Mathematics department changes curriculum

The mathematics department has changed its developmental curriculum by taking away the current developmental classes and adding corequisites to the logical systems classes.

Currently, students who come to Southeast Missouri State University and have an ACT math score lower than 21 have to take two developmental math classes before they can take one that will satisfy the university studies requirement. Those students with an ACT math score lower than 15 take an additional math course. Students then still need to take another mathematics class to fulfill the logical systems requirement for university studies.

With this new program most students will not have to take more than four credits of mathematics to get a degree, according to Dr. Chris McGowan, dean of the College of Science, Technology and Agriculture.

"Right now students who have to take MA 101 and MA 102, for the most part, are paying for six hours to take those two developmental classes, and they don't get logical systems credit for it," McGowan said. "Those students will now sign up for four hours total, and get university studies credit. So we are replacing nine hours of math classes for four hours of math classes. That will be savings directly to the students, so that will be the biggest impact."

McGowan attended the Missouri Completion Academy last September, where nine universities met to set individualized plans to improve retention and graduation rates.

"One of the ideas that was floated to the group was to make developmental math a corequisite with a regular logical systems math class," McGowan said.

McGowan, along with Dr. Tamela Randolph and William McNeary, visited Austin Peay State University and Tennessee Technological University to see how the schools had implemented the idea before creating Southeast's new mathematics curriculum.

The finalized plan includes giving logical system classes MA 118 (Mathematics 1), MA 123 (Survey of Mathematics) and MA 155 (Statistical Reasoning) a corequisite developmental course that will pertain to the specific course. Corequisite classes are classes that are designed and taken to be supplemental to another class.

"Students will sign up for MA 123, for example, and if they have less than a 22 ACT math score they will also be signing up for MA 023, a developmental course that will be meeting in a computer lab," McGowan said. "What will happen is that students who sign up for these courses will go to class with everybody else except twice a week they will go to the laboratory and work on developmental material."

Students who need to take College Algebra (MA 134) and have less than a 22 ACT score will take a new course, MA 106, instead of the current MA 101 and MA 102.

"MA 106 is still remedial math, but they will get college credit for it even though it won't count for the logical systems requirement," McGowan said. "We feel that if a student is going to have to pass MA 134, then they should be able to get through MA 106 in a single semester."

Students who scored less than a 14 on the ACT math section will still be required to take MA 050 (Basic Math Skills) but will then take either MA 106 or one of the corequisite classes.

The curriculum similarly adds a class for students with ACT math scores above 22. Students who have to take MA 140 (Calculus 1) but have a math score lower than a 26 will have a new course, MA 137.

"MA 137 is a five-hour class that is a combination of college algebra, trigonometry and a few other things," McGowan said.

College Algebra will still be the prerequisite for MA 139 (Applied Calculus), but those students who come in with a 24 math ACT score or above can go directly to MA 139.

All of these changes are made to raise the retention rate for first-time, full-time freshmen to come back the next year. The changes should help students get through mathematics in a more timely and productive manner.

"The target for the university is 75 percent," McGowan said of the retention rate. "We have been anywhere from 65 to 74 percent in previous years, so we would like to get it up above 75."

McGowan added that retention rate has a financial impact on the university through state funding, and that the program will also impact students financially.

Stephanie Salyer, a freshman currently in MA 101, isn't sure that the change is that much of an improvement.

"I've been around some people in my class right now that seem to be having problems in MA 101 already," Salyer said, "so putting it all together in one class might be too much for them to do."

Salyer added that it sounds like students, although they get extra help, might be unprepared for the courses they now take before learning the basics of math.