9 October 2002

To: Instructional Enhancement Grant Committee

From: Kathy Boardman

Director, Core Writing Program

Brad Lucas

Writing Specialist, Core Writing Program

Subject:

Proposal: Investigating English 1

Who are our English 1 students? Why are they taking this basic, or developmental, pre-college course in writing, a course that carries no baccalaureate credit? What happens to them in their other studies after they complete the English 1 course? We have anecdotal answers to these questions; we have enrollment numbers and some other statistics. But many questions remain.

Description of the project

The proposed study aims to collect both quantitative and qualitative data to provide a detailed profile of the English 1 program and its students. By implementing both portions of the study, we will be able to provide general conclusions grounded in specific examples.

Phase I—Cross-Sectional Survey. During the last weeks of Fall 2002, Core Writing Program instructors will distribute surveys to 30 classes (10 sections each of English 1, 101, and 102). In addition to requesting demographic data, the survey will ask a range of questions to gather information regarding [1] placement into Core Writing classes, [2] sources of financial support (scholarships), [3] satisfaction with the Core Writing curriculum, and [4] future plans for taking writing courses at UNR.

Phase II—English 1 Profile. We will choose one section of English 1 to serve as a case study for the English 1 program. With the help of the instructor, we will conduct an extensive study of an entire class, using a detailed questionnaire and follow-up procedure to describe the make-up of a "typical" English 1 class. Perhaps more importantly, we will track these students as they progress through the rest of the academic year, examining portfolios of their work, finding out the courses they take in the spring and learning the motivations behind their choices. We will also be able to study their decisions regarding further coursework in the Core Curriculum.

Statement of purpose

The Vice Provost, responding to a renewed interest on the part of the Regents in what they call "remedial" courses, asked us a number of questions this summer. We can answer "how many?", "who teaches them?", "how much are their teachers paid?" But we don't yet know the answers to other important questions:

· How many students register voluntarily for English 1 (rather than 101) and why?

· How do former English 1 students fare in their English 101 and 102 classes?

· Why did the numbers of students in English 1 suddenly rise in Fall 2001 and then (despite an increase in the number of first-year students) drop slightly in Fall 2002?

· How do students' writing quality, practices and attitudes change—or not—during and after their English 1 class?

· To what extent does the English 1 class help acculturate students to university life and expectations?

Our purposes in answering these and other questions, however, extend beyond providing information to administrators. We wish to use the information to improve our writing program at its "entry level." We may find it best to make changes in curriculum or staff preparation. Or we may use this study as a basis for advocating change in the approach to basic writing at UNR.

Potential impact

(e.g., number of students involved)

Currently, we have 561 students in our English 1 classes, roughly the same number we had in Fall 2001. Because of budget cuts, we will be limited to no more than 25 English 1 students in spring. Thus we can say that our findings have the potential to affect some 600 students per year. The study may have impact on the availability of basic writing on the UNR campus, on the way English 1 students are viewed by faculty and fellow students, and on the performance of basic writing students in their subsequent classes (including English 101 and 102).

Relation of project to academic plans and goals of department, college, or university

1. The Regents have indicated their desire to reduce the number of the courses that are designated "remedial." There also appears to be some interest in standardizing the system's placement procedures and in designating the campuses that are able to offer basic writing. While we would like to see students arrive on our campus as more effective writers, we are committed to working with the students who do come here at various stages of preparation in writing. Thus, we are concerned that decisions about standardization, if made without sufficient information on the students who would be affected, might have a negative effect on student chances of success in college. Thus, we want to gather as much information as we can to help inform these decisions.

2. A number of alternative curricular models for basic writing instruction exist in our peer institutions. Some of these seem promising as models for our program to consider as a new Core Curriculum Center is being established on this campus. Qualitative and quantitative information about our basic writing students will aid us in discussions of new models.

Final product

(instructional materials, presentation, formal assessment, etc.)

· A formal report that includes the following:

o tabulation and interpretation of the survey responses

o longitudinal study of the progress and academic experience (in writing classes) of the "case study" English 1 students, up to May 2003. This will include both narrative and statistics. (Note: we plan to continue this study into Fall 2003 with English department support.)

· Teacher colloquia and workshops based on the outcomes of the study. (A model of this kind of product is already in place in the Core Writing Program: an English 102 orientation and weekly colloquia set up in response to the 2000 and 2001 English 102 program assessments.)

