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As an instructor, teaching and assessing is a vital part of my everyday work life. Teaching mathematics can be particularly challenging because many students come into the course with a negative mindset towards it due to a variety of factors, whether it be a poor interaction with a previous teacher or prior difficulty with the subject matter. Unfortunately, we, my colleagues and I, also battle the social norm of it being okay to be "bad" at math. Everybody is, right? ;-)
These thought patterns can be difficult to break through and cause to constantly evaluate what we do in the Math Learning Center and how we do it. In the 12 years I was an adjunct in the MLC prior to acquiring my full-time instructor status, I had the pleasure of watching the lab grow from a lab where students sat in groups at tables to the incorporation of several computers at the back of the room to accommodate the "new" technological additions to the curriculum to our present-day fully computerized lab where are students work dually in their text and online in MyMathLab (MML). MML is an online companion to our text which we use extensively to supplement the content covered in our textbook. Assignments, section videos, practice tests, and additional practice problems are just some of the tools that are available to our students to aid in their mastery of the material. Problems are algorithmically generated from a large pool of problems allowing for greater individualization of assignments. We've seen great success with MML and our students really take advantage of all the program has to offer.
As the curriculum has changed, so has how we've interacted with our students to assess their progress. When I first started as an adjunct, individual assessment of the students was done through the checking of assignments, tests, and informal conversation. While we still assess student learning with those tools, an addition in recent years was the addition of regular progress checks or conferences with each student. The decision to implement the conferences partially stemmed from the fact that our Intermediate Algebra students consistently seem to get off to a slow start and we wanted to find a way to stay on top of that and, hopefully, keep them moving at a good pace. Initially, we started with four conferences per semester and have now moved to five, adding one to the start of the semester in order to be sure to touch base with every student, making sure they are off to a good start and are confident in our policies and procedures. In these conferences, we meet with the student during their class time and talk about how things are going for them. Are they on schedule? Behind schedule? How is their attendance? Are they using their study time to its full potential? They students are given the opportunity to initiate the conferences themselves by a specified due date, earning a few extra credit points each time they do that. If they do not initiate a conference, the instructors will seek them out in the days immediately after the due date to touch base with them. In these conferences, students are either encouraged to keep doing what they're doing if they are on schedule and progressing nicely. For the students who are behind, we set goals for them to meet in order to get back on track. Some of the changes that have been made to the conferences include moving the first conference from the first week to the second week for a couple of reasons--it gives our evening extensions an additional week of contact with those students as well as the students having a little time to get working and also allows all students to get to their first benchmark, quiz one. Another change we've made in the last year in this regard is standardizing some of the goals to be consistent across all of our extension sites. The most difficult part of this type of assessment is the follow-up. We have to check all of our students conferences records in the days following the conferences to see who is meeting their goals and touch base with those who are not, encouraging them to come extra, to visit Peer Tutoring or one of our extensions sites, and to really work hard on their assignments outside of class. This has to continue throughout the semester.
This semester, fall 2014, my colleague, Emily Lesman, and I revived an assessment that Cheryl Hobneck and I attempted to use a couple of years ago. (I say "attempted" because we didn't feel as though the results were accurate based on students' misconceptions of where they were. While that in and of itself was valid information, we weren't able to really glean much useful information from the CAT (classroom assessment technique) because of it.)
Comments from student course feedback forms: (typed just as they were written by the students)
"Mrs. Black does a wonderful job at helping me to better understand the material & is very friendly & helpful =)"
"Comming into this class, I did not like math and did not exept that I could do it. As the instructors assisted me, I began to have hope and learned many methods to be successful. They are polite, organized, and inspiring people that helped me get threw this class."
"I would just ike to say how great of a math teach Mrs. Black is and I feel the enthusiasm the minute I walk into the lab and even greeted with smile. I have learned a lot in this course in the past month."
"At first I was terrified of this class. However, it has now become my favorite class."
"Mrs. Black is an excellent teacher. I can only hope that I will become the type of teacher she is. Mrs. Black cares about her students understanding math. She doesn't simply teach to the test. If you don't understand a concept she will explain it a million different ways until you do understand. IVCC needs more teachers like Mrs. Black."
