Improving the Teaching of College Mathematics Through Faculty Development

Faculty Development Through a Community of Best PracticesLaurice GarrettEdison State College

June 13, 2012West Point, New YorkImproving College Mathematics Teaching Through Faculty DevelopmentWhat Students Think Instructors Do During Faculty Development

The Impetus for ChangeEdison begins to offer 4-year degrees and increases the expectation that faculty will do more professional developmentBudget crunch decreases funding for travel to professional development activities/workshopsHigh adjunct to full-time faculty ratio and the desire to have adjuncts feel vested and integrated into the department Faculty get isolated in their classrooms and resist changeRealization that college instructors can teach without ever being exposed to best practices of teaching

What was the need of our department that we hoped to address upon returning from theworkshop at West Point?Specifically, working on improving retention and outcomes for our Intermediate Algebra courses (we were given a mandate from administration).Building a robust in house professional development program.Providing better connections and rapport with our large pool of adjuncts, and as such, allowing them to feel vested and integrated into the department.

FYI - What was our departments environment (teaching, collegiality, etc.) like prior to attending the workshop at West Point?Edison State had approximately 25,000 students encompassing three campus locations & one center. Logistical problems arose when trying to coordinate professional development activities. Also, no formal structure was in place for offering such activities. Collegiality Fair. Faculty got along, but not a significant amount of sharing took place.No one visited other instructors classes. It was not in our culture. What plans have we developed/implemented since returning from the workshop?Began as MAT 1033 Certification Seminars(by the way, name matters!)Met regularly on Friday afternoons, from 12 1Targeted to the teachers of Intermediate Algebra Organized and produced strictly through the math departmentCertificates given to participantsWe did our own advertising

Fall 2010We started SmallExample of Advertising done for the WorkshopsThis week we will be discussing methods of assessment used in our classes. This discussion may include things such as:How do we give overall grades in MAT 1033?What percentage weights do we give to quizzes, homework, tests, projects, etc.?Should attendance be figured as part of a grade? Should the final exam count a set percentage?Can group work be graded and included as part of the grade?Should students be allowed note cards on tests?

Often we get set in our ways and fail to think outside our own box.The purpose of these discussions is to engage in genuine dialogue regarding pros, cons, ideas, etc. Look forward to lively interaction!Note: You are welcome to bring a lunch and eat during the discussion.

Spring 2011Name and focus changed to Community of Best Practices MathMet twice a month on Friday afternoons and once a month on Wednesday afternoonsAll instructors, both full time and adjuncts, were invited and encouraged to participate College Prep also began to participateWe connected to other campuses via video conferencingThe TLC (Teaching & Learning Center) helped organize and promote the workshopsCertificates of participation were issued through TLC.

Sandra waves hello! from our Hendry/Glades campus.

What is a Community of Practice?Groups of educators who come together voluntarily at least once a month. Group members are committed to improving their practice through collaborative learning (National School Reform Faculty, 2010).A venue for open sharing and collegial conversations among professionals without fear of judgment or negative criticism (Spanneut, 2010).A opportunity to have robust conversations about improving teaching and learning that include research, multiple forms of data, teacher knowledge, constructions and public sharing that target and ultimately lead to improved student learning (Yendol-Hoppey & Fictmen Dana, 2010, p. 118).An opportunity for cross-disciplinary discussions of best practices.10What are the Intended Outcomes of a Community of Practice?Reduction in isolation of teachers.Higher likelihood that teachers will be well informed, professionally renewed, and inspired to inspire students.Commitment to making significant and lasting changes.Powerful learning that defines good teaching and classroom practices and creates new knowledge and beliefs about teaching and learners.Increased meaning and understanding of the content that teachers teach and the roles that play in helping all students achieve expectations.Seamless transitions for students moving through a course sequence.

(Some of the items above are adapted from Hord, 1997)

Round tablediscussions

We primarily concentrated on topics in each of these three areas:Pedagogy/Teaching Practices

Math Topics

Technology

Pedagogy/Teaching Practices -examples of topics covered Attendance should it count toward the grade?Grading what makes up the grade in the course?Group Work how often, how to organize, how to assessHomework do we count it, how much?

Learning Styles of Students Engaging studentsPink elephants in the room, such as: open book tests, using note cards on tests, instructors who fail to give final exams, etc.

Math Topics -examples of topics coveredFactoringRational Functions & Their GraphsMixture ProblemsLogarithms

Note: We sometimes use breakout groups (by level or interest) when discussing math topics.Technology examples of topics covered Use of classroom equipment, such as doc cams, SMART products, clickersEffective use of calculators How to post notesHow to use online resources

College Prep Compares Notes on Mixture Problems

Example of a certificate issued for College Service

Example of a certificate issued for Professional Development

Sign In Sheet Used to Register ParticipantsFall 2011Community of Best Practices continuedMath education instructors also participated. They particularly helped us with assessment rubrics. Also tried an article discussion.Orientation for Adjuncts & New Full Time Hires was addedThree modules were funded to be offered (a fourth module was requested, but did not make it into this first round)Faculty began presenting on their areas of expertise Example: cryptologyClassroom visitation became part of our unit planThis has yet to catch on and has been resisted by some.

