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JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH

Compared to the previous year the students worsened by 2.25
points which could be reflected on the quality of our subject
(mathematics). Our decision was not to submit and decrease the
demands of the subject which would lead to a decrease in quality
in other subjects. Because this subject was taught by two
teachers it is not possible to devote individual attention to every
student in a way corresponding to his/her needs and knowledge.
That means that when we wanted to add new methods into the
syllabus we had to consider not only the quality of education but
the demand on time from the teacher's perspective.

A mentioned earlier, the analysed subject is taught in the first
semester of the first year. It means that the students do not have
enough time to create groups where they can work together and
help each other. The majority of students are still strangers to
one another and the process of adaptation can take up to several
weeks so the student is left to his/her own devices, at least in the
beginning.

The other reason for this experiment was to prepare the students
for their further studies and job practice. During the studies at
our faculty the students are required to participate in various
projects - they have to be able to choose partners, divide tasks,
prepare the time and work schedule, research the necessary
information, present their results and also carry the responsibility
for themselves and other members of the team.

The first phase was focused on the secondary school mathematic
skills observed within the entrance exam and mathematics itself.
From this phase we can already evaluate the first results of our
work. We worked with two groups of students where we
monitored and compared their results from the entrance exam
and subsequently from the subject of Mathematics listed in the
first semester of the first year of the bachelor studies. To obtain
the most accurate results we considered only the students who
qualified with these two conditions: firstly they underwent the
entrance exam in that academic year and became our students.
Secondly, they had participated in the subjects during the whole
length of the semester. We disregarded the students' evaluations
who were at the entrance exam but did not become students of
our faculty. That is the reason the students' numbers in the
further data analysis are the same. The students entering our
faculty had different levels of knowledge at the beginning of
their study. The first group of students was tested as to whether
the level of their knowledge from the entrance exam was directly
connected to their results in the subject of Mathematics. It was
the entrance exam for the academic year 2016/2017 and the
subject Mathematics was taught during the winter semester of
that year. The second group of students underwent the same
testing but in the academic year 2017/2018.

3 Metodology

To help the students reach the required performance we decided
to employ certain innovative methods using mostly computer
support this academic year. At the first lesson of the class the
students were divided into teams. Formation of the team was
within the competence of the teacher and the main objective was
heterogeneity. Every team consisted of students who were
stronger and weaker in mathematics, according to their entrance
exam results. Then a course was created in the environment
Moodle, enabling the communication between the teacher and
each student at the same time and also between the students
themselves. The first step towards better results was the student's
'self-testing'. Beginning with the second lesson of the semester,
every student was weekly given a series of tasks to solve,
pertaining to the week's lesson. After marking the correct answer
the student could continue with another task. Marking the
incorrect answer lead to 'penalty tasks' aimed at practicing the
problem more. The student was able to educate himself/herself at
home without any time stress. At the same moment, the teacher
got feedback about which tasks were causing the most problems
and thus enabling a better choice for further lessons.

We also employed the teams differently. Every team was
regularly given a certain task. They always had two weeks for it.

The subject Mathematics had two 45min lessons a week for a
period of thirteen weeks (so-called 'lab classes'). This was
extended by two additional 45min lessons in the form of a
lecture every week. All students were there together and there
they presented their results. The teacher's responsibility was to
evaluate and grade the work and to intervene only in case the
students could not help themselves. The tasks were of various
natures. Some focused on expanding the lesson, some were an
example from real life or to practice the problematic areas
learning. The third compulsory part was to solve a certain
number of mathematical sums. Their amount varied according to
the difficulty of the topic - sometimes it was only two or three.
Considering there were 124 students, the acquired database of
tasks per each topic was significant. On top of that, under the
teacher's supervision, they were able to discuss it with the author
of the solution about his/her used procedure, to point out the
mistakes or to suggest a different solution and also to ask the
teacher for help.

4 Data analysis and results

The students come to our faculty from various schools and
towns. Most of them have graduated from secondary school that
year but there are some who graduated several years before.
Trade academies (a type of secondary school) do not even
require a final exam in the subject of mathematics. All of this
contributes to the different starting level for each student, which
can be an advantage or disadvantage for his/her further study. In
the first part of our research we deal with the question of
whether there is a connection between the results of the entrance
exam from Mathematics to the results of the subject during the
first semester. In both cases (the entrance exam and the final
semester evaluation) a student could receive 14 points. We
monitored seven criteria awarded them with 0, 1 or 2 points. If a
student received 0 points it meant that he/she did not meet the
required expectation. The acquisition of 1 point meant that
he/she did meet them and 2 points represented overachieving
success, managing the problem to its full extent. This point
system also corresponds with the demands of the accreditation of
our faculty and is included within the system of international
accreditation AACSB. AACSB's View of International
Accreditation is that faculties with an economic and managerial
focus voluntarily determine entry into the process. As a result of
this voluntary process, obtaining AACSB International
Accreditation is an important public statement that their
leadership, educators, staff and students have decided to be
responsible for the above expectations. They publicly express
their willingness to undergo continuous self-evaluation and an
external review process. Basically, they declare their intentions
to use this process to ensure continuous improvement, quality
and appropriateness of the teaching methods used.
There were 131 students participating in this analysis, all of
whom underwent the entrance exam and also studied
Mathematics in the academic year 2016/2017. The results are
stated in Table 1.

Table 1. Descriptive statistical indicators of continuous
performance for the year 2016

Entrance

exam

Mathematics

2016

Sample size

131

Mean

7,40

8,08

Standard error

0,252

0,283

Median

8,00

7,00

Mode

Standard deviation

2,884

3,239

Variance

8,320

10,493

Skewness

-0,575

-0,508

Kurtosis

0,935

0,419

Range

Minimum

Maximum

Source: own processing

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