University of North Carolina at Charlotte CTL Summer Institute Friday, May 21, 2010

Redesign of Elementary Spanish * Godev, Vega & McCullough 1 of 18

University of North Carolina at CharlotteCTL Summer InstituteFriday, May 21, 2010

CHHS 281 * 09:15-10:15

Redesigning Elementary Spanish at UNC Charlotte

Concepción B. Godev, Adriana Vega, and Heather McCullough[on behalf of:

Elementary Spanish Redesign Committee / Research Group: Jasoon An, Concepción Godev (chair), Ann Gonzalez, Paula Goolkasian,

Heather McCullough, Ton Pujol, Garvey Pyke, Adriana Vega, and Sandra Watts

Instructors: Carlos Coria, Lorena Delgadillo, Elizabeth Mahaffey, and Adriana Vega

Tutors:Graduate Students and Mary Frances Castro, Elvira Jardines, and Shirley

WrightFormer Colleagues:

Joan Elies Adell-Pitarch, Cristian Batalla, Rosalba Esparragoza-Scott, and Kazuko Ichinozeki]

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general information 1

• Traditional Elementary Spanish (first and second semester)

60 sections per semester

30 students per section

3000 students per year (including summer)

3 contact hours over two days

• Redesigned Elementary Spanish (first and second semester)

30 sections per semester

60 students per section

3000 students per year (including summer)

1 hour 15 mins in one day

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general information 2

● redesign goals: lowering cost, improving academic instruction and improving performance.

● project status: completed the first semester pilot study and the second semester pilot study is underway.

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planning 1● review of and consultation with existing redesigned programs

(Spring 2008)● Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) informs languages

department about NCAT’s program “Colleagues Committed to Redesign Projects” (Spring 2009)

● CTL, in consultation with LACS department committee, drafts course redesign NCAT proposal (Spring-Summer 2009)

● lesson plans, online activities selection and pre-pilot hybrid first-semester course (Spring-Summer 2009)

● pilot first-semester Spanish courses (Fall 2009)● pilot second-semester Spanish courses (Spring 2010)

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planning 2● administrative support (5 colleagues): department chair,

associate chair, Language Resource Center director, two colleagues from Center for Teaching and Learning.

● faculty / time support (4 colleagues / 3 course-releases): elementary Spanish coordinator, specialist in second language acquisition, two full-time instructors, two part-time instructors.

● grant support ($18,190): Office of Distance Education-$3,000 (Spring 2008); Academic Program Improvement-$4,500 (Fall 2008); Scholarship of Teaching and Learning-$10,690 (Spring-Summer 2010).

● research support (statistical analysis) (1 colleague): psychology professor.

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planning 3● committee

CTL representative

Language Resource Center Director

instructor

coordinator

senior faculty● meetings

3-4 meetings per semester as a committee

senior faculty may have some 4-5 one-to-one meetings

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planning 4● data collectionmonitored and coordinated by senior faculty● communicationemailmoodle forummoodle file-sharing space

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sloan-c’s criteria

1. student satisfaction.2. access. 3. learning effectiveness.4. faculty satisfaction.5. institutional cost effectiveness.

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student reactions 1● challenge: 59% of the redesigned course

students wanted to take a redesigned second-semester Spanish.

● solution: changing expectations by changing study habits.

● challenge: 13% withdrawals● solution 1: better training on making the most

of the academic support services available.● solution 2: strategic scheduling of tutoring

services.

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student reactions 2● challenge: students need to improve the pace

of their online work.● solution: flexible software that allows for easy-

to-set-up deadlines.● challenge: ~50% of both traditional and hybrid

students can’t learn grammar from virtual instructor.

● solution: tutoring

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instructors’ reactions

● the software quality has to improve.● perception that more work is involved.● instructors got to know traditional students

better.● concerns about student evaluations.● hybrid students’ class participation is higher in

the first half of the semester.

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numerical results 1

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Percentage of Letter Grades

Figure 1. Common Final Exam Results. SPAN 1201. Fall 2009

trad final ex 20 32 29 5 14

hyb final ex 18 34 25 10 12

A B C D F

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numerical results 2

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Percentage of Letter Grades

Figure 2. Course Grade Results. SPAN 1201. Fall 2009

trad course g 23 38 22 10 3 3

hyb course g 22 38 18 4 5 13

A B C D F W

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cost 1

● 15 sections (as opposed to 30) of first semester Spanish in Fall 2010.

● use of classroom space has been reduced by 50%

● contact time has not been reduced for the instructor.

● preparation time has been reduced by 50%.

● 9 GTAs, 1 lecturer, and 2 part-time instructors will be teaching the entire first semester in Fall 2010.

● some GTA hours will be allocated to tutoring and assisting with any-language faculty’s research tasks.

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cost 2

● instructors need to grade:

two compositions (as opposed to 3). a midterm exam (as opposed to 4). an in-class oral exam (as opposed to 3 qzs). 25% of the final exam (as opposed to 100%).

● grading time per student per semester: 41 minutes (as opposed to 100 minutes).

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accomplishments

● common final exam first- and second-semester Spanish.

● final speaking test.

● more time on task.

● lesson plan preparation time has been reduced.

● grading time has been reduced.

● exam preparation time has been reduced.

● videotaped classes for future training.

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remaining tasks

● estimating communication/counseling time-cost per student (probable average is some 10 minutes per semester per student).

● instructor training for hybrid first-semester Spanish rollout in Fall 2010.

● advertising for students and parents.

● analyzing pilot hybrid second-semester Spanish results.

● analyzing results from hybrid first-semester Spanish rollout in Fall 2010.

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THANKS!

QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, REMARKS?