Problet Stages

• Registration - the student is asked to identify her/himself.
• Pre-Survey - during this optional stage, the student responds to a survey to measure prior self-confidence in the topic, prior knowledge of a related topic, etc.
• Problem-Solving Stage - this is the stage where the student solves problems. The stage is further broken into three sub-stages:
  • Pre-test: Student is presented problems, usually one per learning objective. If the student solves the problem correctly, no feedback is provided. If the student solves the problem incorrectly, explanation of the step-by-step solution to the problem is provided.
  • Adaptive practice: Student is presented additional practice problems on only those learning objectives on which the student solved problems incorrectly during pre-test. On each such learning objective, problems are presented until the student reaches a pre-set level of mastery, e.g., solving 60% of the problems correctly. After each problem, student is provided explanation of the step-by-step solution to the problem. Problems related to different learning objectives are interleaved so that the answers are not predictable.
  • Post-test: Student is now presented problems on only those learning objectives on which the student solved problems incorrectly during pre-test and solved problems till mastery during practice. If a student solves all the pre-test problems correctly, the student is not presented any practice or post-test. If on the other hand, the student solves all the pre-test problems incorrectly, and does not master any learning objective during practice, practice session will go on for as long as needed or allocated time runs out.
• Feedback - student is asked to fill out a questionnaire containing 14 Likert-scale questions on the usability, usefulness and learnability of the problem-solving stage.
• Post-Survey - this optional stage mirrors pre-survey and is used to measure pre-post change in self-confidence, transfer of knowledge, etc.
• Summary Page - The number of problems solved and the student's score are listed. A confirmation code is also printed, that can be used to verify the students' use of the problet.