Remedial math using adaptive technology : better for traditional, nontraditional, both learner types?

Abstract

For many decades students enrolling in college have been challenged by general education admissions requirements. One of the most challenging is attaining high enough placement scores in math, reading and writing. Of these three testing areas, math has been the most difficult to place into college level courses. Students who do not test high enough on placement exams are then enrolled into remedial education courses. A significant number of students in remedial education courses never matriculate to post-secondary courses and either drop out or don't start their college education. Within higher education, two-year colleges have seen the greatest number of students failing out of college for this reason. This national issue has provoked many studies, however there has not been any significant method or tool validated to mitigate this problem. Adaptive learning technology has been making some strides in improving failure rates in math, however there has been little research to determine if this technology impacts students at two-year colleges where a great percent of students are nontraditional learners. The goal of this study was to determine if adaptive learning technology impacted math learning outcomes for nontraditional students. This study compared the means of the student groups enrolled into traditionally taught course sections versus those sections taught with adaptive learning technology. Independent sample t-tests were used to compare student outcomes in the same math courses when adaptive technology was used as compared to traditional instruction. This analysis showed little difference between the groups. While the researcher attempted to add qualitative information to the study, the students and faculty did not respond to several attempts to share their perspective. --Author's abstract