"Although this is considered a lab class, I receive all the assistance and help I need. The professors have taught me to be independent, on-task, and fully functioning in and out of class."
"Mrs. Black is such caring lady & will help you with anything you need. She is the kind of teacher I love having & learning from."
"Mrs. Black is very good at what she does. She picked the right profession. She cares about her students and is willing to lay down the law if needed in order to get her students to pass. No one is a lost cause."
"Mrs. Black is an extremely helpful instructor. She is always willing to help all students and goes out of her way to keep students on track and current with their work. I have suggested her as a teacher to many peers. =)"
Comments from evaluations by Deans and VPs: (typed just as they were written)
"Mary's knowledge of math is demonstrated in her teaching and through her contributions at meetings. She is aware of the current trends for accelerated developmental math through conversations with colleagues and attendance at state meetings." ~Dean Marianne Dzik, 4/3/2012
"The developmental math lab curriculum utilizes a wide variety of teaching methods which naturally lend themselves to different learning styles, from traditional text and on-screen material to embedded videos, guided notes, online quizzing to hand-written "show your work" test. Mary did a great job of going over problems with students. She made sure that everyone she worked with was able to explain how to work the problem correctly." ~VP Sue Isermann, 10/6/2012
"In her second year as a full-time lab coordinator, Mary has exhibited an understanding of the MLC and what tasks need to be completed. Her confidence in doing the job is evident...One of Mary's strongest characteristics is her ability to quickly establish rapport with her students. Students quickly learn that Mary is there to help them. She will go out of her way to assist a student but will always stick to the rules and requirements that have been set." ~Dean Marianne Dzik, 8/10/2013
"Mary has developed a welcoming environment in the Math Lab which is conducive to student learning. She works extremely well with her Math Lab colleagues to be proactive in her approach to student success." ~VP Lori Scroggs, 2/18/2014
"Mary is now the "senior" full-time member is this area and has done a great job of taking the lead in coordinating the part-time faculty and student workers. She has done an excellent job of coordinating the staffing levels, curriculum changes, and course administrative procedures for the various sections on campus, at the Ottawa Center, and at high school extension sites." ~VP Sue Isermann, 9/26/2014
Emily and I revised the CAT and handed it out to all of our students over a two-day period. This time around I feel that the students were more honest and in-touch with what and how they were doing and got some good information from them. We are still working on assessing the viability of some of their suggestions. For example, students seemed split on whether or not an MLC Facebook page or Twitter feed would be helpful. We need to take a look at both options, decide how we would use them, and whether or not we'd be able to keep up with the maintenance.
Another part of how we assess our teaching and student learning is with meeting with our main campus and extension site adjuncts. In the time that I've been in this position, the group has met approximately six times. Some of these meetings have taken place at the part-time faculty in-service and some have been in addition to those.
In April of my first semester in my new position, we had a very productive series of meetings on issues our students face that have nothing to do with the mathematical content and what we could try to do to remediate those issues. One of the outcomes of that meeting was the implementation of the flipped classroom approach where the instructor lectures very little in class but gives more individual and small-group assistance. The flipped classroom is used in both Basic and Intermediate Algebra lecture sections taught by two long-time adjuncts. Student responsibility includes interacting with the material at home PRIOR to coming to class by watching the section video and completing guided notes that are provided by the instructor. There is also a student tutor present in the class several times per week throughout the semester. For students who don't have fast internet access for video streaming, DVDs of the section videos are available in the library. This approach has been a test for the students who are used to coming to class and being "taught" (their word, not mine), but, given time, most students have realized the benefits of taking on the responsibility of their learning and sharing it with their instructor. Another result of that meeting involved us making a change in the Math Learning Center expectations for our students in regards to quiz retakes. Our minimum requirement on quizzes is an 80% and students are allowed three attempts on each quiz. They've always been encouraged to have one of our staff go through their quiz errors with them before attempting the quiz again but many were not utilizing that they way they should have. After this meeting, we still required all of the things we did before with one change...a required visit to Peer Tutoring between the second and third attempts. I've seen a few things happen as a result. Since students already seem to be pressed to find time to add anything else to their schedule (a visit to Peer Tutoring being one of them), they have been much more diligent in having a staff member go through their mistakes with them. This has been a great thing to see and has resulted in students getting through their quizzes with fewer attempts. Another result is the increased collaboration with Peer Tutoring. We've always publicized Peer Tutoring to our students but now we have a closer working relationship with them. Many of the students more regularly take advantage of Peer Tutoring's services and are having success as a result.
