The DCCCD Office of Student Retention approved more than $240,000 in grants for new and ongoing retention efforts at Brookhaven College in its latest rollout of funding. To support efforts to increase retention and to share best practices between the colleges, the Office of Student Retention developed funding opportunities for colleges or employees who want to plan, to pilot, to replicate and to add resources.
In the second part of this series, we will look at efforts to create a new math workbook and to help prepare biology students to succeed.
Kathleen Long
Kathleen Long, math professor, is writing a new workbook designed to help students move through their developmental courses more quickly. With five levels of developmental math, beginning this road could be a daunting prospect for students. Math faculty members came together and agreed structuring the DMAT 0066 and DMAT 0090 courses into a linked program would give students more time on task integrate related math concepts and allow students time to build relationships with other students and the instructor.
“Students see their math every day and if they see it that way they are more successful,” said Kathleen. One linked set of courses was offered in Fall 2008 and the success rates were almost twice the rate for students taking DMAT 0066 alone.
Kathleen developed the workbook currently in use for all DMAT 0066 classes. Students in the linked course had to purchase two books, one for each course. Her proposal requested planning funds to support customizing the workbook she developed to include the DMAT 0090 topics. One text for both courses saves money for students and can provide organized, daily lessons that let students monitor their performance.
Peggy Mason
Peggy Mason, biology professor, also received a planning grant. Biology Ready will be a directed studies program focusing on preparing students to succeed in their first biology course. Peggy, working with Threedanuj “Jik” Ungchusri, former learning lab coordinator at Brookhaven College and now biology professor at Cedar Valley College, will spend this summer developing the new course. Approximately half of all students taking their first semester biology course throughout the district do not achieve a passing grade. For those working toward completing the core curriculum, a science major or an allied health career, this significantly slows down their academic progress.
“Our goal is to increase retention for those students who are getting overwhelmed right off the bat,” said Peggy. She has used a similar program in the past to prepare students for Anatomy and Physiology. Biology Ready would help prepare students for any of the first level biology courses. Using biology material the goal would be to teach students how to be better students, specifically how to organize facts and concepts for a biology class.
There are several other programs being supported by these grants and awards. To get a sampling of all the retention work colleagues are undertaking in the coming terms, look for additional upcoming articles on these district awards.