What did the Orientation/Training for our Adjuncts & Full Time Hires Encompass & What Was our Rationale?

Rationale:Lends consistency of instruction between full time instructors & adjunctsAllows for greater collegiality between full time instructors & adjunctsMakes for smoother beginnings of the semester

Three Modules Included (we would like to increase this to four modules)

Time Frame Approximately 2 hours for each moduleDone on a Saturday prior to the start of the fall semester

Module - Classroom Technology such as SMART boards, sympodiums, doc cameras, Smart View, etc.Module - Technology & Homework Delivery System such as MyLabsPlus

Module - Course Specific such as syllabi, calculator, final exams, expectations Module Course Administration (Note: this is the module we hope to add) such as record keeping, attendance verification, math group pages, e-mailing classes, using web Portal tools for the class

The Modules for the Orientation/TrainingNotes:Some modules may be required only once. Other modules would be required as major changes are made (such as a change to homework delivery system). An adjunct should take the course specific module for each course he/she teaches.

Payment for Completion Made only to adjuncts $50 per moduleFaculty presenting would be given college service for evaluation purposes

Logistical questions:Each campus offering? Single day option? Webinar option?

The Quagmire of Classroom VisitationsPeople liked the idea, in theory. They were concerned about what would happen with documentation from the observations (i.e. could the results from the observations adversely affect evaluationwho would see the documentation?).The documentation seemed to afford the most contention.Logistically challenging in that people teach at significantly times/days, etc.Participation was totally voluntary. We had only moderate participation.

The 1st page of the draft of our peer observation documentation. This had to be signed by both the observer and the person being observed.Page 2 To be completed by the observer.

Page 3 To be completed by the person being observed.

How are you assessing the changes you have made (will make) within your department? Is there anything you would like to improve or do differently ?

Evaluations are given after each session. The first year, we used a generic TLC evaluation. It often did not fit what we needed to know. Nonetheless, we still got some feedback. We developed a new survey for this year. Feedback has been much more valuable.Survey Monkey was used for identifying some preferences and was also used for evaluation of our Adjunct Certification modules.We still struggle with the timing for getting more of our adjuncts involved.

We collected and collated our results from these evaluations during this academic year.

This can be very useful for providing documentation for unit plans, accreditation, etc. In the works for our future A Repository for our Ideas & FindingsWe hope to create an online repository of ideas.The organization will generally be by mathematical topic, with subfolders for different course levels.We would also have a file for general links,

Organization for our repositoryTOPICPREP103311051140Binomial TheoremxConic SectionsxDifference Formula/Rate of ChangexDistance & Midpoint FormulasxxxEquations - SolvingLinear in one variablexxQuadraticxxxxHigher Degree (> 2) Polynomial xRationalxxEquations of Lines - WritingxxxxExponents xxxExtrema (Rel Max and Min)xxFactoringxxxFunctionsLinearxxxQuadraticxxCubingxxSquare RootxxAbsolute ValuexxExponentialxxLogarithmicxxRationalxxHigher Degree( > 2) PolynomialxPiecewise DefinedxxInversexOperations of FunctionsxTransformations of FunctionsxGraphing (1 dimension)Point PlottingxInequalitiesxGraphing (2 dimension)Linear EquationsxxxxInequalitiesxxxIncreasing, Decreasing, Constant (Intervals)xMath InductionxMatricesxOrder of OperationsxxPolynomialsxxxPropertiesxPythagorean TheoremxxRadicalsxxxRational Expressions/Algebraic FractionsxxSequences and SeriesxSets of NumbersxxSlope FormulaxxxxSystems2 equations, 2 unknownsxxxn equations, n unknownsxInequalitiesxxxNonlinear equationsx

SoWhat were some of the most significant take-aways from the workshops at West Point?We were provided ideas for the framework of a program through the wide variety of sessions that were offered.The need for humor. The need to stay contemporary.The need to provide learning opportunities in context, where possible.The realization that we, as instructors must be the instruments of change and innovation.The realization of how much we can learn from one another.Inspiration from the faculty and staff at West Point with their continual commitment to improvement!

ReferencesHord, S. (1997) Professional Learning Communities: Communities of Continuous Inquiry and Improvement. Southwest Educational Development LaboratoryNational School Reform Faculty www.nsrfharmony.orgSpanneut, G. Professional Learning Communities, Principals, and Collegial Conversations. Kappa Delta Pit Record v. 16 no. 3 (Spring 2010) p. 100 -3Yendol-Hoppey, D. & Fichtman, Dana, N. (2010) Professional Development: Building Expertise Within the Four Walls of Your School. Thousand Oaks, CA.: Sage.Contact InformationLaurice Garrettlgarrett@edison.edu(239) 489-9263

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