March 1, 2013

Tracey Haynie: Keeping students on track with “electronic nudges” through their mobile devices

Ms. Haynie, a statistics lecturer in the Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences department at UW Tacoma, is teaching the first online math classes at the Tacoma campus, with one section of pre-calculus, and another of section of introductory statistics. She notes, “As most people would agree, math is a tricky subject, and we knew it would be a challenge.”

Keeping students on track: She has been piloting a tool called Persistence Plus, which gives students electronic ‘nudges’ via their mobile device — about due dates, upcoming quizzes and exams, and motivational text messages. She says, “The initial set up was not too difficult.”

Student reactions: “I have only heard positive feedback from students. Many students said they found the reminders about due dates to be extremely helpful, and the other thing they specifically mentioned loving were the motivational texts. It gave them a little boost to study harder, or go find a study group to meet with.”

Access: “With a growing number of military personnel and older students returning to earn a degree, we felt it was critical to offer them a variety of options to fit their schedules and lifestyles.”

Advice: “Just try it! It doesn’t have to be permanent, and if you try it and decide your students don’t benefit from it, then you can scratch it.”

Links: Educause Review online article about the pilot, “Analytics, Nudges, and Learner Persistence”, by Tracey Haynie, Jill Frankfort, Kenneth Salim, and Colleen Carmean

Learn More

Read the full Provost report on how UW faculty are enhancing teaching with technology.