Customer Story
Student Success

Saint Joseph’s University Cuts Costs and Gains Flexibility with Möbius Over Publisher Platforms

Sima Ghanbarzadeh
Sima Ghanbarzadeh
Digital Marketing Specialist

Challenge

After the merger of the University of the Sciences and Saint Joseph’s University, the Department of Mathematics needed a flexible, affordable, and robust platform solution for delivering engaging courses across all modalities. Their primary challenge was overcoming the limitations of previous, costly publisher solutions, which offered rigid content and placed a financial burden on students.

Solution 

The adoption of Möbius at Saint Joseph’s University was chosen to address the high costs and rigid content of previous publisher platforms. They found that Möbius’s ability to provide total content customization, seamless faculty collaboration, and interactive learning experiences was critical for their department’s success.

Result

The expansion of Möbius at Saint Joseph’s University has transformed their mathematics department, giving faculty a flexible, affordable platform for course development. This move has created a more engaging learning environment, providing students with a safe space to practice and master concepts, while also significantly reducing their educational costs.

The Details

The merger of the University of the Sciences with Saint Joseph’s University in 2022 presented a unique opportunity to consolidate and enhance academic programs, particularly within the Department of Mathematics. Building upon the University of the Sciences’ proactive shift to online instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic, the combined department sought a cost-effective solution for delivering mathematics courses across diverse learning modalities—in-person, hybrid, and online.

A significant hurdle was the reliance on previous online solutions. Faculty members had experience with MyLab by Pearson and ALEKS by McGraw Hill, which often came with their own set of limitations. These systems offered rigid content, making it difficult for instructors to tailor materials to their unique teaching styles or specific student needs. Moreover, the high cost associated with these publisher solutions and their integrated homework tools presented a substantial financial burden for students. Professor Daniel Ozimek noted:

“Students were paying $110 for a textbook that we weren’t even using. It was an e-text, and we were just doing it for the homework system.” 

Professors Amy Kimchuk and Daniel Ozimek, faculty members in the Department of Mathematics at Saint Joseph’s University, championed the adoption and expansion of DigitalEd’s Möbius platform. Professor Kimchuk, who had been with the University of the Sciences since 1998, brought over two decades of experience, including the successful implementation of Möbius in 2014 for placement exams and later for pre-calculus and calculus courses. 

Möbius proved to be the ideal solution due to its powerful capabilities, directly addressing the shortcomings of prior systems.

Unlike rigid textbook companions found through publishers, Möbius offered dynamic tools for instructors to modify lessons, problems, and assessments. As Professor Kimchuk explained:

“We’re all different when we teach… Which is one of the good things about Möbius. Faculty can use the material and teach from it; or if they want to change the problems, they can change them. Adapting practice problems to what our faculty wanted the students to do has been a lot better.”

This functionality allows faculty to own their curriculum, breaking free from pre-set publisher content.

Another critical feature for the department was Möbius’s ability to facilitate collaborative course development. The ability to share resources through Möbius’ class structure allowed instructors to have consistent and reliable content. This structure also allowed for a consistent foundation while giving individual instructors the freedom to refine their specific sections.

A major driver for expanded adoption was the desire to lower educational costs. Professor Ozimek openly discussed the high fees of previous platforms:

“Textbooks were expensive.How can we make it less expensive for students, and how can we make it a better course? Möbius is a cost-effective option for students due to its flexible and student-first licensing system.” 

Saint Joseph’s University continues to demonstrate its momentum and vision for the future. In early 2024, the University expanded once again through a merger with the Pennsylvania College of Health Sciences, a respected institution known for its strong nursing programs and allied health specialties. This merger further strengthened Saint Joseph’s position as a leader in health sciences education. Shortly after joining the SJU community, the new division began building its own Clinical Mathematics question database and became an early adopter of Möbius resources.

The strategic expansion of Möbius at Saint Joseph’s University has transformed math education, leading to widespread adoption, enhanced pedagogical flexibility, and a more accessible learning environment, directly addressing the limitations of former systems. What began with placement testing, an online asynchronous precalculus course, and in-person precalculus and calculus courses, has now expanded to additional courses in trigonometry, statistics, quantitative reasoning, and clinical mathematics.

DigitalEd