A Focus on Undergraduate Education<\/p>\n
UCF President <\/a>John Hitt wants the university\u2014a public institution with more than 45,000 undergraduates\u2014to be the premier institution for undergraduate teaching in the state of Florida, explains Alison Morrison-Shetlar, UCF\u2019s former vice provost and dean of undergraduate studies, who recently began a new position as dean of Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences at Elon University. It was this goal that prompted the university to look into factors influencing student success, and the subsequent pilot projects in algebra and English composition. Called the President\u2019s Class Size Initiative, the plan\u2019s goal is not simply to reduce class sizes, but to find new ways to teach high-demand courses in smaller settings. The pilot projects are supported by UCF\u2019s differential tuition, which all undergraduate students now pay on top of their regular tuition at a rate of about $8 per credit hour. Seventy percent of the differential tuition payment goes to undergraduate teaching and learning initiatives, and 30 percent goes to need-based aid awards. \u201cA lot of universities are forced to do nothing new, or even make reductions, during these tough economic times,\u201d Morrison-Shetlar says. \u201cI think it\u2019s visionary of our president to see that even when times are difficult, it\u2019s important to improve learning and fund things that will make our future citizens and graduate and professional students more capable and more confident.\u201d<\/p>\nBuilding Better Introductory Courses<\/p>\nUCF\u2019s work on college algebra pedagogy actually began in 2008, when a grant from the National Center for Academic Transformation allowed Tammy Muhs, UCF\u2019s general education program mathematics coordinator, and some of her colleagues to attend a conference on improving outcomes in entry-level math courses. Their goals were to increase student success as measured by course grades, to decrease dropouts, and to reduce costs. When the original grant ran out, the President\u2019s Class Size Initiative provided funding for additional research and innovation. The mathematics department hired four additional full-time instructors in 2009, selecting people with extensive undergraduate teaching experience and a desire to work within a professional cohort to improve undergraduate education. This cohort set about to develop an introductory college algebra course that worked in a fundamentally different way than traditional first-year math courses.<\/p>\nUniversity of Central Florida<\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\nThe English and math departments at UCF recruited new instructors with extensive teaching experience who were willing to participate in ongoing professional development.<\/p>\nHistorically, UCF algebra classes featured a large lecture of 380 to 400 students meeting three times a week, plus smaller groups of thirty-five students meeting one hour a week with a graduate assistant, Muhs explains. In the modified course, instructors introduced a new pedagogical method: students meet for only one hour a week in the lecture hall with the instructor, and they sit in cohort groups of eighteen that allow more interaction and in-class collaborative problem solving. Then they spend three additional hours a week working in the Mathematical Assistance and Learning Lab\u2014the MALL\u2014at their own pace, with assistance available at all times. Morrison-Shetlar explains that entry-level math is many students\u2019 stumbling block, and if they can\u2019t get to calculus, they won\u2019t be able to graduate in a STEM discipline. \u201cWe changed the traditional model of \u2018watching math being done\u2019 to focus on mandatory lab time with faculty and graduate mentors,\u201d she says. Muhs had noticed that students studying on their own would often get stuck on a problem and not be able to move on, and she designed the MALL to provide immediate assistance in those situations. \u201cStudents learn by doing,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s not just geared toward \u2018I can\u2019t figure out problem seventeen,\u2019 it\u2019s geared toward, \u2018I don\u2019t understand the concept.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\nSimilar thought went into the redesign of first-year English composition classes. Using funding from the Presidents\u2019 Class Size Initiative, the English department hired six new full-time instructors, all with extensive teaching experience and a willingness to do ongoing professional development. Courses were capped at twenty-five students, and some sections were even smaller, capped at nineteen, to allow instructors to spend more time providing detailed feedback on student papers. \u201cClasses used to be capped at twenty-seven students, and just taking it down eight students per teacher makes a huge difference\u2014at a four-four course load, the difference is at least thirty-two fewer papers per teacher,\u201d explains Elizabeth Wardle, an associate professor of English and director of writing programs at UCF. The nineteen-student classes were taught using a new curriculum that focused on writing concepts and practices that were transferable across the curriculum. \u201cWe call it writing about writing,\u201d Wardle says. \u201cWe try to give students a flexible understanding of how writing works and how different situations require different rhetorical approaches. The idea is that they\u2019re reflecting on their writing, they have meta-awareness, and they can adapt. \u201d In one assignment, students write an autoethnography; in another, they study scholarship about how writers and readers construct and approach texts. \u201cWe want them to own the writing process and be active agents, instead of floating along and asking the teacher, \u2018What do you want me to do?