Innovations — large, small, and between — are common in developmental mathematics. Most of us do not establish ‘Being innovative’ as a goal; rather, we figure out something to do that promises to solve a problem, and this creates the innovation. Some innovations are very context-dependent, while others are transferable and scalable. The New Life project (AMATYC Developmental Math Committee) describes innovations that can be locally adaptable and scaled.
The Next Dev Challenge (from Getting Past Go) seeks to gather information on innovations in developmental education, and have the larger community rate the ideas. The web site is http://gettingpastgo.edthemes.org/ , and we are now in the rating stage of their work.
I encourage you to rate innovations at the Next Dev Challenge link (http://gettingpastgo.edthemes.org/) . You will need to register in order to rate ideas. Once you are registered at that site, you can submit your ratings of some innovations (they have far too many for you to rate all of them 🙂 ). To find entries of interest to you, open the Next Dev Challenge link and then read submissions. (Be sure that you are logged in.) You can search for phrases, and narrow the results down to one of four categories (assessment & placement; instruction & delivery; continuous improvement; student supports. Note that you need to click on “View” for each innovation in order to rate it. In addition, you need to choose each rating (adaptability, evidence, and overall) at the end of each innovation’s page.
We have a professional responsibility to participate in projects like the Next Dev Challenge. I hope you will be able to share some ratings of innovations. Clearly, I hope that you will support the innovations related to the New Life project in particular; whether you do this or not, please participate in the rating process!
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At the AMATYC conference in Jacksonville (November 8 to 11), we explored the New Life model was a topic of much discussion and some sessions. In these conversations, there is growing excitement about our Algebraic Literacy course as an alternative to ‘intermediate algebra’ … an alternative which also meets more students’ needs.
Conceptually, Algebraic Literacy was designed based on looking at the quantitative needs of students in several college courses … needs that exceed our MLCS course. For example, the Algebraic Literacy learning outcomes deal with the concepts and capabilities needed to succeed in pre-calculus. The outcomes also reflect much of what was learned by the MAA in its work with our client disciplines (biology, chemistry, and social sciences in particular); the needs identified are consistent with several fundamental concepts of mathematics … rate of change, symbolic and numeric representations, and basic types of relationships (linear, exponential, power, rational, etc).
Okay, so here is a document with the learning outcomes for Algebraic Literacy: Algebraic Literacy Course Goals & Outcomes Oct2012
One thing to keep in mind … Algebraic Literacy is not an intermediate algebra course like we have been used to. You will see some familiar topics (equations and inequalities); you will also see some less familiar topics for this level (exponential and power equations). And — you will see a deliberate coordination of symbolic and numeric methods, with some outcomes addressed only in numeric form (for solutions).
To give some idea of the nature of this course, I wrote a sample lesson for one of the function topics (rate of change). Take a look: Algebraic Literacy Sample Lesson Rate of Change Exponential.
In designing this course to meet the needs of students, we discovered that the result is a course which is more attractive to mathematics faculty. Rather than dealing primarily with procedures, the Algebraic Literacy course builds on key concepts (mostly from algebra) with an emphasis on both the symbolism and the application. I hope that you will take a look at the Algebraic Literacy course.
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At the AMATYC conference today, I did a presentation called “Bringing New Life to Your Developmental Mathematics”. I’ll post the materials I used.
The basic presentation (PDF format, from the power point slides): Â Bringing New Life to Developmental Mathematics 2012 FINAL version
The handout (vision of the curriculum, references; in PDF format): References_BringingNewLifeSession_AMATYC2012
We also used two “prezi” presentations during the session:
Developmental Math: What Is   http://prezi.com/se9rgi2ezfer/dev-math-what-is/
New Life Curricular Vision http://prezi.com/27_erw7l0d67/new-life-curricular-vision/
After being active for about 3 years, the New Life model is maturing. This post will describe the changes to the model that are evolving, and show the updated graphic.
The model has always focused on two developmental math courses to replace the current 3 or 4. The first New Life course (MLCS) has been well received in the profession as shown by a number of pilots, some books in development, and sessions at the AMATYC conference this year. However, the second New Life course suffered from a less-clear vision and purpose; in our discussions, we discovered part of this was the name we used … “Transitions” did not communicate much (it was short for “Transitions to College Mathematics”). After some discussion, we are switching to the new name “Algebraic Literacy” for the second course; this name provides a parallel structure to the first, and suggests that the primary content is algebra (true). Like any course name, Algebraic Literacy does not tell the entire story; however, we are confident that the new name will work better.
A second problem with that course, the part of the model connecting MLCS with college algebra and courses at that level, is that we did not make it clear that our course would be appropriate for both STEM and non-STEM students. Our learning outcomes for this course have always included ‘STEM-boosting’ outcomes to indicate preparation for pre-calculus; we are emphasizing that more. In addition, the visual for the model (below) now shows better connections to college mathematics.
The sequence in our model (MLCS to some college math, MLCS to Algebraic Literacy) originally did not emphasize that students could place directly in to Algebraic Literacy. This access issue is critical … a basic premise of our work is that we need to create shorter paths; we always intended to have the direct placement option into Algebraic Literacy. Unfortunately, this was not stated in the visual aid nor stated in most documents about the model.
The other issue we are adjusting for is the need for change in traditional college level mathematics — college algebra in particular. The Algebraic Literacy course creates the same types of reasoning that a reformed college algebra course would seek to build upon; this is one of the strengths of the New Life model. The new visual includes a new path specifically for reform college algebra.
Here is the updated visual:
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Math curriculum in general, Professional Development | Jack Rotman | 
December 3, 2012 12:44 pm | 
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Jack Rotman
NOTE: This blog will become 'inactive' on January 1, 2020.