienties, Tempelaar, Dijkstra, & Gijselaers, 2008;Tempelaar, Rienties, Kaper, Giesbers, Schim van der Loeff, van Gastel, et al, 2012). All students who subscribed to the Bachelor program were informed of the possibility to participate in this course via a letter with information about the course and a link to a prior knowledge test.…”

The Role of Digital, Formative Testing in e-Learning for Mathematics: A Case Study in the Netherlands

“…Pueden encontrarse reseñas de algunas de estas iniciativas en Brants et al Rienties et al (2011) y Tempelaar et al (2008. En nuestro trabajo complementario, Tempelaar et al (2011), documentamos los resultados de un curso puente en el contexto del proyecto nKBW para una universidad holandesa. Esta universidad es un exponente característico de la internacionalización europea de la educación superior, ya que los estudiantes de otros países representan más del 70% del total.…”