The Redesign of General Psychology (PSY 101J) at The University of

Southern MaineJohn Broida

Associate ProfessorNCAT Redesign Scholar

Intro to Psychology had problems.

• Taught primarily on the Portland campus of a 3 campus institution (also Gorham and Lewiston/Auburn, and some off campus sites)

• 1200 students per year on a 10,000 student campus– 14-16 sections (size ranges from 100 - 30)

• Most were taking the course to fulfill a general education requirement– 6 other majors require the course– Students must take 2 social science courses to graduate

• Taught as lecture course, with 3 exams• 25% of students dropped/failed/withdrew (DFW)

As psychologists we knew

• Quizzing helps students learn– In class quizzes take time and effort

• Grading, recording grades• Students argue for points – reduces time to lecture

– We hoped to use the web to quiz students before class• Preliminary data suggested that students would read if

quizzed• We could get them to prepare for classes if we quizzed

• Repetition helps students learn– We wanted them to take more than one quiz, learn

from their mistakes

Developed web-based quizzes as part of the C2R (Colleagues Committed to

Redesign)• Used what is now called the supplemental model• We saved money by having everyone use

common materials (though we used different exams)– One of us created the quizzes we all used.– Used the test bank from the publisher• Others found materials that we put into

WebCT.• We had hoped to increase class size, but that

has not happened yet – it will in the spring• We now have the publishers create the quizzes –

no longer use a common text – in Blackboard.

Effect was immediately obvious on our now fully

implemented design• Had to recreate our lectures– We stopped enabling our students not to read

• Students spent more time studying– A few quit the course immediately – too much

work – but enrollment did not drop appreciably– Students liked the quizzes, they provide important

feedback before exams

• DFW rate dropped by 8%, grades went up 10%

Difficulties associated with redesign

• We had to change course management systems 3 times.

• We had to create our own quizzes each time the publisher came out with a new edition or we changed books.– Publishers now create them for us

• We wanted to use different books.• Attendance dropped in some sections– Those where the quizzes were the basis of exams– Thank goodness for classroom response systems