danaleeling

A convenience sample survey of social media and stimulant preferences was given to 92 students in three sections of MS 150 Statistics and one section of SC 130 Physcial Science at the College of Micronesia-FSM. FaceBook continued its dominant position among students surveyed, with 88 of 92 students having a membership in FaceBook. Four students noted that they were not members of any social media web site. No student listed Instagram, SnapChat, or other "new social media" options that are seeing strong growth in other markets. Elsewhere, especially among teenagers, FaceBook has seen market share erosion from the new upstarts. In a follow-up oral cross-check I asked the three sections of statistics students whether anyone used Instagram, SnapChat, or WhatsApp. A single student responded that they use Instagram. At present, FaceBook remains the social media place to be and to connect with students. Spring 2012 no student named Google+ in their responses. By fall 2012 ...

Underneath the focus on physical systems, SC 130 Physical Science is built on a foundation of connecting physical systems to their mathematical models and communicating the results in writing. Laboratory exercises lead to the writing of a full laboratory report that is marked for content, syntax, grammar, vocabulary, organization, and cohesion. The majority of the laboratories investigate systems that involve a linear mathematical relationship. Reports include xy scatter graphs, best fit linear trend lines, slope, and y-intercept analysis. The course outline includes the learning outcome, "Students will generate mathematical models for physical science systems." This serves a general education program learning outcome, "Present and interpret numeric information in graphic forms." Twenty-five students in physical science spring 2014 were given nine questions which focused on this particular outcome. The preassessment was done on the first day of class. The st...

Spring 2013 I shifted from using spreadsheet based grade books to on line grade books. That spring I moved all of my classes into Engrade . As I did so I recorded my experiences in a blog . By summer 2013 I became aware that some faculty were using and advocating the use of Edmodo , another faculty member wanted the college to adopt CourseSites . When I asked questions from an Engrade perspective, the only perspective I had, I was not getting comprehensible answers. By fall 2013 I realized I had to try Edmodo and CourseSites along with Engrade. I used Engrade in my 90 student statistics course, CourseSites in my 32 student physical science course, and Edmodo in a 26 student ethnobotany course. By December 2013 I could hold an intelligent conversation with myself on the merits and demerits of each option. CourseSites clearly had the most capabilities but also the most severe paywalls, the most serious being a five course limit that effectively translated to a five section limit if o...

SC 130 Physical Science saw a term long drop in the completion rate for laboratory reports fall 2013. The cause of this drop is not solely due to technology, although CourseSites was used for the first time in the course. No student failed to turn in all laboratories. In other words, students were functionally able to access and use CourseSites for submitting laboratories. Spring 2013 the average submission rate was 93% . This fell to 79% fall 2013. With the exception of laboratory one, turn-in rates for fall 2013 were below spring 2013. Up through spring 2013 laboratory reports were handed in as hard copies or sent via email and then printed out. The laboratory reports were marked and returned to the students the following week. There is the possibility that the act of returning the laboratory helped remind students that another laboratory was due. Another possibility is that the physicality of a hard copy provided some form of stimulus to handing in laboratory reports. M...