\u2019\u201d Wardle says.<\/p>\nThe university writing center also received a boost with funds from the class size initiative, hiring additional undergraduate and graduate tutors to provide more than seven hundred tutoring slots per week (up from about 450 in past years). \u201cThe idea behind this initiative is that students do better with more support,\u201d Wardle says. \u201cStudents used to have to wait up to two hours for a writing tutor. More tutors mean students get the help they need.\u201d<\/p>\nAssessing Pilot Project Classes<\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\nUCF conducted assessments of both pilot programs to determine whether the pedagogical innovations and reduced class sizes paid off. In a fall 2009 comparison of traditional versus new sections of introductory college algebra, students in the new sections demonstrated higher percentages of success, defined as achievement of a C or higher. Of students in traditional courses, 62 percent succeeded, while 75 percent of students in the new sections succeeded. And more students earned A\u2019s or B\u2019s in the new section, too\u201462 percent, versus 56 percent in the traditional class sections. Muhs notes that there are several intervening factors to consider, including the fact that students who are STEM majors tend to select the traditional classes, and also tend to demonstrate better preparation for the algebra course than their non-STEM-major peers. Even so, she says, the new course format shows that it\u2019s possible to bring less-prepared students up to and beyond the success level of their better-prepared peers. Muhs also assessed whether students felt the new course design provided sufficient interaction with faculty members. A fall 2009 survey found that 91 percent of respondents in the new course said the format provided at least as much faculty interaction as their other, traditional classes, while 61 percent said the new format actually provided more interaction that their traditional courses. \u201cThat really answered some of the critics who might say, \u2018You\u2019re taking away the teacher and the computer is doing all the teaching,\u201d Muhs says. \u201cA strong student will probably be successful in college algebra regardless of the format. But we\u2019re providing the resources for a weak student to also be successful.\u201d<\/p>\nIn the English department, Wardle and her colleagues compared learning outcomes for students taking the redesigned English composition course and the traditional course. They also investigated differences in the three class sizes\u2014twenty-seven students, twenty-five students, and nineteen students. Using student portfolios randomly sampled from all introductory composition classes, a panel of trained raters read each work sample and rated its demonstration of ten criteria, including college-level thinking, rhetorical analysis, and correct use of citations. The assessment team found that the new curriculum consistently outperformed the old curriculum, and that the nineteen-student classes using the new curriculum performed best on measures of higher-order thinking. \u201cThe new curriculum is having the effect we wanted, and when you have fewer students, they do even better on the measures that matter,\u201d Wardle says.<\/p>\nBoth Muhs and Wardle stress that dedicated, experienced instructors who are paid fairly are a requirement for success, and that without support from the university\u2019s highest levels, especially the president\u2019s office, the gains their pilot programs demonstrated would not be possible. The university is now working to develop a plan to expand the methods used in English and algebra to other high-demand courses primarily for first-year students. \u201cThe take-home point is that it\u2019s the combination of the new curriculum plus full-time, committed teachers and smaller class size that makes the difference,\u201d Wardle says. \u201cSmaller class size isn\u2019t the Holy Grail on its own. You need committed teachers making living wages, too.\u201d<\/p>\nSource: Association of American Colleges & Universities, Increasing Student Success: Smaller Classes, Innovative Pedagogy at UCF<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Focus on Undergraduate Education UCF President John Hitt wants the university\u2014a public institution with more than 45,000 undergraduates\u2014to be the premier institution for undergraduate teaching in the state of Florida, explains Alison Morrison-Shetlar, UCF\u2019s former vice provost and dean of undergraduate studies, who recently began a new position as dean of Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences…","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":13900,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-twocol.