Developmental Education Faculty Certification Program

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Developmental Education Faculty Certification
Program

• Lori Walker and Rick Stepp-Bolling

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Todays Agenda...

• Check-in 3x5 Cards/Debrief
• Review History/Creation of Program
• Introduce Program Modules
• Triune Brain Theory
• Project/Problem-based Learning
• Learning Communities
• Integration of DE Principles
• Program Participants Survey Results
• Questions and Answers
• Wrap-up

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In the beginning...

• A cross-disciplinary team of faculty met in
  the Fall of 1999 to assess the understanding,
  awareness, and integration of developmental
  education pedagogy at Mt. SAC and beyond.
• Sponsored by Continuous Quality Improvement
  Network (CQIN) and American Productivity and
  Quality Center (APQC)
• Nationwide study of best practices
• Visited five national model programs
• Studied key elements of nationally recognized
  successful developmental education programs

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Defining our perspective...

• Developmental education is a field of practice
  and research within higher education with a
  theoretical foundation in developmental
  psychology and learning theory. It promotes the
  cognitive and affective growth of all
  postsecondary learners, at all levels of the
  learning continuum. Developmental education is
  sensitive and responsive to the individual
  differences and special needs among learners.
• -Adopted from NADE (National Association of
  Developmental Educators)

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Defining our Educational Philosophy...

• Developmental Perspective
• Focuses on how the learner learns
• Assumes students are at a variety of levels
  simultaneously
• Considers the cognitive and affective dynamics of
  learning
• Includes outside services designed to meet the
  cognitive and affective needs of students
• Focuses on the development of a variety of
  learning strategies
• Helps students master their educational/life
  goals and objectives

• Remedial Perspective
• Focuses on the skills that need to be learned
• Assumes that students lack certain skills, and
  are at one particular level
• Considers only the cognitive dynamic of learning
• Includes outside services designed to meet only
  the cognitive needs of students
• Focuses on learning strategies related to the
  specific skills that need to be learned
• Helps students master specific academic skills

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DE Faculty Certificate Program...

• Three Module/Semester program
• Six units of crossover credit is granted (two
• units per Module/Semester)
• After completing all three modules, a
• Certificate is granted to the student
• Each Module eight classes, two hours each
• Certificate of Completion 48 hours of class
• time, 48 hours of homework

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Module I The History and Philosophical
Foundations of Developmental Education

• First semester/module topics include
• brain-based learning/Triune Brain Theory
• understanding modalities
• multiple intelligences
• emotional intelligence

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Module Two Integrating a Developmental
Approach within the Classroom

• Second semester/module topics include
• project-based learning
• problem-based learning
• the development of study skills within
• content areas
• classroom-based assessment

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Module Three Learning Communities

• This module has two objectives. The first one
• relates to new knowledge
• Introduce participants to the background and
• opportunities for leaning community experiences
  on
• campus
• The second is developing knowledge acquired
• during the first two modules
• Assist participants in developing a personalized
• portfolio for one of their classes in which
  they can
• develop a comprehensive approach to the
  creation,
• development and delivery of developmental
• education principles within their own courses
  

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Module IV Integrating Developmental Ed
Principles into the Classroom

• As a result of surveying past participants,
  Module 4 was created
• Designed to help faculty integrate what they have
  learned from the previous modules into their
  classrooms

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Module I Triune Brain Theory
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• The Reptilian Brain - the "Preverbal"
• It is the oldest and smallest region in the
  evolving human brain.
• It is "preverbal," but controls life itself, such
  as autonomic brain, lung and heart functions.
• Lacking language, its impulses are instinctual
  and ritualistic.
• It is concerned with fundamental needs such as
  food, physical maintenance, preening and mating.

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• The Limbic Brain - the "Emotional" Brain
• Common to all mammals, it developed about 60
  million years ago, after the dinosaurs perished.
• It's involved in bonding needs, including
  emotions linked to attachment.
• It acts as the brain's emotion factory, creating
  the chemical messages that connect information
  into memory.
• Retention of information can be significantly
  increased when it's presented in an emotionally
  charged context.

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Understanding the Power of Emotions

• E-Checker and Pleasantness Checker

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• The Neocortex Brain -
• the "Thinking" Brain
• It constitutes five-sixths of the total brain
  mass, which has evolved over the last million
  years, to produce the human brain.
• It controls such high-level processes as logic,
  creative thought, language, and the integration
  of sensory information.
• The neocortex is divided into the left and right
  cerebral hemispheres, described in Left/Right
  Brain Theory.

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• So
• ...who cares?

