Department of Education Funds Four-Year Research Evaluation of Mathematics Online Tutoring System
MENLO PARK, Calif. - April 9, 2012 - SRI International, Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), and the University of Maine have received a $3.5 million award from the Institute of Education Sciences at the U.S. Department of Education to evaluate the effectiveness of an online tutoring system for mathematics homework. Theresearch team will study seventh-grade mathematics students and teachers in more than 50 schools throughout Maine using WPI’s ASSISTments system.
ASSISTments aims to transform homework by giving students instant feedback and tutoring adapted to their individual needs. It also provides teachers with customized reports each morning on their students’ nightly progress. Teachers in the study will receive training in how to use these reports to adapt their lesson plans to better suit students’ needs.
"Our early, small studies have shown solid learning gains for students who use ASSISTments, and this is leading to tremendous interest from schools in adopting the system,” said Neil Heffernan, Ph.D., associate professor of computer science at WPI, who created ASSISTments. “Yet schools today want gold standard proof that if teachers assign homework using ASSISTments, their students’ math scores will go up. That’s why involving SRI as the objective, external valuator is so important in this study."
The four-year research study will compare ASSISTments to existing ways of doing mathematics homework. The team chose to conduct the study in Maine because students there are assigned laptops to take home and use for homework. The researchers will examine whether ASSISTments is effective and investigate the teaching practices that lead to increased learning using the system. The researchers will look specifically at whether students who previously struggled in mathematics benefit from online homework tutoring and how these benefits vary depending on the students’ socioeconomic status.
"In an ideal world, we’d provide a personal homework tutor to every mathematics students who needs one–but that’s unaffordable,” said Jeremy Roschelle, Ph.D., director of the Center for Technology in Learning at SRI. “The results of this study will determine whether automated homework tutoring could be a cost-effective approach to support learning, while giving mathematics teachers the information they need to adapt classroom instruction to meet their students’ needs."
Currently, the research team is recruiting schools in Maine to participate in the study. Schools will receive free use of ASSISTments for four years, as well as high-quality professional development for their mathematics teachers. In addition, the homework assignments in ASSISTments will be customized to the textbooks used in participating schools. Applications are due by April 27, 2012.
For more information, visit: http://tinyurl.com/AssistmentsMaineStudy
About Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Founded in 1865 in Worcester, Mass., WPI was one of the nation's first engineering and technology universities. Its 14 academic departments offer more than 50 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science, engineering, technology, business, the social sciences, and the humanities and arts, leading to bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees. WPI's talented faculty work with students on interdisciplinary research that seeks solutions to important and socially relevant problems in fields as diverse as the life sciences and bioengineering, energy, information security, materials processing, and robotics. Students also have the opportunity to make a difference to communities and organizations around the world through the university's innovative Global Perspective Program. There are more than 25 WPI project centers throughout North America and Central America, Africa, Australia, Asia, and Europe.
Note to editors: Reporters interested in attending the event should contact lindsay.wahler@sri.com for registration information.
