SABBATICAL LEAVE REPORT
2001-2002
TED COSKEY
RESEARCH INTO WAYS TO IMPROVE THE TRANSITION OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS TO A FOUR-YEAR UNIVERSITY
CONTENTS
SUMMARY OF GOALS
A summary of my goals for the
sabbatical and how I feel I accomplished those goals.
GETTING STARTED
This is a little about my
university life before the quarter began and the first few days of the
quarter.
AN OVERVIEW OF THE COURSES I HAVE TAUGHT +
This is a bit of insight into
what it is like to teach math 120 and math124 at the UW as well as a few words
about math 125 and 126.
THE WEB SITES
These are useful web-sites at
the UW-in particular in math.
ADVICE FOR TRANSFER STUDENTS
This information comes from
community college students who have transferred to the UW, professors, teaching
assistants, advisors and myself. It
is something community college students might want to think about as they begin
their career at a community college.
PRO'S AND CON'S OF THE COLLEGE EDUCATOR PROGRAM
I greatly enjoyed being at
the UW, but there are problems with the program that people should be aware of
also.
IMAGE
This is what some employees
of universities and some people in general think of community colleges. We must work to change our
image.
REFLECTIONS
My thoughts on various
topics.
* Who's better?
* My end of the quarter
evaluations
* Math
120
*
Technology
* Other
OTHER INTERESTING INFORMATION
Odds and
ends.
* UW Faculty class
loads
*
Tutoring
*
Engineering
* Notes
TWO INTERVIEWS
One was with an English
advisor; the other with the coordinator of the minority science and engineering
program.
WHAT DID I DO?
Here I briefly list what I
did during my three quarters at the University of Washington.
THE BOTTOM LINE
This is a very brief summary
of how I feel this report can be useful.
SUMMARY OF GOALS
GOALS
a. I wish to find ways to ease transition from community colleges to the University of Washington.
I believe that what
follows in the rest of this report will help students at a community college who
transfer to the UW or to another four year school in math related as well as non
math related fields. The
students will gain insight into how to be successful from the list of tips that
I have put together. From my
summary of experiences as a university professor as well as many interviews with
faculty, staff and students, our teachers and counselors can gain a better
insight into what our students will be expected to know and
do.
b. I will also have an opportunity to upgrade my own math skills.
A key upgrading was
through my teaching pre-Calculus and Calculus at the university. I now know better what the university
expects of our students in the area of math.
I attended numerous
math or math education seminars and read a math text.
As I requested in my
winter report, I extended goal (b.) slightly to math skills in astronomy (which
is a math based field and one that I also teach). I have read several astronomy books and
articles as well as attended numerous astronomy colloquia and
seminars.
GETTING STARTED
The UW math department initially asked me what Freshman level classes I wanted to teach for the year and actually gave me what I asked for. It took a couple of email exchanges to get the details as to when and where I would be teaching as well as where my office was. My computer wasn't set up with MS office. It took many hours to get my computer working the way I wanted it, but the computer people were very persistent.
Although the staff in the math department was very helpful, it took much inquiry and initiative on my part to finally get settled. Due to my back problems I wanted two copies of the text book. It wasn't until the third week that they finally gave me my second copy. The text books need to be returned at the end of the quarter if one is not going to teach the class the following quarter as opposed to at SSCC where we can keep them as references. I had to ask about when and where I would get paid. I was given a key to the building as well as my office. ('Some professors like to come in on the weekends.' Indeed I did!)
The department chair invited me to the "annual" before school, get together at his house. It was a good chance for me to meet faculty and staff. I was encouraged to attend the 3:30 tea that they have daily throughout the quarter. It was a good opportunity to casually chat with professors and TA's.
The first week of fall quarter, I attended a number of Freshman math classes. I wanted to see how the professors began the quarter. All the professors I observed began in a very similar way. The first ten to fifteen minutes were spent on introducing the course. Then the professors began their lecture. The idea is to get the students used to studying from day one so a good amount of homework was assigned immediately. The professors, to one degree or another, included some humor in their lecture as well as some student involvement.
