Math « FIN Commons

Challenging Work and Student Engagement

Posted by Jan Connal on April 7, 2009 in Math, Student Interviews, Student Voice, Video Evidence with No Comments

Here’s a student sharing his experience as a learner in pre-algebra.

LMC Puente/Math: Data and English: An undiscovered country

Posted by Maria Tuttle on March 21, 2009 in Developing Questions, Integrative Learning, Learning Communities, Literacy, Math, Reading, Writing with 1 Comment

Announcement!

Lesson study accomplished (but we still have to survey the information gathered, so not completely accomplished but you get what I mean). Our lesson study was organized as a series of three classes with each class serving to build skills and synthesize ideas between the reading and statistical information in regards to social class.

Reflection 2

Day 3, the final day of our study, felt better than day 2. Let me qualify “felt better.” What I mean here is that day 2 seemed to go slowly primarily because students seemed stuck not only in deciphering difficult terminology in the article like “rhetorical fringe” but also because they then had to tie complex main ideas, quotes, and analysis of those quotes to reading data accurately and then being specific with their explanations of that data. Oh yeah, and I add that everything had to connect to the textual main idea and answer a unit question. (I shudder at the ambition of our project.) This is what I observed as helpful to students in terms of seeing and using data; Myra asked two essential questions when she explained how to read the information: who is being described and what is being measured? (The light bulbs that popped on were truly blinding.) I place emphasis on this observation because what Myra asked is what I ask when I teach reading: who is being described and what is taking place? Do you see any other implications? I am eager to hear what you think.

Let me tease out the connection further. By choosing common strategies that will work to connect math and English, students are becoming “literate” in multiple disciplines. I place quotations around this word because I think that literacy is more than the ability to read a novel, a poem, an essay. Literacy is the accumulation and understanding of knowledge, any field of knowledge (and that could mean cultural knowledge as well as skill based knowledge, like, oh yeah, I know who Plato is and of course I know the function of a Z chart, plus let me tell you about AB540 students). In previous conversations with students, the definition of literacy was brilliantly simple: the ability to read and understand what you read.

I end by saying that this lesson was not perfect. I think both Myra and I were putting our best feet forward–teaching-wise–possibly trying to0 much with the hopes of finding out as much as possible. I am at fault. I cooked up the concept while Myra invented exercises that would coincide with what I “cooked up.” The result was yummy, but maybe a little too rich. Before I close let me add what I found delicious: Myra’s “data sandwich.” Here is another common strategy that I use when I teach writing. Essentially, the formula is this: They say x. I say y. The X in this equation is what the author says, the quote. The Y is an analysis of that quote. (Am I using math concepts unknowingly? I’ll admit to enjoying addition and subtraction, maybe even algebra. I definitely like geometry.) The result is a “quotation sandwich.” Don’t groan. I know thousands upon thousands of English teachers use this strategy all the time. I only point out this connection because of what Myra was able to invent to dovetail with this skill: the “data sandwich.”

Questions to consider

Let me work my tired brain a bit more. Should our approach be to invent and connect skill-based strategies rather than thematic approaches for the developmental classes? We fully intend to collaborate on major assignments. However, I am wondering if we should wait until the students reach transfer-level English and math to launch fully integrated projects.

LMC/Puente/Math Lesson Study: Math is fun!

Posted by Maria Tuttle on March 11, 2009 in Identity, Integrative Learning, Math, Student Confidence with 1 Comment

Plan: Co-teach a lesson that combines math and English concepts.

Myra Snell and I cooked up a project that would preview our math/English collaboration for next semester. We wanted to test our theories that math can be relevant /FUN and that math can inform themes of racial and class identity covered in my Puente cohort over two semesters or 1 year. I know! Seems very challenging and me not being a math-y person at all, felt nervous. Truth is I avoid teaching essays that involve any kind of percentages because I find that I am challenged to 1) understand the information myself (which means I am possibly teaching it incorrectly a.k.a. winging it) or 2) help students synthesize textual ideas with data (cold, hard data). This was an opportunity to select a more challenging essay written from an economist’s POV and sprinkled with all sorts of data. I won’t spend much time revisiting details, so I will just add, SEE LMC/PUENTE LESSON STUDY. Long story short, we tried it.

