Free math refresher course helps students save time and money

Jeanette Blain | News Editor | @jeanetteblain
Photo credit: Brooke Morrill | Photo Editor | @brookemorrill

 

An online summer math course may help some students who want to avoid wasting multiple semesters on remedial classes.

For the third year in a row, the developmental math department is offering a free math refresher course, which starts June 8 on Canvas.

Designed as a resource for new students taking the test, it’s also good for anyone with expired placement exam scores, or those who want to retest.

“It’s not for everybody. this stuff, it’s probably a challenging environment to learn it in. If you’re a little rusty and just need to spend some time refreshing, then it’s a great fit,” Keith White, associate professor of developmental math said.

Since the class costs nothing and is available as a MOOC (Massive Open Online Class), students do not need to be enrolled at UVU to attend.

In past years, people from around the world have signed up, although, White said, most participants have been continuing UVU students.

This year, he expects over 4,000 participants.

The self-guided course is set up so students can work through lessons from basic math to 1010 level algebra—with a little trigonometry mixed in. White said some trigonometry is helpful for testing into 1030, 1040 and 1050 level math classes when taking the Accuplacer.

In addition to the course content, resource links will be provided as well as student discussion boards and online tutoring sessions. White and his TA’s have also scheduled on-campus help sessions for students who would like one-on-one tutoring.

The course is hosted on canvas.net, which is separate from the Canvas-UVU system that most students are familiar with. To access the lessons, students must register for Math Refresher Course directly through Canvas.net.

Students can sign up at any time while the course is open and access all content. However, after the course closes, July 27, the lesson modules will be archived and interactive resources will no longer be available.

 

This article was updated to change the course end date on June 29, 2015 at 6:04 p.m.