1. Developmental Education Faculty Certification Program
Lori Walker and Rick Stepp-Bolling

2. Today’s Agenda... Check-in: 3x5 Cards/Debrief
Review History/Creation of Program
Introduce Program Modules
Triune Brain Theory
Project/Problem-based Learning
Learning Communities
Integration of DE Principles
Program Participants Survey Results
Questions and Answers
Wrap-up

3. In the beginning...
A cross-disciplinary team of faculty met in the Fall of 1999 to assess the understanding, awareness, and integration of developmental education pedagogy at Mt. SAC and beyond.
Sponsored by Continuous Quality Improvement Network (CQIN) and American Productivity and Quality Center (APQC)
Nationwide study of best practices
Visited five national model programs
Studied key elements of nationally recognized successful developmental education programs

4. Defining our perspective...
Developmental education is a field of practice and research within higher education with a theoretical foundation in developmental psychology and learning theory. It promotes the cognitive and affective growth of all postsecondary learners, at all levels of the learning continuum. Developmental education is sensitive and responsive to the individual differences and special needs among learners.
-Adopted from NADE (National Association of Developmental Educators)

5. Defining our Educational Philosophy...
Remedial Perspective
Focuses on the skills that need to be learned
Assumes that students lack certain skills, and are at one particular level
Considers only the cognitive dynamic of learning
Includes outside services designed to meet only the cognitive needs of students
Focuses on learning strategies related to the specific skills that need to be learned
Helps students master specific academic skills
Developmental Perspective
Focuses on how the learner learns
Assumes students are at a variety of levels simultaneously
Considers the cognitive and affective dynamics of learning
Includes outside services designed to meet the cognitive and affective needs of students
Focuses on the development of a variety of learning strategies
Helps students master their educational/life goals and objectives

6. DE Faculty Certificate Program...
Three Module/Semester program
Six units of crossover credit is granted (two
units per Module/Semester)
After completing all three modules, a
Certificate is granted to the student
Each Module = eight classes, two hours each
Certificate of Completion = 48 hours of class
time, 48 hours of “homework”

7. First semester/module topics include: understanding modalities
Module I:
The History and Philosophical Foundations
of Developmental Education
First semester/module topics include:
brain-based learning/Triune Brain Theory
understanding modalities
multiple intelligences
emotional intelligence

8. Second semester/module topics include: problem-based learning
Module Two:
Integrating a Developmental
Approach within the Classroom
Second semester/module topics include:
project-based learning
problem-based learning
the development of study skills within
content areas
classroom-based assessment

9. Module Three: Learning Communities
This module has two objectives. The first one
relates to “new” knowledge:
Introduce participants to the background and
opportunities for leaning community experiences on
campus
The second is developing knowledge acquired
during the first two modules:
Assist participants in developing a personalized
portfolio for one of their classes in which they can
develop a comprehensive approach to the creation,
development and delivery of developmental
education principles within their own courses

10. Module IV: Integrating Developmental Ed Principles into the Classroom
As a result of surveying past participants, Module 4 was created
Designed to help faculty integrate what they have learned from the previous modules into their classrooms

11. Module I: Triune Brain Theory

12. The Reptilian Brain - the "Preverbal"
It is the oldest and smallest region in the evolving human brain.
It is "preverbal," but controls life itself, such as autonomic brain, lung and heart functions.
Lacking language, its impulses are instinctual and ritualistic.
It is concerned with fundamental needs such as food, physical maintenance, preening and mating.

13. The Limbic Brain - the "Emotional" Brain
Common to all mammals, it developed about 60 million years ago, after the dinosaurs perished.
It's involved in bonding needs, including emotions linked to attachment.
It acts as the brain's emotion factory, creating the chemical messages that connect information into memory.
Retention of information can be significantly increased when it's presented in an emotionally charged context.

14. Understanding the Power of Emotions
E-Checker and Pleasantness Checker

15. The Neocortex Brain - the "Thinking" Brain
It constitutes five-sixths of the total brain mass, which has evolved over the last million years, to produce the human brain.
It controls such high-level processes as logic, creative thought, language, and the integration of sensory information.
The neocortex is divided into the left and right cerebral hemispheres, described in Left/Right Brain Theory.