Budget

PHASE I. (NOVEMBER TO DECEMBER 2002)
* Photocopy costs for surveys (30 sections of English): $42.50
* Other office supplies for surveys and data processing: $17.50
* Tabulators for surveys @ $10/hour: $300.00

PHASE II. (NOVEMBER 2002 TO MAY 2003)
* Photocopy costs for portfolios and rubrics
(~22 students, 2 sem.): $125.00
* Instructor stipend (interviews, material collection, record
keeping): $150.00
* Portfolio reading fees ($25/hour, 2 portfolios per hour,
2 readings Each for ~22 students per semester): $1100.00
* Office supplies (folders, cartridges, paper, binders for final
report): $125.00
* Support for continuation of the longitudinal study (following
Fall 2002 English 1 class into Fall 2003): $250.00
* Total Cost: $2110.00
* Matching funds of $325 from English Department (for office
supplies and continuation of longitudinal study past June 1,
2003): $-325.00
* Requested from IEG Committee: $1785.00

- - - - - - - -

A note on Student Outcomes Assessment Plan: Although this is an assessment project, conversations with our department chair and the UNR Assessment Director have made it clear that our department's plan, geared to its program for undergraduate majors, is not relevant to our project, which focuses on non-majors and the Core Curriculum.

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Project Title:

TRIO Scholars' Lap Top Loaner Program

The federally funded TRIO Scholars Program provides academic support services to 175 low income undergraduates. Participants include traditional and non-traditional college age students from a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds (60% are students of color). All participants have academic need for program support as well as the ability to benefit from academic support.

Problem: Due to the income level of students in the program, many are unable to purchase personal computers. Although computer labs are available for student use, situations such as child care and the need to work make it difficult for non-traditional and some commuter students to access campus computer labs. As a result, some of our participants are at a disadvantage in terms of their ability to produce high quality work in the time frame established by instructors.

Proposed Activities: Purchase a lap top to use as a "loaner" to project participants for short term use. Policies and procedures have been established for lap top check out. The lap top will be loaned out to students who are not able to use campus computer labs due to unique circumstances such as difficulties arranging child care or unexpected work situations. The lap top would not be for the exclusive use of any one student, but, rather, would be used by students working to meet deadlines on papers or projects.

Intended Outcome: Low income college students will be more able to keep pace with their peers and to meet instructor expectations through the lap top loaner program, especially those for whom child care, work, or transportation issues prevent the use of campus based computer labs.

Requested Funds

Dell laptop computer Inspiron 4150: $1,740

MS Office XP Suite: $60

Total Funds Requested by STF: $1,300

Non STF Funds Applied to this Project: $500

Grand Total: $1,800

Matching Resources: (Describe any additional funding sources that the student fees will leverage and that will be available to supplement the student fees)

U.S. Department of Education Technology Grant funds will be used to purchase software and a portion of the hardware. Grant staff will provide training for student use of the computer. Grant staff will also oversee the check out and return procedures for use of the lap top.

Project Schedule: (Timeline for implementation)

Anticipated Fall, '03 start date.

Additional Considerations: (Describe additional expenditures required to implement the project—renovation, electrical, etc.)

No additional costs are anticipated at this time.

Project Constraints:

Lap top loaner programs are well established among undergraduate TRIO programs across the nation. Once funding is secured, no additional constraints are anticipated.

Routing: Proposals should be routed through department chairs/heads/directors and then on to Deans before being forwarded on to the V.P. for Information Technology.

Author (primary contact person): Rita Escher, Director, TRIO Scholars Program

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Project description: I am working to create interactive computer-graded homework that is designed to strengthen student ability to implement basic problem-solving methods. These methods constitute essential background information for our statistics classes and for other classes that employ quantitative and logical analyses, but many of our students do not arrive at UNR with strong problem-solving skills. We hope that implementing this homework system will both strengthen student skills and help us meet increasing enrollment demands without sacrificing instructional quality.

While software can be purchased that would accomplish the first goal, I have not seen any software that simultaneously pursues the second goal. I have modified my in-class presentations in recent years to emphasize problem-solving methods, and have observed "significant" improvement in student performance on exams.

I believe that diligent low-performing students currently spend hours each week doing homework incorrectly, thereby reinforcing unproductive problem-solving habits. Interactive computer homework can help these students develop stronger problem-solving skills by requiring them to complete a series of problem-solving steps in order to answer each homework question (and not permitting students to go to the second step until the first step is answered correctly).