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[17023,1526,1572,2510,3021,4430,4575],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-13899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinions","tag-college-of-arts-and-humanities","tag-elizabeth-wardle","tag-english","tag-john-c-hitt","tag-math","tag-stem","tag-tammy-muhs"],"yoast_head":"\nSmaller Classes, Innovative Pedagogy at UCF | University of Central Florida News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A Focus on Undergraduate Education UCF President John Hitt wants the university\u2014a public institution with more than 45,000 undergraduates\u2014to be the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/smaller-classes-innovative-pedagogy-at-ucf\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Smaller Classes, Innovative Pedagogy at UCF\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Focus on Undergraduate Education UCF President John Hitt wants the university\u2014a public institution with more than 45,000 undergraduates\u2014to be the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/smaller-classes-innovative-pedagogy-at-ucf\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"University of Central Florida News | UCF Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UCF\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-06-22T17:45:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-07-29T18:28:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2010\/06\/teahcer.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"338\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Terry Helms\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@UCF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@UCF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Terry Helms\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/smaller-classes-innovative-pedagogy-at-ucf\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/smaller-classes-innovative-pedagogy-at-ucf\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Terry Helms\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f83b77800ced2081c86229648f953680\"},\"headline\":\"Smaller Classes, Innovative Pedagogy at UCF\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-06-22T17:45:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-07-29T18:28:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/smaller-classes-innovative-pedagogy-at-ucf\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1468,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/smaller-classes-innovative-pedagogy-at-ucf\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/20\\\/files\\\/2010\\\/06\\\/teahcer.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"College of Arts and Humanities\",\"Elizabeth Wardle\",\"English\",\"John C. 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Building Better Introductory Courses<\/p>\n
UCF\u2019s work on college algebra pedagogy actually began in 2008, when a grant from the National Center for Academic Transformation allowed Tammy Muhs, UCF\u2019s general education program mathematics coordinator, and some of her colleagues to attend a conference on improving outcomes in entry-level math courses. Their goals were to increase student success as measured by course grades, to decrease dropouts, and to reduce costs. When the original grant ran out, the President\u2019s Class Size Initiative provided funding for additional research and innovation. The mathematics department hired four additional full-time instructors in 2009, selecting people with extensive undergraduate teaching experience and a desire to work within a professional cohort to improve undergraduate education. This cohort set about to develop an introductory college algebra course that worked in a fundamentally different way than traditional first-year math courses.<\/p>\n
University of Central Florida<\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\nThe English and math departments at UCF recruited new instructors with extensive teaching experience who were willing to participate in ongoing professional development.<\/p>\nHistorically, UCF algebra classes featured a large lecture of 380 to 400 students meeting three times a week, plus smaller groups of thirty-five students meeting one hour a week with a graduate assistant, Muhs explains. In the modified course, instructors introduced a new pedagogical method: students meet for only one hour a week in the lecture hall with the instructor, and they sit in cohort groups of eighteen that allow more interaction and in-class collaborative problem solving. Then they spend three additional hours a week working in the Mathematical Assistance and Learning Lab\u2014the MALL\u2014at their own pace, with assistance available at all times. Morrison-Shetlar explains that entry-level math is many students\u2019 stumbling block, and if they can\u2019t get to calculus, they won\u2019t be able to graduate in a STEM discipline. \u201cWe changed the traditional model of \u2018watching math being done\u2019 to focus on mandatory lab time with faculty and graduate mentors,\u201d she says. Muhs had noticed that students studying on their own would often get stuck on a problem and not be able to move on, and she designed the MALL to provide immediate assistance in those situations. \u201cStudents learn by doing,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s not just geared toward \u2018I can\u2019t figure out problem seventeen,\u2019 it\u2019s geared toward, \u2018I don\u2019t understand the concept.