Accomplishing Reform Through Course Redesign: How Faculty D - PowerPoint Presentation

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Accomplishing Reform Through Course Redesign: How Faculty Driven Processes Improve Student Success

Sam Giordanengo, Hawai’i Community College

Terri Manning, ATD Data Coach

Darlene Pabis, Westmoreland County Community College

Trish

Schade

, Northern Essex Community CollegeSlide2

Course Reform …..Viewpoint

Students are there to learn the content.

They should be “college-ready.”

Students should adapt to me. I should not have to adjust my course or methods for them.

Not a lot of energy is given to:

Retention strategies

First year experiences

Developing “good student skills”Slide3

When a New Student Arrives

It’s their first semester.

They complete their admissions form.

Attend orientation (if required), go through placement testing (if required) and see a counselor/advisor (if required)…. and then they register. What do they want to take?

Their general education requirements

Their developmental courses - many are advised into developmental, but don’t take them

Maybe a freshman experience course

Maybe one major course if allowedSlide4

They arrive in your course ….

What is their expectation of these courses?

We make them take a set of general education courses. Why? Why don’t we let them go straight to the major courses and graduate sooner? What do we expect them to accomplish? What skills should they exit these courses with?Slide5

ConnectionsHow do we take their current skills, attitudes and behaviors and move them toward the threshold of where we want them to be?

How can you connect “college skills or good student skills” to the content of your course?

Are there differences between activities or content geared toward retention and those geared toward improving academic skills?Slide6

Course Reform - Some Examples

Support activities

Offer supplemental instruction, service learning opportunities, tutoring, and study groups.

Create a series of success workshops (offered through the tutoring center, library or student success center) and require students attend a set number of them as part of their grade

Create learning communities or linked classes.

Implement an Early Alert System to ensure that struggling students get help. Slide7

Others, cont.

Curriculum and pedagogy

Make instruction in gatekeeper courses more related to real life experiences. 

Use techniques such as active/collaborative learning, mini learning communities in the class, and computer-assisted labs.

Establish learning competencies and share them with students.

Allow retesting in courses with sequential content so students can master it.Slide8

Others, cont.

Institute “class conferencing” in classes – instructors meet with students individually on a regular basis.

Used grading rubrics for all assignments and give students a copy beforehand.

Faculty development

Offer professional development for faculty who teach gatekeeper courses.

Let the faculty with great success teach these workshops.

Focus on retention techniques, improving academic skills and student engagementSlide9

Others, cont.

Next Steps

Work with faculty across disciplines to increase the basic skills.

How do the paralegal faculty teach students to become better writers?

How do the culinary faculty improve computational skills?

How do the Nursing faculty improve critical thinking skills in students?

Why do they think this is your job and not theirs?Slide10

What Do We Need to Know?

Are students mastering the content – meeting the learning outcomes? (by this, I mean “how many students meet each learning outcome?)

If yes, then we must address support services, the institutional culture and environment, the delivery method.

If no, then we need to rethink our pedagogy – how we are teaching these courses. Maybe we should break down the curriculum differently.Slide11

As Gatekeeper Faculty…

How do we address their lack of skills?

How do we make them better students and teach content?

How can we address content in other ways than the faculty lecturing or teaching it?

Today, all content is on the internet. How can we use that to our advantage (they don’t have to get it from you)?Slide12

Gatekeeper Faculty

Have more power to influence students than any other group of faculty on the campus (but they don’t often recognize it.)

Are some of the most dedicated and conscientious faculty on the campus.

Typically know what is going on everywhere.

But they all live quite nicely in separate ivory towers (never see themselves as one faculty with one purpose.) When a student exits my course, I never see them again.Slide13

Course Reform from Three CollegesThree different colleges

Hawai’i Community College, Hilo Hawaii

Westmoreland County Community College, Youngwood, Pennsylvania

Northern Essex Community College, Haverhill, Massachusetts

Three different types of courses

A gatekeeper – history course

A developmental – reading course

A student success course – college skillsSlide14

The Process in HawaiiHawai’i Community College, Hilo, Hawaii

Our course had been placed on the gatekeeper list (high enrolled, low success)

The two full time history faculty members were new to the Island of Hawai‘i (one was from eastern Washington state the other from New York City)

The part-time instructors had, in some cases, served the college for over 20 years

We knew we had cultural issues to address

We wanted to include the Hawai‘i Life Styles faculty and counselors as well as our academic dean

We also knew that we needed to incorporate the Hawaiian culture into how we taught our classes

Through an instate innovation grant we were able to pay the lecturers for their time, provide some

makana

(gifts) for the guests, and have a retreat off campus (hotel on the other side of the island)Slide15

Process in Hawaii, cont.