Day 1: Post class observations and follow up questions.

Realization number 1: Math is fun (I still remember what cross multiply means) and students found Myra’s “visualizations” (which I love) of Mantsios’s claims to have had an important impact of their understanding of class in terms of income and wealth. I got the pleasure of observing Myra lay out a clear way for students to create “pictures” to understand concepts like total national wealth versus total U.S. household wealth. In Mantsios’s essay, “Class in America–2003,” he writes that class is not well understood, never discussed, and surrounded by “myths.” He poses several interlocking questions two of which I supply here: Are class differences getting bigger or smaller, and how do these differences impact the way we live? Does everyone in America have an equal opportunity to succeed? Side note: At the beginning of this unit, Money and Success, students self identified as middle-class. They did not view themselves as under privileged and did not see their families as struggling to make ends meet. It would be interesting to insert conjecture regarding cognitive development, but oh well. Myra used columns, pennies, and even a football field to represent the complexities of the author’s argument. The numbers proved to students that wealth is not equally distributed in the United States and possibly that opportunity to advance along the class ladder in the U.S. is limited to a select few (an important moment of growth when discussing concepts like the American Dream). Day 1 of our lesson study presented our team with many more possibilities for math and English to intersect.

Question? These questions may seem to go outside of what we planned in our study, but at least two students talked about how the ideas of the current unit, specifically themes in The Grapes of Wrath, kept popping up in other classes. They seemed excited and empowered to be able to inform and even teach others about what they are learning in English. Does it make more sense to create packaged first-year experience that could include a cluster of classes working with similar themes? What would this mean for student efficacy?

Cerritos College Detailed Inquiry Plan Feb 09

Posted by Jan Connal on February 28, 2009 in Fear, Identity, Learning to Learn, Math, Metacognition, Pre/Post, Revised Inquiry Plans, Student Interviews, Student Voice, Surveys, Writing with No Comments

Summary of Inquiry

The Cerritos College inquiry project will combine two complementary collaborations to develop a deeper understanding about how developmental learners acquire the academic habits of mind needed to succeed in college. Too often, students at risk remain on the margins of the academic community and this project will investigate ways of moving them to the center. The Cerritos College team has a hunch that by improving meta-cognitive functioning and by understanding identity development, students can be helped to adopt a “learner identity,” acquire academic habits of mind, and improve their learning.

Team Leader:
Dr. Jan Connal / Counselor, Developmental Education Chair
562-860-2451 x 2143
jconnal@cerritos.edu

Team Members:
Cheryl Shimazu / Chemistry – Delete
Frank Mixson / English
Lydia Alvarez / English
Mojdeh Nikdel / Math
Marvelina Barcelo/ Counseling

Plans for Data Collection and Analysis

A. Zoom-Lens Data: Focusing on Students

Spring 2009

Instructional faculty will assess students’ metacognition, using a self-reported inventory of actions (included in our previous proposal), at both the beginning and end of the term for their sections of Math 40 (Pre-algebra), ENGL 20 (Basic Writing – two levels below Freshman Composition), and ENGL 52 (Intro to College Composition – one level below Freshman Composition). Likewise, they will also assess students’ Academic Habits of Mind, using a self-reported inventory of actions (included in our previous proposal).

Sustained, embedded metacognition skills-building classroom activities will be focused on increasing the following self-reported behavors:

MATH

1. When I do not understand something I ask for the help of others.

2. When I am solving a problem I ask myself questions in order to concentrate my attention on the problem.

ENGLISH:

1. While I am writing I wonder if I am communicating what I intend to communicate to my audience.

2. After I finish my work I know how well I performed on it even before it is evaluated.

Faculty will deliberately engage students in thinking and writing about the above behaviors; these reflections will be the basis of the FIG’s discussions at its biweekly meetings in March and April. Faculty will be using the reflections and discussions to better understand the development of metacognitive skills and construct a rubric to capture levels of functioning.

