STLF Report to CWSEI and Mathematics Department
STLF: Paul Ottaway
Period: – 30/9/09
Submitted: 2/10/09
Specific activities performed by STLF
1) Professional development
 Attended weekly reading group discussions
 Attended weekly STLF meetings
2) MATH SEI general meetings/activity
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Attended weekly meeting with S. van Willigenburg and C. Piccolo to discuss
progress and future plans
met with Carl on 9/21 to discuss assessment plans for Math 104 clicker use and
Math 256 computer labs
3) Course-specific meetings/activities
MATH 104:
1. Attended all classes (3 hrs/week) and observed the students throughout the
lectures
2. Weekly meetings with M. McLean to discuss observation results and ideas for
improvement with respect to clicker use.
MATH 256 – Differential Equations (Math component of Mech 221)
1. Weekly meetings with B. Wetton and his TA to discuss the current and upcoming
computer labs.
2. Reviewed first two sets of prelab and lab material and provided minor editing
suggestions.
Current Project Status
MATH 104
Learning Goals: none
Assessments: periodic measure of student engagement with respect to the activities being
taken in class (clickers)
New Methods/Materials: none
MATH 256 (Mech 221)
Learning Goals: none (B. Wetton has promised a draft shortly)
Assessments: none (Labs start week of Oct. 5)
New Methods/Materials: Edited versions of the first two pre-lab and labs completed.
Plan for immediate future work
MATH 104
1. Work with M. Mclean to develop clicker questions and continue to collect data on
the engagement of the class.
2. Collect student grades and compare student performance to the previous offering
of the course taught by M. Mclean to assess the effect of pedagogy changes
MATH 256 (Mech 221 math module)
1. Work with instructor to write down learning goals for the course.
2. Interview instructors in charge of other components of the course: Mech 221 is an
integrated course where the math is interspersed with engineering material, thus
any work involving Mech 221 computer labs will require some coordination with
the engineering department.
3. Survey students at the end of each week of labs (2-7) to help determine their
effectiveness.