You Can Build It, but Will They Come?

Abstract

Studies show that more students fail or withdraw from college mathematics courses than any other. To address this concern, the Mathematics Department at the University of North Dakota opened its Mathematics Learning Center (MLC) in the fall of 2000. In this study, the effectiveness of the MLC and the free tutoring offered for students in freshman level mathematics courses was examined. The quantitative portion of the study examined the difference between course grades in experimental and control sections of four distinct freshman level mathematics courses. Students in the experimental sections were required to attend the Mathematics Learning Center (MLC) for one hour weekly while students in the control sections were simply informed of the availability of tutoring in the MLC. The qualitative portion of the research utilized methodologies of a phenomenological study through in-depth interviews with 13 participants. Three conclusions are offered: 1) Lower level or lower ability students are less likely to attend the MLC and seek help from tutors; 2) Once students got over their fears of engaging with tutors, they found them friendly and helpful, and believed they had greater success because of the tutoring; and 3) A positive correlation existed between time spent in the MLC and course grade for experimental section students.