It was difficult for me to get used to working with TA's and a grader. I had to remember to tell the grader each week which homework problems he should
grade. If I gave a handout, I had to remember to give a copy to the two TA's. I met with the TA's weekly to check on how they were doing with the sections as well as to let them know what I was doing. We also needed to discuss the grading of the quizzes so there would be some consistency between the two TA's. I was very happy with the six TA's that I worked with over the three quarters that I was at the UW.
I had a party for SSCC students attending the UW. Only five of the twenty or so I had invited showed up. It was too hard to find a time when more could get together. We did have a good conversation. I tried again to have a second get together, but did not get much response so I later resorted to meeting our students individually.
TA Training
The new TA's attend a week of TA training workshops which are run the week before school starts. I attended a number of the sessions. The sessions consisted of:
* Introduction to the department
* Practice teaching
* Critiquing of teaching
* A discussion of problems that might arise and techniques of teaching
* A picnic
* Getting together with one's mentor-a professor or long-term TA.
I felt that the TA's got very good preparation through the week of training. One thing the faculty have discussed that they plan to add for the 2002-2003 school year is more discussion about how to lead the sections that involve in-class group work.
Another benefit of attending TA training for me was that I got acquainted with a number of the TA's.
AN OVERVIEW OF THE COURSES I HAVE TAUGHT+
Math 120-precalculus
The course has an enrollment of 160 students and it is overloaded by 8 students when there is space in the classroom. (Why couldn’t they just say the enrollment is 168?) The course covers some basic pre-calculus algebra and two and one-half weeks of trigonometry. The emphasis of the course is on applications. The text was written with this in mind by two professors on campus. The basic setup of the class is for the instructor to lecture three days a week and for the students to meet their TA’s in sections two days a week with forty students per section. The TA’s give a weekly twenty minute quiz and answer questions. The TA’s and I each had two hours of office hours a week. Some of that time was spent in the Math Study Center (MSC).
I wrote the midterms and quizzes. The final exam was a group final put together by all the professors teaching the course that quarter. The TA's graded the quizzes. We worked together in a marathon session to grade the midterms and later the finals. Homework was collected weekly and graded by a grader-usually an undergraduate.
The first day of class, I spent about ten minutes on introductions and then got quickly into the material. The idea is to get the students into a two-hour (plus) a day study mode immediately. Topics are taught by giving an application and utilizing algebraic concepts as we work through the problem.
I found the course very difficult, both for the teacher and the students. It was hard for me to keep coming up with appropriate applications that were different, but similar to those in the text. It was hard for the students because they were constantly struggling with applied problems that were different from the examples in the text. Struggling with homework is in itself not necessarily bad; but the students tended to be discouraged about the amount of work and a feeling of lack of direction. In addition the course is not strong on developing many of the concepts that we at the community colleges teach in our algebra/trigonometry classes. These missing concepts are needed for Calculus.
Many of the students in the class have had pre-Calculus and some have had Calculus, but either they did not do well in the class or took it a while ago as they tested less than 60% on an intermediate algebra placement test. The prerequisite for math 120 is math 098, but I am concerned about students who have taken less than our math 122/123 before entering the class. I was very concerned about these students due to their limited knowledge of Algebraic concepts and lack of any trigonometry background. Very few do enter the class with only math 098 previously, but math 120 would be exceedingly difficult for them without trigonometry; going from math 098 to math 120 and then to Calculus would be a real horror.
Math 120 is really time consuming. A student compared it with a chemistry class and said the chemistry class was not as bad as math 120. The math 120 teacher covered the material "way too fast." The student felt that oceanography was easier despite a fifteen-page term paper.
I feel the course was very worthwhile for me to teach. It gave me good insight into what the UW introductory math course is like. It also made Calculus (math 124) seem so much easier to teach as Calculus is more traditional (and for now at least, due to a grant, smaller).