At the 6^th week of the term faculty will identify students at risk for dropping out or failing; these students will be invited to participate in a Counselor led focus group.

Counseling faculty will also examine the students’ self-reported actions from the initial administration of the two inventories (surveys) in the above classes and identify a cohort of “at risk” students for a videotaped focus group about their academic self-perceptions, attitudes, goals and behaviors (focus group protocol to be developed).

Student Co-investigators will conduct an in-class activity in other sections of MATH 40, ENGL 20 and ENGL 52 to capture student responses on video as they respond to prompts about their identity (prompts currently in development).

Fall 2009

Instructional faculty will again assess students’ metacognition, using a self-reported inventory of actions (included in our previous proposal), at both the beginning and end of the term for their sections of Math 60 (Pre-algebra), ENGL 20 (Basic Writing – two levels below Freshman Composition), and ENGL 52 (Intro to College Composition – one level below Freshman Composition). Likewise, they will also assess students’ Academic Habits of Mind, using a self-reported inventory of actions (included in our previous proposal).

Faculty will continue the sustained, embedded metacognition skills-building activities and reflections in class. Faculty will also incorporate the Student Focus Group video and the Identity video, developed from the Spring 09 investigation, into classroom instructional activities (i.e., using metacognition to understand identity issues around math) to generate student work products which the FIG will use to examine the relationship between metacognition and identity at its biweekly meetings.

At the 6^th week of the term faculty will use the metacognition rubric, developed Spring 09, to identify students who demonstrate minimal metacognitive skills; these students will be invited to participate in a Counselor led focus group. Counseling faculty will again examine the students’ self-reported actions from the initial administration of the two inventories (surveys) in the above classes and identify a cohort of “limited metacognition” students for a videotaped focus group about their academic identity, self-perceptions, attitudes, goals and behaviors (focus group protocol to be developed). This video will contribute to development of a “learner identity” rubric in Spring 10.

Student Co-investigators will again conduct an in-class activity in other sections of MATH 60, ENGL 20 and ENGL 52. This time, however, they will capture student responses on video as they respond to prompts about their Academic Habits of Mind (to be developed). This video will be used Spring 10 for instructional activities and also contribute to the development of the “learner identity” rubric.

B. Mid-Range Shots: Focusing on the Classroom

We will conduct a Lesson Study on a lesson given by Lydia Alvarez in ENGL 52 about the importance of “considering your audience” in communication. The classroom activity will basically engage students in writing to evoke a particular response attached to an opportunity for them to see if the intended response occurred. This lesson is directly related to our inquiry because of the metacognitive processes involved in thinking about what one intends, checking the response against what one intended and identifying improvements needed for achieving what on intends. This lesson study provides a unique opportunity to observe metacogniton in action and will inform our development of a metacognition rubric.

We will plan the lesson and identify each observer’s task at our April 14th FIG meeting. The in class lesson will be observed by Jan Connal, Frank Mixson, Mojdeh Nikdel and Marvelina Barcelo on April 22nd. The FIG will debrief and analyze data captured during the lesson on April 28th.

During the lesson observation, we will initially be looking for signs of student engagement and identifying the types and numbers of questions/comments exchanged between the instructor and students and between students. During the student activity portion of the class period, observers will be assigned a particular quadrant of the class to observe and will be noting students’ “metacognitive” statements (i.e., “I don’t think I did this right.”). Although we do not plan to video tape any portion of the Lesson Study, we will be using our observation notes and the students’ post-activity reflections for our debriefing and rubric building activities.

