ASUSU senator engineers math refresher course
Students who haven’t studied math for a few years can now participate in a math refresher course starting this fall, said Lincoln Essig, senator for the College of Engineering.
Essig said he has been working with the university and the math department to fund a five-day math refresher course before school starts next fall to help students who have been on a leave of absence have an easier transition into their math courses.
Bryan Bornholdt, a math lecturer who is also involved in the program, said “math has a short shelf life; it spoils quickly.”
Fifty percent of students fail pre-calculus classes nationwide, Bornholdt said, and it is devastating to a lot of people.
Majors in the colleges of business, science and engineering require the most math classes, Essig said, and doing poorly in an introductory level course can impede their progress significantly.
The refresher course is currently being geared toward students who are not currently attending the university due to a leave of absence, Essig said. USU will send letters to those students and inform them of the refresher course, which is tentatively scheduled for Aug. 21-25, he said.
“This first year, we want to help about 100 students,” Essig said.
There are future plans to open the class to more students to give them the opportunity, he said.
According to a document provided by Essig, the course is expected to cost between $1,710 and $2,210 and will include the cost of professor hours, tutors and snacks. It will be funded in part by the provost’s office, the deans of various colleges and the students in attendance might pay $5-$10 each.
“The goal is to get students to come, not to add a financial burden,” the document stated.
Bornholdt said the course will help students recharge their math knowledge, as well as ensure there will be a more homogenous group of kids in the math classes.
Members of the math department were moving toward implementing a math refresher course, he said, when the engineering department approached him about a similar concept.
“The timing is just perfect,” Bornholdt said.
There is also a mandatory math placement exam in the works, which will serve as a placement filter, Bornholdt said, for those students whose prerequisites are old.
Don Heath, a freshman who recently returned from serving a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said it has been four years since his last math class. He is currently enrolled in Math 900 and said it’s a good idea to have a review or students can get behind.
“It’s good to cover the basics,” Heath said.
The refresher course will demonstrate how Utah State University is a student-oriented campus that will be here for students who return from leaves of absence to help them be successful in math, Essig said.
-mof@cc.usu.edu