Board 290: From Resistance to Readiness – Building Capacity to Pilot and Scale Co-requisite Calculus for First-Year Engineering Gateway Courses

Darlene M. Olsen; Karen Supan; Liz Johnson

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Conference: 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Portland, Oregon
Publication Date: June 23, 2024
Start Date: June 23, 2024
End Date: July 12, 2024
Conference Session: NSF Grantees Poster Session
Tagged Topic: NSF Grantees Poster Session
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/46866

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Paper Authors

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Darlene M. Olsen Norwich University

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Dr. Darlene M. Olsen is a Charles A. Dana Professor of Mathematics at Norwich University.

Dr. Olsen has taught at Norwich University since 2006. Her current research areas are biostatistics and mathematics pedagogy. Dr. Olsen has received research grants through the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Health funded Vermont Genetics Network, has served as a statistical consultant, and her work has been published in several research journals. Previously, she worked as a statistician for the New York State Department of Labor and taught at the University at Albany, Saint Michael’s College, Johnson State College, and the University of Vermont. Dr. Olsen received her doctorate in Mathematics from the University at Albany. She also has a Master of Science in Biometry and Statistics, a Master of Arts in Mathematics, both from the University at Albany, and a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics from SUNY Geneseo.

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Karen Supan Norwich University

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Karen Supan is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and the Director of the David Crawford School of Engineering at Norwich University. She teaches courses in thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and renewable energy. Dr. Supan has research interests in degradation kinetics of biomass materials, microgrid development for cold regions, and implementation of Artificial Intelligence in Engineering classrooms.

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Liz Johnson Liz Johnson Education Consulting

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Dr. Liz Johnson (Lead Evaluator) left a career in academia to consult and work as an educational evaluator in 2020. Since, she has focused primarily on evaluation of NSF and USDA grant-funded programs that center faculty learning and systems-embedded student supports toward persistence and matriculation in STEM degree programs; in many cases at Hispanic Serving Institutions. Prior to 2020, Liz worked as a full-time faculty member at St. Edward’s University in Austin, TX and City University of New York on Staten Island. Her research includes qualitative case studies that engage youth in P-16 settings. Her initial foray into evaluation includes three years (2004-2007) at the National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools and Teaching at Columbia Teachers College on the Bill & Melinda Gates funded Institute for Student Achievement project. As part of that project, she conducted appreciative evaluation of small school reform implementation at various school sites across the New York region.

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Abstract

Norwich University, the First Senior Military College in the nation and the first private U.S. institution to teach engineering, has a residential program for approximately 2,100 primarily undergraduate students in both the Corps of Cadets and civilian lifestyles. Norwich secured a National Science Foundation S-STEM award in the beginning of 2020 to develop a program to attract and retain highly talented, low-income students in STEM. One of the aims of the project was to support students who enter college with less experience in mathematics as these students were significantly less likely to graduate with a STEM degree.

In the fall of 2020, as a result of the S-STEM award, the mathematics department offered a pilot corequisite calculus course to STEM majors requiring calculus their first semester but placed into precalculus by the mathematics departmental placement test. The corequisite calculus course includes content from precalculus into a one semester calculus course that meets daily for 6 contact hours rather than a standard 4 credit hour calculus course. The Norwich University Civil, Electrical and Computer, and Mechanical Engineering programs are accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, placing restrictions on the 8-semester engineering degree pathway. The added credits to the first semester corequisite calculus course fit the constraints of the first semester engineering course load and this course has enabled engineering students that place into precalculus to complete an on-time degree plan without taking summer courses. The corequisite course has been approved by the university curriculum committee and is a regular offering at the institution.

The initial offering of the corequisite course occurred during the COVID pandemic necessitating the use of additional instructional technology. There was also an increase in low stakes assessments to encourage students to engage in the material. The added credits also increased the regularity of student interacting with calculus. Since the implementation of this pilot course, there have been several similar changes in other courses required by engineering majors. The pilot corequisite course has become institutionalized and even is now scaling, with the engineering department requesting the course to be offered each semester to benefit students who are out of sync with the intended curriculum pathway. This project examines how the corequisite calculus course may have influenced changes in the general education courses and engineering first year sequence. Outcome harvesting as well as process tracing are used to determine the strength of evidence linking the corequisite course to institutional change. Qualitative and quantitative data will be examined as well to understand how the S-STEM award contributed to breakdown of the resistance to curriculum change and the readiness to implement and scale corequisite course in other areas. It is important to understand the mechanisms used for building capacity at the institution to transform STEM education in higher education.

Citation
Format

Olsen, D. M., & Supan, K., & Johnson, L. (2024, June), Board 290: From Resistance to Readiness – Building Capacity to Pilot and Scale Co-requisite Calculus for First-Year Engineering Gateway Courses Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/46866

TY - CPAPER
AB - Norwich University, the First Senior Military College in the nation and the first private U.S. institution to teach engineering, has a residential program for approximately 2,100 primarily undergraduate students in both the Corps of Cadets and civilian lifestyles. Norwich secured a National Science Foundation S-STEM award in the beginning of 2020 to develop a program to attract and retain highly talented, low-income students in STEM. One of the aims of the project was to support students who enter college with less experience in mathematics as these students were significantly less likely to graduate with a STEM degree.

In the fall of 2020, as a result of the S-STEM award, the mathematics department offered a pilot corequisite calculus course to STEM majors requiring calculus their first semester but placed into precalculus by the mathematics departmental placement test. The corequisite calculus course includes content from precalculus into a one semester calculus course that meets daily for 6 contact hours rather than a standard 4 credit hour calculus course. The Norwich University Civil, Electrical and Computer, and Mechanical Engineering programs are accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, placing restrictions on the 8-semester engineering degree pathway. The added credits to the first semester corequisite calculus course fit the constraints of the first semester engineering course load and this course has enabled engineering students that place into precalculus to complete an on-time degree plan without taking summer courses. The corequisite course has been approved by the university curriculum committee and is a regular offering at the institution.

The initial offering of the corequisite course occurred during the COVID pandemic necessitating the use of additional instructional technology. There was also an increase in low stakes assessments to encourage students to engage in the material. The added credits also increased the regularity of student interacting with calculus. Since the implementation of this pilot course, there have been several similar changes in other courses required by engineering majors. The pilot corequisite course has become institutionalized and even is now scaling, with the engineering department requesting the course to be offered each semester to benefit students who are out of sync with the intended curriculum pathway.
This project examines how the corequisite calculus course may have influenced changes in the general education courses and engineering first year sequence. Outcome harvesting as well as process tracing are used to determine the strength of evidence linking the corequisite course to institutional change. Qualitative and quantitative data will be examined as well to understand how the S-STEM award contributed to breakdown of the resistance to curriculum change and the readiness to implement and scale corequisite course in other areas. It is important to understand the mechanisms used for building capacity at the institution to transform STEM education in higher education.

AU - Darlene M. Olsen
AU - Karen Supan
AU - Liz Johnson
CY - Portland, Oregon
DA - 2024/06/23
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Board 290: From Resistance to Readiness – Building Capacity to Pilot and Scale Co-requisite Calculus for First-Year Engineering Gateway Courses
UR - https://peer.asee.org/46866
ER -