16. So…
...who cares?

17. The Triune Brain Theory and Education
Brain-based learning experiences pay attention to the power of the whole brain by simultaneously:
Responding to the learner's physical and sensory needs
Creating activities that link emotions to the acquisition of new
information
Designing curriculum that requires students to form their own
knowledge/meaning
Traditional education was designed for predominantly neocortex functions. However, this misses a basic brain fact: the reptilian brain is an interconnected pathway to the limbic brain which is an interconnected pathway to the neocortex -- you can’t skip a brain function!

18. Now it’s your turn to make meaning

19. Module II: Project and Problem Based Learning

20. Project Based Learning
Innovative model for teaching and learning
Focuses on central concepts and principles of a discipline
Involves students in problem-solving investigations
Allows students to work autonomously to construct their own knowledge
Culminates in realistic products

21. Example: Orientation Team Project Study Techniques
Your team will be creating an Orientation Handbook for students at Mt. SAC. In this handbook you will identify and describe three areas vital to a certain student population here at Mt. San Antonio College. In order to complete this handbook, you will first need to do these things:

22. Orientation Project, Continued
1. Choose a student population (Re-entry, ESL, honor, athletes, etc). These students must have been attending Mt. SAC for at least one semester
2. Create a survey. You will need to know what three areas on campus are most vital for your student population
3. Survey the students. You will need to find and survey students (minimum 20) from your selected population

23. Orientation Project, Continued
4. Compile and graph your results
5. Research the top three areas (use catalog, website, personal interview, etc)
6. Write your handbook as though you were writing to new students from your student population
7. Present your findings to the class

24. Problem-Based Learning
It is both a curriculum and a process
Curriculum: built around an ill-structured problem which is messy and complex in nature
Process: challenges students to learn to learn cooperatively in groups to seek solutions to real world problems

25. Example: Problem-Based Learning History
You have been asked to help colonize the planet Mars. What problems do you foresee in this task? What are some viable solutions?

26. Comparison with other Teaching Strategies
Prescriptive Curriculum
Teacher-centered
Linear and rational
Part to whole
Teaching as transmitting
Learning as receiving
Structured environment
Experiential Curriculum
Student-centered
Coherent and relevant
Whole to part
Teaching as facilitating
Learning as constructing
Flexible environment

27. Animals Exercise
Are you a:
Hawk
Tiger
Turtle
Rabbit

28. Questions: 1. Why did you select this particular animal?
2. What qualities do you have in common with this animal?
3. How do you (and this animal) react in times of stress?
4. How do you want others to treat you in times of stress?

29. Module III: Learning Communities

30. Module IV: Integrating Developmental Ed Philosophy into the Classroom

31. Developmental Education in Practice
Elements of DE Practice to Keep in Mind: 1. Create an emotional environment that is comfortable and inviting
Incorporate check-ins or other ice breakers
Create a physical environment that promotes student interaction and engagement
2. Consider students’ learning styles
Visual/verbal
Visual/nonverbal
Auditory
Kinesthetic

32. Developmental Education in Practice
3. Consider students’ multiple intelligences
Visual/Spatial
Verbal/Linguistic
Logical-Mathematical
Bodily Kinesthetic
Musical
Interpersonal
Naturalist
Existentialist
4. Use an Active Learning approach that allows students to create their own knowledge
Investigate various methods of using active learning in your discipline
Use textbooks that support active learning in the classroom
Problem-based learning
Project-based learning

33. Developmental Education in Practice
5. Incorporate structural knowledge/study techniques to help support student success
Goal setting
Time Management
Note taking
Personal Responsibility
Stress Management
Textbook Reading
Test taking/ Test anxiety

34. Developmental Education in Practice
6. Use assessment as a tool to see what is and is not working
Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs)
Portfolios
Matrices/Rubrics
Reflections
7. Create a Learning Community
Paired or clustered classes
Coordinated Studies
Freshman Interest Groups (Bridge or Freshman Experience)
Federated Learning Community

35. Program Participant Survey Results

36. Survey Findings
100% of survey respondents noticed positive changes in their student’s success
95% of faculty surveyed noticed “some change” or “complete change” in their teaching strategies; the same percentage also noted either some or complete change in the affective environment of the classroom
81% noted some or complete change in modifying their assignments; the same proportion noted modifying their assessment of assignments
Over 90% reported some change or complete change in their level of involvement in their courses
71% noted some or complete change in their use of Learning Communities; the same proportion was found for use of Student Learning Outcomes

37. Where is Rick? Mt San Antonio College 909 594-5611 ext 4303

38. Questions?