AbstractsEducation Research & Administration

The integration of web based learning tools into the teaching of mathematics holds much promise for engaging middle and high school students. The purpose of this thesis is to report about my experiences regarding the effectiveness of using an online homework, tutorial and assessment system as part of two of the six Algebra I math classes I taught in the 2008-2009 school year at Sherwood Middle Academic Magnet School in East Baton Rouge Parish. Comparing the two sets of classes I found that such online systems offer many potential advantages to educators, such as the ability to provide instantaneous feedback, as well as a great deal of tutorial assistance on each and every homework problem assigned. Other possible advantages include increasing student motivation to succeed, offering many students the opportunity to develop content mastery, and allowing the educator more time to teach rather than grade homework, quizzes and test. With the great wealth of online resources available, in this thesis project we decided to consider the MathXL online system by Pearson Education that is used by many major educational institutions including Louisiana State University in their College Algebra and Trigonometry classes. A major piece of the thesis project is devoted to the development of a complete Algebra I MathXL online course environment and its integration with traditional instruction in the middle school setting, along with a discussion of the implementation and concluding beliefs after testing the program on one calendar school year.