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\nSimilar thought went into the redesign of first-year English composition classes. Using funding from the Presidents\u2019 Class Size Initiative, the English department hired six new full-time instructors, all with extensive teaching experience and a willingness to do ongoing professional development. Courses were capped at twenty-five students, and some sections were even smaller, capped at nineteen, to allow instructors to spend more time providing detailed feedback on student papers. \u201cClasses used to be capped at twenty-seven students, and just taking it down eight students per teacher makes a huge difference\u2014at a four-four course load, the difference is at least thirty-two fewer papers per teacher,\u201d explains Elizabeth Wardle, an associate professor of English and director of writing programs at UCF. The nineteen-student classes were taught using a new curriculum that focused on writing concepts and practices that were transferable across the curriculum. \u201cWe call it writing about writing,\u201d Wardle says. \u201cWe try to give students a flexible understanding of how writing works and how different situations require different rhetorical approaches. The idea is that they\u2019re reflecting on their writing, they have meta-awareness, and they can adapt. \u201d In one assignment, students write an autoethnography; in another, they study scholarship about how writers and readers construct and approach texts. \u201cWe want them to own the writing process and be active agents, instead of floating along and asking the teacher, \u2018What do you want me to do?\u2019\u201d Wardle says.<\/p>\nThe university writing center also received a boost with funds from the class size initiative, hiring additional undergraduate and graduate tutors to provide more than seven hundred tutoring slots per week (up from about 450 in past years). \u201cThe idea behind this initiative is that students do better with more support,\u201d Wardle says. \u201cStudents used to have to wait up to two hours for a writing tutor. More tutors mean students get the help they need.\u201d<\/p>\nAssessing Pilot Project Classes<\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\nUCF conducted assessments of both pilot programs to determine whether the pedagogical innovations and reduced class sizes paid off. In a fall 2009 comparison of traditional versus new sections of introductory college algebra, students in the new sections demonstrated higher percentages of success, defined as achievement of a C or higher. Of students in traditional courses, 62 percent succeeded, while 75 percent of students in the new sections succeeded. And more students earned A\u2019s or B\u2019s in the new section, too\u201462 percent, versus 56 percent in the traditional class sections. Muhs notes that there are several intervening factors to consider, including the fact that students who are STEM majors tend to select the traditional classes, and also tend to demonstrate better preparation for the algebra course than their non-STEM-major peers. Even so, she says, the new course format shows that it\u2019s possible to bring less-prepared students up to and beyond the success level of their better-prepared peers. Muhs also assessed whether students felt the new course design provided sufficient interaction with faculty members. A fall 2009 survey found that 91 percent of respondents in the new course said the format provided at least as much faculty interaction as their other, traditional classes, while 61 percent said the new format actually provided more interaction that their traditional courses. \u201cThat really answered some of the critics who might say, \u2018You\u2019re taking away the teacher and the computer is doing all the teaching,\u201d Muhs says. \u201cA strong student will probably be successful in college algebra regardless of the format. But we\u2019re providing the resources for a weak student to also be successful.\u201d<\/p>\nIn the English department, Wardle and her colleagues compared learning outcomes for students taking the redesigned English composition course and the traditional course. They also investigated differences in the three class sizes\u2014twenty-seven students, twenty-five students, and nineteen students. Using student portfolios randomly sampled from all introductory composition classes, a panel of trained raters read each work sample and rated its demonstration of ten criteria, including college-level thinking, rhetorical analysis, and correct use of citations. The assessment team found that the new curriculum consistently outperformed the old curriculum, and that the nineteen-student classes using the new curriculum performed best on measures of higher-order thinking. \u201cThe new curriculum is having the effect we wanted, and when you have fewer students, they do even better on the measures that matter,\u201d Wardle says.<\/p>\nBoth Muhs and Wardle stress that dedicated, experienced instructors who are paid fairly are a requirement for success, and that without support from the university\u2019s highest levels, especially the president\u2019s office, the gains their pilot programs demonstrated would not be possible. The university is now working to develop a plan to expand the methods used in English and algebra to other high-demand courses primarily for first-year students. \u201cThe take-home point is that it\u2019s the combination of the new curriculum plus full-time, committed teachers and smaller class size that makes the difference,\u201d Wardle says. \u201cSmaller class size isn\u2019t the Holy Grail on its own. You need committed teachers making living wages, too.