Once we were all in the same room we talked about what each of us did in the classroom, pedagogy, theory of history, and what we saw as weaknesses and strength of our teaching

We also invited a national expert on how the Millennial Generation behaved in the college as compared to our generations (Boomers and

Xʻers

)

At the end of the weekend we pledged to change how we approached our students and how we conducted our classes. One year later we met to report on our progress.

Later that year we were told that history was off the gatekeeper list Slide16

The Process in PennsylvaniaWestmoreland County Community College

Westmoreland did not have true common courses. Faculty teaching any given course, taught different subject matter and with different methodologies. Decided this wasn’t working.

First, we evaluated our

A

ccuplacer

‘cut-off’ scores

(

used the Nelson Denny to

correlate

the change

).

We developed new cut scores for reading.

The fulltime faculty reviewed the syllabi of all

adjunct

faculty

to begin to provide consistency

within

all sections of reading courses.

Changed delivery of reading courses: data suggested that 3 and ½ hour block classes were not providing the retention and persistence.

Collaborated with adjunct faculty on “best practices

” and some came in a taught the fulltime faculty how they taught certain concepts

Developed a “common exit exam’ that measured the course objectives.

Developed a ‘common mid-term exam’ to assist in remediation before the final/exit exam was given.

We created common technology

with pre

diagnosticsSlide17

The Process in Massachusetts, Northern Essex Community College, Haverhill, MA

The ATD First Year Experience strategy team (faculty, staff and administrators) determined the overall goals for a student success course

An approved 3-credit College Success Seminar was already being offered; however, the course did not have an administrative support structure, and was taught by only a few faculty and staff.

Students were free to take the course regardless of where they were in their program.

The team decided two things; to re-work the existing College Success Seminar using the same course description but with updated goals and outcomes.

A small cohort of first-year students with two developmental course placements was selected for the pilot.Slide18

Process in Massachusetts, cont.

A

curriculum committee was formed

representing the science

, academic preparation, and English

departments who had

worked with college success strategies in their courses,

and

had experience with the target population of students with developmental

placements

The

group met monthly and identified key processes already at work at

the college

to bring shape and meaning to the course. Some of the key pieces of the framework

included:

Appreciative

Inquiry

Strengths-based teaching

Process

Management techniques, and

The

principles of NCBI (National Coalition Building Institute).

The

goal was to design a course and instructional system that would allow a cross section of faculty and staff to teach it.Slide19

Process in Massachusetts, cont.

A common curriculum was established so

that we could measure outcomes more

easily

.

The content

of the

course was designed, textbooks identified, a companion was written, and a website was developed for the course.

All course sections used the same curriculum and materials.

A evaluation plan (formative and summative) with outcome measures was developed to assess the

success of the course and the impact it had on students and

instructors.Slide20

Process in Massachusetts, cont.

A curriculum coordinator was selected for the course for

the two-year CSS pilot.

Her

role was

to: recruit

new

instructors and students,

generate awareness of CSS college-wide, manage the data collection and

analysis,

conduct research of other FYE

programs,

and to work with the curriculum committee to make informed recommendations for scaling up the CSS course in the future.

At the end of the

two-year

pilot,

the committee made some major revisions to the course to improve student engagement, faculty buy-in, and course outcomes.Slide21

What Was Learned Through the ProcessLessons……Slide22

Lessons Learned – Hawai’iWe needed to let go of our egos and ask

ourselves

why we taught the way we did.

For

example:

Why

did we have timed tests?

Why

did we only have a certain number of exams in the year (why not more or less?).

Why

did we take roll or why did it count towards the grade?

Why

didn’t we allow students to record a lecture?

Why

were we so strict on testing make up policy?Slide23

Lessons……

We needed to let go of the notion that we

did

things for “job training.”

For example:

If

we counted off points for being late or missing a class we claimed that we were preparing the student for the “real world” so when they got a job they would know to be on time.

We

came to the conclusion after some debate that it is not our job to teach students about job skills, it is our job to teach them history.

The

fact was most of our students did live in the real world with a job already, and kids, and elderly relatives that depended on them. They were all full up on “real world” and us having hard line classroom policies that did nothing to further their knowledge of history it just added to their burden.Slide24

Lessons…..Bringing in local culture was not hard and all that it required was that the teacher be sincere in how they included local culture in the classroom.

