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| Taking Advantage of Opportunities to Improve Learning |
| Tuesday, June 1, 2004 |
| 10:00 AM–10:50 AM |
| Gardner |
| Area: EDC |
| Chair: Travis G. McNeal (University of Nevada, Reno) |
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| Analysis of Retakes as a Component for Mastery in a Personalized System of Instruction |
| Domain: Applied Research |
| TRAVIS G. MCNEAL (University of Nevada, Reno), Ramona Houmanfar (University of Nevada, Reno) |
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| Abstract: Two groups of students in an introductory to psychology course were selected for participation in this study. One served as the control group and the other, as the experimental group. The introductory to psychology course is organized as a Personalized System of Instruction (PSI) in which students are allowed more flexibility to learn in the manner which suits their learning style. In this study, the retake component of the PSI system was manipulated for the experimental group, by awarding bonus points to participants who utilized the retake component to where higher scores were earned on quizzes, in an effort to increase participants overall performance in the course. A Hotelling’s T-square test was performed on the data. Results of the Hotelling’s t-square test revealed statistical significance between the experimental group and the control group. Subsequently, a higher proportion of participants in the experimental group earned a B grade than a C grade, whereas a higher proportion of participants in the control group earned a C grade than a B grade. |
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| Differential Availability of Extra Credit has no Impact on Final Course Grade Distributions in Large Introductory Psychology Courses |
| Domain: Applied Research |
| JOHN E. DENCOFF (University of New Mexico), Gordon Hodge (University of New Mexico) |
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| Abstract: Different amounts of total extra credit (up to 30, 60, or 90 points added toward a maximum of 500 total points for the course) were offered to students enrolled in different semesters of an introductory psychology course at the University of New Mexico. Although the courses were offered in different semesters, they were taught by the same instructor, from the same textbook, and using the same lecture material and exams. Extra credit opportunities were graded, brief short-answer assignments no longer than one page each. As expected, “A” and “B” students completed the most extra credit assignments and received the most points, regardless of semester. Students in C, D, and F ranges completed very few extra credit assignments. Of interest, the total amount of extra credit offered did not change overall course distributions, or the average percentage of available extra credit completed and earned by students at different grade levels. |
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