UTRGV JUMPSTART - A NEW MODEL FOR

DEVELOPMENTAL EDUCATION INTERVENTIONSSUMMER 2015-SUMMER 2016 – MATHEMATICS AND READING/WRITING

JUMPSTART DESIGN - OVERALL

JumpStart (JS) courses support students not meeting TSI – College Readiness in

Mathematics and/or Reading/Writing.

Students take a Math and/or a Reading/Writing JS course as five-week summer

bridge courses before their first Fall semester at UTRGV.

Courses include embedded tutors in every JS classroom, as well as peer mentors

who help students navigate the transition to college.

JUMPSTART DESIGN – SPECIFIC COURSES

Reading/Writing are integrated in WRLS 0300: Networked Reading, Writing,

& Inquiry, with a focus on writing-about-writing process awareness and UTRGV

network development for reading, writing, and research in college learning

environments.

Three options make up the Mathematics pathways model:

Pre-Algebra – is for students whose degree plans require College Algebra,

Pre-Calculus or Calculus as their core mathematics course.

Pre-Statistics - is for students whose degree plans require Elementary

Statistics, or Introduction to Biostatistics as their core mathematics course.

Pre-Contemporary Mathematics – is for students whose degree plans

require Contemporary Mathematics.

WRLS 0300 - JUMPSTART

NETWORKED READING, WRITING, & INQUIRY

COURSE DESIGNER, COORDINATOR, & INSTRUCTORS

Colin Charlton designed the iBook for WRLS 0300, which will be in its 3rd edition

for Summer 2017.

Topacio Santivanez, a UTPA graduate and one-year lecturer in her second

contract year, coordinated curriculum revision meetings, 5 weekly instructor debriefs

during JS, and facilitated Slack discussion among instructors and students.

A diverse group of 13 instructors, most JS veterans and a couple of new instructors,

taught 1-2 sections each: Tomas Guerrero, Topacio Santivanez, Cyndy Lopez,

Nicole Nicholson, Tomas De La Cruz, Bonnie Garcia, Jack Newman,

Dennis Garza, Tekla Hawkins, Alyssa Cavazos, Josh Gray, Nayelly Barrios,

Charles McGregor

STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES

Develop a rhetorical understanding of your learning processes and their

consequences: how and why you read, question, and write and the results of those

strategies.

Develop and build confidence in your abilities to create, interpret, and evaluate

texts in all types of media.

Develop an understanding of the importance of getting and giving feedback when

reading, researching, and writing.

Establish a sustainable network of people, strategies, and tools, ones that you

are comfortable accessing, that will contribute to your success as a college student

doing the first 3 things above.

PRODUCTIVE AND NETWORKED ALIGNMENT

Rhetorical – Aligned with effective reading/writing pedagogies, JS introduces situational writing, reading, research, helping students learn to make choices as emerging scholars.

Metacognitive – Students map out learning processes early and return to them for reflection and revision throughout the five weeks.

Cumulative/Scaffolded – Students work on 5 chapters and projects dealing with inquiry/personal processes, dialogic learning, idea development, integrating feedback, and reflection.

Networked - One tagline says it all: JumpStart-Designing Networks that Work, and students work with librarians, presentations specialists, embedded student tutors, and other JS instructors with different expert knowledge about intellectually and collaboratively thriving in a college transition.

ENGL 1301 Aligned – Students are ready to jump into English 1301 with a sense of direction, a potential project, and a network of support for the writing, reading, and research they will have to do.

The design of the reading/writing curriculum is:

PROJECTS & READINGS ON INQUIRY

We pulled many readings from Writing Spaces, an online open-source journal that has articles written by writing teachers FOR writing students (writingspaces.org). Students used these readings as foundations to develop the following projects, highlighting rhetorical choice, feedback, and revision.

Process Maps detailing how students read, write, and do research.

Dialogic Wiki over a specific reading.

Profile of an Emerging Scholar that describes the student’s projection of being a student.

Feedback Philosophy that challenges students to think about how they can effectively give and receive feedback.

Exit Interview based on outcomes.

MATHEMATICS JUMPSTARTPRE-ALGEBRA, PRE-STATISTICS, OR PRE-CONTEMPORARY MATHEMATICS

COURSE COORDINATOR AND INSTRUCTORS

Zaena Zamora handled much of the organization and coordination; particularly the

non ALEKS activities.