Students with good problem-solving skills find correct solutions by accurately identifying (1) the question to be answered, (2) the information provided in the problem, and (3) the type of problem (which generally means that they have also identified the formula or other solution method), and then answering the question.

Low-performing students, in contrast, often skip the initial steps. They select an inappropriate formula, misinterpret the information provided in the problem, or provide an "answer" that is not relevant to the question posed in the problem. These students hear explanations of the problem-solving steps in class, and record them in their notes, but (inexplicably) don't implement these steps when they do homework and take exams. Because they skip the foundation steps, they believe the material is difficult and mysterious.

I envision interactive web-based homework that requires each step to be completed, correctly and in the proper sequence. Each homework problem will, therefore, include a series of multiple choice questions. After reading the word problem, students will first answer a multiple choice question defining the precise question that must be answered (does this problem ask you to find the probability that X is greater than 2? Greater than or equal to 2?, etc) If this question is not answered correctly, the student will receive a hint and be looped back to repeat the first question. (Points will be deducted to discourage wild guessing.) When this question is answered correctly, the student will answer a second question about the correct interpretation of the information provided in the problem (Does the problem state that .7 is the probability of A? Or the probability of A given B? etc)

I hope that this homework strategy will help prevent the current problem that some students do not see the wisdom of implementing these steps until late in the semester (after seeing a few low exam scores). As we inevitably increase class size, I hope this homework strategy will prevent these students from becoming "lost" in larger classes.

Purpose: This computer-graded homework project will potentially help the economics department:

· maximize the value of it's limited grading resources,

· increase statistics class sizes without sacrificing quality, and

· increase the students' ability to apply sound problem-solving methods.

Potential Impact (# of students): 466 students are enrolled in EC 261 and EC 262 this semester.

Relation of project to academic plans and goals of the department, COBA, UNR:

First, the two statistics classes serve as prerequisites for a number of upper division business classes. Strengthening problem-solving skills at the 200 level will help support high-quality instruction in the higher-level classes.

Second, the statistics classes (EC261 and EC262) are taught by both regular faculty and LOA instructors, and the economics department offers several sections of each class each semester. The proposed web-based homework strategy will be available to all statistics instructors, thereby creating efficiencies that extend beyond my classes.

Final product of the project: I have already initiated this project. A student-programmer (who now works full-time for UNR) has almost finished creating the web-based framework for this homework system and a graduate student created problems sets for EC 261.

Both of the components of the new system require fine-tuning in order to accomplish our goals. The programmer did a fabulous job for token payment; we should now provide additional funds for the fine-tuning. The department's graduate students are fully committed to supporting ongoing classes; hence additional work on the problem sets will require separate funding.

Additional steps required to create a working system are:

· Create the software framework for randomizing the problems, to "encourage" students to work individually

· Edit the new problems to address problems identified this semester as my current EC 261 students do these problems as paper homework sets

· Modify the existing problems to incorporate the problem-solving logic more completely

· Create and input hints for students who answer questions incorrectly

· Create problems for EC 262

Budget estimates are provided for each step.

Current plans include maintaining the software on a COBA server, available to any interested instructor.

***** I would welcome improvement and assessment suggestions. I would be ecstatic if an entrepreneurial person offered to take charge of this project (assuming my students and I would continue to use it without charge.) *****

Proposed Budget:

1. Create the software framework for randomizing the problems, to "encourage" students to work individually: $1000

2. Edit the new problems to address problems identified this semester as my current EC 261 students do these problems as paper homework sets

3. Modify the existing problems to incorporate the problem-solving logic more completely:
100 hours, $1000

4. Create and input hints for students who answer questions incorrectly: 30 hours, $300

5. Create problems for EC 262: 200 hours, $2000

TOTAL $4300

Notes:

a. Efficiency requires combining tasks 2 and 3; hence the table shows a combined cost estimate.

b. The hours represent estimates to assist in developing cost estimates. The hourly wage is assumed to be $10. I would expect to contract for this work on a "lump-sum" basis.

c. The cost estimate for task 1 should be considered thoughtfully. The student, Craig Summerhill has given us an amazingly professional product for a small token payment. This cost estimate really represents another small token payment in return for this extra work. It is my understanding that he now works in Carol Parkhurst"s group as a full-time UNR computer wizard.