Today, one final dispatch from last week's trip to Dallas. Richard Hart, MDC communications director, wrote this after attending one of the fantastic concurrent sessions at D.R.E.A.M.
The most exciting thing I learned during a presentation last week by Zane State College about the college’s innovations in developmental education during D.R.E.A.M. (Achieving the Dream’s inspiring confab on student success), was this: the students seem to really like what Zane State’s doing.
That, and developmental education instructors from around the country are apparently big fans of Willie Nelson.
Becky Ament, associate dean for developmental education at Zane State, and Beth Fischer, director of institutional research and planning at the college, talked about the evolution of the college’s compressed dev ed math courses and their dev ed courses linked to college-level classes, together a program they call “ADVANCE.” In a nutshell, Becky and Beth walked the packed room through the successes and initial limitations of ADVANCE, which includes voluntary case management, on-campus promotion, and higher retention and completion rates for students who take advantage of the program. (Their PowerPoint presentation will be uploaded to the ATD website soon.)
But one of the less quantifiable benefits of the program seems to be the students’ response. Becky and Beth played videos of interviews done with students after they’d been through the program to record their reactions, and they were remarkably positive (with Becky and Beth reassuring the crowd that the students hadn’t been prompted).
“They develop a lot more friendships and collaborative relationships,” Becky said about students who took dev ed English along with a linked sociology class.
One student interviewed said before classes began she was nervous about her just-in-time dev ed instruction that was paced to meet the needs of her linked college-level course. She didn’t like or understand the program at first, but by the time it was over she realized: “It’s really fun.” Another benefit for students, Becky explained: taking the paired courses at the same time cuts a student’s costs.
There were challenges along the way, such as a shortage of advisers, lower-than-expected enrollment at first, inadequate promotion, some reluctant faculty, and the failure of ADVANCE classes to appear on the “live” course schedule. Dev ed faculty who attended the session offered lots of (solicited) advice, such as: make it mandatory, find out the times that are most convenient for students, and involve more faculty who support the program.
Things were already looking up by the second year, as advisors were fully integrated into the program, courses made it onto the “live” schedule, and promotion was increased. The ADVANCE program was developed with support from the Developmental Education Initiative, and Becky and Beth assured the group that the program would continue beyond the end of its DEI grant this year—and said the courses are even making money for the school.
And what’s that about Willie Nelson? Between breaks in the presentation, Beth hit the “play” button on her laptop and Willie’s voice rang out, singing “On the Road Again.” When she’d occasionally forget to hit the button, the crowd shouted “Play Willie!” By then, the students weren’t the only ones having fun.
That, and developmental education instructors from around the country are apparently big fans of Willie Nelson.
Becky Ament, associate dean for developmental education at Zane State, and Beth Fischer, director of institutional research and planning at the college, talked about the evolution of the college’s compressed dev ed math courses and their dev ed courses linked to college-level classes, together a program they call “ADVANCE.” In a nutshell, Becky and Beth walked the packed room through the successes and initial limitations of ADVANCE, which includes voluntary case management, on-campus promotion, and higher retention and completion rates for students who take advantage of the program. (Their PowerPoint presentation will be uploaded to the ATD website soon.)
But one of the less quantifiable benefits of the program seems to be the students’ response. Becky and Beth played videos of interviews done with students after they’d been through the program to record their reactions, and they were remarkably positive (with Becky and Beth reassuring the crowd that the students hadn’t been prompted).
“They develop a lot more friendships and collaborative relationships,” Becky said about students who took dev ed English along with a linked sociology class.
One student interviewed said before classes began she was nervous about her just-in-time dev ed instruction that was paced to meet the needs of her linked college-level course. She didn’t like or understand the program at first, but by the time it was over she realized: “It’s really fun.” Another benefit for students, Becky explained: taking the paired courses at the same time cuts a student’s costs.
There were challenges along the way, such as a shortage of advisers, lower-than-expected enrollment at first, inadequate promotion, some reluctant faculty, and the failure of ADVANCE classes to appear on the “live” course schedule. Dev ed faculty who attended the session offered lots of (solicited) advice, such as: make it mandatory, find out the times that are most convenient for students, and involve more faculty who support the program.
Things were already looking up by the second year, as advisors were fully integrated into the program, courses made it onto the “live” schedule, and promotion was increased. The ADVANCE program was developed with support from the Developmental Education Initiative, and Becky and Beth assured the group that the program would continue beyond the end of its DEI grant this year—and said the courses are even making money for the school.
And what’s that about Willie Nelson? Between breaks in the presentation, Beth hit the “play” button on her laptop and Willie’s voice rang out, singing “On the Road Again.” When she’d occasionally forget to hit the button, the crowd shouted “Play Willie!” By then, the students weren’t the only ones having fun.
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