| Originator: | Clifford, Laurel Status: Approved Department: MAT Mathematics |
| Date Created: | 10/12/2018 Submitted: 10/12/2018 Completed: 10/15/2018 |
| ATF (Program or Discipline): | Mathematics |
| Date of the ATF: | October 5, 2018 |
| Statewide Update: | Statewide Transfer Data
(http://steeringcommittee.aztransfer.com/resources/ATF_2018/ATFMeetings201819.pdf) **New transfers from AZ community colleges increasing from 2011-2012 through 2016-2017, showing a slowing in the increase (concave down) in the latter years (+32 between 2015-2016 and 2016-2017). **Baccalaureate degrees resumed an increasing trend from 2015-2016 to 2016-2017, after having shown a slight decrease from 2014-2015 to 2015-2016. **Statistic quoted: 61% of university graduates had Arizona community college credits. |
| University Curricular updates: | Arizona State University (ASU):
**ASU is using ALEKS in College Algebra (MAT 117). The use of ALEKS appears to be going well. Fall class had placement test proctored via RPNow video proctoring (change from previous policy), leading to a substantial increase in students taking College Algebra. College Math enrollment also increased. In the past, students were placing higher which is most likely because there was no way to verify honest placement, and as a result, Calculus and Precalculus enrollment declined, with a rise in enrollment expected in spring. Students can get placed into MAT 117 automatically if they do not have a major. **They are seeing students in College Algebra finish early (in 6-7 weeks) and have to wait until the next semester to enroll in the next course, so they are looking at the placement numbers to see if a portion of students could be placed higher. **In the Calculus sequence (MAT 270, etc. for math majors, MAT 260, etc. for engineering majors and everyone else), they are using Pat Thompson's DIRACC Calculus program, which has a different approach than the traditional one (http://patthompson.net/ThompsonCalc/). For students who transfer in with just Calculus I, the Calculus II instructors do a 'crash course' for them to catch them up to speed. **Online enrollment is showing 10-15% growth. There is no online degree as of yet for math, as the challenge is how to turn a higher level math course (with proofs) into an online course. **College Algebra (MAT 117) is also offered as a 'stretch' course, where noncompleters are given a z-grade, then enroll in a 0-credit MAT 117S course to pick up where they left off (rather than have to start the course over). Once the student completes the stretch course, the z-grade is changed to an appropriate passing grade. The z-grade was used to allow students to have access to a class and instructor and not have to pay for the course again as opposed to an incomplete grade which students would have to complete on their own. In practice, this stretch idea doesn't seem to work. It appears that students who enroll in 117S get some boost, but are not really able to pick up where they left off. In addition, as 117S is 0 credits, they still have to enroll in 12 credits to be full time, and thus can end up overloaded with courses. There has to be a lot of advising one-on-one with students about how it all works. University of Arizona (UA): **UA is now a Hispanic Serving Institution, which allows them to qualify for more grant funding to serve the Hispanic population. See https://uanews.arizona.edu/story/ua-recognized-service-hispanic-students **Math 106 is a new foundation math course for Elementary School Teachers offered for the first time this fall (see Syllabus attached). The course includes exploring patterns, functions, and modeling. Note that UA will accept Arizona College Math (MAT 140, 141, 142 type courses) courses to satisfy UA Math 106. UA offers Math 105 (Math in Modern Society), Math 106 (the new course, Exploring and Understanding Patterns, Functions, and Modeling for Elementary Teachers) and Math 107 (Exploring and Understanding Data), and College Math will satisfy these. **They have 2 new majors: Statistics and Data Science BA and BS. See http://math.arizona.edu/academics/undergrads/requirements/SDS **They are proctoring the placement test (using ALEKS) and using SAT, ACT scores for placement. The have noticed students shifting down in placement as they can choose not to take the test. Northern Arizona University (NAU): **NAU is using ALEKS in their lowest level math, but as they have just started, they have no data to see how things are working. They have an in-house placement through Pearson, with questions chosen by NAU. They also use ACT, SAT and high school math for placement; students who have four years of high school math can enter college-level math. **They are going to take a sample of their lowest level placement and bump them up by one course, depending on the major. They will then look back at the placement, GPA of the successful students as added placement tools. Grand Canyon University (GCU): **GCU uses ALEKS for Intermediate and Introductory Algebra. Students have to self-select to take these courses due to financial aid. They also have bridge courses/boot camps and use ALEKS as prep for the NES test. **The only math degree they offer is a Math Education degree. They have found that 90% of their graduates pass the NES test the first time they take it. **They have about 70-80,000 students online, 17,000 on ground with a goal