Developmental Integrated Multimedia Mathematics (DIMM)

The Interactive Multimedia Developmental Mathematics Project in the General College at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities adapts and implements Prentice Hall's Interactive Mathematics software designed for developmental mathematics. The General College is a two-year developmental education program for students not academically qualified for regular university admission. The courses affected are arithmetic and algebra courses designed for adults, especially those who were not successful in these courses prior to college.

Utilizing this software we develop instructional approaches with the goals of increasing course completion rates, developing strong conceptual understanding of key concepts, and achieving the level of symbolic skill development needed for success in future mathematics courses. We measure how multimedia coursework impacts transfer rates from the College to degree-granting colleges and self-reported attitudes towards mathematics. We also track student enrollment and achievement patterns in mathematics courses following their experience with multimedia learning.

Our main goals in this project are: 1)to improve our developmental students' pass rates in developmental mathematics courses and mathematics courses in which students subsequently enroll; 2) to research the effect a multimedia environment has on students' attitudes towards mathematics and the process of learning mathematics, along with beliefs about what constitutes 'mathematics'; 3) to effectively disseminate our research to assist other developmental mathematics programs incorporating multimedia instruction.