October 27, 2009
Proposed AESHM course could eliminate common math anxiety
Online class slated to begin summer 2010
Jessica Hurst, an assistant professor in textiles and clothing, helped design an online course to help relieve students' math anxiety. |
By
Michelle Rydell
A proposed course in apparel, educational studies, and hospitality management (AESHM) at Iowa State University may be key to easing students’ math anxiety and making them more marketable to retail and hospitality industries.
The one- to two-credit, online course would give students in textiles and clothing and hotel, restaurant, and institution management an opportunity to not only review basic calculations and formulas, but more important, to understand how those concepts relate to apparel and hospitality industries.
Jessica Hurst, an assistant professor in textiles and clothing who developed the idea for the course, said she began researching the idea of math anxiety after being confronted by students who were concerned about applying formulas to retail concepts.
“After teaching a course that focused significantly on retail math, many students would come in to my office and say, ‘I’m not good at math’ or ‘numbers are not my thing,’” Hurst said. “In this field, you don’t have the luxury to not understand math. We wanted to help students overcome their fear of math, numbers, and formulas and give them more confidence.”
The class will review key math concepts, such as rounding, fractions, converting percentages, and basic algebra. Students will then divide into their primary areas of study and will focus on calculations and formulas specific to their fields. The goal is to learn how to interpret and apply concepts as they relate to the apparel and hospitality industries, Hurst said.
Hurst says the purpose of the course is not to replace other general math courses, but to build upon students’ mathematics knowledge by incorporating concepts that relate specifically to the retail and hospitality industries. Students will also learn software specific to the apparel and hospitality industries.
“We’re trying to help students connect the dots, so they can see how they will actually use this information when they do get out into the workforce,” Hurst said. “We want to help students succeed and make them more marketable. “
Hurst said the online course format will also benefit students because they will be able to review the information and work at their own pace.
Although the course is still in the development stage, Hurst says it will be completed by the end of the fall semester. The course is being designed by AESHM faculty, including Hurst, Tianshu Zheng and Sara Kadolph, as well as Anne Foegen in curriculum and instruction. The researchers will test a pilot course in the spring and Hurst expects to make the course available to students in the summer.
The course development is funded by a $16,000 Teaching Innovation Initiative grant, awarded by the College of Human Sciences.
Hurst said the class will be marketed to a wide variety of people, from freshmen to seniors to industry professionals and new entrepreneurs.
“The need for mathematically-competent students in the retail and hospitality industries is evident,” Hurst said. “The modules and assessments built into the online course will provide insight to the root cause of students’ confusion with math as it relates to the apparel and hospitality industries. Additionally, our goal is to help students build their mathematical competence/performance and confidence; , thus, enhancing their human potential.”