In the spring of 2012, I attended the Bridging the Gap Conference at Heartland Community College. This was designed to start the conversation between the high schools and the postsecondary schools regarding alignment with the Common Core State Standards. The CCSS will have a great influence on our future students so to be a part of this conference and resulting dialogue has been extremely beneficial to me as I see where the curriculum is headed for our future students. The dialogue is still ongoing almost three years later. We've had multiple meetings with many of our feeder districts and have compared and assessed our Intermediate Algebra course with what's expected in the high school schools as a result of the CCSS. A few gaps have been identified and we are now preparing to enter the next phase of working together.
As I interact with my colleagues, one topic that always comes up is how do we get our students through the developmental math sequence faster? We've tried "boot camp" type mini-courses in the past but only had a handful of students show any interest. In the course of conversation in talking about Bridging the Gap, bridge courses, and boot camps, talk of a Fast Track course came about. I, along with former Dean Marianne Dzik, Cheryl Hobneck, Cindy Schultz, Dawn Wiggins, Trisha Blood, Dan Serafini, and Renee Prine, set out to put together a bridge course that would appeal to a large number of students and allow them to bypass a semester of Intermediate Algebra and complete their college-level math class almost simultaneously.
One key component would be the use of MyMathTest (MMT), a Pearson product. We were currently using MMT as a tool to prepare for or bump up placement for interested students and it was agreed by all to use this as an instructional tool for the Fast Track to College Math program. We pulled data from IR and looked at students who had placed in the 80-99 range on the Accuplacer Elementary Algebra test and their mathematical coursework. We found the majority of students went on to take either College Algebra or Statistics. After much discussion we decided on the student qualifications for being a part of the Fast Track, the instructional staff, content, and pathways.
The result was as follows:
QUALIFICATIONS:
Students desiring to be a part of the Fast Track to College Math program had to plan on taking either College Algebra or Statistics
Students had to have scored either an 80-99 on the Accuplacer Elementary Algebra test OR less than 30 on the College Level Math test.
The course would be a ten-day intense review on topics covered in Intermediate Algebra. Students would dually enroll in the Fast Track and their desired college level math course, either MTH-1003 or MTH-1008 both of which were late-start courses. Successful completion of the Fast Track would allow them to advance to their college level math course. Anyone who was not successful would be dropped from the college-level course by the division office and added to an MLC section of Intermediate Algebra.
Successful completion of the Fast Track portion requires that a students tests at 75% or higher on the post-test at the end of the two-week session.
INSTRUCTIONAL STAFF:
Trisha Blood and Dan Serafini would team teach the Fast Track portion and would then split up--one teaching a College Algebra section and the other a Statistics section.
The results have been incredible to see...all students who have enrolled in the Fast Track to College Math have successfully advanced to their desired college-level math course. The interest in the program has grown at a high rate. The first semester it was offered (fall 2013) we were working HARD to fill the 20 seats. A year later, we are running full TWO sections of the Fast Track program. I'm proud to say that I've been a part of designing a program that appears to be working to our students' advantage. Pictured above is the flyer I designed and currently maintain for distribution to the Assessment Center and Counseling.
I created and began teaching an online section of Intermediate Algebra. After several semesters of struggling to get students really read through the syllabus, I created a welcome video in the hopes of conveying important course in an alternate format for students. While the online course is no longer being offered for a variety of reasons, I'm pleased with how the video turned out as well as the intended results being reached.
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