Math 124 (which is similar to Math 125 in format)
This class is presently in the first year of a three-year grant to improve Calculus learning. As a result the class size is down to eighty-one and the sections have twenty-seven students each. The text is a standard text by Stewart. The course is supplemented with application problems developed by the university
professors.
I lectured three days a week. Tuesday, the sections were 80 minutes long rather than the standard 50 minutes. Students possibly had a few minutes for questions on the homework. The focus of Tuesday was a worksheet with an application task to do. These were done in groups with the TA facilitating. Thursday, there was a 20 minute quiz and the remaining time was for questions so there was very little class time for students to use to get questions answered. In addition to homework problems from the text (not enough I thought), the students had a supplemental problem sheet each week to work with several applied problems. Again, these were different from the ones in the text and a real strain on the students.
I found this course easier to teach as it was fairly standard. When preparing lectures, I did have to keep in mind what was being covered on that week's worksheet and supplemental problem sheet. I also needed to keep those in mind when making up exams. To make the supplements and worksheets worthwhile to the students, it was necessary to make them count as homework and to put questions on exams relating back to them.
A student from SSCC in math 124 who had had pre-Calculus at SSCC had difficulty with the class. It was hard to get used to the study/homework time required as well as the speed at which I had to move through the text (as I only met them three times a week). Without having taken math 120 from the UW, he was unfamiliar with some of the applied problems we used. I warned students about this at the beginning of class and suggested that those who had not had math 120 at the UW look at the text.
Math 126 does not have worksheets and is a class with 168 students. It is a big shock for students coming in from the smaller math 125 classes.
Teaching
Fall quarter I had 168 students; winter and spring quarters I had about 80 students. Fall quarter I taught math 120; winter and spring quarters I taught math 124 which was easier to teach as it was smaller and more traditional.
The classes are obviously too large for the instructor to get to know many of the students. In the smaller classes, I managed to learn about half of my students' names. Some of the students told me they appreciated my making the effort to be able to call on them by name in class. Some actually didn't like it. I believe they prefer the anonymity of a large class. One must make an effort to keep those in the back rows involved. In my class of 168, some of the students in the back felt it was all right to chat which disturbed those who were trying to listen.
I think 80 is about the dividing point as far as being able to make the class personal. Above that it is pretty much impossible. At 80 it requires a lot of work, but can be done. (Pat Averbeck is one teacher I observed who is good at doing this.) The TA's had section sizes of 27 to 40 and tended to be able to learn all of their students' names.
I attempted to continue to some extent with my teaching style, which is casual and interactive. This was of course difficult and even by spring quarter I was only moderately successful. I think that if I had continued another year I might have succeeded.
The basic teaching approach is for the teacher to lecture during class-time. Different instructors have different degrees of student involvement in their classes. Sections involve worksheets (in math 124 and math 125) and quizzes and do not allow for much question and answer time (in math 124 and math 125). Group work is pretty hard to do in class due to time restrictions and the design of the rooms. In Calculus sections on Tuesday's, group work is required.
The Math Study Center and the Instructional Center are places where students can go to study math and get their questions answered. Although both are well-attended numerically, it seemed to me that only a small percent of students used them. Very few students ever came to see me during office hours. At the community college, students often run into me in the cafeteria or between classes and sometimes will ask questions then. Due to the large size of the UW, such encounters rarely happened there.
Homework is collected, there are a number of quizzes as well as two midterms and a final. Each individual instructor makes up their own midterms and quizzes.
The final exam is put together by all those teaching the course that quarter.
The exams tend to have some problems that are word problems and that are different from the one's in the text. The students are pushed to be able to analyze new situations and see how they are similar to old one's (in the homework). At SSCC I tend to make the quiz questions very similar to one's in the text. I might start modifying them a bit.
