Pedagogy Matters! Teaching Improvement through Community Engagement

1. Pedagogy Matters!Teaching Improvement through Community Engagement Innovation 2014, March 2-5, 2014 Anaheim, California Gail O. Mellow, President LaGuardia Community College

2. Improving College Teaching The problem? • High Dev Ed rates • Low graduation rates • Low rates of funding per student • Low % of full time faculty • For the most at-risk college students

3. Current Strategies Focus? Curricular Structures Student Support Services Policy Changes

4. Our FOCUS? Teaching – where students and faculty connect Pedagogy accounts for 33% of student success Practical, on the ground Sustainable & Cost Sensitive

6. If each dev ed professor helped 2 more students per class, pass rates go up 7% 4 more students, 14% Faculty - the under-supported part of the ecosystem

7. 5 minute silent write --- (Shhhh) Write about a class you taught. Capture the moment of teaching – what you did, how you did it, how the students reacted.

8. HOW WE GOT HERE A perfect dev ed pedagogy using best faculty? Nope: pedagogies 2. Watched great faculty in action, captured semester of work digitally, derived TAGS using authentic practice in the field, high inter-rater reliability 3. Refined tags to create PATTERNS

9. Professional Practice Improvement • Reflects Faculty Professional Culture • Embedded in Work • Backed by Evidence • Made Visible • Powered by Social

10. Faculty iterate to improve practice • ~ Developed Prototype • ~ Engaged Faculty • ~ Use Tags, Deepen Reflection • ~ Create Patterns • ~ Peers & Coaches guide • ~ Digital Library of practice

11. We Learned… • We can deeply engage faculty • We have a shared language that works across math and English, derived from practice • We know how to use other faculty as peer coaches.

12. GSCC 1.0 Mathematics Changes over 4 Semesters – Spring ’10 – Fall ‘11 GSCC 1.0 English Changes over 4 Semesters – Spring ’10 – Fall ‘11 Percentage Change Percentage Change Non-GSCC GSCC Non-GSCC GSCC

13. GSCC 2.0 Math Changes over 2 Semesters – Fall ’12 – Spring‘13 GSCC 2.0 English Changes over 2 Semesters – Fall '12- Spring '13 Percentage Change Percentage Change Non-GSCC Non-GSCC GSCC GSCC

14. GSCC 2.0 Math & English combined and Adjuncts separated Changes over 2 Semesters – Fall ’12 – Spring ’13 Percentage Change Part-time Full-time

15. Through a digital environment faculty: • Engaged in weekly reflection • Discovered teaching patterns • Engaged in sustained conversations about pedagogy • with faculty coaches and each other • …and loved it.

16. Better Teachers, Better Students

17. Start with Reflection

18. Show Actual Faculty and Student Work

19. Use a Common Language of Tags to Categorize Actions

20. Visualization Seeing Teaching in Action Tags and Patterns motivate and facilitate customized practice improvement

21. Power with Social

22. Make resources searchable

23. Now… YOU Try Tagging

24. Eng. Prof, Kentucky: Participating in GSCC this year has helped me to be more reflective in every single action. I constantly analyze how each session went… GSCC gave me the tools to think about every minute detail of a classroom. Tagging the lessons helped me to see how each choice; action and event had a purpose and role in the students’ success. I truly believe (and hope) that this reflective action will follow me for the rest of my teaching career. Eng Prof, CO: GSCC is worth far more to me personally and professionally than any single professional development activity in which I have participated in many years. Of course this make sense because GSCC was significantly more substantial than most PD in which we engage. Math Prof, NJ: I think the continual self-evaluation and reflection allowed us to work together to brainstorm improvements and positive tweaks to be more purposeful in our classrooms as opposed to just randomly reaching in the dark for ideas and techniques in HOPE of success. Adjunct Math Prof, Mississippi: Prof 4: Speaking as an adjunct, I also have valued the chance to share my teaching and get ideas from others. I can honestly say that this experience has been a life-line of sorts this year. In a “magic wand” instructional setting, I’d wish for the kind of honest, respectful and professionally challenging discussions we have in Classroom Notebook at weekly staff meetings.

25. Why is Classroom Notebook embraced and not resisted by faculty? Math Prof, Springfield, MO: My feet have left the ground and there is no turning back! Equipped with knowledge, skills and confidence GSCC has given me, I have new and excitement about teaching. I am ready to go out there and help every single student who will let me. I feel empowered to make a real difference in the lives of my students. Adjunct Eng faculty, TX: I’m invigorated! Thanks for the opportunity to collaborate with others and to learn more about myself as a teacher. The best professional development ever!

26. Summary • Too few students passing dev ed • Faculty make a difference • Professional development hard to scale, especially for adjunct • We have a cost effective, technology-based scaleable • process that produced encouraging preliminary results

27. Looking Forward • To Cohort 3: • Another iteration with a larger group of faculty • Focus on 3 large community colleges • Recruit adjuncts to reflect national PT/FT ratio • Questions? • gmellow@lagcc.cuny.edu