The Alverno Story:The Alverno Story:QL in the QL in the DisciplinesDisciplines

Sue MenteQuIRK/PKAL WorkshopOctober 10 – 12, 2008

Overview of SessionOverview of Session

• Setting context• About Alverno College• QL Courses

Session overviewSession overviewGetting off the ground

◦Administration◦Faculty◦Students

Sustaining the program◦Faculty support◦Training for faculty new◦Monitoring

Nursing Education

Infusion of

Quantitative Literacy

Business Arts & Science

Setting ContextSetting ContextAlverno College

◦Demographics◦Ability based curriculum

QL CoursesMath is a way to describe, analyze and understand our world. – M. Frankenstein

Explore ThisExplore This

Scan pp. 63 - 67 Examining the poverty line and the supplement Yardstick of poverty needs fixing

Review p. 68 The story behind the numbers

Why would we ask faculty from across the disciplines to engage in this activity?

Reasons for engaging Reasons for engaging facultyfaculty• See a broader view of QL• See QL is different than “old math”• See connections to their disciplines• See own potential projection of

attitude

We asked for help with data/topics/articles. Why?

QL in the DisciplinesQL in the DisciplinesFurther demonstration of QL

◦Limited graduation requirement (Shhhhhhhh)

◦Anecdotal external evidence

◦Transferability concernscontext in math vs. math in context

“Yesterday I read an article for Social Science that dealt with a lot of numbers like fractions, decimals and percents. I understood everything except the percents, which still confuse me. But I was proud of myself because I stopped and questioned the numbers to see what they really meant. It was weird to sit and question a social science paper.”

What do students say?What do students say?Survey of graduating seniors

◦See page 69

EXPLORE THISComments on our survey?

What would you want to know? Generate some questions.

Administration Administration Buy – in & Implications Buy – in & Implications

Iron was hot

NSF grant $

Needed to have specifics

Needed commitment from disciplines and general education

Faculty Buy – inFaculty Buy – in• Set ground work first

• Personal contact with key people

• $NSF for Summer work time

• Does this mean I’d have to teach math?

• Some faculty have fears & forgotten skills(“To be honest, I skip the graphs in the text.”)

Defining QL as a common Defining QL as a common learning goallearning goalMultidisciplinary team

Not more math

Characteristics that cross disciplinary boundaries

Elicit quantitative dimension of your discipline

Power of CriteriaPower of CriteriaCreates a picture of ability

Gives faculty language

Helps faculty expectations(can expect levels 1 & 2 in level 3)

See page 70 for Alverno criteria

Summer workshop Summer workshop

EXPLORE THIS See p. 71 opening activity #3 Why might this be effective for faculty?

Multidisciplinary groups

Modify an assignment/assessment

Sustaining the programSustaining the programSee page 72 for follow up

questions and inservices

Training for faculty new to QL (we are weak here)

Monitoring for level of expectation

Database of activitiesDatabase of activities

On-going monitoringOn-going monitoring Collect sample assessments and

activities

We would also be interested in your insights on whether your work with QL in the courses you teach for validation has influenced your teaching in other classes.

Re the question of teaching - I LOVE QUANT LIT!!!! It makes the students responsible to their daily studio time and also has them reflect upon how to apply this learning in their own future studio, art therapy or art ed situations. It has also made me much more verbal as a teacher. Before I used to just apply my technical responses to solve problems, now I find in demos that I list the possible reactions and solutions of materials as a component of anything that I present. The road to technical excellence is now less of a secret and physical problem solving and is now more of a discursive studio tactic.