OMDT: Online Mathematics Diagnostic Tool Report – 2019

The Pacific region faces an acute problem of numeracy skills. This is due to various factors such as resources, unqualified mathematics teachers, different curriculum in the countries and their coverage, lack of localized textbooks and learning materials, and many more. Consequently, students are deprived of good mathematics and sometimes certain mathematics topics are compromised. They arrive for their tertiary journeys with different levels of mathematics, many of them are already in the at-risk category even before they join the university, and hence are set to fail in their programmes right from the start. All these invariably show the dire and genuine need for OMDT

OMDT Design and Implementation Documentation

The purpose of this document is to outline the requirements, design and development of the Online Mathematics Diagnostic Tool (OMDT) while helping the client obtain a better understanding of the project. The intended audience for this document is the Learning Management System (LMS) Team at The University of the South Pacific (USP) and the Faculty of Science Technology and Environment (FSTE) Administration Office. Within this document, readers can find information about our general project concepts, a list of functional and non-functional requirements, examples of our graphical user interfaces (GUI), as well as information on the implementation schedule

Online Mathematics Diagnostic Test and Remediation for New Entrants in Higher Education in the Pacific Region

This paper highlights the pilot of an online diagnosis of the mathematics knowledge of secondary school graduates enrolling in a tertiary institution. Most institutions miss identifying the knowledge gaps and differences between students from different curriculum and backgrounds, hence fail to factor these in their at-risk intervention programmes. While such issues are addressed in the retention crusades, they may be arriving a little too late to curb and curtail the attrition rates. This newly developed online mathematics diagnostic tool (OMDT) provides an early indication of the varying mathematics knowledge students bring from their secondary school and the inbuilt system intelligence directs the individual students to relevant online remediation based on their performances. This new cutting-edge ICT tool hosted on Moodle, has built-in certification, rewards through gamification, surveys and analytics, support mechanisms, and online remedial modules crafted into a complete package

OMDT: Online Mathematics Diagnostic Tool Report – 2017

The University of the South Pacific (USP) is a regional multi-campus institution operating since 1968 populating its 14 campuses and 10 centers spread in its 12 member countries over an area of 30 million square kilometers of the Pacific Ocean. The university is constituted to make premium higher education available to all its member countries. However, together with factors such as the geographical spread of the member countries, English being the 2nd or even 3rd language, under qualified teachers, untrained teachers and lack of localized text, the non-uniform secondary school education of its students heavily impact the university’s aspiration of quality education for all. The latter invariably affects the student retention which currently averages around 70% at the first year level. To address this issue the Faculty of Science, Technology and Environment (FSTE) works to include effective and efficient pedagogical tools and technologies, mostly designing in-house so that these are customized and contextualized for its unique eduscape in the Pacific region. Students come to USP with different level of mathematics skills. Thus to ensure that students begin their first year degree courses on an equal platform, the University has developed the Online Mathematics Diagnostic Tool (OMDT) to bridge mathematics gaps from secondary to tertiary education. This is very important to the university as most of its courses require some knowledge of mathematics. This new cutting-edge pedagogical tool, timely diagnoses knowledge gaps of its first year students who come from different countries in the Pacific region, and based on their individual performances, it automatically directs students to relevant remedial and corrective measures. The tool has built-in certification, rewards through gamification, surveys and analytics, support mechanisms, and online remedial modules crafted into a complete package. Below is the summary of the 2017 Semester 1 OMDT (OMDT1 and OMDT2) result from different campus and Modules. Note that OMDT1 is for Science students and OMDT2 is for Non-Science students

The online mathematics diagnostic tool for transformative learning in the Pacific

With advances in information and communication technology, students can be educated from anywhere at any time at their own pace. Students of the 21st century have different learning expectations. These expectations require the design of smart learning environments to ensure more effective and adaptive learning. This chapter essays an introduction to a new educational tool developed on the Moodle platform by The University of the South Pacific to bridge gaps in mathematics knowledge and skills as students’ transit from secondary to tertiary education. The tool, known as the Online Mathematics Diagnostic Tool (OMDT), is an intelligent system which provides online tests and automates personalized remediation. This chapter will include the reasons why this diagnostic tool has been developed for the Pacific region students aspiring for tertiary education. It will also discuss why the tool is considered as a smart learning environment (SLE) and how it ensures effective learning of mathematics