\u201d<\/p>\nSource: Association of American Colleges & Universities, Increasing Student Success: Smaller Classes, Innovative Pedagogy at UCF<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Focus on Undergraduate Education UCF President John Hitt wants the university\u2014a public institution with more than 45,000 undergraduates\u2014to be the premier institution for undergraduate teaching in the state of Florida, explains Alison Morrison-Shetlar, UCF\u2019s former vice provost and dean of undergraduate studies, who recently began a new position as dean of Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences…","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":13900,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-twocol.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[17023,1526,1572,2510,3021,4430,4575],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-13899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinions","tag-college-of-arts-and-humanities","tag-elizabeth-wardle","tag-english","tag-john-c-hitt","tag-math","tag-stem","tag-tammy-muhs"],"yoast_head":"\nSmaller Classes, Innovative Pedagogy at UCF | University of Central Florida News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A Focus on Undergraduate Education UCF President John Hitt wants the university\u2014a public institution with more than 45,000 undergraduates\u2014to be the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/smaller-classes-innovative-pedagogy-at-ucf\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Smaller Classes, Innovative Pedagogy at UCF\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Focus on Undergraduate Education UCF President John Hitt wants the university\u2014a public institution with more than 45,000 undergraduates\u2014to be the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/smaller-classes-innovative-pedagogy-at-ucf\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"University of Central Florida News | UCF Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UCF\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-06-22T17:45:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-07-29T18:28:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2010\/06\/teahcer.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"338\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Terry Helms\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@UCF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@UCF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Terry Helms\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/smaller-classes-innovative-pedagogy-at-ucf\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/smaller-classes-innovative-pedagogy-at-ucf\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Terry Helms\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f83b77800ced2081c86229648f953680\"},\"headline\":\"Smaller Classes, Innovative Pedagogy at UCF\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-06-22T17:45:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-07-29T18:28:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/smaller-classes-innovative-pedagogy-at-ucf\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1468,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/smaller-classes-innovative-pedagogy-at-ucf\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/20\\\/files\\\/2010\\\/06\\\/teahcer.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"College of Arts and Humanities\",\"Elizabeth Wardle\",\"English\",\"John C. 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The English and math departments at UCF recruited new instructors with extensive teaching experience who were willing to participate in ongoing professional development.<\/p>\n
Historically, UCF algebra classes featured a large lecture of 380 to 400 students meeting three times a week, plus smaller groups of thirty-five students meeting one hour a week with a graduate assistant, Muhs explains. In the modified course, instructors introduced a new pedagogical method: students meet for only one hour a week in the lecture hall with the instructor, and they sit in cohort groups of eighteen that allow more interaction and in-class collaborative problem solving. Then they spend three additional hours a week working in the Mathematical Assistance and Learning Lab\u2014the MALL\u2014at their own pace, with assistance available at all times. Morrison-Shetlar explains that entry-level math is many students\u2019 stumbling block, and if they can\u2019t get to calculus, they won\u2019t be able to graduate in a STEM discipline. \u201cWe changed the traditional model of \u2018watching math being done\u2019 to focus on mandatory lab time with faculty and graduate mentors,\u201d she says. Muhs had noticed that students studying on their own would often get stuck on a problem and not be able to move on, and she designed the MALL to provide immediate assistance in those situations. \u201cStudents learn by doing,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s not just geared toward \u2018I can\u2019t figure out problem seventeen,\u2019 it\u2019s geared toward, \u2018I don\u2019t understand the concept.