Beginning this fall, Calculus I and Calculus II classes at RPI will experience major changes in the course curriculum. The changes are a result of negative student feedback and limited resources in the math department, according to the chair of the department, Donald Drew.
One of the most notable changes is the removal of the Gateway Exam, a test taken by computer that determined the highest grade a student could achieve in each calculus course based upon the score received. While the Gateway tested basic understanding of how to calculate derivatives and integrals, students’ responses to the Gateway were negative, according to the surveys filled out by students at the end of the math courses.
“Gateway is gone, but the reason is still there,” said Drew. “I always had a feeling the Gateway idea was good.” Students may be rid of the Gateway but in its place, they will be tested on “basic skills” problems, which Drew explained would constitute “at least 25% of the course grade.” Students will periodically be tested on basic skills learned in the course with a set of basic skills questions included at the end of each exam in the course. Similar questions will be available online for practice throughout the semester, as was the case with the Gateway, and problems will range from simple derivative calculations to short answer questions, such as a max/min problem. There will still be a mandatory final exam in both Calculus I and Calculus II.
According to Drew, fifteen undergraduate students have been hired as “Basic Skills Assistants,” but are not replacing teaching assistants, who will still be graduate students. Their job will be to teach approximately ten basic skills review sessions throughout the course of a semester to sections of 25-30 calculus students. The math department hasn’t decided whether or not the basic skills assistants will also be in charge of grading the basic skills problems, but they have decided that no partial credit will be given for any problems for “ease of grading.”
Another change is the removal of MAPLE as a requirement. “MAPLE is no longer required to be taught in calculus,” said Drew. “But instructors may use it.” Typically, Calculus I and Calculus II classes had a “lab hour” once a week, dedicated to teaching MAPLE. As MAPLE is no longer a part of the calculus curriculum, the lab hour will be replaced by a basic skills section that is not required for students to attend.
The decision to make the curriculum changes were anything but spur-of-the-moment. “We thought about changing from the Gateway right after we put it out,” said Drew. “About a year ago it was pretty clear that things would have to change. Aside from students “hating” the Gateway, the math department was only allotted however many TAs they could support for research after the two years, a total of twenty-four. “We had about forty TAs for the last few years and now we’re down to twenty-four for this semester,” Drew said. “We have to be careful where TAs are used.” Drew said that the math department felt that the TAs belonged in the classroom, not proctoring the Gateway. “Feedback from students was they hate it [Gateway]. Engineering professors loved it.” Whether or not getting rid of the Gateway will be good, Drew said, “We can’t afford it,” since they are lacking in the funds to support Gateway proctors.
The math department does have some worries about the changes. “Managing the basic skills assistants is certainly a worry for us,” Drew said. He knows that these students want to do a good job, but doesn’t want them to feel “forgotten” by the math department. “The other thing I worry about is the partial credit short answer problems,” he continued. The overall sentiment of the math department, however, is that students who practice should do fine.
The changes came out of recommendations made by the Math Department Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, chaired by Professor Bruce Piper. He said in an e-mail, “We were asked to come up with a plan for teaching Math courses with considerably fewer TA’s. We considered all options and decided that Calculus was the only realistic place to make the cuts. Given the number of cuts, this meant we would need to teach Calculus with roughly half the number of TA’s.”
In order to prepare students for the math classes at RPI, the department created a calculus guide that reviews concepts students are strongly urged to know before beginning Calculus I or Calculus II. The guide is titled “Ready, Set, Calculus!” and is distributed to freshman at student orientation every year. Drew hopes students look over it prior to the start of calculus classes. “We put [it] online and hand out a guide to freshman,” Drew stated. “When you come here, you should know it.”
“We’re interested in success,” Drew said. “An ‘A’ student really has to be able to do a large fraction of these problems,” he added. He further explained that by ensuring that students are learning at least the basics in the course, the math department is doing their part in fulfilling what makes an RPI education special; that students graduate having gained knowledge and skills to apply in life.
