Page 41 - Campus Technology, March/April 2019

Promethean’s ClassFlow software allowed instructors to
create paperless quizzes, polling and other activities.
For years, Hillsborough Community College (FL) has been grappling with how to get students to do better in algebra courses, which are prerequisites for many other STEM courses. HCC’s enrollments in math, life sciences, chemistry and physics have grown 12 percent for all students in the past five years. Yet in fall 2015, 40 percent of all students enrolled in eight math courses received grades lower than C. The fall-to-fall retention rate was a low 48 percent for 2014-2015, well below the national two-year open-admission college rate of 55 percent.
“We were obviously doing something wrong
Category: Teaching and Learning Institution: Hillsborough Community College
Project: Redesigning College Algebra: Delivery, Support, Results
Project lead: Misty Vorder Bruegge, math instructor
Tech lineup: Apple, McGraw-Hill Education, Pearson, Promethean
and I wanted to figure it out,” said Misty Vorder Bruegge, project lead and a math instructor at the college.
Hillsborough’s effort to improve persistence and success in STEM programs began with win- ning a five-year Department of Education Title III Grant focused on math success. In fall 2016, HCC redesigned eight math courses with new software and active learning environments, and added a new Math Resource Center. Pilots began in fall 2017 with 14 sections of interme- diate and college algebra.
One key to the project is that the instructors get to mix and match different technology options. They receive data feedback to help determine what worked well and what did not, and can then share that information with other faculty members. “When you start seeing in your data that one section is outperforming another, it may suggest that one learning platform works better,” said Vorder Bruegge, who tried new tech- nology platforms in her own college algebra sec- tions. “That is huge knowledge for us because when our department considers purchasing resources again, I am going to present that data.”
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