Image by Steve Johnson
24 June 2013
Digital Co-Laboration Continues!
Barbi McLain taught two hybrid WR090 classes in Spring and provides insights on her pedagogical choices in her capstone video. Julie Pfaff highlights digital badges and experiments with SoftChalk, sharing some innovative ideas for using its HotSpot activities while Jenn Kepka ponders a new approach to peer editing.
12 June 2013
New DIG Co-Lab Creations!
DIG Co-Lab participants are a vibrant and innovative group! Check out Vicky Kirkpatrick's video outlining her participation in this faculty fellowship and Julie Pfaff's review of her experience uploading curricular materials to the OER repository, Merlot.
Image by Barbara Dieu
05 June 2013
Students decide if they are college ready...
According to a recent Inside Higher Education article, students in Florida will be able to decide if they need developmental classes or not. In addition, placement tests will not be required for recent high school graduates. This new state law is polemical, to say the least. As noted in the article, critics suggest that the policy will effectively limit student access to college by setting needy students up for failure. Further, the law is contrary to the ubiquitous student success adage, "Students don't do optional," which is supported by student success research such as studies outlined in this article from The Chronicle.
If the quintessential purpose of our community college system is access, and access is a fundamental cornerstone for equity and social justice, how do we ensure that access does indeed lead to success -- and that we continue to strive toward equity, which is inherent in the mission of community colleges?
If the quintessential purpose of our community college system is access, and access is a fundamental cornerstone for equity and social justice, how do we ensure that access does indeed lead to success -- and that we continue to strive toward equity, which is inherent in the mission of community colleges?
Photo by Andres Musta
24 May 2013
Making Popcorn!
Our local faculty technology specialist and dear colleague, Ian Coronado, recently presented a webinar on Mozilla Popcorn Maker -- the same free app Barbi McLain used to develop a guided pre-writting activity for her Writing 090 students. Popcorn maker is fairly flexible and easy to use. It allows for the creative combination of video, images, text, pop-ups, Google maps, Wikipedia sourced information, and even Twitter feed in a time-based media project that can be shared via URL or embedded in Moodle.
Check out what Ian has to say in his demonstration!
Check out what Ian has to say in his demonstration!
21 May 2013
How do we learn to fly?
A new study released by NCEE (National Center on Education and the Economy) finds that much of the math needed for college success is actually middle school math. In fact, the study reports there is "strong evidence" that understanding and mastery of middle school mathematics are essential not only for college success but also for career success, suggesting that mathematics instruction at the K-12 level must be realigned to students actual needs with a focus on mathematical modeling, statistics, probability, data analysis, and applied geometry in order to serve students better than the commonplace cursory treatment of these concepts while rushing to algebra at the middle school level.
What does this mean for community colleges, especially given that a large percentage of students have had the opportunity to follow only one pathway prior to coming to college? Is Statway or a similar pathway to college level statistics a reasonable alternative to the traditional algebra sequence?
The study reports similar, yet not parallel, findings for English, suggesting that high school students do not read or write at a level required for success in college. It also suggests that, with the exception of English composition courses, first-year community college courses do not require rigorous reading or writing of their students. It claims, "Our community college students clearly need better instruction in constructing arguments and in laying out their thinking logically and persuasively." The report concludes that expectations at both the high school and college level are too low.
In closing, the report suggests "the nation may have to learn to walk before it runs, which means that it is important, first, to enable our high school students to meet the current very low standards before we ratchet those standards up."
Given the context of nationwide redesign of developmental education coupled with performance-based funding models and 40-40-20 goals at the state level, the question remains: How do we collectively learn to walk or run when the expectations, specifically in developmental education, require that we fly?
What does this mean for community colleges, especially given that a large percentage of students have had the opportunity to follow only one pathway prior to coming to college? Is Statway or a similar pathway to college level statistics a reasonable alternative to the traditional algebra sequence?
The study reports similar, yet not parallel, findings for English, suggesting that high school students do not read or write at a level required for success in college. It also suggests that, with the exception of English composition courses, first-year community college courses do not require rigorous reading or writing of their students. It claims, "Our community college students clearly need better instruction in constructing arguments and in laying out their thinking logically and persuasively." The report concludes that expectations at both the high school and college level are too low.
In closing, the report suggests "the nation may have to learn to walk before it runs, which means that it is important, first, to enable our high school students to meet the current very low standards before we ratchet those standards up."
Given the context of nationwide redesign of developmental education coupled with performance-based funding models and 40-40-20 goals at the state level, the question remains: How do we collectively learn to walk or run when the expectations, specifically in developmental education, require that we fly?
08 May 2013
Alternate pathways
Developmental math redesign is leads us to question assumptions and think outside the box. One colleague posed a simple, yet thought-provoking question, "Do students really need that much math?" Another asked, "If there were no constraints, and we could design the best possible program for developmental math students, what would it look like?" Are alternate pathways possible?
One option being piloted at many colleges in CA, TX, NM and elsewhere is the alternate pathway, "Statway," which obviates the need for the traditional algebra sequence. Statway has received a great deal of attention of late including a recent article in the Chronicle. Of course, such an alternative is not popular with everyone as evidenced by a recent op-ed piece in the Sacramento Bee.
Statway and other initiatives to accelerate developmental education through the California Acceleration Project will be highlighted this Friday, May 10 at Oregon's second statewide conversation on dev ed, which will be held at Lane's new downtown campus.
Clearly this is a hot topic -- registration is full! However, if you can't make it in person, you can catch streaming live video beginning at 9:00 a.m.
What alternatives are possible? And how will collaboration through projects such as DIG Co-Lab contribute to this evolving conversation?
One option being piloted at many colleges in CA, TX, NM and elsewhere is the alternate pathway, "Statway," which obviates the need for the traditional algebra sequence. Statway has received a great deal of attention of late including a recent article in the Chronicle. Of course, such an alternative is not popular with everyone as evidenced by a recent op-ed piece in the Sacramento Bee.
Statway and other initiatives to accelerate developmental education through the California Acceleration Project will be highlighted this Friday, May 10 at Oregon's second statewide conversation on dev ed, which will be held at Lane's new downtown campus.
Clearly this is a hot topic -- registration is full! However, if you can't make it in person, you can catch streaming live video beginning at 9:00 a.m.
What alternatives are possible? And how will collaboration through projects such as DIG Co-Lab contribute to this evolving conversation?
06 May 2013
SoftChalk Frenzy
Lately, I've been creating SoftChalk practices left and right. My students report that they love them, so that has fed my production frenzy. Since I simply adore SoftChalk as much as my students do, I decided to make a short tutorial about SoftChalk to share. I especially enjoy being able to create practices that students can complete without any risk -- they can do an optional SoftChalk lesson as many times as they wish for extra practice. In addition, if desired, it's possible to create a SCORM package with SoftChalk and then upload it to Moodle so that students may receive a grade for their practice. You will find an example of an interactive tutorial to help students prepare for an exam on fractions and mixed numerals here.
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