Abstract:

After implementing a change to their instructional practices in calculus, a postsecondary school noticed a significant change in student performance and attitudes. In a calculus course consisting of four weekly lectures, the instructor modified the format of the fourth lecture session each week from a traditional lecture to a review seminar in which students worked on conceptual problems in groups at vertical whiteboards placed around the room. After this change in format, the instructor noticed improved student participation and an increase in students’ enjoyment of the class.

In this study, we analyze the results of a 13-question survey completed by the students at the end of the course over two consecutive terms implementing this new instructional method. Exploratory factor analysis performed on the survey results identified two latent variables responsible for students’ responses to survey items, and this result was confirmed using principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA).

Comparison of the results of these analyses with survey items revealed that the latent variables were strongly correlated with:
(1) students’ learning and enjoyment of the course and the influence of the instructor,
(2) the influence of the undergraduate peer tutors.

Furthermore, the results of the PCA and HCA indicate that the effects induced by the instructor and by the peer tutors are independent of one another, suggesting that they may influence the class in distinct ways. The survey results suggest that in this tutorial environment, interactions with the professor and the peer tutors led to a positive experience for students, both in terms of their enjoyment of the course and in terms of their perceptions of their own learning. We also compared students’ final course grades from the Fall 2018 semester (four traditional lecture classes per week) and the Fall 2019 semester (three traditional lecture classes and one whiteboard seminar per week). Comparison of students’ final grades from these two semesters showed a reduction in the fraction of students receiving a failing grade at the end of the term and an increase in the fraction of students earning A’s and B’s in the course. Overall, replacing a single lecture day with the whiteboard seminars implemented in this course led to improved learning outcomes for students and an improvement in students’ enjoyment of the course as well as their perceptions of their own learning.

Keywords:

Whiteboard seminars in calculus class, survey of student satisfaction, exploratory factor analysis, principal component analysis, hierarchical cluster analysis.