Carol Gering

Inside Higher Ed featured an article today on the strategies used by University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) to deal with failure in gateway courses like developmental math. There were a number of similarities with our situation, including university focus on access rather than exclusivity (demonstrated by a high acceptance rate for applicants). According to the article, UTEP has determined that their current structure for developmental ed isn’t working well, so they’re exploring new strategies to improve student success.

Highlighted efforts include increased interaction with high schools, six-hour refresher sessions held immediately prior to placement exams, and free access to ALEKS (computer-based math exercises that the Math Department at UAF uses for many courses). Their goal is to divert students from enrolling unnecessarily in developmental courses. Among other motivations (like decreased funding), one rationale seems to be that the stigma of developmental placement negatively impacts student success.

This is particularly interesting to me in light of our recent decision to create an open courseware version of developmental math—with the stated goal of providing student practice and avoiding the stigma that might be associated with failure in a a credit-bearing course.