College of the Canyons -- Title III
The Institute of Teaching and Learning
Instructional Innovation Classroom Research Proposal
Title:
Student Success in
English 103
Researcher: Jennifer Brezina
IN THE SPACE
BELOW, PRESENT A STATEMENT OF YOUR PROPOSED RESEARCH PROJECT
(APPROXIMATELY 500-1000 WORDS), INCLUDING A GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE
SCOPE AND NATURE OF YOUR PROJECT, THE DESIGN OR OUTLINE TO BE FOLLOWED.
DESCRIBE YOUR PLANNED ACTIVITIES AND TIMELINES.
English 101 is a prerequisite for English
103, but, for a variety of reasons, many students enter English 103 online
having not completely mastered the skills taught in English 101, limiting
their success, especially on early assignments. Of particular concern are
skills in the areas of research and documentation.
In this project, I propose that by having students assessed (both
self-assessment and objective assessment) early in the course and then
providing them with resources tailored to their specific needs to assist
them with review of this 101-level material, the students will be more
successful in English 103.
As part of the required online orientation (taking place in the first two
days of the semester), my online English 103 students will complete a quiz
through Blackboard that will ask them for their own assessment of their
mastery of the research and documentation skills taught in English 101 and
will also ask them to answer objective questions relating to those skills to
measure their current areas of strength and weakness. Students will receive
immediate scores and feedback through Blackboard.
Additionally, by the end of the first week of class, I will email each
student with an individualized list of resources designed to help them
review in the areas in which they show weakness. The resources will consist
largely of online exercises and other self-paced presentations and handouts.
At the time that the first essay is due (approximately four weeks into the
course), students will be asked to complete a survey that asks them about
their usage of these review materials. They will be asked to approximate the
amount of time spent in each area and also to rate their satisfaction with
the resources. If they chose not to spend time with the review materials,
they will be asked for their reasons.
After grading the first assignment, I will go back to the essays and tally
the number of errors in MLA style formatting and source documentation as
well as the number and types of sources used. I will then compare these
results to those from two previous semesters’ English 103 classes that have
not gone through this process (Spring and Fall 2005). I will also compare
error rates and source use of those students in this semester’s class (Fall
2006) who spent time with the resources to those who had resources
recommended but did not use them.
Anecdotally, many online English 103 students report that it has been
several years since they last took an English class and/or that their
English 101 class was taken at another college, leaving many students with a
gap in skill levels. Since English 103 assumes that students posses the
prerequisite skills, class time is generally not spent on review. While
review materials have been available on my class website, it is not clear
how many students take advantage of them or how helpful they are.
WHAT ARE THE
OBJECTIVES OF YOUR PROJECT? DESCRIBE THE RELEVANCE OF YOUR PROJECT TO
STUDENT LEARNING?
By personalizing the feedback and the
materials, the hope is that students will be more likely to spend time on
needed review and their success on early assignments will improve. In
addition, gaining structured feedback on review materials will help me to
improve the resources available for future classes.
WHAT EVALUATION
METHODOLOGY WILL YOU USE TO PROVIDE PROGRESS MEASURES FOR YOUR PROJECT?
INCLUDE A DESCRIPTION OF YOUR BENCHMARKS.
I will look for a decrease in error rates
(source integration and documentation and document formatting) and an
increase in number, variety, and quality of sources used in the first essays
of this semester (Spring 2006) as compared to first essays from Fall 2005
and Spring 2005. I will also use the second quiz (scored through Blackboard)
and Blackboard’s tracking features to monitor the number of hits to that
area of the class website in order to evaluate the amount of student review.
WHAT TEACHING
STRATEGIES/LEARNING CONCEPTS/PEDAGOGICAL THEORIES/TECHNOLOGY SKILLS DID
YOU GAIN KNOWLEDGE OF THROUGH THE INTRIRUTE OF TEACHING AND LEARNING
COURSES THAT YOU WILL APPLY TO YOUR CLASSROOM RESEARCH?
This project draws on several principles of the AAHE’s Seven Principles for
Good Practice in Undergraduate Education, which was one of the areas covered
in EDUC 090.
• Good Practice Encourages Student-Faculty Contact
It is often difficult in the first week of a semester to connect on an
individual, academic level with students in 100% online classes due to large
class size. By taking advantage of Blackboard’s quiz feature, I will be able
to individually assess all of the students’ skills in research and
documentation and provide them with personalized contact in the first week.
• Good Practice Encourages Active Learning
Rather than passively listening to a lecture or viewing online materials,
students will begin the semester by using self reflection to assess their
own skill levels. Students will then learn actively through self-paced
resources, allowing them the opportunity to make decisions about their own
learning.
• Good Practice Gives Prompt Feedback
Between the immediately scored initial quiz and the email response from me
(sent within days of the quiz), students will receive prompt feedback. The
review resources will also include computer-scored quizzes in order to
provide students with timely feedback on their mastery of targeted skills.
• Good Practice Communicates High Expectations
By beginning the course with a reflection on research and documentation
skills, students will be introduced to the idea that these skills are among
the expectations for success in this course. The quiz and email will
communicate clearly the importance of these skills and their own level of
current ability. At the same time, this process of self-paced review will
allow students who are not well prepared for English 103 to improve their
skills before the first graded essay assignment.
HOW MANY STUDENTS
(APPROXIMATELY) WILL PARTICIPATE IN THIS RESEARCH PROJECT? 35
WHAT DO YOU (AS
AN INSTRUCTOR) HOPE TO LEARN FROM YOUR RESEARCH? DESCRIBE ANY
INSTRUCTIONAL DEVELOPMENT OR IMPROVEMENT YOU HOPE TO GLEAN FROM THIS
PROJECT.
I hope to learn several things:
First, I hope to improve my ability to
differentiate learning for students of varying skill levels. By using the
Blackboard quiz feature, I hope to be able to quickly and accurately judge
strengths and weaknesses and provide specific direction to students early in
a course. If this project goes well, I would like to expand this technique
into other areas.
Second, I hope to gain feedback on the effectiveness of the review materials
that I provide. While it is helpful to have informal anecdotal evidence of
student learning, it is even more important to collect data on the
usefulness of resources for students.
Most importantly, I would like to improve student success on the first essay
assignment. Often, it is the weakest essay of the semester in terms of both
content and form. If students are able to master the formal aspects of
writing that includes research (English 101 skills) early in the semester,
it will hopefully allow them to focus more closely on the new material of
English 103 when the time comes to write the first essay.
Blackboard
Canyons