Re: Distance learning and developmental studies
Sam Evers (severs@SA.UA.EDU)
Tue, 22 Oct 1996 12:52:19 -0500
I wanted to address the first issue. I am all for NOT spoon feeding
students. Developmental studies has it's place, but at the university
level, students should be expected to perform at the university level.
I was told once (though I don't know it for certain) that Georgia Tech
offers Calculus 1 as their first available math class. If you can't
pass Calc 1, you can go home. I'm not saying all colleges should
abandon anything below Calculus (after all, GT is a fairly prestigious
school), but I think College Algebra is a good cutoff point. The
problem you might find is that if the developmental classes are
dropped, then the developmental students will find themselves doing
poorly in Algebra. Then pressure will be brought on by administrators
to "dumb down" the course to get a better percentage of students
passing. If you do this, then you have just made your Algebra course
a developmental math course. This must not be allowed.
Just my opinion, I could be wrong.
Sam Evers
University of Alabama
ps. At the U of A we do have a developmental math course (no credit),
but it has long been my opinion that it should be removed.