News

NEW MATH PROGRAM PUTS GTCC ON LEADING EDGE

Contact: RoBurchette@gtcc.edu (Released 8/16/11)

JAMESTOWN - A pilot program for improving the way developmental math is taught at GTCC went so well during the past spring semester that the new method will be the standard for teaching  when the college opens Aug. 22 for the fall semester.

The program known as LEAP - Leading Edge Academic Performance - has students concentrate on the elements of mathematics in which they are weak and doesn't repeat the elements in which the student already has mastered, according to Susan Barbitta, an associate professor of developmental math.

"Students receive credit for competencies they already have mastered and spend all of their time working on material they don't know. Each student receives individual instruction as needed," Barbitta said. "We are excited about the new program, and our students who have been involved with LEAP also were excited about it," she said.

The Developmental Math Department, which was chaired by Sue Brown until Aug. 1 and is now chaired by Donna Lemons, wrote the workbook that accompanies the program students will have on their computers. "The student works in their workbook and on a computer, with instructors and tutor available to help students as needed," Barbitta said.

The pilot group had 242 students on the Jamestown campus. This semester will see 2,700 students enrolled in Developmental Math in Jamestown and a total of 500 on the Greensboro and High Point campuses.

A LEAP lab with 150 computers has been setup on the third floor of the Learning Resource Center on the Jamestown campus.
Not only is the technology being used for the program more effective for students' individual needs, it also is cheaper for both the college and the student, Barbitta said.

Lemons said that GTCC offers MAT 060, Essential Mathematics; MAT 070, Introductory Algebra; and MAT 080, Intermediate Algebra. "Current enrollment in these courses is approximately 3,700 per semester, and 53 percent of all students pass the course in which they are enrolled. About 25 percent of sections are taught by full-time instructors, the remainder by adjuncts.  GTCC has experienced unprecedented growth the last two year; enrollment in developmental math grew by 33 percent last year alone," she said.
Lemons added, "Our course design is aimed at increasing the percentage of students who successfully complete developmental math courses and the rapidity with which students move through their developmental math courses.  By redesigning the three traditional courses into 13 modules, our belief is that students can be better directed to mathematical areas in which they are weak.
"As a result, students can move rapidly through concepts they have already mastered and move more slowly through material with which they have difficulty. With the redesign, our students, most of who work at least part-time, will have more flexibility in planning their class time. They will also have more individual tutoring available at all times.

Barbitta said, "The redesign approach to developmental math will enhance quality because students will be more active learners, receive immediate feedback about their work, focus on what they do not know and move quickly through what they do know (a combination of acceleration and remediation as needed).  Given the redesign, more students should successfully complete the course and, because of the mastery approach reinforced with regular testing, the cumulative learning effect from module to module should be greater."
Brown noted, "As an Achieving the Dream college, GTCC is committed to research based decision making.  We will research the effects of this redesign project by comparing final exam results to the results obtained in traditional sections.  We will look not only at success rates in the course, but also in the subsequent course.  We will research persistence and retention rates.  We are also interested in analyzing results by subgroups."

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