In 2004, the University of North Texas began the Blended Learning Project which involved redesigning five undergraduate courses using a combination of in class and online approaches.  The success of the first two years of this project prompted UNT to select the redesign of of large enrollment undergraduate courses as the topic of the Quality Enhancement Plan.  The QEP is an important part of the reaccreditation process for SACS.

The redesign process begins with a careful analysis and revision of the student learning outcomes to include higher level learning. The goal, therefore, is not just to have a greater percentage of students receiving a grade of C or better, but to elevate the letter grade of “C” to indicate students' abilities to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate.

In 2007, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, acting upon a bill passed by the Texas Legislature, began its own course redesign project by issuing RFP’s for institutions to take on their own redesign projects.  UNT has been fortunate to receive grants to redesign several entry level courses.  One of these grants has supported the redesign of Developmental Math and College Algebra.  The model that UNT has chosen is the Math Emporium approach which was created at Virginia Tech and adopted by a number of other institutions, including the University of Alabama.

A team from the UNT Math Department led by Dr. Neal Brand (on the right) and also consisting of Mary Ann Teel (on the left) and Marc Grether began planning in the fall of 2007 to pilot the two courses in the fall of 2008.  They worked within UNT’s Next Generation Course Redesign™ Project to plan and create experiential learning opportunities for the students.  Therefore, while the UNT approach is very much informed by the National Center for Academic Transformation model, the UNT NGen process has enabled the design team to create a unique experience for students taking these classes.