The Center will provide tutoring for mathematics and statistics classes offered by the Math/Stat department
Objective
The Department Will Maintain A Tutoring Lab For Mathematics And Statistics.
Students receiving tutoring will report increased competence in their mathematics or statistics courses at SHSU.
Indicator
Center Assessment
There will be a two-pronged assessment
Students visiting the center will fill out an assessment form when their tutoring session is finished.
Tutors will also fill out a separate assessment form when the tutoring session is completed.
Criterion
Tutor Session Criterion
Tutor session evaluations will average at least a 4 (on a 5-point scale) for all students tutored.
Finding
Tutor Session Evaluation Results
The tutor center director was on medical leave for a portion of the spring semester when we attempted to institute the evaluation instruments. Thus, they were only distributed during the last week of classes.
Tutor session evaluation consisted of 5 Likert-style responses (1: Strongly disagree to 5: Strongly agree) and a space for additional comments.
The following are the average rating of the 46 surveys completed by tutors:
1 (Student clear about concern): 4.2 2 (Student cooperation): 4.6 3 (Student demonstrates accuracy): 3.7 4 (Student appeared confident after session): 4.3 5 (Tutor was pleased with tutoring session): 4.3
Criterion
Student Session Criterion
At least 75% of students who have been tutored will be able successfully demonstrate competence in the area or problem in which they received tutoring.
Finding
Survey Results - Students Tutored
There was one Likert-style question on the survey. It asked students if they felt more confident about their ability to do their work in mathematics. The average rating for 52 surveys was 4.38.
As for the students' ability to demonstrate competence, there was space on the survey form for students to write out what they had learned. Only 5 of the 52, 9.6%, had responses here. Well below the 75% standard we had set.
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
Tutor Center Usage
In the fall, the tutor center averaged 198 students per week, or 39.6 per day. In the spring, the center averaged 191 students per week, or 38.2 per day.
Action
Issues In 2010-2011 And Ensuing Years
Simply put, the tutoring center is overcrowded - having an average of nearly 40 students a day over 15 weeks in a small room is a difficult situation. Some of the feedback from students who came for tutoring included:
we need more space, because the crowded conditions means a noisier environment
we need more tutors because one tutor might be working with three or four students at once.
some students, seeing the overcrowding, would simply turn around and leave.
An attempt has been made to address the space issue, but it is not a permanent solution: the room (in the Farrington Building) cannot be expanded and it is not possible to move to a different, larger room because they are needed by Physics. Since the Writing Center and the Reading Center are in the same building, SHSU wants all three Centers in the same building. But this is not possible. Something We will work with the administration to create a more workable solution.
The tutor and student evaluation sheets were an experiment. As a tutoring center, it is certainly important to document some learning objectives, but the forms suggested proved to be more of a nuisance.
As noted in the data report from the Center's secretary, tutors didn't have time to fill out the forms for the students they tutored. The students being tutored often had to leave and failed to fill out parts of their form. This can be seen in the 9.6% response rate to the survey's question asking students to provide evidence that they now understand a mathematics concept they'd received tutoring on. Something better will need to be devised to meet assessment requirements and time constraints of the tutors and their students.
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
Communication Related To Math Center
While no information was shared in Chairs meetings, there were three department meetings where information about the Math Center was shared. This information was derived, in part, from the Developmental Mathematics Committee set up to investigate issues related to running the Center.
Action
Continuing Communication
While the goal of having the Center become more of an independent entity, there is still the need to communicate what it is doing to the department. This was done sporadically this year. It could be better.
In particular, no updates were given by the department chair during COAS chairs meetings. Since the Center is now starting to tutor students needing mathematics help in other areas (e.g., Physics), more needs to be done.
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 17 and January 11.
Finding
Orientation Meeting Agenda
The attached document shows the agenda for the tutor orientation meeting held in August. A similar agenda was given in the January meeting.
Action
New Orientation Meetings
The Center provides orientation meetings at the beginning of each long semester. Of the two, the orientation in August is more critical. In this meeting instructors of developmental classes (mostly TAs) and tutors (mostly, but not always undergraduate students) are given information on how the tutoring Center functions in conjunction with the developmental class offerings. What we have not done is any post-orientation assessment. We will start this next year.