Critical Thinking

46 students took an exam with 50% multiple choice and 50% written. A  t test showed no significant different between the grades from the 2 question types. Linear regression analysis showed an R squared value of .6.  A student getting -8 on the MC, was likely to get close to a -8 on the written.  This suggests to me that test preparation is more important than the type of question asked, but written portions will encourage additional development of writing skills. 

Intrusive advising services were provided to 33 sections of developmental courses reaching a total of 767 students.  Persistence outcomes were the variable of interest to determine impact of this practice.  Findings suggest that intrusive advising support higher levels of Fall to Spring student persistence, in particular during priority registration.

Students do poorly on exam 1. Students participated in a study activity during one class period one week before exam 1. The activity emphasized novel presentation of material (puzzle), repetition, additional study time, interaction with other students and the instructor.  The material studied accounted for about 50% of the first exam. Averages of the exam 1 did not differ from averages of 7 previous classes, but grades of A and B almost doubled in the activity group.

Students in microbiology struggle with osmosis - the movement of water in and out of cells according to solute content of the environment. This is covered in the pre-req course (BIO 156 or 181). Bio fac have articulated these concepts across the courses. Unfortunately for the last couple of years students were directed to skip the pre-req since HS bio counts. Usually osmosis is taught by introducing terms first then numbers (the conceptual piece) to describe the relative differences in solute concentrations  internal and external to cells.

The purpose of this CATS is to document a qualitative review on my experience in the 2nd semester calculus/physics learning community (MAT231/PHY131).   Second semester physics covers charges, electric and magnetic fields, circuits, current (etc), and these concepts have been quite difficult for me to grasp and tie into calculus without Dwain’s help.  The attached narrative provides my previous experiences, current experience, and plan for the future .   

The “I Will Graduate” team noticed challenges with the Student Success Fair passport because some students were not completing all four zones and earning their prize. Mirroring the principles of guided pathways, the committee decided to create a passport that progressed through a pathway of zones rather than letting the students pick and choose which zone they wanted to visit. Students began in the CTL by watching an orientation video, and then progressed through the zone in this order: (1) Learn, (2) Engage, (3) Connect, (4) Graduate.

Gen Ed Abilities assessment participation is low I developed customized scoring templates for each section to simplify data entry, automate tabulation, &  streamline reporting by pre-populating term, instructor, course, section, and student ID.  Outcomes:

Looking at EMCCi data the following data have been discovered

Need:  Streamline 1st 4 weeks of Differential Equations.  Create clearer expectations, journal instructions, MATLAB directions, problem sets, and activities.  Alleviate student confusion.  

The Counseling Division wanted to determine the effectiveness of the CPD150 Career Unit which includes a Career Interest Assessment, Career Research, and Career Planning. In effort to measure the Career Units effectiveness on student learning we created a 5 item Pre/Post Assessment that is modeled after the Critical Inquiry Rubric. The Pre Assessment was administered in the beginning of the Fall 2017 semester with 741 responses and the Post Assessment was administered in November of 2017.

Introductory Chemistry (CHM130) instructors have been using a pre/post test at the beginning and end of the semester in the hope of using the data to determine how conceptual understanding changes as a result of instruction. The original test was not personalized to the curriculum with several topics not even addressed and as a result it was insufficient for detecting student misconceptions. A new Concept Inventory (EMCCi) was developed, thanks to an EMCC learning grant, that was personalized to the CHM130 curriculum.

Writing lab reports is something all students, even strong writers, struggle with.  It is a different style and format to all most other writing that they have experienced before.

For many years now, physics/chemistry faculty require students to journal after each class period (note: there are other faculty on campus who have been journaling for years, as well).  In Fall 2017, a few non-phy/chem faculty incorporated journaling in their classrooms for the first time.  In Spring 2018, during week of accountability, approximately 15 instructors met and discussed best practices in journaling.

I incorporated "One Minute Paper" classroom assessment technique by K. Patricia Cross (1993) into ENG091 classroom learning during the entire semester of Fall 2017.  By far, this class had the most diverse student population that was comprised of: Junior ACE (high school dual students), traditional first year underprepared students, Adult Re-entry students, and students with disability.

One of the biggest challenges for nursing students is to acclimate to the world of the nursing school exam.  Gone are the days of one right answer, the nursing student must learn how to prioritize several correct answers to determine which is the "most" correct. During the Spring 2017, utilization of the Adaptive Quizzing/Learning Resources was highly encouraged but not attached to course points.  In Fall of 2017, the Adaptive Learning activities were attached to 39 of the 600 total course points, leading to a 206% increase in student utilization.