July 2005 ILP Snapshot

Resources Our most important resources have been two learning community groups: National Learning Communities Project The Washington Center The Evergreen State College Learning Communities Commons Regional Learning Communities Consortium De Anza College LinC Consortium Food for Thought The Institution Serving more than 12,000 students each semester, College of San Mateo (CSM) is located mid-way between San Francisco and Silicon Valley in the heart of the San Francisco Bay Area. Its students, typical of California community college students, are on average older, less affluent, and more ethnically and racially diverse than students at most baccalaureate universities. CSM employs 180 full-time faculty. CSM Homepage Carleton College ILP Snapshot

Team Michael C. Burke (Project Leader), Professor of Mathematics Jean Mach, Professor of English Dr. Jeremy Ball, Professor of Philosophy Michael C. Burke (left), Jean Mach (center), Dr. Jeremy Ball (right). Project Timeline Over the three years of the project, CSM will measurably expand and institutionalize its learning communities program by tackling needed work in the key areas of integration of Instruction and Student Services, recruitment of new faculty, promotion of classes, development of assessment instruments, and dissemination of our work to the college and beyond. This summer, the team will develop assessment instruments and strategies for the learning communities. By the end of Fall 2004, strategies to integrate Instruction and Student Services in the learning communities will be implemented. By the end of Spring 2005, team members will present their work in several public venues. Action Plan Other Activities CSM has launched several initiatives to promote interdisciplinary studies and intergrated learning--the Integrated Science Center (ISC), the Learning Communities Program, and an Honors Program. Now institutionalized, the ISC is both a lab and tutorial center where students from biology, chemistry, geology, and physics participate collaboratively in multi-disciplinary inquiry-based science activities. The Honors Program, revitalized under the leadership of Dr. Jeremy Ball, embraces the same goal of a larger vision of the college. To further develop the learning communities program is the focus of CSM's ILP work. CSM Learning Communities

September 2005 Update: At CSM, we have made substantial progress toward the goals of our action plan. We have expanded our learning communities program, offering 5 to 6 learning communities each semester that we have been involved in the ILP. These LC's now include 3 sections of Freshman Composition (a key gateway course) as well as a year-long community comprised of student athletes (the football team, specifically) who have historically had especially low success and retention rates. This LC, "Writing in the End Zone," and "ASSET Development," an Algebra I and Counseling combination, are now able to document quantitatively the considerable success they are having with their students. Although some institutional impediments to increased enrollment still remain, we have resolved some problems and have recognition at the college that others need addressing. In the next year, we will be offering additional LC's that will markedly increase our impact on students, faculty, and the college culture. An ESL-level LC will involve new faculty and will address the needs of an important population at our college. The "Tragedy of the Commons" Confluence Model will link 7 classes, scheduled at the same hour, through a common reading, lectures, and project. Support for students will include a designated counselor and reading instructor, who will both work with the cohorts in various ways. In steadily increasing numbers, faculty from a variety of disciplines continue to meet every two weeks to work on the nuts and bolts of integrating curriculum. These meetings foster perceptible changes in the campus culture, moving integration more and more away from the fringe and toward the center in any considerations of curriculum. Elementary Algebra Learning Community, Logitudinal Assessment Tragedy of the Commons Powerpoint Presentation Disseminating Our Work CSM faculty have been disseminating their work on and beyond the campus. At CSM, we hosted an ILP visit in January that included presentations on e-portfolios by La Guardia and Portland State, and a presentation on learning communities by CSM. Internally we have presented our work to orientation meetings for new hires and to management council, a gathering of most of the administrators. We have presented to a consortium of community colleges from California's Central Valley. Four English instructors presented their LC work at the CCCC Convention in San Francisco in March, and two of us traveled to Carleton College (another ILP campus) for a faculty workshop on quantitative reasoning. We will present again at AAC&U's Integrative Learning conference in October.