Pre-Algebra: Nam Nguyen, Shuxia Li, Zaena Zamora, Guillermo Garza, Baofeng

Feng, Madhavi Devanaboina, Hugo Olvera, Lakshmi Roychowdhury, Jose Ponce,

and Phong Nguyen.

Pre-Statistics: Roberto Colson and Jose Ponce

Pre-Contemporary Mathematics: Guillermo Garza

INTERVENTIONS ALIGNED WITH CREDIT BEARING CLASSES

Pre-Algebra – is for students whose degree plans require College Algebra, Pre-

Calculus or Calculus as their core mathematics course.

Pre-Statistics - is for students whose degree plans require Elementary

Statistics, or Introduction to Biostatistics as their core mathematics course.

Pre-Contemporary Mathematics – is for students whose degree plans

require Contemporary Mathematics.

The design of the mathematics interventions is similar to the New Mathways Project

by the UT Dana Center.

However, it is explicit how each course aligns with credit bearing courses; and each

pathway has distinct courses with no overlap.

COURSE DESIGN

The courses are designed to use ALEKS and are augmented with in class activities

– mini lectures, games, polls, and other activities.

ALEKS is a software designed to help students work through the topics of the

course while diagnosing their deficiencies and monitoring their progress and recall.

It pushes students to practice and spend substantial amounts of time working

problems and examples.

One large benefit is that the software allows individual students to move at their

own pace and to take agency in their mathematics practice and mastery.

NON-ALEKS ACTIVITES

Syllabus Quiz,

Scavenger hunt,

Brain Plasticity and

Note Taking skills

In the first week an adviser

would visit the class.

Scavenger Hunt page 1

JumpStart Summer II 2016

Campus Scavenger Hunt

Student Name: ________________________________________________

Instructions

Note that for this activity you need to do two things:

1. Identify where to find the relevant information (there may not be a single correct answer, the

information may be available in multiple locations across campus).

2. Supply the correct answer to the question.

For questions with an asterisk (*) provide physical evidence (in forms of brochures, newsletters,

handouts, business cards, etc) that you visited the location, and attach the evidence securely to the

handout.

Prompt Location visited (where did

you find the answer?) Answer

1. Who is the president of UTRGV?

2. Where can you get a new or

replace a student ID? (If you

haven’t gotten your student

ID yet, do so!)

3. *What types of tutoring are

available on campus and

where can you find tutors?

4. *Does UTRGV provide

counseling? Name places

where this kind of assistance

is available.

5. How do you reserve a study

room at the library?

6. What are the weekday and

weekend library hours?

7. *How do you make an

appointment with academic

advisor? What are the best

times to make

appointments?

8. What is the meaning of

plagiarism? Provide an example.

9. Where is there a computer

lab on campus and what are

its hours?

10. What are the office hours of

your instructor for this

course, and where do they

take place?

EARLY EXIT

Because the course is self-guided, we are able to allow students to attempt early

exit.

In the Pre-Algebra course 44% finished the course requirements early. In some

sections it was more than half the class (data for all sections is not currently

available).

This success parallels past work at UTPA on Early Exit. We found in UTPA

Developmental and College Algebra courses that 10-15% of students could

finish the course requirements early.

Across the United States, it is being found that we can accelerate many students at

a pace faster than a regular semester.

NUMBERS

Pre-Algebra – 240 students enrolled. 89.5% passed the course.

1 withdrew.

Pre-Statistics – 39 students enrolled. 97% passed the course.

3 withdrew and 22 failed.

STUDENT AND INSTRUCTOR COMMENTS

Pre-Algebra Student: This course was very effective and has helped a great

amount with not only my algebra skills but also what to expect this coming semester.

Pre-Algebra Student: I enjoyed being part of the jumpstart program, it go me a

huge advantage over other upcoming students. Instructors are really helpful and

comprehensive in class.

Pre-Algebra Student: This instructor is really mind-opened which is great because

she not only taught me mathematics, but also taught me to prepare myself for the

college life

Pre-Statistics Instructor: Students enjoyed the non-ALEKS activities, but were

bored with the repetitive nature of ALEKS.

IMPACT OVER TWO SUMMERS

From Summer 2015 to Summer 2016, 1019 students

became college ready in MATH and 741 became college

ready in READING/WRITING at UTRGV.

UTRGV JUMPSTART - A NEW MODEL FOR

DEVELOPMENTAL EDUCATION INTERVENTIONSSUMMER 2015-SUMMER 2016 – MATHEMATICS AND READING/WRITING