Today, we’re returning to our “SCALERS: Round 2” series. Originally created by Paul Bloom, the SCALERS model identifies seven organizational capacities that support the successful scaling of a social enterprise: Staffing, Communicating, Alliance-building, Lobbying, Earnings Generation, Replicating Impact, and Stimulating Market Forces. (You can read an introduction to each driver in our first SCALERS series.) Now, we’re asking DEI colleges about how particular SCALERS drivers have contributed to their scaling efforts. We’ve looked at staffing. communicating, alliance-building, and lobbying. In the post below, Lucy Michal, mathematics professor at El Paso Community College, discusses earnings and resource generation as she shows how EPCC had to tackle the redesign of physical spaces to scale up the college’s math emporiums.
When El Paso Community College’s Developmental Education (DE) Math Standing Committee faculty restructured the DE math course sequence, redesigning curriculum presented familiar challenges, but redesigning facilities presented unfamiliar challenges. To help with this, college administrators sent committee members and deans to visit colleges who had undergone redesign. After several site visits, committee members did not see any one design that would work for EPCC’s population of students and its multi-campus district. They had a lot of planning and resource building to do before scaling up DE math emporium course offerings.
The Committee’s initial proposal had three options: joining two classrooms to create mini-emporium areas, identifying a store or warehouse to transform into a math emporium, or using an area in the Administrative Services Center to construct a math emporium for the District.
While college administrators reviewed these options, El Paso’s Developmental Education Initiative went into its first year with funding for identified needed technology—computers and printers—but redesigning facilities presented a greater challenge. One of the campus deans volunteered her campus to be the first to tear down a wall and construct a math emporium. Reconstruction occurred during winter break and in Spring 2010; the first mini-emporium offered DE math emporium courses in an area with 48 computers and one printer. The second emporium facility was made possible when funding for a new science wing included expansion of the math lab, an emporium with 34 computers, a tutoring area, and a seminar room. The third campus identified two classrooms and underwent the same construction used in the first campus to create a mini-emporium with 48 computers.
The fourth campus in downtown El Paso presented a challenge because of its older buildings. At that time, the college purchased a building to expand the downtown student service offices; however, it was too small. The college president identified a different building for the downtown campus math emporium. The building, an old bakery across the street from the downtown campus, was transformed into a large area for the math emporium, a math lab, a tutoring area, three faculty offices, a math faculty meeting room, and a computer classroom. The old bakery is now an innovative Learning Emporium.
And finally, for its largest campus, the College purchased a portable building and is currently being constructed to house two large emporium rooms with 40 computers in each room, one computer classroom, and an area for tutoring and student study tables. Construction will be completed with enough time to allow for Fall 2012 DE math courses.
The DE math committee learned more than just how to restructure their courses; they also learned about:
When El Paso Community College’s Developmental Education (DE) Math Standing Committee faculty restructured the DE math course sequence, redesigning curriculum presented familiar challenges, but redesigning facilities presented unfamiliar challenges. To help with this, college administrators sent committee members and deans to visit colleges who had undergone redesign. After several site visits, committee members did not see any one design that would work for EPCC’s population of students and its multi-campus district. They had a lot of planning and resource building to do before scaling up DE math emporium course offerings.
The Committee’s initial proposal had three options: joining two classrooms to create mini-emporium areas, identifying a store or warehouse to transform into a math emporium, or using an area in the Administrative Services Center to construct a math emporium for the District.
While college administrators reviewed these options, El Paso’s Developmental Education Initiative went into its first year with funding for identified needed technology—computers and printers—but redesigning facilities presented a greater challenge. One of the campus deans volunteered her campus to be the first to tear down a wall and construct a math emporium. Reconstruction occurred during winter break and in Spring 2010; the first mini-emporium offered DE math emporium courses in an area with 48 computers and one printer. The second emporium facility was made possible when funding for a new science wing included expansion of the math lab, an emporium with 34 computers, a tutoring area, and a seminar room. The third campus identified two classrooms and underwent the same construction used in the first campus to create a mini-emporium with 48 computers.
The fourth campus in downtown El Paso presented a challenge because of its older buildings. At that time, the college purchased a building to expand the downtown student service offices; however, it was too small. The college president identified a different building for the downtown campus math emporium. The building, an old bakery across the street from the downtown campus, was transformed into a large area for the math emporium, a math lab, a tutoring area, three faculty offices, a math faculty meeting room, and a computer classroom. The old bakery is now an innovative Learning Emporium.
And finally, for its largest campus, the College purchased a portable building and is currently being constructed to house two large emporium rooms with 40 computers in each room, one computer classroom, and an area for tutoring and student study tables. Construction will be completed with enough time to allow for Fall 2012 DE math courses.
The DE math committee learned more than just how to restructure their courses; they also learned about:
- expanding and reconstructing facilities
- furnishing learning areas
- wiring for new technological classrooms
- rescheduling class sections
- designing learning spaces for students.
Among the most important of the lessons learned was: always have a plan B in case construction deadlines are not met. With the emporium now in place on the final campus, the college will be offering over 80 percent of its DE math courses in campus-based math mini-emporium areas.
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