F/DMC Newsletter   December 2005

The Foundation/Developmental Mathematics Committee of AMATYC!

 

Chair’s Welcome by Jack Rotman

I am really looking forward to serving the F/DMC over the next two years.  For those who don’t know, the AMATYC Executive Board approves the appointment of committee chairs … and that group sometimes has work for us to do.  In addition, however, I see my job as serving and helping all of you in our shared goal of delivering the best developmental math courses for our students. 

 

For the last four years, the F/DMC has been ably led by Jeff Morford … Thanks Jeff!!  Your hard work is appreciated.

 

I hope that I can build on the committee’s efforts of the last few years, as well as respond to current issues in our profession.  Some of our initial work will need to focus on the committee web site (more below); some will be geared to the annual conference (also below); and some still needs to be determined!

 

 

F/DMC Web Site

Prior to this year, our committee had a web site (mostly built by Jeff Morford) on a separate server … not the AMATYC server.  As of December 1, 2005, our committee web site is housed on the AMATYC web server.  The new address is http://devmath.amatyc.org; if that is too difficult to remember – don’t worry!  Just follow the links from the AMATYC web page (http://www.amatyc.org) using the navigation panel on the left side of the AMATYC home page.  If you would like to help with the development and maintenance of this web site, just let me know  (rotmanj@lcc.edu)  !

 

 

Projects for 2006

Based on the committee meetings at the San Diego conference, and input from the AMATYC Executive Board, these are the projects I see the committee working on this year.  Each of these is an opportunity for you to help.

 

“(Best) Practices” for ‘training’ new faculty (developmental) to be posted on web:  With the high use of adjunct faculty combined with the need to train new full-time faculty, we see a need to collaborate.  Please submit (to me, for now) documents or links (to web pages) that describe the training and/or professional development that your college provides to new faculty.

 

Sample Syllabi to be posted on web:  Over the years, this has been a common request as faculty seek to design the best courses for their students.  Please submit (again, to me) course syllabus documents.  Of course, the ideal would be if all syllabi reflected the 2006 Crossroads Revisited standards; however, don’t worry too much about that.  I will organize the syllabi by course (such as intermediate algebra or basic math) and indicate who submitted it; I do not plan on including emails, as I wish to protect your privacy.

 

Theme Session at the AMATYC Cincinnati conference:  Next November, the AMATYC conference will be in Cincinnati.  The Themed short Sessions seem to be very popular with people attending the conference – and it gives more people a chance to get involved with presenting.  The leading candidate for the topic is something like “Classroom Assessment Tricks or Snips” … focusing on assessing student’s learning in developmental courses, showing tools that have worked and that might help others improve their assessment methods.  So – if you have a “trick” for assessing student’s learning that you can show in 15 minutes, let me know!  We can have either a 2 hour (6 segment) or 3 hour (9 segment) session, depending on your responses.  I can organize the session, but I need your expertise in presenting the tools.

 

Traveling Workshop Strand: The Executive Board is eager for us to develop a Developmental Math strand for the Traveling Workshop program.  (For info, see the website http://www.amatyc.org/Events/traveling-workshops.htm).    There are currently 3 strands (Technology, “Crossroads”, and Teacher Prep); however, the highest demand area might very well be developmental mathematics.  If you might be interested in developing and/or presenting a traveling workshop for developmental math, send me a note so we can start that conversation.

 

Other work:  We can always look at still more things to work on, especially if you are willing to help in the process. 

 

Remember – All of the F/DMC work is the result of people like you and me being willing to contribute.  We can use your documents (training, syllabi), your expertise (theme session, traveling workshop), and your ideas.

 

 

Status of “old projects”

Over the last two years, our committee had worked hard on a position statement for Hiring Standards.  Although we had a good perspective and expertise, it was true that our statement would have had the effect of modifying a prior AMATYC position statement on qualifications.  (We outlined a “2nd choice” qualification for cases when candidates did not have the math master’s degree.)  However, part of our statement provided some new direction on training and mentoring – which has now led in to the new project listed above (“Best Practices for Training New Faculty”).

In addition, one of the most active groups in our committee was the faculty development group; they had organized a reference of trainers who would provide on-site training in their area of expertise.   Although the Executive Board saw the value in what we were presenting, they wanted our work to be coordinated with the formal program offered – the Traveling Workshop program listed above.

In other words, both of the “old projects” have developed into something different; I want to assure everybody who was involved with either of these projects that I value your work and expertise.  The changes never had anything to do with the people involved; the changes are designed to provide a better institutional response – online resources in one case, and a formal traveling workshop in the other.  If you have concerns about either one of these changes, I encourage you to send me an email (rotmanj@lcc.edu). 

 

 

F/DMC Membership Form

If you know of anybody who might be interested in joining our committee (and if they belong to AMATYC), they can go to our web page to complete a membership form:  Link to Online F/DMC Membership Form

 

 

Current and Old Newsletters

I will be putting all current, future, and some ‘old’ newsletters on our web site. 

 

Future Newsletters

The chair (Jack Rotman) is currently editing the newsletter.  If you want to get involved with this part of the committee work, send him a note.

 

The next F/DMC newsletter is scheduled for February 2006; submissions are welcome!!

 

 

Official Leadership of the Foundation/Developmental Mathematics Committee of AMATYC:

 

            Chair                                                   Vice-Chair                                         Liaison to AMATYC Executive Board

            Jack Rotman                                     Judy Giffin                                          Irene Doo

            send email to Jack                            send email to Judy                            send email to Irene

 

 

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