MASTER Math – Motivating Academic Success Through Effective Redesign

Getting Started in Course Redesign Workshop

NCAT – NOVA

October 21, 2011

About NOVA

5 general-purpose campuses, 1 medical education campus, and a distance education “campus”

Annual unduplicated student headcount 75,490 Fall 2010 FTES: 29,730 Fall 2010 FTES in Math courses: 3,410 Fall 2011 FTES in Developmental Math: 1,305 Students from 177 countries in Fall 2010 47% white, 17% Black, 16% Asian, 14% Hispanic, 6% other NOVA is an Achieving the Dream Leader College

Our Problem In 2007, student success rate in MTH 3 (Algebra I) was 38%

– Other developmental math courses had similar success rates– Within 3 years of entering MTH 3, only 28% enroll in a college level

math course and only 20% pass a college level math course Interventions we tried, with limited success:

– Learning Communities, pairing Math with the Student Success course– Supplemental Learning– Embedded tutors

Everyone would be better served if success rates were higher and students were able to finish their developmental studies in fewer semesters

We’re not alone!

Nationally, interest in redesigning the developmental math curriculum is widespread– American Mathematics Association for Two Year Colleges - New Life

for Developmental Math– Carnegie Foundation– Bill and Melinda Gates and Hewlett Foundations– National Center for Academic Transformation– Redesign Alliance– Virginia Community College System– Many others

The Turning Point: Developmental Education in Virginia’s Community Colleges

Affirmed three goals for the VCCS: – reduce the overall need for developmental

education– design developmental education in a way that

reduces the time to complete developmental reading, writing, and mathematics requirements for most VCCS students to one academic year

– increase the number of developmental education students graduating or transferring in four years from one in four students (25%) to at least one in three students (33%).

VCCS “The Critical Point” The VCCS was moving forward with a plan to modularize the

Developmental Math curriculum– Streamlined content, teaching only what is needed in credit

courses– Demonstrate mastery in a module to move on– Repeat only the module, not a whole course, when the

student fails a module– Provide for different exit points for different groups of

students– Provide a more diagnostic placement test– Provide state-wide uniformity in content and standards

What Is Wrong With Traditional Lecture Delivery?

Can’t slow down when material is difficult Once a student falls behind, it is hard to catch up If a student fails, he/she must repeat the whole

course Students may have to sit through lectures on

some material they thoroughly understand Today’s students are different from those of the

past

Why did we consider an NCAT redesign?

NOVA faculty had been attending NCAT conferences for the last 4+ years

AtD teams had been discussing NCAT redesign models for the last 3 years

Other interventions had less impact than desired We became increasingly convinced that tweaking our current

course design was insufficient– REDESIGN, don’t just redesign

All campuses had been using MyMathLab or MathXL in varying degrees

Through attending presentations and conferences, NOVA math faculty got excited about the successes at other schools, such as Cleveland State and Jackson State Community Colleges

Why did we consider an NCAT redesign?

Team of 16 attended NCAT “Changing the Equation” conference in Orlando in March 2010

We wrote our “Readiness Criteria” document as a team, working through many issues of design and implementation

We were invited to the follow-up conference in Dallas in June

We applied for the Changing the Equation grant for $40,000 We were approved!

How did we start?

How did we start? Formed a committee of Developmental Math Managers,

one per campus, each with significant reassigned time Assigned a MyMathLab Administrator, with reassigned

time Established a chain of command to college

administration Wrote objectives for each unit Constructed the MyLabsPlus site, with extensive

opportunity for involvement by math faculty throughout the process

How did we start? Completed pilot of our redesigned course Spring

and Summer 2011 Collected assessment data from common exam

questions in traditional and pilot sections Converted classrooms to computer classrooms

and large labs on each of the five campuses Went to full implementation in Fall 2011, with

approximately 4900 students currently enrolled

NCAT’s Principles of Successful Redesign

Redesign the whole course Encourage active learning Provide students with individualized assistance Build in ongoing assessment and prompt automated

feedback to students Ensure sufficient time on task and monitor student progress Modularize the student learning experience

Features of our design model Mastery learning Fixed-flexible modified emporium model High tech + high touch Points for everything Organizational aids for students Regularly track student progress Common syllabus and procedures for all sections Communication within the team and across other groups

NCAT’s Critical Implementation Issues

Achieve initial and ongoing faculty consensus about the redesign

Ensure an adequate technological infrastructure to support the redesign plans

Prepare students and the campus for the changes Train instructors, instructional assistants and peer tutors Avoid backsliding by building ongoing institutional

commitment to the redesign

Faculty consensus

Provide opportunities for input into course design – textbook, objectives, homework and test questions, syllabus, policies and procedures

Don’t wait for 100% agreement – debate and discuss, but eventually move forward

Infrastructure

Space issues are a challenge everywhere Allow sufficient time for renovations of spaces Consider HVAC, wiring, computer purchases,… Assign project managers committed to making

things work out Work with SIS folks for a mechanism to track

student progress through the units

Communication plan

Team of DMM’s is crucial• Empower the group to make decisions and establish

policies• We have weekly phone conferences

Discuss project with all math faculty, deans, counselors and advisors

Do a publicity campaign to inform the students

Training plan Begin hiring lab assistants and tutors during pilot

phase Prepare training documents for faculty We held a full day of college-wide training prior

to fall semester, plus a policies meeting at each campus

Continually monitor and prod the faculty regarding best practices

Institutional Commitment

We have the full support of our administration Tie the project to your student success initiatives

such as Achieving the Dream We cannot go back to the old way, because the

VCCS eliminated our old course structure For an institution our size, a modular curriculum

could not be handled any other way

Other challenges SIS interface with MLP Technology glitches – what do students do when

MyLabsPlus is unavailable during lab or class time? NOVA vs. VCCS issues (permission for shell courses,

consistent tracking mechanisms,…) Find meaningful way to compare course completion

data Create templates to simplify administrative work for

faculty

Assessment results so far

On common exam questions given to traditional sections and to redesign students, redesign students on average had 24.5% more correct answers

Percent of S grades has not improved, but grading standards are different

Student attitudes towards math have improved

Budget Implications Cost savings

– Teachers receive 3 teaching credits for teaching a 4 credit class

Additional expenses– Increased classified staff support– Ongoing reassigned time for DMM’s– Increased use of student and professional tutors– Start-up costs (space renovations, furniture and computers)

Without counting start-up expenses, we calculate 6.5% cost savings in course delivery

Nuts and Bolts of NOVA’s Design Content of three courses (Arithmetic, Algebra I and Algebra

II) streamlined into a total of 10 units, each with 3 modules Student registers for 4 credit course, and is expected to

complete at least 4 units in the semester (one module per week)

Student attends class in a computer classroom 2 hours per week at a scheduled time, plus at least 2 hours per week in “emporium”

Nuts and Bolts of NOVA’s Design

MyLabsPlus site provides e-textbook, video mini-lectures, PowerPoints, outline of notes for student to complete, homework with step-by-step hints available, quizzes and pre and post tests

Master course is developed and given to instructors, who all teach with the same syllabus and uniform policies

Mastery learning Points for everything (attendance, homework, notes, quizzes

and exams)

What we might have done differently

• Provide more reassigned time for development of course materials

• Make a stronger academic honesty policy from the beginning

• Create an inactive student policy• Introduce time management skills early

Questions?

Joyce SamuelsDean, Natural and Applied SciencesLoudoun Campus703-450-2575jsamuels@nvcc.edu