Embedded Tutor, Second time around, Who knows?!

Submitted by Shannon Manuelito on
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What is the Purpose of the Assessment?

I will present some grade comparison data for my newly developed hybrid BIO 181 class. It was first offered in fall 2019 and grades are compared to spring 2019 and spring 2020. 

Describe the necessity for this assessment

Offering a hybrid BIO 181 allows the LS divsion to offer an alternative to in-person classes. Many students have addtional obligations which create a demand for online course offerings. 

Describe how the practice will be implemented

This hybrid was designed to keep all labs in person while offering the lecture online. Grades for Exams 1, 2, and 3 along with final grade will be compared. There are two addtional class exams however, due to the COVID response, those exams did not have an in-person portion and therefore were not included. Another variable in the spring 2020 was instituting an embedded tutor (ET). It is difficult to separate ET impacts and improvements due to reiteration of the class. 

Interpret, compare, and describe the results

The embedded tutor hybrid (H+ET) showed the highest class avg (80.2%) for all grades compared to 68.5% for the hybrid w/o ET. The first hybrid had the highest % successful completion (65%), though had the lowest class avg and lowest scores in all but one category. Both hybrid classes showed higher % successful completion than the F2F class. The ET hybrid and F2F letter grades both show the same number of Bs, Cs, and Ds and the F2F had the highest W%.

 

 

After analyzing, and reflecting on the outcome, what are the next steps?

We are collecting data for the other biology classes that used an embedded tutor to look for trends. Because there was other variables (COVID 19 response), it is unclear as to the impact of the ET. Overall, the grades were higher with the ET but in terms of % completion, both hybrids were similar. The F2F class had the higest withdrawal rate with the lowest in the ET class. The hybrid 181 will continue to be offered and assessed.

Abstract

A hybrid BIO 181 was developed and first implemented in fall 2019. Grades and completion rates of this course are compared to the second hybrid offering with an embedded tutor as well as a past face to face offering. The first hybrid showed the lowest average grade for the class with the highest % successful completion rate while the second hybrid with and embedded tutor showed the highest average grade for the class. The face to face class had an average grade in the middle of the two hybrids but showed the lowest % successful completion. The increase in the avg grade could be a result of instituting an embedded tutor or having the class run a second time since the completion rates were similar. With all three showing similar successful completion #s, the hybrid class should be considered an appropriate alternative to  the face to face offerings. It was also shown that the F2F class had the highest % W and the H+ET had the lowest % W, which may be due additional contact by the ET. 

Division/Department
Life Sciences
Completed Full Cycle
Yes
Course Number
BIO 181
Attachment Size
bio-181-grades-cats.pdf 16.4 KB

Comments

Becky Baranowski Tue, 11/10/2020 - 10:34am

Thanks so much for taking the time to document your findings with having an embedded tutor.  This information you are sharing is great to have to help inform the college as a whole.  Embedded tutors impact our budget, but if have data to show the investment is worth it, this helps with budgetary discussions. This will be good to review with the embedded tutors in mathematics to see if there are similar results.  Again, thank you. 

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