of 30,000 by 2025. They are adding an engineering class this spring, and looking at creating Data Analysis and/or Actuary degrees with the Business department, and creating a Brief Calculus course. **They offer an MA in Math aimed at higher education, providing credits for instructors to be able to meet HLC requirements for teaching. It is offered on-ground only and requires only math to Calculus II to enter the program. They have resisted offering it online due to honesty/integrity issues. They have about 20-25 students in the program currently. |
| Community college Curricular Updates: | Due to time limitations, discussion at the community college was minimal. Coconino is looking at changing the content of their introductory statistics course to include more modern methods, and discussion on transferability of said course ensued, but will be continued in the spring meeting. |
| Suggested changes to matricies: | Course Matrix
**ASU has not offered MAT 274 and offers MAT 275 for Differential Equations. **Coconino Differential Equations is MAT 261, not MAT 262. **Maricopa is only offering MAT 276 for Differential Equations. **Discussion ensued about the purpose of the Common Courses: if a student completes these courses, have they met the math major lower division undergraduate requirements? In Mathematics, this appears to be the case, although there is confusion in other disciplines as they do not view the Common Courses as we do (they are not as agreeable or as cool as Math people are). **Coconino is no longer offering Math for Elementary Teachers, but it is still listed in the Elementary Education Major Guide. Exam Equivalency Guide: **The Universities met in spring 2018 to discuss the Cambridge and International Baccalaureate exams to agree on what they will accept, and what credit will be awarded. The community colleges will make the appropriate changes to align with the Universities' decisions. **Advanced Placement Exams (AP): No changes. **College Level Exam Program (CLEP): ASU needs to update their College Math CLEP to align with the other Universities so it will not be accepted at all three Universities. **DANTES Subject Standard Test (DSST): Universities are not required to agree and they do not; no changes. **Cambridge International Exams (CIE): Clarification was shared on how to interpret the levels: the levels are progressive, as each successive level requires the completion of the previous, so that a student who finishes the Mathematics-Further-A Level has completed essentially three courses as the other levels are also completed. For all three Cambridge Exams, the 'Exam Score D or higher' column needs to be removed as all three Universities agreed that E meant passing. The order of the levels in the Exam Matrix list on aztransfer.com is not the actual progression; the levels progression from AS-Level, to A-Level, to Further A-Level. >>>Mathematics-A Level is viewed as sufficient for Precalculus or Business Calculus content >>>Mathematics-AS Level is viewed as sufficient for College Algebra content >>>Mathematics-Further-A Level is viewed as Calculus I, II and lowest level Statistics course content **International Baccalaureate (IB) Column headings in the exams need to be changed to use a score of 5 or higher (no need for 4 or higher column). >>>Further Mathematics - HL: evaluated on a case by case basis, change to math elective credit. They have not seen any instances of this exam. >>>Mathematics - SL: College Math credit; ASU needs to add MAT 142. Colleges add College Math. >>>Mathematics Studies - SL: not accepted; take out exam score 4 or 5 column and change all institutions to 'not accepted.' >>>Mathematics- HL: Precalculus and Calculus I. Colleges add Precalculus and/or College Algebra/ Trigonometry. Colleges will inform their institution's ACETS person to make their specific institution?s changes to align with the Universities in for the Cambridge and IB exams. Mohave Community College-specific changes to align with Universities: Cambridge CIE AS- Level Use Exam score E or higher only, remove Exam score D or higher column, add MCC equivalent: MAT 151 Cambridge CIE A-Level Use Exam score E or higher only, remove Exam score D or higher column, add MCC equivalents: MAT 151, MAT 181 and MAT 212 (all three) Cambridge CIE Further A-Level Use Exam score E or higher only, remove Exam score D or higher column, add MCC equivalents: MAT 221, MAT 231, and MAT 211 (all three) IB- Mathematics HL Use Exam score 5 or higher only, remove Exam score 4 or higher column, add MCC equivalents: MAT 151, MAT 181, and MAT 221 (all three) IB- Further Mathematics HL Use Exam score 5 or higher only, remove Exam score 4 or higher column, change all to math elective credit IB-Mathematics Studies SL Take out Exam score 4 or 5, change all to Not accepted IB-Mathematics SL Use Exam score 5 or higher only, remove Exam score 4 or higher column, add MCC equivalent: MAT 142 |
| Volunteering: | no |
| Additional Comments: | Placement remains an issue across the state and will be discussed in the spring meeting. Movement is toward proctored placement tests as well as multiple measures (such as GPA, etc., which Mohave attempted to do last spring).
A lot of institutions are using ALEKS for supplementing math curriculum. Multiple math pathways are becoming the norm across the state as well as nation (Mohave was ahead of the state in this area). |