EdTech 503 Part 2 Analysis Report

Part 2. Analysis Report

2a. Description of the Need

2a1. Needs Assessment Survey The following list of questions were submitted as a survey through Survey Monkey at this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JJ3ZPKK These questions help to analyze the amount of pre-teaching time in the first Module of the course. This survey covers the basic skills all students should have when beginning the AP Statistics course as well as student motivational levels. In order to have all students ready for the course, some of these topics may need to be reviewed when survey results show a need. 1. Do you understand how to calculate the mean of data? 2. Do you understand how to calculate the mode of data? 3. Do you understand how to calculate the median of data? 4. Do you understand how to calculate the standard deviation of data? 5. Do you understand how to calculate the z-score of data? In the 2013 NBA Finals, Miami Heat scored the following points in the seven game series to win the championship: 88, 103, 77, 109, 104, 103 and 95. 6. Calculate the mean. 7. Calculate the mode. 8. Calculate the median. 9. Calculate the standard deviation. 10. Calculate the z-score for game #2, 103 points. 11. Do you have a computer at home? 12. Do you feel comfortable using a computer? 13. Do you have internet access at home? 14. Do you feel comfortable using the internet? 15. Can you easily learn to use new websites on the computer? 16. Do you have Microsoft Excel at home? 17. Can you stream videos at home, like YouTube, AuthorStream, Prezi? 18. Do you prefer to do your homework on the computer or using paper and pencil? 19. For this class, how often would you commit to doing homework per week? Two hours, three hours or 4 hours? 20. Are you excited about taking AP Statistics? A. Super Excited B. I'm Excited C. My mom/dad is making me take this class!

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21. Do you plan to take the AP Exam for Statistics? 22. Do you have a Smartphone? 23. Do you have a tablet? 24. If you don't have a computer at home, would you be interested in getting one for home that is no longer used by the school district?

2a2. Needs Assessment Data In general the results for the following survey questions were at 100% or close to it. Most students already understand how to calculate mean, median and mode. Although their confidence level is higher than their actual calculations as shown in the follow up questions where mean, median and mode were asked to be actually calculated. Any misunderstandings can easily clarified during instruction through review videos and as these concepts are used within other statistics topics.

Open graphs questions 6-8

It appears as though access to the technology necessary to complete class requirements online is not an issue. Either 100%, or close to 100% of the students surveyed responded have a computer, with excel, internet access and streaming abilities. They also responded they are confident in using the internet and exploring new websites.

Open graphs for question 11, 13, 16.


When analyzing the responses regarding homework delivery method. I am happy to see those results being very mixed. I think students will enjoy being able to submit homework online mixed with paper and pencil. After the first unit in the course, it would be good to survey this question again to see if a larger majority appears in any of the choices. I must admit that the question about how much time students are willing to spend on homework was a bit biased. Since I have not taught the class before, I am not sure how much time will actually be required to complete the homework. I am hoping that a maximum of two hours per week will be necessary. But I wanted to see how much time students were willing to commit. These results were a pleasant surprise, because the amount of homework when a project is due may be higher than two hours in a week. This is another question to survey again later in the school year. An additional survey about half way through the year and again at the end of the year would be appropriate to determine the actual amount of time students spend on homework for AP Statistics. Because this is an elective course the positive results for motivation level to take the course and the AP Stats exam, are not surprising. The majority of students appear to be happy about taking this class and having the opportunity to take the AP Exam to earn college credit. Furthermore, several students have been advocating for an on campus AP Statistics course at LHS for many years. For those students that have concerns about the money to take the exam, there are scholarship options offered by LHS and the college board. Those students can be directed to the school's AP coordinator to find out if they qualify for payment assistance.

Open graph for question 18


Open graphs for question 20 and 21


The question to students having a Smartphone or a tablet, really isn't about if they have these items at home. These questions will help me analyze whether or not there are enough students in the class to help other students use these type of electronic devices. It also helps me determine if there are enough phones in class such that when students must complete a group activity, the likely hood that the group has access to a smart phone is significantly high. In the long run, I hope to have a classroom set of tablets for students when they attend class on campus.

Open graph for question 22 and 23


2b. Description of the Learning Context

2b1. Learning Context As stated previously, I plan to design the brand new AP Stats course as a blended

course. Because the course is brand new, this is a premium opportunity to fit the AP

Stats curriculum, as outlined by the College Board, into a blended environment rather

than trying to take existing curriculum and change it function online after the fact. When

school was dismissed for the summer last June, enrollment was at 53 students and two

sections were designated for AP Statistics.

