The interactive computer-assisted program requires students to do their homework in order to be efficient in their math skills before they can take their exam. Students in lower algebra courses at the UA have participated in the program from the beginning with college algebra being added to the computer curriculum the following year and then finally finite math last year. Included in the math textbooks students buy are computer disks that contain all the homework questions. The computer program, which students can download from the Internet to their home computer or find on any general-access lab computer, grades the homework automatically when the student is finished. The disk keeps track of the students' progress.
Students love the fact that they are tested more often and get feedback right away.
Think of how many classes you are in where you do not get your test results for over a week. We decide what partial credit to give and how much, and it remembers that and grades all 600-plus students the same way. I also like that each test is slightly different but equivalent. The math program requires students to answer 90 percent of a series of questions correctly. If they do not, the student has to repeat the process until they attain 90 percent.