C. Wide-Angle Lens: Focusing on Trends in Institutional Data

The Institutional Research Office will supply Jan Connal the college Spring 09 MIS data in August, 2009. Jan will then compare the FIG sections with comparable sections (according to section duration and time of day offered) for initial enrollment, 1st census enrollment, retention and grade. Determining student persistence into Fall 09 can be determined in February 2010 once the Fall 09 MIS data has been supplied. Perhaps the institutional data will reveal a difference between the FIG sections and their comparison groups, but we do not believe valid conclusions could be drawn. Not only are our “interventions” in the formative stages (it would be too early in the implementation process), our inquiry is of a “thin slice” of learning and not course grade.

We could use coaching to find better ways of using institutional research, given the fact that we would be limited to using existing data (the IR office is seriously under-staffed and backlogged with other institutional priorities).

D. Additional Video Footage

Our student Co-investigators will be collecting video footage in three classes in Spring 09 and Fall 09. The Counseling faculty will be collecting video footage from two, possibly four, focus groups. Both of these activities will generate footage that is integral to our inquiry by providing direct student evidence for building our understanding of student metacognition, identity and academic habits of mind.

We are depending on FIN leadership for equipment and training to developed “finished” video to be used by instructional faculty in their classrooms and by the FIG in developing rubrics.

E. Inclusion of Student Voices

Students have been hired to conduct the in-class video activities. They will also play a role with the FIG faculty in identifying promising instructional and counseling activities for improving students’ Academic Habits of Mind.

Team Timeline/Calendar – Spring 09 & Summer 09

Feb 09 – Instructional faculty assess students metacognitive functioning and Academic Habits of Mind using the self-assessment inventories.

Feb – April 09 – FIG meets biweekly to examine student work and videotapes, collaborate on lesson plan, and develop a metacognition rubric.

March 09 – Student Co-investigators conduct classroom video activity in three classrooms.

March 09 – Student Co-investigators videotape Counselor led focus groups.

April 09 – FIG conducts Lesson Study in ENGL 52.

May 09 – Instructional faculty assess students metacognitive functioning and Academic Habits of Mind using the self-assessment inventories.

May 09 – End of the Semester Retreat to bring faculty and student investigators together for dialog and celebration.

June 09 – FIN Summer Institute

June – Aug 09 – Final editing of videos

Aug 09 – Analysis of the institutional research student performance data

Los Medanos College Puente/Math

Posted by Maria Tuttle on February 27, 2009 in Identity, Literacy, Math, Student Confidence, Student Interviews with 1 Comment

SUMMARY

In collaboration wit h the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, this project aims to address the low persistence and success rates within developmental Math across the state. Instead of the standard three- to four-semester developmental path toward Calculus, this project will create an open-entry, one-semester accelerated course that prepares students for transfer-level Statistics. This course will be part of a one-year sequence within the Puente Learning Community at Los Medanos. The sequence will build on the spirit and principles of the Puente Program by addressing issues relevant to Latino(a) and Generation 1.5 students; utilizing student-centered, process-oriented pedagogy; and fostering student self-efficacy and leadership. The primary inquiry: How does this experiment impact student outcomes, including rates of transfer-readiness?

PLANS FOR DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

Zoom-Lens Inquiry: Focusing on Students

1) What data will you gather and analyze on individual students? (e.g. student work, self-reflections, interviews, videotaped think-alouds or problem-solving)

Over the next two years we plan to gather and analyze the following types of data from individual students:

Student interviews, written reflections, and other artifacts of student experience
Student “think-alouds” on developmental math concepts
Student work on selected math assignments and exams
Student work on selected English assignments
Student surveys

2) How do you imagine this data will help you understand the problem/issue you’re investigating? In other words, how does the data connect to and inform the overall focus of your inquiry?

At the core of our inquiry is an investigation of obstacles to transfer and a two-pronged hypothesis about how to improve transfer rates of underrepresented and under-prepared students. With a focus on Puente students, we are investigating the impact of identify, self-efficacy, and students’ perception of themselves as leaders on their progress toward transfer. In our first round of interviews with Puente students in spring 2009, we will focus on themes of literacy and identity, education and empowerment, and personal reflections on family, culture and life experience that underlie identity. These questions dovetail with issues investigated in the Puente English classes and will help us probe more deeply into the impact of classroom experience on students view of themselves. During the interviews, students will also analyze a graph of Puente transfer numbers and give us their perspectives on why students don’t transfer.