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Similar thought went into the redesign of first-year English composition classes. Using funding from the Presidents\u2019 Class Size Initiative, the English department hired six new full-time instructors, all with extensive teaching experience and a willingness to do ongoing professional development. Courses were capped at twenty-five students, and some sections were even smaller, capped at nineteen, to allow instructors to spend more time providing detailed feedback on student papers. \u201cClasses used to be capped at twenty-seven students, and just taking it down eight students per teacher makes a huge difference\u2014at a four-four course load, the difference is at least thirty-two fewer papers per teacher,\u201d explains Elizabeth Wardle, an associate professor of English and director of writing programs at UCF. The nineteen-student classes were taught using a new curriculum that focused on writing concepts and practices that were transferable across the curriculum. \u201cWe call it writing about writing,\u201d Wardle says. \u201cWe try to give students a flexible understanding of how writing works and how different situations require different rhetorical approaches. The idea is that they\u2019re reflecting on their writing, they have meta-awareness, and they can adapt. \u201d In one assignment, students write an autoethnography; in another, they study scholarship about how writers and readers construct and approach texts. \u201cWe want them to own the writing process and be active agents, instead of floating along and asking the teacher, \u2018What do you want me to do?\u2019\u201d Wardle says.<\/p>\n
The university writing center also received a boost with funds from the class size initiative, hiring additional undergraduate and graduate tutors to provide more than seven hundred tutoring slots per week (up from about 450 in past years). \u201cThe idea behind this initiative is that students do better with more support,\u201d Wardle says. \u201cStudents used to have to wait up to two hours for a writing tutor. More tutors mean students get the help they need.\u201d<\/p>\n
Assessing Pilot Project Classes<\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\nUCF conducted assessments of both pilot programs to determine whether the pedagogical innovations and reduced class sizes paid off. In a fall 2009 comparison of traditional versus new sections of introductory college algebra, students in the new sections demonstrated higher percentages of success, defined as achievement of a C or higher. Of students in traditional courses, 62 percent succeeded, while 75 percent of students in the new sections succeeded. And more students earned A\u2019s or B\u2019s in the new section, too\u201462 percent, versus 56 percent in the traditional class sections. Muhs notes that there are several intervening factors to consider, including the fact that students who are STEM majors tend to select the traditional classes, and also tend to demonstrate better preparation for the algebra course than their non-STEM-major peers. Even so, she says, the new course format shows that it\u2019s possible to bring less-prepared students up to and beyond the success level of their better-prepared peers. Muhs also assessed whether students felt the new course design provided sufficient interaction with faculty members. A fall 2009 survey found that 91 percent of respondents in the new course said the format provided at least as much faculty interaction as their other, traditional classes, while 61 percent said the new format actually provided more interaction that their traditional courses. \u201cThat really answered some of the critics who might say, \u2018You\u2019re taking away the teacher and the computer is doing all the teaching,\u201d Muhs says. \u201cA strong student will probably be successful in college algebra regardless of the format. But we\u2019re providing the resources for a weak student to also be successful.\u201d<\/p>\nIn the English department, Wardle and her colleagues compared learning outcomes for students taking the redesigned English composition course and the traditional course. They also investigated differences in the three class sizes\u2014twenty-seven students, twenty-five students, and nineteen students. Using student portfolios randomly sampled from all introductory composition classes, a panel of trained raters read each work sample and rated its demonstration of ten criteria, including college-level thinking, rhetorical analysis, and correct use of citations. The assessment team found that the new curriculum consistently outperformed the old curriculum, and that the nineteen-student classes using the new curriculum performed best on measures of higher-order thinking. \u201cThe new curriculum is having the effect we wanted, and when you have fewer students, they do even better on the measures that matter,\u201d Wardle says.<\/p>\nBoth Muhs and Wardle stress that dedicated, experienced instructors who are paid fairly are a requirement for success, and that without support from the university\u2019s highest levels, especially the president\u2019s office, the gains their pilot programs demonstrated would not be possible. The university is now working to develop a plan to expand the methods used in English and algebra to other high-demand courses primarily for first-year students. \u201cThe take-home point is that it\u2019s the combination of the new curriculum plus full-time, committed teachers and smaller class size that makes the difference,\u201d Wardle says. \u201cSmaller class size isn\u2019t the Holy Grail on its own. You need committed teachers making living wages, too.