When the Mathematics Department was faced with a completely revised set of SUNY General Education Learning Outcomes for Mathematics, they knew it was critical that MTH 150 Survey of Mathematics follow suit. Assistant Professors Aimee Calhoun and Amanda Malone were asked to tackle the reinvention. It was a big job with a huge impact. More than a thousand students take the course every year and students depend on that course to meet those outcomes. Profs Malone and Calhoun accepted the challenge and sought an instructional development stipend from the Curriculum Office. During the summer of 2007, the pair collaborated on the development of a new approach to MTH 150.
As a SUNY General Education course, MTH 150 is one of the most popular choices among students heading to SUNY four-year institutions. The new SUNY Learning Outcomes for Mathematics were a significant departure from the outcomes that SUNY had previously required. The topics and objectives in MTH 150 no longer covered the new learning outcomes adequately. The faculty members retooled the course, not only to meet the needs of SUNY transfers, but also revisited the foundational standards described by the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (AMATYC). The Association’s document, Beyond Crossroads: Implementing Mathematics Standards in the First Two Years of College, provided national guidelines to ensure MCC’s curriculum is consistent with the best in the nation.
Of course, satisfying SUNY and meeting national standards was only the first step. The innovations then had to pass the review of MCC’s Math faculty. This fall, the new curriculum was approved by the Course Committee and is now being considered by the Department’s Curriculum Committee. Profs. Calhoun and Malone hope that this new curriculum will take effect beginning fall 2008.
Stuart Blacklaw
Curriculum & Program Development
12/11/2007 |