PAUC (Provincial Academic Upgrading Committee) Meeting - Tracy Black

On Friday, May 11 I attended the PAUC (Provincial Academic Upgrading Committee) Meeting on the new math curriculum along with representatives from Concordia, SAIT, RDC, Medicine Hat College, Lakeland, Portage, Grande Prairie, MRU, Norquest and Grant Macewan. Kris Reid, Math Team Lead from Alberta Education, spoke to us on the new curriculum.  It was very interesting to hear what other colleges are doing with the new math courses. Here are some highlights:

Purpose of the new curriculum – improve transition between grade 9 and 10, reduce the number of topics and go deeper, greater transfer ability between streams, help transition to post-secondary

Philosophy and Pedagogy of the new curriculum – focus on conceptual learning, learning through problem solving, simple to complex and concrete to pictorial to symbolic representations, using multiple methods of solutions, mental math and estimation (appropriate calculator use), personal strategies, algebraic reasoning (starting all the way back to grade 3), mathematical processes

Highlights

·         We are the only college of the ones at the meeting to offer high school courses for Alberta Education credit. Everyone else offers equivalency courses for all levels. This means that many of them were only covering 80% of the curriculum.

·         Many of the colleges wrote their own textbook/materials for their courses

·         Many are just starting to offer the new curriculum this coming fall

·         Teachers should think of the processes (C, CN, ME, PS, R, V, T) as the content of the curriculum and the program of studies just as the context in which to teach the processes

·         Specific outcomes are now less ‘specific’. Stressed that the achievement indicators are just recommendations and do not have to be followed strictly.

·         Math 31 and the -4 stream (Knowledge and Employability) will not be changing

·         The -2 stream is designed to have the majority of students in it

·         Students finishing Math 30-3 and wanting to upgrade a stream must go back to Math 10C

·         Post-secondary programs requiring the -1 stream are sciences, engineering, education (math majors, science majors only), and some business programs. All others will most likely accept the -2 stream. Some programs actually prefer the -2 stream over the -1. For example, Nursing at U of C now states in their requirements that -2 is preferred over -1 because of the statistics units in the -2 stream. There is no guarantee from post-secondary institutions that they won’t change their mind on what to accept for each program.

·         Workbooks are not accepted because they do not have multiple methods of solving, do not consider all of the mathematical processes and all the front matter in the program of studies

·         Applied/Pure diplomas will be offered until 2014. As long as a student has started the course at the beginning of the 2012-2013 school year they have one year to complete the course for credit

·         The level of difficulty on the new diplomas will not change but he thought there may be more numeric response and more conceptual and problem solving style questions

·         SAIT uses placement tests and enforces the decision. If students do not want to start at the level indicated then they recommend MRU or Bow Valley. Norquest and other colleges use placement tests as well and make students sign a waiver if they do not follow the recommended path.

·         Norquest does not allow rewrites but will transfer the weighting of one unit exam to the final exam.

·         Norquest uses common exams for all classes. Instructors must have their class write the exam on the same day.

·         All other colleges had 50% as the grade to get into Math 10C from Prep Math 10. Our current requirement is 70%

·         RDC uses 75 hours for each class and 90 hours for the 30 level courses. Grande Prairie has only 65 hours but uses 80% equivalencies. Norquest uses 90 hours.

"Writing Effective Machine Scored Questions" Book Item-writing PD - at CRCPD this May - Michael Gaschnitz

"Writing Effective Machine Scored Questions" Book;  Item-writing PD at CRCPD this MayIn November 2011, I attended a session from Alberta Education called “Writing Effective Machine-Scored Items for Mathematics and Science Diploma Exams.”  Participants asked a number of pointed questions and the answers are important.  For example, it turns out that numerical-response questions are marked more flexibly than the information bulletins seem to imply.  This impacts how we mark our equivalency exams and how we construct keys for all the math and science courses.    See the following document for details about what was said by the exam managers:  Writing Effective Machine-Scored Questions Session Notes   

The exam managers also provided a Writing Machine-Scored Questions for Math and Science Guidebook.  This document has detailed instructions, guides, and item templates for Applied Math 30, Biology 30, Chemistry 30, Physics 30, Pure Math 30, and Science 30.  Also included are checklists to help ensure quality of multiple-choice or numerical-response items as well as an item-writing quiz:  item-writing trainees are asked to identify flaws in a set of sample items for each subject area, and to fix them.  Solutions are provided.  Also see their Item-Writing PowerPoint – this explains how the Managers construct blueprints . 

Here’s a great PD opportunity from CRCPD:  Chemistry 30 Examinations & Assessment Protocols.  Although it focuses on Chemistry 20 and 30, it also covers “assessment protocols for complete courses in chemistry and other sciences, so that each assessment, whether it covers a small assignment or a major unit, fits into the overall strategy for the course, and offers an effective balance in terms of content coverage, process coverage, and cognitive level distribution.”

The greatest benefit of this session is that it is being led by Dr. Jack Edwards.  His item-writing sessions are just brilliant.  He has degrees in physics, mathematics, and English literature from Cambridge University, and a PhD in both experimental and mathematical physics at the University of London.  Furthermore, he translates all the math and science exams into French and is responsible for improving the quality of the science and math diploma exams in English and in French.  He would be a great speaker to have here at the department on a PD day.

ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training) Workshop - Debbie Scott

  I would definitely recommend this workshop; it is probably more beneficial than a CPR course.

Many of us have been touched by suicide in some way.  This is suicide first aid training that allows you to learn:

·         how to ask about suicide

·         help the person at risk get help

·         get help for yourself

Most people feel uncomfortable talking about suicide and often feel it is not their place to question a person at risk.  But, if someone falls to the ground clutching their chest, would you not want to do everything you can to help?  If you are trained in CPR, would you not immediately start performing CPR? Coming across a student, coworker, friend, neighbor or even a stranger in need of suicide intervention is much more likely than coming across a person in need of CPR.

Many of our students have personal issues to deal with and often suffer from depression.  If a student, stranger, or someone you know gives you some indications that life is becoming unbearable, knowing how to approach the subject of suicide is an awareness that could save a life.

This workshop contains pictorial representations of both the stages of a person at risk and the process of addressing the concerns of the person at risk.  Colouring and symbolism allow for a greater understanding that anyone could be at risk and that with the ASIST training, the process of intervening becomes logical and flows from one stage to the next.

For me, the most useful aspect of the workshop was to provide a different perspective about how communication regarding suicide needs to be direct.  Worrying about being intrusive, out of line, or even worrying about influencing behavior is secondary to saving a life. 

Don’t wait! Ask the question: 

            “Are you thinking of suicide?” 

“Are you planning on killing yourself?”