OATdb Archive

2009 - 2010

Mathematics And Statistics Center

Goal
Tutoring In Mathematics And Statistics
The Center will provide tutoring for mathematics and statistics classes offered by the Math/Stat department

Objective
The Department Will Continue To Maintain A Tutoring Lab For Mathematics And Statistics.
Tutoring will be provided for students taking mathematics or statistics courses at SHSU.

Indicator
Lab Utilization
A computerized log book will be kept in the tutoring lab as a record of students attending the tutoring center.

Criterion
Utilization Target
At least 10 students per day will visit the tutoring center during the academic year.

Finding
Fall Lab Utilization
During the Fall of 2009, the tutoring center serviced 1130 students over 15 weeks.  This is an average of 75.3 per week.  Due to limited funds, the tutoring center was open only Monday through Thursday, averaging nearly 19 students per day.

Finding
Spring Lab Utilization
During the Spring of 2010, the tutoring center served 1553 students over 15 weeks.  This is an average of 103.5 students per week.  This is nearly 26 students per day (open Monday-Thursday).

Action
Potential For Full University Funding.
During the COAS Chair's meeting of March 31, Dean Hebert announced that the University would be fully funding the mathematics tutoring center.  A subsequent meeting was scheduled with Dean Hebert and VP Eglsaer and Ms. Shelton (Center director).  The VP agreed to help fund the expansion of the Math Center's services and requested a budget proposal be forwarded to him by mid-June.  The proposal is attached.

Goal
The Center Will Provide Effective Communication With Internal And External Constituencies.
The Center will insure that appropriate communication channels are maintained with students, the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, the SAM Center and administrative units at Sam Houston State University.

Objective
Reports On Center
The Department chair will provide reports on the Center at appropriate times during department meetings and College chair's meetings.

Indicator
Reporting Dates
Reports to the department and College chairs given during the fall semester.

Criterion
Dates
Reports related to the operation of the Center will be given at least once during the semester in both departmental and Chair's meetings.

Finding
Departmental Updates
The department was given an update in the fall on November 30 and in the spring on April 19.

Action
Reports To Department
Once-a-semester updates were sufficient for this year.  With the possible expansion of the tutoring center, more updates may be necessary next year.

Goal
Improving Quality Of Developmental Instruction.
Developmental instructors will be provided with avenues of professional development so as to improve the quality of their instruction.

Objective
Orientation Meetings
The Mathematics and Statistics Center will hold orientation meetings for instructors and teaching assistants.

Indicator
Scheduled Orientation Meetings
The Center will schedule orientation meetings prior to the start of the fall and spring semesters.

Criterion
Dates Of Orientation Meetings.
Orientation meetings will be scheduled August 21 and January 11.

Finding
Results Of Orientation Meetings
Meetings were held a scheduled.  Attendance was good, but some instructors and TAs did not attend.

Action
Communication With Graduate Advisors
The Director of the Center has been communicating with the graduate advisors about orientation dates for next fall.  It is our hope TA attendance will be improved.


Update to previous cycle's plan for continuous improvement

Plan for continuous improvement This has been a very busy year for the Math/Stat center.  We've had a 42% increase in student enrollment in developmental classes and this has started to tax our ability to provide tutoring for all math classes.  In addition, other departments (notably, Physics) have sent students to be tutored in mathematics and they had to be turned away.  We are hopeful that the promised full university funding materializes (up to now, the Department of Math/Stat has had to use some of its O&M funds to keep the Center operational).

In addition, we are in the process of collecting data to provide evidence of tutoring effectiveness.  In addition, since the Math Center has oversight of the developmental mathematics program, we plan on creating pretest/posttest instruments (tied into learning objectives) to provide a measure of the success of the developmental mathematics classes.