Darrah Walker
Lantern Staff
Butler Community College is the first college in the state of Kansas to try something entirely new with the Math Department. In the fall of 2017, Butler launched a new program for math. Each math class is now taken in sections within three five-week periods during one semester. This system is called math modules, which is taught online using a software called Hawkes. Even though the course is online most of the time, math instructors still get up in front of the class and lecture.
It took two years to build and map out the modules, which are designed to help students succeed faster at a lower cost.
“We wanted to increase the number of students that are being successful in math,” Vice President of Academics Lori Winningham said.
Along with the math modules, Butler opened a math lab, which is located next to the tutoring lab in the 1500 Building. The math lab allows students to receive help on specific areas from a paid, professional tutor. The main objective for the math lab is to allow the students who are taking math online to receive face-to-face help.
There has been a mixture of feedback in regards to the redesign.
“The short-term classes are more upbeat,” freshman Ahtziri Roetzer said. “They tend to flow better as a class because everybody wants to contribute, …they want to pass the class.”
With the redesign, students are having a hard time using their time wisely.
“Students have to [fix] their time management in order to pass these classes,” Professor of Math Bethany Chandler said.
The students who struggle most with the change feel rushed and disappointed that the math lab does not stay open during mid-afternoon into the evening.
“I feel like it’s rushed,” a sophomore who wished to remain anonymous said. “My class is 55 minutes long, and my instructor has barely enough time to lecture. I feel like if it was a traditional 16-week course, if [the teacher] felt like we need an extra day on a section, we can do that.”
Math classes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday are 55 minutes long, and the classes taken on Tuesday and Thursday are 85-minutes long. Even though the classes are a different length of time, the tests are timed at one hour. A sophomore who wished to remain anonymous has expressed concern that the test time is not fair, the last five minutes of the test is needed, but the class is only 55 minutes.
“I had an A in the class up until test day,” a sophomore said. “The test is [an hour long], and the class is 55 minutes long. It is a 20-problem test that takes time to work out, and there were four to five problems, I couldn’t get to”.
The Math Department took time researching data on the average time a student takes on a math test. As a result, Butler shortened the tests and made the majority of the questions multiple choice to make the average time shorter.
Since this is the first semester for the redesign, the Math Department is looking for feedback. A survey for students regarding these courses is available at https://goo.gl/forms/DAC5vy691QP76vD82.