Dive Brief:
- Three California State University-Long Beach physics professors have developed software to make large, introductory science lecture classes more engaging.
- The software addresses common problems with such classes, including a lack of interaction between professors and students, and dull presentations.
- The professors, who are selling the software through their startup company, Koondis, describe their approach as a social homework system and possibly a replacement for campus learning management systems, Campus Technology reports.
Dive Insight:
The faculty members — Thomas Gredig, Galen Pickett, and Zvonko Hlousek — developed the application to help organize students to take on projects and experiments in small groups, assess the areas where they have trouble learning, and automatically grade their class participation. The software could hold promise for addressing a problem that many colleges and universities are struggling with: How to keep students who start out in science, technology, engineering, and math majors from leaving their fields. Lousy teaching in introductory STEM courses is a contributing factor, according to research.