We needed to listen to our students more and figure out what they were expecting to learn in a history class and for them to be honest about what they saw as the value of history (we eventually had a pre and post class survey that asked 5 questions on the student’s view of what history meant to them).Slide25

Lesson, PennsylvaniaData suggested that long blocks of time

did

not provide students with increased

persistence

and

retention – so we followed the data.

‘New

cut –off’ scores improved persistence to at least one semester beyond the developmental course.

Adjunct faculty

wanted to participate and their participation

improved by approx.. 65% (based on meetings, data collection,

etc.)

Common

midterms helped students learn -

has helped improve the retention of students by identifying weakness by the 8

th

to 10 week of the semester

.

Then we address those weaknesses.Slide26

Lessons, MassachusettsSmall, nimble, thoughtful teams can move a

project

swiftly along when the right people are at

the

table. Find those who are really invested in student success and give them the freedom to be creative.

(From the coordinator): We learned a lot from our two year pilot:

the Strengths Quest focus and Reading Apprenticeship skills and strategies were very impactful and useful for students and faculty.

the set curriculum did not work well for all instructors and students.

we needed more clearly defined Goals and Outcomes for the course to give instructors the academic freedom to design a course that allowed them to teach to their strengths. Slide27

Lessons, cont.

(From the coordinator): We learned a

lot

from our two year pilot

:

we needed to create rubrics by which to measure these goals and outcomes; the rubrics would need to be teaching tools for the teachers and learning tools for the students.

a theme, based upon a book like

The Other Wes Moore

, was essential in making the course more meaningful and effective for teachers and students.

a common textbook that includes chapters that directly support each of the goals and outcomes and pertinent information for student success at our specific college was important. This common textbook adds credibility to the course and offers students and instructors a solid base from which to proceed.

it is essential to recruit instructors from across disciplines to have broad-based advocacy for the course

annual instructor trainings are key to maintaining the integrity of the course and for maintaining a community of teachers that support and encourage each other. The spirit of instructor collaboration is crucial to our program’s success.

learning communities linking CSS with another content area course provide a context and the opportunity for immediate application of the skills taught in the CSS course. Slide28

how would you have done things differently?

If you had known then what you know

now…. Slide29

Comments, Hawai’iI would have had more follow up on

pledges

that we all said we would implement in the classroom. It was three semesters later that we met again as a department and compared notes as to what we really had done and how it worked out.Slide30

Comments, PennsylvaniaI believe that understanding ‘data’ was

and

is crucial to the success of the program.

We

used to make decisions based on “ I feel” or “I believe”, or “I know” (just because I’ve been teaching for x number of years. I think if I would have had more time discussing ‘how to ask the data questions’ I would have saved time. )Slide31

Comments, Massachusetts

Identify the CSS coordinator from the start and pay her

to

do the work. At NECC we have wonderful people willing

to

pitch in- but they should be compensated. This is a very large undertaking and if we want to support faculty they way we want our faculty to support students, then we need to create a structure that demonstrates the institutional commitment to the project. The curriculum committee worked diligently and continues to work together to develop faculty trainings. In most cases, we are still doing this as an add-on to the rest of our work and responsibilities.

(

From the coordinator): I am not sure I would do many things differently. I think we had to go through the process we went through to learn what worked for our college and the student population. I can’t imagine how else we would have gathered the wisdom we found in trial and experimentation. We learned a lot about what worked well and what didn’t work well, and we did a lot of careful measuring to be sure our changes were informed and sound. Slide32

Comments, MassachusettsMy only regret

….at

the start of

implementing

the two year pilot is that I

did

not have the breadth of knowledge I have now about FYE scholarship. I still have a long way to go in terms of learning from the current scholarship on student success, but I work hard to build my knowledge base on what is current in FYE scholarship. If I had had the opportunity to study this scholarship before I became the CSS coordinator, I think I would have done some things differently, or been less stressed about certain aspects of the course. Slide33

What two or three things are most critical when working with and motivating faculty to accept and be a catalyst for course redesign?

Putting on your teaching hat……Slide34

Comments from Hawai’i

Getting over the fear of change and the excuse

to

not change “But we’ve always done it that way!” If something in the classroom is not working then it needs to be changed.

Faculty need to know that our students are not us. That is, they might be in our class just to graduate and don’t care about the content exactly. It is not personal they are not going to spend their lives in academia… like us. ;-)

Pride and ego can crush students and prevent them from success. Changing a class that you teach in order to reach more students requires

really

putting the student first.Slide35

Comments from Pennsylvania

At first, faculty

thought that

AtD

was the latest

‘

educational buzz’ word. We had to prove that

accountability

was critical to success in business and also is critical to retention and persistence in college.

