Lessons from Scaling Innovation
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COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
June 07, 2012
Melissa Barragan, Community College Research Center
Peter Adams, Community College of Baltimore County
Susan Bickerstaff, Community College Research Center
Annual Conference on Acceleration in Developmental Education
Baltimore, MD
Building Momentum for Pedagogical Improvement: Lessons from Scaling Innovation
Lessons from Scaling Innovation
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COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER Lessons from Scaling InnovationCOMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
We conduct quantitative and qualitative research on• Teaching and learning in higher education• Access to and success in postsecondary education• High school to college transition• Missions, governance, and accountability• Workforce education
Lessons from Scaling Innovation
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COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
Our Challenge
•Over 60 percent of entering community college students are referred to developmental education
•Outcomes for students are discouraging–Vast majority of students do not complete the
sequences to which they are referred–Developmental education is not effective for students
near the cut-off point –Completion rates of those who skip the sequence
are similar to compliers
Lessons from Scaling Innovation
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COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
•CCRC scan of reforms in developmental education suggests that innovation is widespread
•However, most reforms affect relatively few students and remain small in scale and largely unknown outside their institutions
• In rigorous evaluations, impacts are modest and short-term
Innovation in Developmental Education
Lessons from Scaling Innovation
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COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
Instructional Reform Approaches
Structure
Curriculum
Pedagogy
Approaches are NOT mutually exclusive
Structural reforms focus on reorganization of instructional time and delivery (e.g., compressed courses, mainstreaming, and modularization).
Curricular reforms focus on
rationalizing and refining content (e.g., alternative
pathways, contextualization, and
course elimination).
Pedagogical reforms focus on changes to teaching (e.g., student-centered activities, conceptual learning, and metacognition).
Lessons from Scaling Innovation
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COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
• CCRC and partner colleges work to scale promising reforms at new institutions.– Faculty-driven effort, with intentional focus on classroom practice
• CCRC researchers document the implementation process and evaluate the impact of reforms on student success.– How can promising innovations in developmental education be
introduced, sustained and scaled to enhance student learning, persistence and academic progression?
• Funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
Lessons from Scaling Innovation
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COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
• Our partners:– Accelerated Learning Program from Community College
of Baltimore County– Concepts of Numbers from Montgomery County
Community College– California Acceleration Project, led by faculty from
Chabot College and Los Medanos College• For more information, read Inside Out or visit
www.scalinginnovation.org
Lessons from Scaling Innovation
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COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
•Describe the evolution of ALP faculty engagement and learning at CCBC
•Highlight the ALP Inquiry Network (ALPIN) as a structure for sustained professional learning
•Share preliminary findings from Scaling Innovation research on how structures for faculty learning can create opportunities for pedagogical improvement
Presentation Goals
Lessons from Scaling Innovation
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COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
ENG 101
semester 1
ENG 052
semester 1
A L P
The Accelerated Learning Program (ALP)
Lessons from Scaling Innovation
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COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
1. Our model was mostly structural.
2. There were no experts to call in.
3. We were afraid the faculty would resist if we started telling them how to teach.
4. We didn’t agree on a pedagogy.
A L P
Why We Thought We Didn’t Needto Do Faculty Development
Lessons from Scaling Innovation
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COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
1. Most of our faculty have graduate degrees in literature.
2. Even those with formal training in teaching writing have little training in teaching developmental writing.
3. No one had any training in teaching in an ALP classroom.
A L P
Why We Were Wrong
Lessons from Scaling Innovation
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COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
1. We found we wanted to spend time talking with each other about what worked and what didn’t.
2. Our new ALP faculty complained that a two-hour orientation was not adequate preparation.
3. We realized that after four years of teaching ALP, we had figured out some things.
4. We got wonderful encouragement and suggestions from CCRC.
A L P
What Changed Our Minds
Lessons from Scaling Innovation
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COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
We’ve arrived at a different concept of faculty development.
Rather than experts teaching novices how to teach.
We now see faculty development as a group of teachers seeking answers to important questions.
A L P
Faculty Development for 2012-2013
Lessons from Scaling Innovation
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COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
We also recognized how hard it is to do faculty development at a community college.
• Everyone is teaching five courses
• and serving on committtees
• and we’re spread over three campuses
• so we’ve concluded that there is no silver bullet. Faculty development has to be multi-faceted.