The university is not as free with "drops' and "no credit" as we are. After the second week, the student has only two options to drop a class. They have one free drop per year that is good up until the end of the seventh week and they can
apply for a hardship drop in the case of severe illness, etc. I's are also not given out too readily.
The distribution of the Freshman class grades tends to be binomial. The UW and the math department encourage the instructor to set the median at about 2.7. This then sets the grading curve. If a teacher's class scores a bit higher than the average of all the classes that quarter, the teacher might set the median a little higher and vice versa.
I assigned grades using a technique the program coordinator suggested although I did have the freedom to do it differently. I looked at the top grades and set 4.0 for about the third highest score. I set 2.7 to the median. This then created two data points which I used to find the equation of a straight line which related the students' total percent grade to the decimal grade that I assigned.
THE WEB SITES
A tremendous amount of valuable information is available on the University of Washington web sites. The site for the university itself is
http://www.washington.edu/
and the site for the math department is
http://www.math.washington.edu/
Especially useful for those of us who teach math are the web sites associated with specific courses. For instance the web site for math 120 is
http://www.math.washington.edu/~m120/
and the site for math 124 is
http://www.math.washington.edu/~m124/
The math 124 web site contains the syllabus, old tests and quzzes, the supplementary problems and the worksheets. The worksheets and supplementary problems are challenging extensions that apply the concepts in the text. They are something that we must be aware of when preparing our students for the UW.
Similar sites exist for a number of other freshman level math courses.
I have available a large notebook of the syllabi, exams and assignments for many of the freshman level math courses for anyone who prefers to look at a hard copy without doing a lot of printing.
In addition, one can look at web sites of various professors. As an example, the college educator program coordinator was Dave Collingwood at
http://www.math.washington.edu/~colling/
ADVICE FOR TRANSFER STUDENTS
The following is a compilation of suggestions from students, advisors and faculty.
* Be familiar with term paper writing as well as how to find various ways to format the paper. UW professors have a variety of expectations.
* Finish any series you can as well as your linked-sequence before transferring.
* Take all three courses of a foreign language before transferring. Transfer students are low in priority as far as being allowed in to the third quarter of a foreign language course.
* Try to live on or near campus. It is easier to develop a support group as well as to join in some of the fun activities available.
* Get your AA or AAS before transferring.
* It is possible to take classes in your department before being admitted if you have the approval of an advisor or professor.
* Be prepared for midterms. They seem to come quickly and all within a day or so of each other.
* Talk with students who have been at the UW for a while.
* Even when you first start at a community college, be thinking about what you need for your four year degree. Try to take appropriate prerequisites before transferring. Know what transfers and know what you need for your major. You can save a lot of time (=money).
* At the UW, be prepared to "hit the ground running." They start off right away and move fast.
* Try a lot harder. Overstudy at first. Transferring to the UW requires an adjustment.
* Read a lot. The UW expects three hours a day of reading.
* Write a lot.
* Tour the UW in advance.
* Go to orientation
* You might be able to register early at the beginning of orientation if you "sneak off."
* Make new friends; but find the old friends too. They can help you "connect" with new friends so you feel more at home.
* Learn where the libraries are as you will need them. Learn where the bathrooms are (no joke).
* If you are an ESL student, you must work really hard on your English. It has proved a big problem for some of our transfer students.
* Be aware that in some classes your course grade may depend on only a midterm and a final.
* It is easy to procrastinate as work may be due only weekly; attendance not only doesn't count but you aren't even noticed. DON'T PROCRASTINATE!
* Plan a minimum of two hours of homework/study time for each class hour. Probably plan on more study time at first.
* Take time to see your professors and TA's during office hours. You may get better grades if you get acquainted with them. If you later need a letter of recommendation, you will want to be sure that your professor knows who you
are.
* Attend sections. When the TA's go over what the professor has covered, they may give hints about exam questions.
* Look at class web sites.
* Check out the UW web page. It is loaded with good information.