In addition to issues of identity, efficacy, and empowerment, difficulty in the developmental math sequence is also a major obstacle to transfer. The second prong of our project is an experimental redesign of the developmental math sequence that leads to transfer-level Statistics. In the fall Puente students, regardless of their math placement, will take a new accelerated developmental math course that looks and feels like a course in descriptive statistics, with a “just-in-time” approach to core concepts in arithmetic and algebra that are integral to data analysis skills used in transfer-level statistics. In the spring they will take transfer-level Statistics. In both math courses, students will use data from the existing sources, such as the census, and data they collect in their communities to investigate social justice and empowerment themes developed in the Puente English courses. Our FIN team will use the spring 2009 interviews, “think-alouds” and assessments of prealgebra students to inform the design of learning experiences for this new developmental math course.

3) When and how will you collect this data? (e.g. Which classes will you target? Where will you conduct interviews or think-alouds?)

Student interviews, written reflections, and other artifacts of student experience

SP 09: videotaped interviews with 2-3 students in the current Puente cohort and 6 students currently enrolled in prealgebra (3 levels below transfer-level math);
FA 09 – SP 10: videotaped interviews of and written reflections by students in the new Puente cohort who are also enrolled in the experimental, accelerated developmental math course and then in the associated section of transfer-level Statistics.

Student presentations and written work during the Lesson Study; as well as student essays based on the Focus Lesson

SP 09: Our Focus Lesson will span three class periods in March in the current Puente English class (at the level of Eng 1A).

Student “think-alouds” on developmental math concepts

SP 09: videotaped “think-alouds” with 4 students currently enrolled in prealgebra;
FA 09 – SP 10: videotaped “think-alouds” and/or project presentations with students enrolled in the experimental, accelerated developmental math course and in the associated section of transfer-level Statistics.

Student work on selected math assignments and exams

SP 09: written work from 30 prealgebra students on a diagnostic assessment of skills relevant to learning goals for the experimental math course;
FA 09 – SP 10: written work on selected assessments from the new experimental math course and the associated section of transfer-level Statistics, including student work on a national statistics exam (CAOS, the Comprehensive Assessment of Outcomes for a First Course in Statistics)

Student work on selected English assignments

SP 09: essays written after the Lesson Study
FA 09 – SP 10: written work on selected assessments that include statistical evidence or issues relevant to identify, efficacy, and leadership

Student surveys

SP 09: survey of 90 prealgebra students to identify preconceptions about math and views of self-efficacy relative to learning math;
FA 09 – SP 10: survey of Puente cohort views relative to impact of the Puente program on identity, self-efficacy, leadership, and the relevance of math to their view of the world.

4) When will you analyze this data? (e.g. mid-semester team retreat, after lesson-study session, at the end of the semester; )

We plan to collaboratively discuss data related to identity, efficacy, and empowerment soon after we collect it. The analysis of the math-related data will be done incrementally to inform curriculum development for the new developmental course.

5.) How will you analyze the data? (e.g. analyzing student work with a rubric or analytic frame like Polya’s method for problem-solving or Perry’s scheme for student development; analyzing themes in student self-reflections according to their performance in the class – how did the responses of students who did not pass compare/contrast with students who performed well?)

We are collecting a variety of data from interviews, written reflections, and surveys that will help us investigate student identity, efficacy, and empowerment. We do not have a rubric or schema for analyzing this data yet. We anticipate our work will be inductive here with an eye to understanding the educational experiences and pedagogies that promote the development of academic identity and achievement, a personal sense of empowerment, as well as leadership. We have discussed using a pre-post design and looking at individual student growth in the Puente Learning Community next year. We have also discussed seeking the help of the LMC Student Life Coordinator, Dave Bellman, who has extensive experience with student leadership initiatives.

