Bringing Developmental Students (and Faculty) into the Mainstream

Joining the Conversation Learning CommunitiesResource RevisionFaculty Collaboration

 “The students at Pembrook and Huron State leave me with two choice: teach at a true college level and fail everybody, or dumb things down enough so that more students can pass…I have had no choice but to recognize that many of my students have no business being in college.”

Learning Communities WhyHowWhat We are Seeing

 Learning Communities consist of a variety of approaches that link and cluster classes around an interdisciplinary theme or issue that enroll a common cohort of students. This represents an intentional restructuring of students’ time, credit, and learning experiences to build community and foster more explicit connections among students, students and their teachers, and among disciplines. (MacGregor and Smith)

 “Students who believed they were less prepared for college…were..less likely to value campus support systems that could support them” (National Survey of Student Engagement).  Nationally, Learning Communities have a 10% higher retention rate than non-learning communities (Columbia Teacher’s College Report)  According to the National Center for Developmental Education, the “number one” strategy for improving the success of developmental students is “widespread adoption of learning communities.”

 Design Considerations- What is important? ◦ Strategically placing learning communities in students’ pathways ◦ Fostering faculty willingness to design and integrate assignments and/or instruction  Cohorts are important, but assignments have to be built to show the connection between disciplines ◦ Building student- centered learning environments

 Using a cohort model  Deliberate integrated learning  Partnering with student services  Using an innovative teaching model- moving from “coverage” to building overarching learning objectives and fostering habits of mind

HUM121 LC students were much more likely to enroll in ENG121. All groups had similar rates of passing if they enrolled, but 63% of HUM students enrolled so their overall rates of passing ENG121 are also improved.

LC had 7% higher term GPAs than non- LC REA090 students. Students who took REA090 in learning community were TWICE as likely to get an A in PSY101 than those who took it outside of LC. Non-LC students were 63% more likely to withdraw from PSY101.

LC had 37% higher term GPAs than non-LC ENG090 students. Students who took ENG090 in learning community were 229% more likely to earn an A in HIS101 than those who took it outside of LC. Non-LC students were 23% more likely to withdraw from HIS101

 What possibilities do you see for incorporating LC’s in your programs?  What pairings (courses, departments, etc.) make the most sense for your students?  What other LC models are working for you?

Inside Higher Ed: Any advice on how colleges (or grad programs) should train people to do the kind of teaching you do? Professor X: I don’t think I quite agree with your question’s premise…I have grave doubts that learning “how to teach” is necessary before any expert in his field can pass on his skills.

Faculty Collaboration WhyHowWhat We are Seeing

 “While well-prepared lectures surely have a place, teaching, at its best, means not only transmitting knowledge, but transforming and extending it as well.” (Boyer, 24)  “The field of developmental education is strong in part due to the range of disciplines represented by its practitioners…This multidisciplinary foundation may be applied [to] an integrated approach to educational practice.” (Casazza)

 New Faculty Orientation program (Teaching with Purpose)  Inter-Department retreats  Paid “shop talk” meetings with full and part- time instructors  Library Course Guides Library Course Guides  Word Nerds

 Shift in culture from “content experts” to “reflective practitioners”  Open peer – to - peer classroom observations  Increased awareness of how best to utilize the strengths of various departmental resources

 What possibilities do you see for more collaboration on your campus?  What collaboration is already happening?

 “Professors can fail these young people with emotional impunity because many such failures are the students’ own fault: too much time spent texting, too little time with the textbooks”

Resource Revisions WhyHowWhat We are Seeing

 Chance for broad input on departmental practices/ policies  A student who starts in 060 and progresses through 122 will spend close to $400 on “Writing” textbooks.  Understanding the changing ways our students access information and the ways institutions deliver it

 Progressive ENG/Dev Studies retreats (Shop- talk  W.A.C.  Aligning curriculum)  Survey on textbook selection  Invitation to publisher pitches  Norming sessions

 What possibilities do you see for revising or refining resources on your campus?  What revisions are you already making?

 “There seems, as is often the case in colleges, to be a huge gulf between academia and reality.”

 According to the survey “Benchmarking 2010: Trends in Education Philanthropy”: ◦ 87% of respondents fund “Achievement gaps for low-income or minority students”. ◦ 72% of respondents fund “Teacher professional development” ◦ 67% of respondents fund “Reading/literacy skills” ◦ 67% of respondents fund “Innovation/new models of learning”

Thank you!