Student Success in MLCS

The six major areas of focus of the MLCS course at Rock Valley College are numeracy, proportional reasoning, algebraic reasoning, functions, mathematical success, and student success.  Each unit addresses all of these facets.  Specifically, the course and accompanying lessons are designed to improve a student’s chance of success in a math class.  Here are some examples:

The approach of the course begins with real, relevant content and covers topics differently than they are in a traditional text.  That automatically increases motivation, an important component of student success.  Students have commented repeatedly that the course is interesting; they like what is taught as well as how it is taught.  For example, direct instruction and group work are balanced with each lesson beginning and ending with group work.  This improves attention, understanding, and engagement.  Students are shown respect for their prior knowledge by allowing them to tackle real mathematical problems instead of working from a premise that all the content is new.  Many of the specific skills of the course are not new to these students because in reality, most of them have had several years of algebra prior to the course.  What they lack is understanding, retention, and application.  To improve that, considerable time is spent on solving thought-provoking problems and seeing traditional topics from a unique perspective.  All problems are taught through a context and do not start with abstract ideas.  Instead, the development moves from concrete to abstract, which builds student confidence and understanding.  Further, students are treated like adults, most of whom work and have many varied experiences.  They learn how math is used in the workplace and see those ideas in practice in class.  For example, they learn how Excel is used.  They also learn how the concepts taught can be used to solve problems they will likely face in and out of college.

Next, specific student success activities are included in every unit.  Each student success lesson is different but all have mathematical ideas in them.  So beyond the traditional ideas of time management and test anxiety, issues that these students will face are covered.  For example, students learn how college math is different than high school math.  This is done in the context of determining what components are necessary to be successful in a college math class.  To visualize the various components, students hone their skills with graphs and percentages.  They study job statistics to compare STEM and non-STEM fields in terms of their earning potential and unemployment rates.  This approach brings in some statistics concepts.   The topic of grades is addressed often and deeply.  Components include how grades can be figured (points vs. weights), how GPA is figured and how it can be increased, and why it is difficult to pick up points at the end of the semester as opposed to the beginning of the semester.  Students learn about means, weighted means, what can and cannot be averaged, and how algebra can help solve problems that arise in this context.  Additionally, the first week has many activities to help students begin the semester on the right foot in terms of prerequisite skills, working in groups, and understanding course expectations. 

Another component of the course is helping students learn how to study.  Students think they should just “study more” but do not understand what that means in practice.  To remedy this problem, students are given very specific and explicit strategies that they can act upon.  Students receive a detailed list with actions they can do before class, during class, between classes, before tests, during tests and after tests.  Also, students tend to really like online homework but they can get dependent on help aids and sometimes can’t write out their work.  So every online assignment has an accompanying brief paper set of problems similar to the online ones, but they must write them out and have no online help aids.  With skill homework, they have conceptual homework on paper that is about quality over quantity.  That is, they have fewer problems that take more time so as to work deeply with the concepts at hand.  The test review has a detailed plan to teach students how to study for math tests, beyond just working problems.  Additionally, students are held accountable for all the work assigned so that they learn good study habits and personal responsibility.

Lastly, metacognition is emphasized regularly.  The developmental student often doesn’t fully understand how they think or learn.  Most problems are taught using 3-4 approaches to work at verbal, conceptual, graphical, and algebraic understanding.  For example, when students solve equations, they do so first with tables, then with algebra, and last with graphs.  Once they have learned all those techniques, they are asked to think about which makes most sense for them and keep that in mind going forward.  This approach of solving problems in multiple ways is used often in the course to broaden their mathematical skills, but also give them a deeper understanding of the topics.  This method has an additional benefit for students on test day.  They have several tools in their tool belt to use if one technique is not making sense or their anxiety is affecting their memory.

Together, these techniques support the developmental student in being successful in this course and future math courses.

Kathleen Almy     kathleenalmy@gmail.com
Heather Foes    heather.foes@gmail.comRock Valley College
Rockford, IL

For more information, please check out this blog: http://almydoesmath.blogspot.com

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Redesign: Not an Either/Or Situation

NOTE: This post comes from Kathy Almy, who has worked on the New Life project, and is very involved with the profession.

There are two emerging approaches in developmental math redesign:  the emporium model and non-STEM pathways like Quantway and Statway.  These approaches are very different in their makeup so it seems that schools have to make a choice.  That doesn’t have to be the case.  Both can live together in one department and actually, that model may serve students and faculty better.

The emporium model uses online software to help students fill gaps in their understanding.  It can work for a student who needs a brush-up on skills.  It also works well for the student who plans to take college algebra or precalculus but doesn’t quite place into those courses.  For the student who is motivated and just shy of where they need to be on the college track, it can shorten the time for completing developmental coursework.  But what about the student that places into beginning algebra or below and has many more issues than just filling skill gaps? 

For these students the New Life course Mathematical Literacy for College Students (also in the Carnegie Quantway path), can be a less time-consuming model and one that serves them well.  MLCS works extremely well for the student whose college level math class will be statistics or general education math.  In one semester, students gain the mathematical maturity and college readiness they need to be successful in one or both of these college level courses.  The course integrates algebra with numeracy, functions, proportional reasoning, geometry, and statistics.  It does so using an integrated approach, touching each of these 6 topics in each unit.

How can using both approaches serve students and faculty?  The reality is that most new initiatives bring controversy and potentially resistance.  These two redesign models are no exception.  Faculty often feel very strongly, pro or con, about one or both of them.  Because of that, using one model across the board at a school may bring more challenges.  Using a variety of models helps faculty and students work and learn in ways that make sense for them.  People feel respected in terms of how they work and what they need in their future.  That’s an important facet of a successful redesign.  Because when redesign is imposed instead of invited, the effects will be short-lived and potentially less than they could have been.

Ultimately, both approaches have the same goal:  change the current one-size-fits-all mindset of developmental math to serve students better.  How we go about doing that need not be one size either.

Kathleen Almy is a math professor at Rock Valley College in Rockford, IL.  She has worked with more than 30 colleges nationwide to assist with their developmental math redesigns.  She is also implementing a pilot of the MLCS course in fall 2011.   For more information, see her blog at almydoesmath.blogspot.com. 

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