\u201d<\/p>\nSource: Association of American Colleges & Universities, Increasing Student Success: Smaller Classes, Innovative Pedagogy at UCF<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Focus on Undergraduate Education UCF President John Hitt wants the university\u2014a public institution with more than 45,000 undergraduates\u2014to be the premier institution for undergraduate teaching in the state of Florida, explains Alison Morrison-Shetlar, UCF\u2019s former vice provost and dean of undergraduate studies, who recently began a new position as dean of Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences…","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":13900,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-twocol.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[17023,1526,1572,2510,3021,4430,4575],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-13899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinions","tag-college-of-arts-and-humanities","tag-elizabeth-wardle","tag-english","tag-john-c-hitt","tag-math","tag-stem","tag-tammy-muhs"],"yoast_head":"\nSmaller Classes, Innovative Pedagogy at UCF | University of Central Florida News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A Focus on Undergraduate Education UCF President John Hitt wants the university\u2014a public institution with more than 45,000 undergraduates\u2014to be the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/smaller-classes-innovative-pedagogy-at-ucf\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Smaller Classes, Innovative Pedagogy at UCF\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Focus on Undergraduate Education UCF President John Hitt wants the university\u2014a public institution with more than 45,000 undergraduates\u2014to be the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/smaller-classes-innovative-pedagogy-at-ucf\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"University of Central Florida News | UCF Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UCF\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-06-22T17:45:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-07-29T18:28:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2010\/06\/teahcer.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"338\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Terry Helms\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@UCF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@UCF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Terry Helms\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/smaller-classes-innovative-pedagogy-at-ucf\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/smaller-classes-innovative-pedagogy-at-ucf\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Terry Helms\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f83b77800ced2081c86229648f953680\"},\"headline\":\"Smaller Classes, Innovative Pedagogy at UCF\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-06-22T17:45:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-07-29T18:28:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/smaller-classes-innovative-pedagogy-at-ucf\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1468,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/smaller-classes-innovative-pedagogy-at-ucf\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/20\\\/files\\\/2010\\\/06\\\/teahcer.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"College of Arts and Humanities\",\"Elizabeth Wardle\",\"English\",\"John C. 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UCF conducted assessments of both pilot programs to determine whether the pedagogical innovations and reduced class sizes paid off. In a fall 2009 comparison of traditional versus new sections of introductory college algebra, students in the new sections demonstrated higher percentages of success, defined as achievement of a C or higher. Of students in traditional courses, 62 percent succeeded, while 75 percent of students in the new sections succeeded. And more students earned A\u2019s or B\u2019s in the new section, too\u201462 percent, versus 56 percent in the traditional class sections. Muhs notes that there are several intervening factors to consider, including the fact that students who are STEM majors tend to select the traditional classes, and also tend to demonstrate better preparation for the algebra course than their non-STEM-major peers. Even so, she says, the new course format shows that it\u2019s possible to bring less-prepared students up to and beyond the success level of their better-prepared peers. Muhs also assessed whether students felt the new course design provided sufficient interaction with faculty members. A fall 2009 survey found that 91 percent of respondents in the new course said the format provided at least as much faculty interaction as their other, traditional classes, while 61 percent said the new format actually provided more interaction that their traditional courses. \u201cThat really answered some of the critics who might say, \u2018You\u2019re taking away the teacher and the computer is doing all the teaching,\u201d Muhs says. \u201cA strong student will probably be successful in college algebra regardless of the format. But we\u2019re providing the resources for a weak student to also be successful.