Technology in the Math Lab

The Office of Higher Education has tasked the CCRI Math Department to develop “a functional operating plan for the mathematics lab that takes into account the opinions of the mathematics faculty…”. This plan is due February 1, 2007.

The following ideas are offered in response to that request.

Creating a Smart Study Area in the Math Lab

Students enrolled in Math 0500 and Math 0600 need alternatives to the traditional math lab and lecture approaches now offered by the Math Department. As a result, we could consider developing a technology-based component for the Math Lab as well as continue investigating the Interactive Classroom for lectures.

A technology-based component for the Math Lab at Warwick could be built in room 6540 (the classroom next to the lab’s test room). A team of Lab Instructors could be scheduled to support Math Lab sections “assigned” to the team members. These students would be required to purchase a book and the software access code for the publisher’s software. The instructors would maintain software accounts that allow them to track the work of these students. A weekly summary of student activities in these sections would be reviewed by the team and a strategy to assist students would be defined and implemented.

Since there is interest in assigning sections of 0500 and 0600 to this new study center in the Math Lab, the team of instructors could develop a pedagogical approach for these courses. This is a good idea since publisher software for these courses is available and field tested.

Campus Independence

Although testing, attendance tracking, and grading policies should be uniform across the four campuses, the unique teaching styles of the faculty on each campus should be supported by these new technology-based study areas. Therefore, the faculty assigned to each campus should determine the design and use of their “Smart Study Area”. They should also decide which Math Lab courses and sections would benefit the most from the new study area.

Maintaining existing Math Lab testing, attendance tracking, and grading policies guarantees the existing intercampus testing options will not be affected. [ It would be nice if the final grade at the Warwick lab could be slightly modified to allow for the following: 10% for computer activity (including Bev Pepe’s pretest portion) and 6x15% = 90% for the Math Lab written tests.)

Team Scheduling

The team of instructors that will support the Smart Study Area should be scheduled to cover the assigned sections from the Math Lab schedule.

The Team: Beverly Pepe, Betty, DaCosta, Laura Valetutto, Joe Allen.

This team of four should provide sufficient flexibility for lecture class assignments. In addition, these faculty could schedule their office hours in that room.

Benefits to Math Lab

By assigning the Math Lab’s 0500 and 0600 sections to the Smart Study Area, the Math Lab personnel assigned to the traditional study area could also provide support for a Drop-In Center. The Drop-In Center could be located in the current “technology room”.

New Faculty Justification

By assigning faculty to specific Math Lab sections which have lecture-level student enrollment, the traditional lab and lecture sections will require more faculty.

The Layout