* Engineering students should take math through differential equations (and in some areas linear algebra) before transferring.
* Engineering students should be familiar with MatLab and Java.
* Fill out the application carefully. They really do look carefully at your personal statement, your English, etc.
* For admission they do look at relevant classes besides math and science.
* EE requires much reading and writing.
* English and many other non-science classes are looked at for admission to the departments. The counselors and professors want to know if you can write, work with others, communicate orally, etc.
* Try a TRIG (transfer interest group).
* Go to class early and introduce yourself to the people sitting near you. If you see them in another class, say "Hi."
* Try to form study groups.
* For an elective, try a night class (fewer students) or a class that might not be high enrolled (or both).
* Look for classes with low enrollment limits (even if they are at night). Also if the class is a bit unusual, you can expect fewer students.
* Some professors don’t care about their students. You can’t depend on them as much as you might a community college instructor.
* Many professors grade on a curve. You don’t know exactly how you are doing until you get your course grade. The UW assumes that in general the median on the curve in a lower division class is about a 2.7.
* Many of the classes are so big. Some are over 320 students.
* The styles of testing and teaching are different than at the CC.
* AMATH 383 requires an eighteen page term paper.
* The Math Study Center (MSC) is a good place to go for math tutoring; but it does not offer tutoring for upper level math. The Instructional Center (IC) does a little and is more cozy. It also offers tutoring in many other areas.
* Professors and sometimes TA’s are not too available.
* The UW has a tendency to assume that community college classes are easier than UW classes.
* If you don't get into your program as a transfer student, you can attend the UW a couple of quarters and if you do well there, you can reapply. They then have your UW grades to look at.
* Large classes can be bad:
** You have little contact with the professor.
** It is harder to meet people.
* Large classes can be good:
** There is more chance of finding someone you will be compatible with in such a large group.
** You can be anonymous if you wish.
* It's all new-large classes, more freedom as to when you do your work and sometimes even if you do your work. Be focused.
* Math 120 at the UW has a prerequisite of math 098. Take more math than math 098 before taking math 120 at the UW or better yet take your pre-Calculus math at the community college.
* You often only meet the professor for lecture three days a week instead of five.
* CC transfer students receive a double shock. The first is the intensity of the junior level courses. The second is the shock of transfering which the continuing students experienced in their Freshman year.
By the way almost all of the SSCC students I talked with said that they are doing very well.
PRO'S AND CON'S OF THE COLLEGE EDUCATOR PROGRAM
PROS
This is a wonderful opportunity for community college teachers.
* The math department made me feel like a regular member of the department. Before school began, I was invited to a party at the department chair's house along with the other staff and faculty. I had full access to supplies, copying, etc.
* The faculty I met were all pleasant.
* The graduate students are delightful to get acquainted with.
* The math department staff are very supportive.
* The computer staff are very helpful.
* I had the opportunity to attend some very interesting seminars in math (I got lost quickly), math education, and astronomy.
* I was allowed to take or sit in on any class-space available.
CONS
There does not seem to be enough of a commitment by the department to the program. In part the program coordinator does not seem to have enough time to work with us. These are problem areas as I see them.
* The program coordinator's office was adjacent to my office, but he was not very accessible to any of us.
* Fall quarter I taught math 120. I could have used more support getting started as it was my first quarter at the UW and it was a difficult course to teach.
* The seminars that we were to be involved in did not materialize (except for one which we college educators initiated).
* We were not matched up with mentors. As a result I had to work on how to “reconnect’ with mathematics ... and to rekindle interest in mathematics” on my own.
* No one applied for next year. I wonder about how the program was marketed. I found out about the program through a small article that I received that looked very unimportant.
* Although the faculty were pleasant and somewhat interested in the college educator program, I had little interaction with most of them. This was probably partly due to the fact that I couldn't talk with any of them in their fields.
