Math Department Meeting Agenda
September 3, 2015 12:30 room 835
1. Welcome: (3 minutes)
2. Information Items and Status Updates: (5 minutes)
Please read. Email Shawna with clarification questions; bring concerns for full
department discussion to meeting (but be prepared to adhere to our time limit).
CMCCC Monterey Conference: December 11-12, 2015 Registration information
available at: http://www.cmc3.org/conference/Monterey15/Monterey15.html
Funding opportunities are anticipated but not yet available. Shawna will email when
anything is official. We can also supplement with the math trust fund.
Contact Information: Please send Hilary your home or cell number if you’re willing to
share. Hilary and Shawna will be the only ones with access to these and both agree not to
give it out and be respectful of usage. There have already been a few instances where it
would have helped to reached people at home. This is especially important for adjuncts.
Shawna’s cell is 707-812-2067 (I almost never answer, but I do check my messages
regularly).
Math 90 Degree Applicability: The department seemed to contradict itself last spring
over this issue. Michael Gianvecchio will research the matter and bring it back to
our department for discussion and official decision (potentially will be a full Senate
issue).
Math 130 Mathematical Concepts for Elementary School Teachers: This class was
approved as UC Transferable effective Fall 2015. If anyone is interested in teaching this
class, or knows someone who may be, please let Shawna know.
Math Center Update: The Math Center is up and running! Hours of operation are
currently 8:15 – 5:15 Mondays – Thursdays. Class visits have started; please refer the
schedule Anne sent via email. Some student tutor funding and potentially temporary IA
funding has been restored so coverage should be increasing soon. MC staff have set
staffing priorities for busy times and will fill in around those with the hope of adding
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individual appointments and at least one evening if staffing allows. Feel free to hold any
of your office hours in the Math Center if you would like. Coordinate scheduling with
Anne.
MSC Update: Yolanda, Lisa, and Karen worked over the summer to develop Directed
Learning Activities (DLAs). The attached matrix shows current status. If you would like
to obtain electronic or hard copies of any, please contact Yolanda.
Karen will be piloting this semester using these DLAs in her Math 90 class. The
schedule is rather informal now, but Math Center staff may be trained to deliver DLAs as
staffing and funding allow. For the current pilot, DLAs are the only success center
component being implemented.
Success Center workshops are being rolled out in the Writing Center this semester.
Placement Test Verification: All of our placement tests are now verified and students
will be able to use them instead of having to file challenge forms for our higher level
classes. Now that we have validation we can discuss the possibility of making placement
testing mandatory. If there is interest we can put this on a future agenda for discussion.
Roster Verification: Remember all rosters must be verified by Friday, September 4th.
Please see the email from Stephanie or A&R for instruction.
Safe Space Training: If you haven’t been trained yet, please see the email Greg sent on
8/18 (let me know if you want me to resend) and consider completing the training. Click
Here To Learn More About The Safe Space Program.
SME Division Chair: Stephanie’s term ends at the end of the school year. At this time
she is not planning on running again. Randy would like to encourage a math faculty
member to apply. He believes it would be beneficial to our department and that we may
get a dean if no one runs for the position.
Spring 2015 Schedule: Randy developed and submitted last spring, but OI didn’t
process so necessary changes are being made before it is sent out again. Email
notification will be sent as soon as it is finalized.
Supplies: Please send supply requests to Hilary. We don’t know how much we have
yet, but will prioritize and purchase as soon as possible.
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TECH 92 and 107: The Machine Tool, Welding, and Digital Design Graphics
Technology programs are all updating their curriculum to remove TECH 92 and 107
from their required courses and are instead going to require MATH 94. This process may
take a year to go through the approval process. It is anticipated that this will increase our
enrollment in 94, 90 and possibly 55.
Textbooks: Randy Villa will coordinate the master book list with Hilary. Hilary can
work with the bookstore, library, and maintain our cupboard as long as she in confident
her list is correct. This person could also help procure books from reluctant book reps.
3. 2015/16 Planning Objectives: (10 minutes)
Begin to Develop Plans and Timelines for Completion (these are the priorities we voted
on as a department last year)
Goal 1: Develop a course Subject/topic/chapter/section guide for required coverage for
all math classes for all math instructors to follow.
