College students needing to take transitional math could see significant savings soon.

LBWCC was awarded a $40,000 innovations grant through the Alabama Community College System.

“Our mathematics faculty will create an innovative change in the delivery of three transitional math courses and will ultimately save students cumulatively up to $380,000 a year,” Dr. Herb Riedel, LBWCC president said. “Presently, the three math courses that constitute our transitional math curriculum are taught as a part of an emporium model based on National Center for Academic Transformation (NCAT) course redesign. The students use a software that requires the purchase of a textbook and a code, creating a financial burden on our students and the cost increases each year.”

These courses are designed to prepare students for college-level courses required as part of the associate degree program and many of LBWCC’s certificates.

It is estimated that 70 percent of incoming freshmen must take one or more transitional math courses, based on an assessment, level of math is most benefical to them.

which is designed to determine which

Through the grant, three faculty members will work on a project to help develop math courses that use open-source materials.

These materials are expected to save students between $213 and $276.

“For a student to complete the series of three courses, the total cost of textbooks and the code for the student is $347,” Riedel said. “This does not include tuition.”

Riedel said the goal is to allow instructors to have more control over the class presentation, while providing a relatively free course to students.

Printed handouts will be available at a cost to students, but online versions will also be available for free.

“There are many open source math courses that have been created by math instructors across the nation,” Riedel said. “Our faculty members are gaining valuable information and assistance from some of them in the design of this project.”

The project is expected to be completed by spring 2016.

For more info, call 222-6591.