Some math-related data, such as the student work on math assessments, will be analyzed using rubrics based on those written by the LMC Math Department to determine student achievement of learning outcomes. In other math-related data, such as think-alouds, interviews, and surveys, Myra will look for patterns in students’ ways of thinking that may be helpful in designing or revising the learning experiences in the new developmental math course.

In the Lesson Study, student presentations will help us gauge comprehension of an assigned reading and their understanding of basic math concepts, such as percents, that are embedded in the article. We plan to inductively identify patterns in student thinking that will inform curriculum development for the Puente Learning Community in the fall. In a subsequent essay assignment, we plan to discuss student work with the goal of articulating criteria that will be useful for guiding instruction next fall.

6) What questions/concerns do you have about this element of your Inquiry? How can your Inquiry Coach support you in this phase of your Inquiry?

We need help with developing a schema for discussing and analyzing student data on identity, self-efficacy, and empowerment.

Mid-Range Shots: Focusing on the Classroom

1) Please name ONE specific lesson in a particular course that will give you a good vantage point for observing student learning relevant to your Inquiry.

Using Gregory Mantsios’s essay “Class in America-2003″ (from Colombo, Cullen, and Lisle, Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Thinking and Writing, 2007) students will discuss the following questions: Are there significant class differences among Americans? If these differences do exist, are they getting bigger or smaller, and do these differences have a significant impact on the way we live? Finally, does everyone in the United States really have an equal opportunity to succeed? We plan to use a jigsaw approach to the article, with students working in groups on sections of the essay. Students will identify main points, then choose and explain both a quote and a piece of embedded data that illustrate or support the main point of their assigned section. Finally, in preparation for an essay assignment, students will analyze graphs of data from the census and choose graphs that can be used as support their responses to the questions above.

2) How do you imagine the Lesson Study will help you understand the problem/issue you’re investigating about students and their learning? In other words, how does it connect to and inform the overall focus of your inquiry?

Our lesson study connects to both strands of our inquiry. Since Mantsio’s essay uses statistical evidence to support an analysis of the class differences in the U.S., this lesson will provide a context for a preliminary investigation of students’ understanding of basic math concepts when these concepts are embedded in a complex argument. This will inform the development of math curriculum that is relevant to the themes of social justice and community activism introduced in the Puente English class while also meeting students where they are in their understanding of fundamental math concepts. Through this lesson we will also investigate how reading strategies used in the English class can be integrated with strategies for “reading” statistical data. Finally, student presentations of their section of the essay will give us a glimpse into student perspectives on efficacy and identity as they reflect on how class differences relate to their experiences and their communities.

3) When and how will your team conduct this Lesson Study? Please detail the timeframes and participants for the three parts of the Lesson Study process (collaboratively planning the lesson, teaching/observing the lesson, and debriefing/analyzing videotapes & student work from the lesson).

Phase 1: Collaborative Planning: February 18 and February 25. Phase 1 involves a discussion of our own understanding of class as well as a dialogue about key ideas in Mantsios’s essay and our goals for student understanding of the statistical evidence used in the essay. In addition, Puente pedagogy is student-centered; this would be an opportunity to begin discussing teaching routines that would bring these practices into the math classroom. Finally, we will discuss the type of data to be collected.

Phase 2: Teaching/Observing the Lesson: March 10, 12, and 19th. The Focus Lesson is really a series of three lessons. The first two lessons focus on student comprehension of Mantsios’ article and the embedded statistical evidence. The final lesson is a set of activities designed to prepare students to write an argumentative essay that incorporates data from the census.

Phase 3: Debriefing/Analysis: End of March, early April. We will discuss student work during the group processing of sections of the article, student presentations of the article, and student work on analyzing graphs of data in preparation for their essay. This will be an early opportunity for us to begin to establish a common understanding of learning goals and desired levels of performance that will inform our collaborative work in our Learning Community in the fall.

4) What kinds of things will the observers be looking/listening for during the lesson? What artifacts of student learning and student experience will the team collect during the lesson? Will you videotape any portion of this process (pre-planning, lesson, debrief)?

