es information technology in course redesigns that improve learning while reducing instructional costs. Over the last decade, it's been a catalyst for more than 200 large-scale redesigns on dozens of campuses in various courses such as algebra, chemistry, economic statistics and Spanish. Schools that have benefited include Carnegie Mellon and Penn State University
Some of the most successful overhauls are shared with other schools, with the goal of increasing the number of students likely to pass these courses and -- just as important -- retain what is being taught.
One example, at the University of Alabama, involved replacing standard lectures with required time in math labs, where students at computers tackle problems at their own pace and get help on the spot from instructors and tutors. The school in four years managed to raise from 40 percent to almost 75 percent the share of students in intermediate algebra earning a C- or better, a significant gain in what was the school's biggest problem area in math, said Joe Benson, interim vice president for research.
The achievement gap between black and white students was erased in the course, and the gains did not require hiring additional faculty. In fact, the cost per student declined by 28 percent.
At the University of Notre Dame, Dennis Jacobs remembers how disheartening it was to stand in front of a general chemistry class of 250 students, knowing many would fail or be turned off by the subject.
So in 1997, he took students whose low math entrance scores made them most at risk to fail and placed them in a redesigned version. It covered the same general chemistry topics but replaced standard lectures with interactive group learning that required students to develop and defend their ideas in talks with their peers.
He found the success rate of those high-risk students increased from 40 percent to 70 percent. Fifty percent more of them succeeded in second-year chemistry than did their predecessors. The redesigned course has been expanded to other sections.
"It was gratifying to see the success rate of students who otherwise would have failed," said Dr. Jacobs, vice president and associate provost. "It also was a much more engaging and exciting classroom environment."
At Carnegie Mellon, about 150 students in David Yaron's modern chemistry class work in a "virtual chemistry lab," part of an ongoing redesign that lets them experience the work that chemists do. Dr. Yaron said online lectures that students listen to before showing up enable him to skip a lot of talking and get right to working on their skills.
"Classes become more diagnostic," he said. "You're spending more time assessing how they did on the problems and working to strengthen areas where they need to be strengthened."
The changes aren't limited to four-year schools.
At Westmoreland County Community College, faculty and staff grew tired of watching first-year students with reading problems founder.
"It's difficult to expect a student to succeed if you tell him, 'You can't read at college level, but here's a history textbook. Go take this history course.'"
So this fall, an experimental course will be co-taught by a history instructor and a developmental reading instructor, whose reading assignments will tie in with history.
Similarly, a speech course is being paired with a class on college success. And instead of taking a three-credit developmental math class one semester, followed by a three-credit algebra course the next, some students can take a four-credit class that combines the two, cutting time and saving $200 in tuition costs.
The school, among community colleges receiving grants from a national student success initiative called Achieving the Dream, says the payoff may be in fewer dropouts.
"For every 100 students that we lose now," said staffer Randy Finfrock, "if we can save five of them this year, I'll take it."
Bill Schackner can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org or 412-263-1977.