April 2018

Well That Didn't Work

Submitted by Bronwen Steele on

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.

3rd Times a Charm – MAT231/PHY131 LC Qualitative Review

Submitted by Becky Baranowski on

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 .   

Assessment Happens Spring 2018

Submitted by Teri Graham on

Assessment Happens: January 11 in CTL. Over 73 faculty, administrators and support personnel attended.   The SAAC Co-Chairs introduced the new format of other colleagues sharing “best practices”.  Erin Bloomstand and Michelle Breaux presented “It’s Okay to Fail.  52 evaluations were filled out.   Surveyed items:  Workshop content matched description. 33 strongly agreed, 16 agreed, 3 somewhat agreed;  The presenter(s) was effective. 38 strongly agreed, 8 agreed, 4 somewhat agreed; Content was relevant to my needs.

Can I See Your ID? Using ID Scanning Technologies to Improve Student Tracking Methods

Submitted by Jake Ormond on

Recording attendance at campus events continues to be a campus-wide challenge as paper sign-ins are not an efficient way to sign students in to events and programs. Employees spend a great deal of time manually integrating the student data into other on-line systems. Students’ handwriting can also be unreadable at times resulting in inaccurate data to track students longitudinally and be able to measure the impact of campus events on student persistence, retention, and completion.

Infusing Guided Pathways into the Student Success Fair Passport Redesign

Submitted by Jake Ormond on

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.