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• The Triune Brain Theory and Education
• Brain-based learning experiences pay attention to
  the power of the whole brain by simultaneously
• Responding to the learner's physical and sensory
  needs
• Creating activities that link emotions to the
  acquisition of new
• information
• Designing curriculum that requires students to
  form their own
• knowledge/meaning

Traditional education was designed for
predominantly neocortex functions. However, this
misses a basic brain fact the reptilian brain
is an interconnected pathway to the limbic brain
which is an interconnected pathway to the
neocortex -- you cant skip a brain function!
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Now its your turn to make meaning
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Module IIProject and Problem Based Learning
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Project Based Learning

• Innovative model for teaching and learning
• Focuses on central concepts and principles of a
  discipline
• Involves students in problem-solving
  investigations
• Allows students to work autonomously to construct
  their own knowledge
• Culminates in realistic products

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Example Orientation Team ProjectStudy Techniques

• Your team will be creating an Orientation
  Handbook for students at Mt. SAC. In this
  handbook you will identify and describe three
  areas vital to a certain student population here
  at Mt. San Antonio College. In order to complete
  this handbook, you will first need to do these
  things

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Orientation Project, Continued

• 1. Choose a student population (Re-entry, ESL,
  honor, athletes, etc). These students must have
  been attending Mt. SAC for at least one semester
• 2. Create a survey. You will need to know what
  three areas on campus are most vital for your
  student population
• 3. Survey the students. You will need to find and
  survey students (minimum 20) from your selected
  population

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Orientation Project, Continued

• 4. Compile and graph your results
• 5. Research the top three areas (use catalog,
  website, personal interview, etc)
• 6. Write your handbook as though you were writing
  to new students from your student population
• 7. Present your findings to the class

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Problem-Based Learning

• It is both a curriculum and a process
• Curriculum built around an ill-structured
  problem which is messy and complex in nature
• Process challenges students to learn to learn
  cooperatively in groups to seek solutions to real
  world problems

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Example Problem-Based LearningHistory

• You have been asked to help colonize the planet
  Mars. What problems do you foresee in this task?
  What are some viable solutions?

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Comparison with other Teaching Strategies

• Prescriptive Curriculum
• Teacher-centered
• Linear and rational
• Part to whole
• Teaching as transmitting
• Learning as receiving
• Structured environment

• Experiential Curriculum
• Student-centered
• Coherent and relevant
• Whole to part
• Teaching as facilitating
• Learning as constructing
• Flexible environment

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Animals Exercise

• Are you a
• Hawk
• Tiger
• Turtle
• Rabbit

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Questions

• 1. Why did you select this particular animal?
• 2. What qualities do you have in common with this
  animal?
• 3. How do you (and this animal) react in times of
  stress?
• 4. How do you want others to treat you in times
  of stress?

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Module III Learning Communities
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Module IV Integrating Developmental Ed
Philosophy into the Classroom
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Developmental Education in Practice

• Elements of DE Practice to Keep in Mind 1.
  Create an emotional environment that is
  comfortable and inviting
• Incorporate check-ins or other ice breakers
• Create a physical environment that promotes
  student interaction and engagement
• 2. Consider students learning styles
• Visual/verbal
• Visual/nonverbal
• Auditory
• Kinesthetic

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Developmental Education in Practice

• 3. Consider students multiple intelligences
• Visual/Spatial
• Verbal/Linguistic
• Logical-Mathematical
• Bodily Kinesthetic
• Musical
• Interpersonal
• Naturalist
• Existentialist
• 4. Use an Active Learning approach that allows
  students to create their own knowledge
• Investigate various methods of using active
  learning in your discipline
• Use textbooks that support active learning in the
  classroom
• Problem-based learning
• Project-based learning

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Developmental Education in Practice

• 5. Incorporate structural knowledge/study
  techniques to help support student success
• Goal setting
• Time Management
• Note taking
• Personal Responsibility
• Stress Management
• Textbook Reading
• Test taking/ Test anxiety

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Developmental Education in Practice

• 6. Use assessment as a tool to see what is and is
  not working
• Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs)
• Portfolios
• Matrices/Rubrics
• Reflections
• 7. Create a Learning Community
• Paired or clustered classes
• Coordinated Studies
• Freshman Interest Groups (Bridge or Freshman
  Experience)
• Federated Learning Community

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Program Participant Survey Results
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Survey Findings

• 100 of survey respondents noticed positive
  changes in their students success
• 95 of faculty surveyed noticed some change or
  complete change in their teaching strategies
  the same percentage also noted either some or
  complete change in the affective environment of
  the classroom
• 81 noted some or complete change in modifying
  their assignments the same proportion noted
  modifying their assessment of assignments
• Over 90 reported some change or complete change
  in their level of involvement in their courses
• 71 noted some or complete change in their use of
  Learning Communities the same proportion was
  found for use of Student Learning Outcomes

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Where is Rick?

• Mt San Antonio College
• 909 594-5611 ext 4303
• Email estepp-bolling_at_mtsac.edu

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Questions?