A L P
Faculty Development for 2012-2013
Lessons from Scaling Innovation
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COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
2. Three to four hour orientation sessions for new faculty
3. Half-day workshops in August and January
4. Informal monthly meetings
5. A mentoring system
6. ALPIN
A L P
Faculty Development for 2012-2013
1. Two twenty-hour faculty institutes
Lessons from Scaling Innovation
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COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
Mon why ALP works backward design curriculum development active learning in a writing classroom
Tue integrating reading and writing
thinking skills in the writing classroom Wed addressing affective and life issues
financial literacy Thu improving students’ ability to edit their own writing
culturally responsive pedagogy Fri coordinating the 101 and the 052 classes
selecting texts and readings planning your syllabi planning the first week of the course
A L P
ALP Faculty Institute
Lessons from Scaling Innovation
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COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER Lessons from Scaling InnovationCOMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
Preliminary Findings from Scaling Innovation Research
Lessons from Scaling Innovation
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COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
1. Infrastructure for collaboration and refinement is important, but challenging to implement and sustain.
2. Instructors’ questions about teaching in innovative courses vary over time and according to their personal and professional dispositions and identities.
3. Professional learning activities and venues should be responsive to faculty needs.
Lessons from Scaling Innovation
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COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
Collaborative Infrastructure• Diverse coalitions build buy-in and ensure sustainability
– Full-time and adjunct faculty – Administrators– Counselors and advisors – Instructional support staff– Institutional researchers– Students
• By reviewing data, the coalition can create processes for ongoing refinement
‒ Course grades, student persistence to subsequent courses, student success in subsequent courses
‒ Artifacts of practice
Lessons from Scaling Innovation
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COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
Challenges to Collaborative Work
•Antithetical to professional culture and structure of higher education– Institutional culture– Individual dispositions toward collaborative work
•Skills required are different from those typically associated with faculty role– Leadership, management, coaching
•Successful structures are contextually specific and challenging to sustain (e.g., curriculum writing team)
Lessons from Scaling Innovation
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COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
Varying Questions and Needs
Reluctant to change
Satisfied with status quo
Ready to act
Reform Implementation
Fac
ult
y Id
en
tity
an
d
Dis
po
siti
on
How will this reform
address student needs?
What is the problem with the current system?
What is the evidence of success?
How is the new course structured?
Which students are
eligible?
How will students get
enrolled?
What are course
policies?
What are the course
materials?
How are students
assessed?
What are the assignments?
How will I use class time?
What are students learning?
What instructional techniques are most effective?
Disagree with reform premise
Discomfort with new approach
Have ideas for improvement
Unsure how to improve
Lessons from Scaling Innovation
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COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
Pathways to Pedagogical Refinement
•Embedding “design principles” into curriculum and structure
‒ Small class size invites pedagogy that is responsive to student needs
‒ Fewer practice problems enables more conceptual and less procedural instruction
•Engaging faculty in the work of reform − Curriculum development
− Ongoing refinement: Review of outcome data and student work
− Training new instructors
Lessons from Scaling Innovation
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COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
Purposeful and Responsive Faculty Engagement Activities
Structure
Audience
• What are instructors’ dispositions toward the reform?• What expertise do they bring?• How will participating in the activity benefit them?
Purpose
• At what phase of implementation is the reform?• Do instructors have questions about administrative
issues, course structure, curriculum, and/or pedagogy?
• What structure best meets the goals of the activity?• What format is realistic given time and resource
constraints?
Lessons from Scaling Innovation
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COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
Purposeful and Responsive Faculty Engagement Activities
Purpose
StructureAudience
Lessons from Scaling Innovation
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COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
It’s really hard to get faculty to look at teaching differently or changing curriculum in drastic ways when they’ve invested their identity in that way of teaching. ‘You’re not challenging a certain curriculum; you’re challenging me or the essence of who I am.’ - Faculty Leader
It has been one of the most positive and rewarding experiences of my professional career in higher education. I’m having
opportunities to do things I didn’t know were possible in this way. Doing research, publications, presentations; those were all things I’ve dreamed of, and now I’m living that dream. - Faculty Leader
Building Momentum Through Reform
Lessons from Scaling Innovation
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COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER
June 7, 2012
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Community College Research Center Institute on Education and the Economy, Teachers College, Columbia University 525 West 120th Street, Box 174, New York, NY 10027 E-mail: [email protected] Telephone: 212.678.3091
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