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the English department, Wardle and her colleagues compared learning outcomes for students taking the redesigned English composition course and the traditional course. They also investigated differences in the three class sizes\u2014twenty-seven students, twenty-five students, and nineteen students. Using student portfolios randomly sampled from all introductory composition classes, a panel of trained raters read each work sample and rated its demonstration of ten criteria, including college-level thinking, rhetorical analysis, and correct use of citations. The assessment team found that the new curriculum consistently outperformed the old curriculum, and that the nineteen-student classes using the new curriculum performed best on measures of higher-order thinking. \u201cThe new curriculum is having the effect we wanted, and when you have fewer students, they do even better on the measures that matter,\u201d Wardle says.<\/p>\n
Both Muhs and Wardle stress that dedicated, experienced instructors who are paid fairly are a requirement for success, and that without support from the university\u2019s highest levels, especially the president\u2019s office, the gains their pilot programs demonstrated would not be possible. The university is now working to develop a plan to expand the methods used in English and algebra to other high-demand courses primarily for first-year students. \u201cThe take-home point is that it\u2019s the combination of the new curriculum plus full-time, committed teachers and smaller class size that makes the difference,\u201d Wardle says. \u201cSmaller class size isn\u2019t the Holy Grail on its own. You need committed teachers making living wages, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Source: Association of American Colleges & Universities, Increasing Student Success: Smaller Classes, Innovative Pedagogy at UCF<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Focus on Undergraduate Education UCF President John Hitt wants the university\u2014a public institution with more than 45,000 undergraduates\u2014to be the premier institution for undergraduate teaching in the state of Florida, explains Alison Morrison-Shetlar, UCF\u2019s former vice provost and dean of undergraduate studies, who recently began a new position as dean of Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences…","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":13900,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-twocol.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[17023,1526,1572,2510,3021,4430,4575],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-13899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinions","tag-college-of-arts-and-humanities","tag-elizabeth-wardle","tag-english","tag-john-c-hitt","tag-math","tag-stem","tag-tammy-muhs"],"yoast_head":"\nSmaller Classes, Innovative Pedagogy at UCF | University of Central Florida News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A Focus on Undergraduate Education UCF President John Hitt wants the university\u2014a public institution with more than 45,000 undergraduates\u2014to be the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/smaller-classes-innovative-pedagogy-at-ucf\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Smaller Classes, Innovative Pedagogy at UCF\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Focus on Undergraduate Education UCF President John Hitt wants the university\u2014a public institution with more than 45,000 undergraduates\u2014to be the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/smaller-classes-innovative-pedagogy-at-ucf\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"University of Central Florida News | UCF Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UCF\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-06-22T17:45:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-07-29T18:28:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2010\/06\/teahcer.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"338\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Terry Helms\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@UCF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@UCF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Terry Helms\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/smaller-classes-innovative-pedagogy-at-ucf\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/smaller-classes-innovative-pedagogy-at-ucf\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Terry Helms\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f83b77800ced2081c86229648f953680\"},\"headline\":\"Smaller Classes, Innovative Pedagogy at UCF\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-06-22T17:45:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-07-29T18:28:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/smaller-classes-innovative-pedagogy-at-ucf\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1468,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/smaller-classes-innovative-pedagogy-at-ucf\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/20\\\/files\\\/2010\\\/06\\\/teahcer.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"College of Arts and Humanities\",\"Elizabeth Wardle\",\"English\",\"John C. 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