Stein, D. (2016). Community college faculty perceptions of math MOOC remediation effectiveness. Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Globaldatabase. (UMI No. 10140007) 

Abstract: 

“Underprepared college students take zero credit courses, extending their stay, and increase college debt which may lead to attrition (SUNY, 2015). President Obama’s Affordability Proposal reported on a college “cost crisis” created “by failing to use technology to its fullest effect” (Kelly and Carey, 2013). The non-profit Alliance for Excellence in Education, in 2006, reported that community colleges alone spent $1.4 billion per year on remedial courses for recent high school graduates (Smydo, 2008). This quantitative study reports on the perceptions of NYS community college math faculty on the effectiveness of a math MOOC as a remediation strategy, use in remedial courses and as free online educational resource for the math college placement exam. After levels of Technology Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK), faculty MOOC Awareness (MA) and perceived Barriers to Technology Integration (BTI) were measured, faculty reviewed a sample math MOOC syllabus with a delivery system containing instructional videos, self-assessments and a dashboard of student math competencies and reported on Math MOOC Remediation Effectiveness (MMRE) and Faculty Interest in teaching with MOOC Remediation (FIMR). Faculty expressed their willingness to collaborate in MOOC creation. The electronic survey was juried and factor analyzed for content and construct validity. Results showed that community college math faculty had low familiarity with MOOCs as a remediation strategy. However after viewing a video intervention showing a free sample MOOC with tutorials, platform faculty perceived that Math MOOC Remediation may be an effective educational strategy to increase passing rates on math competency entrance tests and to increase passing rates in college remedial math courses. Significant differences were found within this study. Significant positional differences indicated that adjunct math faculty had greater interest in teaching a future math remedial course if a remedial math MOOC was aligned to the college syllabus. Full-time math faculty was more aware of MOOCs as an educational strategy. This study found an inverse significant correlation which indicated that that older faculty with greater years of college teaching tended to have less interest in teaching with MOOC Remediation. Significant gender differences were found indicating that males teach more online courses than females.”