Keeping the “idea alive.” We discussed

AtD

at most faculty meetings, general college meetings and in the college paper.

Getting the ‘right people on the bus’!!! The people who were invited to become part of the

AtD

initiative had to be people who were open minded and non-resistant. If the administration didn’t buy into the initiative and select the people who were willing to look at the project in an objective manner, the program probably wouldn’t have worked.

Also, the financial backing of the President and the board to provide stipends for the initiative.Slide36

Comments from Massachusetts

Invite them, support them, allow them to dig in

and

do the work, but don’t bog them down with the administrative details. The Dean and chair of the original curriculum committee took care of a lot of the details for the trainings, ordering of books, finding resources, and organization of meetings, materials, etc. Some of what we take for granted in administration

can

slow progress to a stop.

An

identified champion for the program is essential. Once we had formalized roles and responsibilities and where the CSS course would be housed, many of these problems solved themselves because they became aligned with college process, but in the infancy stages, clear lines of communication and roles and responsibilities should be defined.Slide37

Comments …..From the coordinator:

1. Be transparent

and vocal about the pilot and

what is

learned.

We

had to show our process and make sure we and the college at large understood the goals of our pilot and the ways by which we measured our success. We worked hard to gather a lot of qualitative and quantitative data to make sure we made sound decisions. We continue this practice as we monitor the newly redesigned CSS course we have in place now at the college.

Faculty

and Administration are more likely to buy into a program if it is clearly defined and measured. If they can see results, they are more likely to support and even participate in the program.Slide38

Comments….

R

ecruit

key faculty and staff members.

A

lot of

time was spent

working on recruitment. I presented

at

staff meetings, department meetings, and division meetings, explaining the course and the impact it was having on students. The presentation was designed to inform and also, hopefully, recruit new faculty members.

I

also listened to my students. I listened for what teachers they talked about, the teachers they said connected with them and made them feel good about learning, and I made a list of names. I also paid attention to the employee recognition awards and newsletters to read about the instructors featured in these ways. Then, I contacted instructors either in person or by email and asked them if they’d be interested in teaching the course. Of all the recruitment efforts, this last one was the most effective. Slide39

Comments…..

Provide

enough support for faculty and

staff

who teach the course.

We

held a comprehensive training event to help our

new

and experienced faculty understand the Five

Goals

and Outcomes for the course, we built an

instructor

resource site, and we strongly encourage

collaboration

.

We

often share ideas, and we continually learn from

each

other. The spirit of collaboration amongst CSS

instructors

is something I strive for because I think a

community

of teachers is the most powerful change

agent

or vehicle for

motivating the college. Slide40

Comments….

Integrate

student services administration

and

staff into the curriculum. Another key

piece

in promoting and developing the course was collaborating with student services, like financial aid, advising, student success center, the library, and student activities.

Our

curriculum invites collaborations with many

key

areas of student services so that students

better

understand the services available to them

and

their success. By integrating student services

into

our curriculum, the course became a

collaborative

venture that involved very talented

student

success experts at our college. Slide41

What AdviceWould you give other colleges?Slide42

Comments from Hawai’i

Keep your ego in check; the classes you teach are

not

for you they are for the students and while these students do not know what they do not know

- it

is up to you to guide them and help them understand. And when they challenge you on a point (or on your opinion of the facts) do not let that affect their standing in the class; academically or socially.

“Don’t be in a hurry to condemn because he doesn’t do what you do, or think as you think, or as fast. There was a time when you didn’t know what you know today.”

Malcolm

X

“It is important that students bring a certain ragamuffin barefoot irreverence to their studies; they are not here to worship what is known but to question it.”

-

Jacob

BronowskiSlide43

Comments from Pennsylvania

Expect resistance at first.

Be prepared to defend and abandon parts of the initiative

Ask for help when you need it. You can’t do this alone.

Develop a relationship with your coach that is based on mutual respect.

Be prepared to hear—“data suggests something

other

than you wanted!””

Communication—a document/mechanism in place for new faculty/administrators that provides information about the achievements so that previously learned lessons are not abandoned but improved.Slide44

Comments from MassachusettsCreate the course, track the success

and

be open to revising each and every semester! We continue to learn, grow, and enhance the quality of this course. Remain open to what you learn, listen to the students, create ongoing learning opportunities for faculty and find new and innovative ways to be better!!Slide45

Comments from Massachusetts(From the coordinator): Make informed

decisions

about your program. Learn from

students

and faculty and staff participating in your program by collecting data that will help gauge their experiences as participants in the course; conduct research on other FYE programs at other schools that serve a population similar to your own; create a team approach for all aspects of the course. Collaborate with student services; use the National Resource Center as a guide for current research and scholarship on FYE; make informed decisions. Slide46

What Happened in the courses?

