Geoffrey Akst
akst@chelsea.ios.com
The Manhattan Community College Math Lab provides students with
individualized or small group tutoring, testing, and computer-based study
in mathematics. The lab is divided into five areas: a multimedia
classroom, a computer drop-in area, a video viewing section, a testing
area, and a main tutoring area.
The main tutoring area contains about ten tables. At each table
there is a tutor who is responsible for covering two or three courses. The
lab is made available to students on a walk-in basis. Open Monday through
Saturday, the Lab is directed by three college lab technicians. It is
staffed by some 23 tutors, who are underwritten by VATEA, Tax Levy and
C-STEP.
Students who come to the Lab receive assistance in all te areas of
mathematics which our courses cover. These include both remedial and
college-level" material. The typical daily attendance in the Math Lab is
in excess of 220 students. More than half of the students who attend the
lab receive remedial tutoring.
Student attendance in the lab is mainly voluntary, and tends to
increase as the term progresses. Toward the end of the semester, the Math
Lab is very crowded, and the ratio of tutors to students is 1:8 or even
worse. At these times, the supervisors encourage students to work
together, and try to increase staffing. But the fact that many of the
tutors are themselves undergraduate and graduate students preparing for
finals makes this task difficult.
Each instructor has a folder in the lab where exams are stored and
collected. Students with a permission slip from an instructor would come
and show a validated BMCC ID card when taking an exam in the testing area.
Given the small size of the lab, students taking exams often complain about
the noise levels from the tutoring activity.
The resources for the computer-based learning in the Math Lab are
extensive. It houses 2 V.C.R.'s w/display monitor, 5 Apple 11 computers,
73 Macintosh computers, and several IBM PC's as well. These computers are
divided among four areas: a classroom equipped with Quadra 650's in which
faculty hold Multimedia Algebra classes, either on a permanent basis or an
ad hoc basis; a classroom equipped with Power Macs primarily used for
classes in Calculus; a classroom equipped with Power Macs and LC's
primarily used for Statistics and a drop-in computer area with Apple 11's,
Macs, and IBM PC's on which students work through math problems with a
"computer tutor."
The Math Lab also runs Project Advance during intercessions.
Project Advance is a program for students who marginally fail their
remedial math course (MAT 010, MAT 011, MAT 012, or MAT 051). Students who
are recommended for the program by their instructors are given a diagnostic
test, tutored for three weeks, and then given one opportunity to retake the
exam(s) needed to satisfy their course requirements. The Math Lab runs
Project Advance twice each year, once in August for students who marginally
failed their course in the spring or summer semester and again in January
for students who marginally failed in the fall semester.
-----------------
At 12:23 PM 5/24/96, Dave Gillette wrote:
>Friends;
>
>Chemeketa Community College, in Salem OR, has a Mathematics Learning
>Center. For two decades, we have been offering the courses that
>precede Pre-calculus in an individualized format. We have recently
>expanded the center to include a testing center for our traditional
>format courses. Any instructor who wishes to use it, may invite the
>students in an entire class to each choose a time during a two day
>window to take their test. It is also used for make-up tests and
>special needs students. We also have a place for storing the
>collection of materials that are being gathered for the activities
>that are being developed to enliven our courses.
>
>Our facility includes a classroom, staffed with an instructor, an
>instructional assistant, and student aids; a testing room with 36
>carrels and windows to the classroom HQ for security purposes; and a
>small staff work area. We are open 8 - 3:30, M - F and 6:30 - 9:30
>pm M - Th.
>
>One of our instructors is doing a sabbatical next school year to
>research what other schools are doing in math learning centers. We
>plan to summarize the results of her investigations on a web page.
>
>Those of you that have any kind of a math center could assist us by
>sending a description of what you have and how you are using your
>facility.
>
>David Gillette Marveen McCready
>gild@chemek.cc.or.us mccm@chemek.cc.or.us
>503-399-6079 503-399-5005
>
>Chemeketa Community College
>4000 Lancaster Dr NE
>P.O. Box 14007
>Salem OR 97309-7070