Chapter 42. The Math Emporium Barbara L. Robinson and Anne H. Moore Virginia Tech's Math Emporium is an open, 60,000-square-foot laboratory with 550 Macintosh computers serving more than 8,000 math students each semester. The facility occupies renovated, leased space in an off-campus shopping mall. (See Figure 1.)
In redesigning introductory mathematics courses, NCAT's partner institutions have found that the Emporium Model has consistently produced spectacular gains in student learning and impressive reductions in instructional costs. Two different versions of the Emporium Model have been successful.
EDUCAUSE Review Online 6 Challenges and 6 New Learning Models: Flipped Courses, Open Learning Initiative (OLI), Science Classes, Math Emporiums and Other NCAT Redesigns, Blended Courses, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)
EDUCAUSE Review Online
Developed in response to the crisis in remedial and general-education math courses, this innovative model pairs an existing parent course with a one-unit supplemental hybrid course to provide a variety of interventions and practices to support students at California State University, Northridge. The model divides instruction among faculty, teaching assistants, and tutors, who coordinate content to create a "flow of learning" that actively moves students from classroom work, to group work, to homework, to exams. First fully implemented in 2008, the model's results have been dramatic - essentially reversing the downward trend in student success and vastly improving students' average scores and the distribution of the grades.
Despite the widespread popularity of online social networking services such as Facebook and Twitter, many students exhibit a reluctance to include faculty in their social networks. Given these personal preferences, how do social networks and education intersect? A pilot using Twitter to communicate important information about lab hours and support services yielded minimal student response.