So…….Slide47

History in Hawai’i

Hawai‘i

Community College - History Courses

Fall 2008

Fall 2009

Fall 2010

Fall 2011

A-C Grades

% A-C Grades

A-C Grades

% A-C Grades

A-C Grades

% A-C Grades

A-C Grades

% A-C Grades

HIST 151

106

71.6%

173

77.6%

157

77.7%

162

71.4%

HIS 152

54

58.1%

82

75.9%

119

75.8%

136

70.5%

Total Grades

160

66.4%

255

77.0%

276

76.9%

298

71.0%Slide48

Reading in Pennsylvania

Westmoreland County Community College - Reading 050 and 080 Success

Fall 06

Fall 07

Fall 08

Fall 09

Fall 10

Fall 11

Total Enrollment

5,982

6,237

6,431

7,076

7,403

Number Completing the Term

4,748

4,979

5,117

5,568

5,761

Percent Completing the Term

79.4%

79.8%

79.6%

78.7%

77.8%

Total Enrolled in Reading 050

67

114

210

257

269

Successful Completers of Reading 050

40

76

141

184

183

Percent Successfully Completing Reading 050

59.7%

66.7%

67.1%

71.6%

68.0%

Fall to Spring Retention of Reading 050 Students

92.5%

93.4%

92.2%

93.5%

88.5%

Total Enrolled in Reading 080

440

461

538

583

633

626

Successful Completers of Reading 080

323

351

397

445

456

432

Percent Successfully Completing Reading 080

92.5%

92.5%

92.5%

92.5%

92.5%

92.5%

Fall to Spring Retention of Reading 080 Students

88.9%

88.0%

89.4%

87.6%

89.9%

90.5%Slide49

Student Success in Massachusetts

Northern Essex Community College

All Students

CSS Completers (A-C)

New Students Fall 2010 to Spring 2011

64.2%

72.2%

New Students Fall 2010 to Fall 2011

50.3%

93.5%

New Students Fall 2011 to Spring 2012

69.3%

96.9%

New, Full-time, Degree-seeking, Students Fall 2010 to Spring 2011

77.1%

91.7%

New, FT, Degree-seeking, Fall 2010 to Fall 2011

60.2%

69.4%

New, FT, Degree-seeking, Fall 2011 to Spring 2012

80.5%

96.7%Slide50

Student Success, cont.

Northern Essex Community College

- College

Success Seminar

Fall

2009

Spring

2010

Fall

2010

Spring

2011

Fall

2011

Spring

2012

Fall

2012

Sections

3

2

12

6

13

8

30

Enrollment

54

35

208

79

248

133

574

CSS Completers A-C Developmental Course Completion

82%

79%

89%

80%

89%

Non CSS A-C Developmental

Course

Completion*

72%

59%

72%

81%

62%

CSS Completer Term GPA

3

3.1

3

3.2

3.1

Non CSS Completer Term GPA*

2.5

1.8

2.3

2.6

2.2

CSS Completer Average Term Credits

10.6

10.1

10.8

8.4

9.9

Non CSS Completer Average Term Credits*

8.6

7.9

8.1

7.8

5.0Slide51

QuestionsWhat 3-5 courses are in most need of redesign at your college?

What are your greatest barriers to accomplishing course redesign at your college?

Questions?Slide52

Contact

Sam Giordanengo

History Instructor

Hawai’i Community College

Humanities Department

200 West

Kāwili

Street

Hilo, HI 96720

(808) 934-2589

samuelg@hawaii.edu

Trish Schade

Assoc. Professor, Dev. Reading, College Success Seminar

Northern Essex Community College

79 Ward Street

Lexington, MA 02421

(978) 556-3414 (W) 

pschade@necc.mass.edu

Darlene Pabis

Westmoreland County Community College

147

Pavillion

Lane

Youngwood, PA 15697

(724)925-4289 (office)

pabisd@wccc.edu

Terri Manning

Data Coach

Central Piedmont Community College

P.O. Box 35009

Charlotte, NC 28235

Phone Number: (704) 330-6592

FAX Number: (704) 330-6013

terri.manning@cpcc.edu