IMAGE
There is an image of the community colleges which began years ago and has apparently not appreciably changed. The feeling is that community colleges do not adequately prepare students for the university. We are "low academically." Our classes are felt to be easier than university classes. I am hoping that we three College Educators have changed that opinion a little bit. It is something that the community colleges must really work at.
One graduate student talked with me about the possibility of teaching at a community college, but was adamant that I not tell anyone in the UW math department as they might look down on this person.
Our engineering students have told me that they were "fully prepared in math." One student said that if we built our transfer engineering program, we could be outstanding in the field. I believe the others in engineering would concur.
We must build our image.
REFLECTIONS
Who's better?
People have asked me to compare students at the UW with community college students who have transferred. After three quarters at the UW, I finally decided that the bottom line is that they are about the same. The UW gets more of the top students than we do, but they also get students who think it is time to party. We have more students with deficiencies; but we also have more students with life experience who are highly motivated.
My end of the quarter
evaluations
My end of the quarter course evaluations were just so-so. I was disappointed. I might have had better evaluations if the math department had assigned a faculty member to mentor me who I could have spoken with on a regular basis. I might have had better evaluations if I had given up on the idea of making the class somewhat personal like I do at the community college; but I am a stubborn
person.
The evaluations indicated that many of the students expected me to focus more on how to do the homework and the exam problems than I did. They especially wanted me to hone in on how to do the more difficult Supplemental problems. I felt that I should emphasize the basics in class and let them struggle a bit with the homework. They also didn't like my taking time to try to motivate the math or discuss a bit of the history behind the math. They did not seem to notice that after I had them do a mid-term evaluation of my teaching (which was positive), I did adjust my teaching a bit. I did focus more on the homework and I did move more quickly and stay more focused as they had suggested-at least I thought I was doing so. I felt that a significant number of students were not getting the basics and so although I did change my style to some extent I still continued to spend quite a bit of time on the basics.
I think I did an OK job of teaching. If I were to teach at the UW again, I might change my teaching style more. I would like to get the student satisfaction level up in my classes. I think that as I only had them three days a week rather than five, it might have been more prudent for me to have presented the material slightly differently. The students might have been happier if I hadn't taken some time in my presentations to be exploring and Socratic. The bottom line, however, is that my students' grades on the group final exams were similar to those of the students in other classes.
Technology
The UW math professors tend to avoid technology in the Freshman math classes. Occasionally, the math faculty has had a heated debate on the topic. Usually, a scientific calculator is sufficient in the classroom.
Spring quarter my math 124 group decided to allow graphing calculators that do not have symbolic manipulation. (For example the TI89 was not allowed.) I think the end result for our students was about the same as the previous quarter when graphing calculators were not allowed at all.
As the UW math department is not too concerned about technology, I have wondered if we should we be? I think we should for many reasons. Not all of our students go to the UW or if they do, many enter beyond the basic math courses. Many programs eventually require their students to be competent with a sophisticated calculator as well as the computer. Many of our students are used to using graphing calculators and our allowing the calculators on exams gives the students more confidence.
Other
One instructor talked about establishing links between the UW and community colleges. Unfortunately, there was no follow-up on this. It is something that I had hoped to accomplish while there, but I was unsuccessful.
OTHER INTERSTING INFORMATION
UW Faculty class loads
Lecturers need eight classes per year
Coordinator duties count as one class.
Professors need 3.4 points per year which may be gained as follows:
Large freshman classes 0.8
Upper level classes 0.6
Graduate classes 0.7
Work a section as a TA 0.5
They can use money from grants to "buy out" of as much class time as they can afford and as the department allows.
The professors of course have to do research and publish. They also tend to be on committees as well as have graduate students to work with.
Tutoring
There are a great many tutoring centers on campus. There is tutoring for math, chemistry, English, foreign languages, etc. Of particular interest to me were the two where math tutoring is available for the general students.