Proposal: Start with Math 55 and work up through the classes aiming for completing
basic skills this year and the advanced classes next year, then revisit on an ongoing basis
coinciding with COR review. Form a subcommittee consisting of full timers who are
currently teaching the class along with any interested full timers or adjuncts.
Subcommittees would hold their first meeting by October 15th and submit documentation
for full department review by November 20th.
Math 55 subcommittee will be chaired by: Lisa & Ksenia
Math 90 subcommittee will be chaired by: Yolanda
Math 94 subcommittee will be chaired by: Ksenia
Michael added that there is space in CurricUnet to attach notes that are not
related to curriculum changes. COR review comments can be left there.
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Goal 2: Develop an organized, efficient database and calendar for departmental
paperwork required by the college, include timelines.
Proposal: __Discussed but no decision was made__________________________
will research (probably start with RPIE and OI) and begin compiling. As things come up
this year they will be added to the list as well. Create a spread sheet or flow chart to track
required reports and departmental responsibilities.
Goal 3: Develop Departmental Standards of Excellence in Teaching
Proposal: Our official plan includes a lot about compromising for the good of our
students. If you have ideas on how we can go about starting this, please share.
Goal 4: Integrate Ongoing SLO Assessment and Reflection
Proposal: Continue work started on flex day at department and division meetings as
time allows. Are we willing to move some of the discussion online in order expedite?
Could this be folded in with the work on Goal # 1?
Shawna will continue to coordinate this effort.
Goal 5: Develop Student Centered Master Schedule
Proposal: Shawna and Sherry will review the work done a few years ago, collect data
from OI and RPIE and develop a draft for department review. They will also work with
our Division Chair, Dean, and VP, as appropriate, to facilitate the switch from our roll
over schedule to a master schedule. Collaboration with other STEM departments will
also be necessary.
Goal 6: Hire More Full Time Faculty
Proposal: We all agree we need more full time tenure track math instructors. We will
keep the pressure on and continue to advocate.
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4. NVUSD Integrated Math Classes: (10 minutes)
Lisa, Yolanda, and Shawna met with Lisa Miller (math coach for NVC) to review Course
Descriptors, Pacing Calendars, and books for the Math I, II, and III classes. Shawna also
met with Steve Hansen separately.
Findings: Students who successfully complete the entire three year series will have some
exposure to topics we do not cover until Math 106 and 108. They will have extensive
experience with function notation and pattern recognition. The new curriculum focuses
on critical thinking and includes inquiry based learning. If this program is successful we
anticipate a great benefit to students’ mathematical reasoning skills.
Compared to our Math 90 and 94 series; they will not have solved rationals, radicals, or
reducible quadratic equations. They will not have seen applications involving rationals
and will have had very limited experience with solving equations involving logarithms.
Only honors students will have been exposed to matrices. Solving and graphing with
absolute value will be done in honors classes only. Non-honors students will be exposed
to the concept and focus on the meaning of absolute values through supplementary
materials.
Students who fail Math I twice will be promoted to Math II in their junior year. There is
not yet a clear policy regarding Juniors who fail Math II.
Recommendations: If we are not going to require mandatory placement for all, students
who complete all six semesters of Math I, II, and III with a C or better should be as
prepared as students who successfully completed Algebra 2 were. Past practice has
allowed these students to enroll directly in any class that required Math 94 as a prerequisite. We recommend allowing the same privilege to these students. Students who
were not successful in all three classes, or who have a combination of the old Algebra
classes and the new Math I, II, and III classes should take the placement exam.
There is no course to course equivalency between our algebra series and the new high
school classes.
Discussed but there were many questions and the group wants additional
information and clarification of the issues.
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5. SLO Assessment Plans: (20 Minutes)
Could this be rolled into the work of the subcommittee for Goal 1?
Review, edit, and approve Math 94 SLO Assessment Plan.
Begin discussion on Math 106 and 120 as time allows.
Math 94 was discussed from the point we left off on Flex Day. Radical Value,
Systems of Equations were ok with the group. Quadratic Function brought up
concern about the difficulty level and whether we want language that
“problems will match difficulty level” (emphasis added).
The discussion was ended because we ran out of time.
6. Future Meeting Dates: 12:30 – 1:20 room 835
Thursday, September 17th
Tuesday, October 1st
Tuesday, November 5th
Tuesday, December 3rd (tentative)
Please email Shawna with items for agenda as the come up
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