During the series of three lessons and later in student essays, we plan to look for comprehension of the myths and realities surrounding class and wealth in the U.S.; this includes an understanding of statistical evidence used in the essay and provided from the census. We also plan to look for indications that students are developing social awareness that is informing identity and a sense of self-efficacy. We will analyze student work on “jigsaw” grids completed during the first lesson, student presentations done in the second lesson, written work and class discussion of statistical evidence from the census in the third lesson, and their written essays.

We do not plan to videotape the any portion of the Lesson Study.

5) What questions/concerns do you have about this element of your Inquiry? How can your Inquiry Coach support you in this phase of your Inquiry?

We need help with developing a schema for discussing and analyzing student data on identity, self-efficacy, and empowerment.

Wide-Angle Lens: Focusing on Larger Trends in Institutional Data

1) What data from your Institutional Research Office will you integrate into your Inquiry? For example, will you look at patterns of student success, defined as grades of CR, A,B C? Retention rates (completion of semester without withdrawl)? Persistence from one semester to the next, or from one course to the next in a sequence? Comparisons of student outcomes disaggregated by race/ethnicity, gender, age? Data from surveys on student engagement? For a sample Inquiry using this kind of data, go to http://facultyinquiry.net and look for the category “Using Institutional Research,” then see the Learning Community Impact study posted there.)

We plan to collect the following institutional data:

Success in the experimental math course as it correlates with math placement scores
Transcripts from the last 5 Puente cohorts to identify patterns that might suggest obstacles to transfer (including math pathways)
Success rates and persistence rates during the Puente First Year Experience
Completion of 30 transferable units, completion of transfer-preparedness status, and actual transfer rates for the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 Puente cohorts (of course this will be tracked after the completion of the FIN grant)
Survey of impact on identity, efficacy, and leadership

2) How do you imagine this data will help you understand the problem/issue you’re investigating? In other words, how does the data connect to and inform the overall focus of your inquiry?

The ultimate goal of our FIN project is to increase transfer rates for underrepresented and underprepared students, specifically in this project Puente students.

3) What questions/concerns do you have about this element of your Inquiry? How can your Inquiry Coach support you in this phase of your Inquiry?

We need help designing a good survey that will help us measure the impact of the Puente Program on identity, efficacy, and leadership.

Video Footage

We are asking each team to collect at least 10 hours of video footage in the Spring semester.

1) Beyond plans detailed above, please describe any additional footage you intend to gather.

At this point we plan to conduct the videotaped interviews and think alouds described earlier.

2) How will this footage inform the central questions of your Inquiry?

Addressed earlier.

3) What questions/concerns do you have about this element of your Inquiry? Is there any support you’d like from the FIN Leadership Team in this area?

We hope that there will be periodic training for student videographers. We will have students co-inquirers on board until the fall.

Inclusion of Student Voices

As noted during the Kick-Off Convening, an additional $1,000 will be made available to each team to support making student voices a central part of each Inquiry. We encourage you to be creative and draw upon students as co-inquirers who can provide expertise in helping you understand the problem/issue you are investigating. Please describe how you plan to include student voices in your Inquiry (e.g. hiring students to capture video footage, interview other students, review data from your inquiry and tell you what they see).

We plan to hire a small set of former Puente students as co-inquirers in the fall. We imagine that they will videotape, interview students, and help us review the data from our inquiry.

TIMELINE/CALENDAR

So that we can visualize how the work will proceed over the next several months, please give a timeline for when the above components will occur. It can be in either calendar or outline format.

timeline/calendar

About FIN

The Faculty Inquiry Network’s (FIN) purpose is to support professional development which includes: conducting faculty inquiry; revisiting basic skills assumptions; interpreting and integrating data; accessing student voices; developing students as co-inquirers; making visible; using technology for teaching and learning; creating and supporting new initiatives, curriculum and program development; constructing educational tools using digital media; and hosting dialogue around student and faculty learning.

FIN Commons