The MSC (Math study center) is for Freshman math classes with a separate room for the business math classes. The IC (Instructional Center) has tutoring available for many fields. Students I talked with there preferred it to the MSC as it is smaller and more intimate than the MSC. Tutoring for 200 and 300-level math courses is also available at the IC which is not the case in the MSC. Originally, the IC was for minorities and disadvantaged, but recent laws have made the UW open the center to all. Still the primary users are minorities and disadvantaged. (As a side note, I worked there in 1973 before getting on at SSCC.)
Engineering
I was asked by my division to research what the UW expects in math of students transferring into Engineering and computer science. What Calculus topics are the most important for people going into engineering?
"I think the application of math to practical physical situations is the most important for us in engineering." Barbara Krieger-Brockett, Professor of Chemical Engineering
They need the basic Calculus concepts. They need to know English and speech communications. They must be able to write and present information verbally clearly. They need to be able to work in teams. Java programming language is important now. Elizabeth Rowson, lead advisor in the computer science department
They need to be able to solve word problems. Ron Irving, Chair of the math department
Notes
One TA replaced an office hour with "cookie hour" with great success.
Some TA's feel part of their job is to protect "their" students from the professor.
Professors feel they have a good rapport with the graduate students, but not all graduate students agree.
Our students who had been in ESL had a really hard time with English when they transferred. One of our top math students could not get into medical school because of English.
Many students come into Freshman math with pre-Calculus and even Calculus backgrounds. This puts students with only the bare prerequisites at a disadvantage.
At the UW there are battles for good classrooms. Classroom space has been taken for non-academic purposes. They are short of funds to do all that they feel is necessary. Although it is on a much larger scale than at the community colleges, the problems are similar to the ones we have.
I think that a key piece of my sabbatical was my talking with UW employees-staff and faculty. I learned about the UW in this way; but also employees at the UW learned about us. I tried to insert key information into my discussions. For example with math instructors I mentioned that we teach a "Calculus word problem" class. With counselors I mentioned that five out of the eight students who were in a math 126 class of mine at SSCC are now in the engineering program.
I was walking to my office one day and noticed two men armed with rifles sneaking across the campus. I then realized I was walking by the ROTC building and relaxed.
TWO INTERVIEWS
1. I had a long talk with the Director of Academic
Services, Department of English. Their English 131 is our English 101 which is
usually expository writing. Their English 182 is like our English 102 which is a
research writing course. Not too many students take that class as they can
satisfy their "W" requirement through interdiscipliary courses which would tend
to be more interesting for most.
I asked Melissa if she had any suggestions
for the community colleges. She said the more writing the better. I think she
also wished the UW would increase the amount of writing students do. She had an interesting second suggestion
for our students which should be passed on. She said community college students
should take all three quarters of a foreign language at the community college! A
key factor
that causes students to graduate late is their not having
completed the foreign language requirement. The third quarter at the UW may pick
up at a different point than the college 102 class left off or students may have
waited so long that they need to start back with a 101 class. Freshmen have
priority for the 100-level classes so it can be very hard for a transfer student
to get into the beginning or middle of a 100-level sequence.
I also talked with a transfer student who had an important
piece of information. The UW faculty may require different bibliographic and
citation forms than a community college or other universities.
2.
David Prince is coordinator of the Minority Science and Engineering
Program. (He also is co-author of
the math 120 book.) The program has
been highly successful in increasing the number of minority graduates in the
engineering and science areas. They
have workshops in appropriate areas that meet weekly for the students. They also
have tutoring, scholarships and internships. The internships are amazing. Some of the students in the program
spend the summer at JPL; others at Ford motors in Detroit. A teacher goes along with them and
spends two hours a day working with them on math. The teacher for this part of the program
has been recruited from local high schools. The teachers then take their knowledge
of university level math back to the high school. There tends to then be a higher rate of
students transferring from those high schools to the science and engineering
programs at the UW as a result.
Students from those high schools also tend to have higher entrance test
scores than they had before getting involved in the program.
