1. Mastering Astronomy vs. Traditional Assignments Tyler Mitchell Excellence in Teaching Seminar Spring 2008

2. Outline Motivation The Survey Results Conclusions and Future Work

3. Is Mastering Astronomy a scam for limiting the sale of used textbooks? New Textbook price: $125.00 Used Textbook price + Price of M.A.: $120.75

4. The Survey two general education classes 85 total responses 6 questions of 1 to 5 ranking 3 open ended questions time spent on assignments two student “observations”

5. How do students feel about Mastering Astronomy?

6. Does Mastering Astronomy foster understanding? Is it engaging?

7. How does Mastering Astronomy compare to the textbook?

8. Open Ended Questions My favorite aspect of Mastering Astronomy is… My least favorite aspect of Mastering Astronomy is… One thing I would change about Mastering Astronomy is…

9. My favorite aspect of Mastering Astronomy is… Interaction – 14 Feedback – 5 Tutorials – 8 Useful as study guide – 3 Animations – 12

10. My Least favorite aspect of Mastering Astronomy is… Tutorials – 11 Too long – 16 User interface / doesn ’ t work – 11 True/False and unfair grading – 13

11. Time Spent on Assignments

12. Results Students enjoy Mastering Astronomy Mastering Astronomy promotes interactive engagement with feedback Mastering Astronomy assignments require the same time as paper assignments Mastering Astronomy has a few “bugs” Grading needs modification or explanation

13. Future Work More student “observations” Better student surveys Improvement study; with and without Mastering Astronomy Assessment of grading policy