The designated curriculum is guided by the College Board, but decisions about the

textbook to be used will be decided by the instructor during the summer prior to the

class initiation in September 2013. After student input, the text that will be used and is in

the ordering process is The Practice of Statistics by Starnes, Yates and Moore. This

appears to be a very student centered textbook that is less wordy than other texts

considered. A second book to be issued with the course is an AP Statistics Preparation

book by Barron's. Both books will be purchased by the school district, loaned to

students in September and returned in May or June.

To access material outside of class, the format to be used is Moodle as my school

district is already using this LMS as its online course management system. In order for

Moodle, or any online component, to be successful students will need access to a

computer, with internet access, outside of class. Additionally, the computer needs to be

able to play videos, have Microsoft Excel for data, students need an email account, and

students need to be comfortable using the internet and exploring new websites and

applications. All of this is addressed in the survey.

While students are in the classroom, it would be ideal for them to use that time to work

together, gathering and analyzing data for various projects. Additionally, the idea of

having AP Stats be a project based class is emphasized in the College Board

Curriculum. Therefore, I am planning to write some grants (already have one from

Google) to fund a classroom set of tablets. In the meantime, the class will be signed up

for the computer lab as much as possible. Other standard equipment available in every

classroom is a presentation computer connected to a document camera and a projector

with surround sound. All of this equipment should be sufficient to handle teacher and

student presentations.


2b2. Transfer Context Description Being a math teacher, you are always presented with the question, 'When will we ever

use this?' Because math is a building topic, many times the answer is that students

need the topic of the day to succeed in a higher level math class. Then when students

obtain the skills in calculus, you can finally answer many of those application questions.

However, using calculus in professions may receive excellent starting salaries, but is

still fairly limiting across professions.

Statistics however, applies across a wider variety of professions. Whereas high level

mathematics will mostly apply to business majors, engineers, research scientists,

actuaries and of course math teachers, statistics will be used in those professions as

well as a wider range of business positions, clinical trials, marketing, psychology,

computer science, finance, insurance companies, project management, analyst

positions, communications, professional sports and product production. Statistics is the

science of making effective use of numerical data. In summary, statistic skills are

needed in any profession that seeks self-improvement based on data that can be

collected to see how things are performing now. The data can help you determine

where improvements can be made.

One thing to watch out for in statistics however, is misleading statistics. Dilbert summed

this up well:

Picture courtesy of Scott Adams

2c. Description of Learners

The new AP Stats course at LHS is blended in more than one way, as AP Stats will

have students present that are enrolled in Pre-Calculus, a first year of Calculus, a

second year of Calculus or have completed LHS Calculus altogether. Since AP Stats

requires use of many mathematical techniques, and has students enrolled who are

connected to four different levels of math courses, I believe it is imperative to use the


needs assessment survey that analyzes how much they already know about basic

statistic skills.

Did students retain the basic statistics that was taught in the middle school curriculum?

Do all the students remember standard deviation, z-scores, and sigma notation as was

covered by the Algebra 2 curriculum? How much do they remember? Based on the

year-to-year results, I can determine where to start in the curriculum. Do I need to start

with mean, median or mode or somewhere further into the curriculum? The needs

assessment survey analyzed this data nicely for the 2013 incoming students.

As shown in the graphs below, it appears that even though students have been taught how to calculate standard deviation and z-score as shown in student confidence levels, they will need to be reviewed concepts because their answers do not show the same accuracy. The correct standard deviation answer was 11.180 and for z-score the answer was 0.536. The most important question to ask however is, do students have access to a computer at home and if they do, do they have internet access? Although most of our student population does own computers and have internet, not all students do. To avoid a digital divide situation, students without access will need assistance. The last survey question will help me determine how many students need help accessing a computer. There are computers the school district excesses to families in the district at very minimal costs. Also, the school offers after school computer lab access Monday through Thursday for those students that need computer access or students that need to meet in groups to complete an assignment.

Open graphs for questions 9 and 10



2d. Task Analysis Flowchart This flowchart describes the process to create a graphical representation of univariate

numerical data, a box-and-whisker plot. Placing data in this type of graph helps a

student see patterns in the data. If two box-and-whisker plots are used, then students

can more easily compare data sets.

Open Flowchart

Prerequisite Skills Open Prerequisite Skills Flowchart

Documents

EdTech 503 Part 2 Analysis Report