The
key concepts of the program are:
Advising, funding and academic support. The program has two advisors. Student/teacher ratios are kept
low. At an out of city site, there
can be as few as three in the workshops although twelve is a more typical
number.
The
program is under funded.
There is only one full-time faculty involved in the
program-David.
WHAT DID I DO?
* Lectured three days a week.
* One office hour in my office a week.
* One to two hours in the Math Study Center a week.
* Meeting with TA's once a week.
* Attended weekly course meetings with the course coordinator and the other instructors teaching the same course.
* We three College Educators tried to meet once a week. This worked winter quarter. Otherwise, it was sporadic.
* Attended math education seminars.
* Attended astronomy seminars.
* Attended Women in Math meetings.
* Read books and articles.
* Talked with professors, TA's, counselors, and staff members.
* Talked with SSCC students attending the UW.
* Spring quarter attended a German conversation class.*
* Winter and spring quarter attended a folkdance class. **
* I mention this as it is something out of my field which helped me get a better feel for the university.
** I mention this because it is taught by an electrical engineering professor who is taking landscape classes at SSCC. I think he will be a good connection for us.
BOOKS, SEMINARS, ETC.
Books read
Naive Set Theory by Halmos
Quantum Gravity by Smolin
Physics Meets Philosophy at the Planck Scale (1/2 read) by Callender, ed.
Supersymmetry (1/2 read) by Gordon Kane
An introduction to modern Cosmology by Andrew Liddle
Articles read
Relativity (~30pp) by John Baez
Topology (~30pp) by Jack Lee
Topology (~10pp) by Jack Lee
Europa (~10pp) by Ralph Greenberg
Seminars
Fall and winter roughly twice a month: The Women in Math brown bag lunch seminar
Weekly: The math course meetings
Fall and winter roughly twice a month: Brown bag lunch math seminar
The College Educators met a few times fall and spring and pretty much weekly in the winter. This consisted of the three of us community college educators at the UW and occasionally our coordinator.
Weekly winter and spring: Astronomy 575, journal club.
About twice a month; the astronomy colloquia.
Here are some of the seminars I attended.
Neutrinos
Uri Treisman video and discussion
Quantum Gravity
The UW community college symposium
Carolyn Maher on Math education
Star death
Peter Garfield's PhD defense
Colin Lazaron on string theory
Eldercare
Diversity panel seminar
Neural network seminar (computers)
Leah Berman's PhD defense: Configurations
ACMS seminar on the international student math modeling contest that a number of UW students participated in. One speaker was Sam Coskey.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Or
WAYS TO EASE THE TRANSITION OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS TO A FOUR YEAR UNIVERSITY
I hope that by reading my report, faculty and students will gain insight into what it is like to be a university professor as well as what university life is like for an instructor. Likewise, I hope students and faculty will get a better idea of what it is like to be a university student today. Faculty may or may not wish to adjust their teaching style as a result of reading this paper. Faculty and counselors may have a better perspective when advising transfer students. Students can better prepare themselves for a university.
The freshman courses are taught differently at the UW than at a community college. We should think about possible ways to "toughen up" our students maybe in their last quarter or two at a community college. On the other hand, the community college students I talked with at the UW seemed in general to be doing very well. Likewise, UW counselors thought that community college students tended to do well at the UW. So it is possible that we are right on track or at least very close.
It would be advisable for us to stay aware of what the UW is doing. It would be useful for us in math to keep an eye on the UW math web sites. The important thing is to be aware of what will be expected of our students. In addition we can get ideas for exam questions as well as some tough, but interesting supplemental homework problems.
I think potential transfer students would find this report interesting and informative. However, I know people don't like to read long reports like this. I would definitely give out my "tips to students" to all students who are thinking of transferring to a four-year university. They should study the tips their first quarter at the community college. This could make the transition easier for them and certainly help them avoid many possible pitfalls.
Community colleges must continue to work to change their image.