College of Micronesia-FSM Federated States of Micronesia
Computing · Directory · Home· Jobs · Library · News
The Next Wave: Increased Student Support

A Proposal to Provide an Environment for Student-Mentor Interaction

The inclusion of technology into the courses at the College of Micronesia-FSM has had its positive impacts.  Yet the rate of success in math and science courses for our students remains limited.  The next step is to provide increased interaction possibilities for faculty and students.

Students at the College need individualized assistance beyond that which is available in the classroom environment.  A number of cultural factors impinge on students willingness to openly ask questions, especially in courses where they feel the command of the subject material is weak. 

In other words, in courses in which the students are seeing the lowest levels of success, the students are least likely to seek assistance in the classroom environment.   The principal barrier is a fear of exposing their lack of knowledge in front of their peers and the consequent embarrassment that results for the student.

This proposal proposes to set up a pilot project that will lower the barriers of access to assistance by providing a less threatening environment in which to ask questions.   An environment that invites a student to come into the environment and that provides some privacy in which the student can feel less inhibited by peers.

The proposal seeks funding from Title III with the goal of investigating the feasibility and functionality of the concept.  This proposal would be one look at what the College might do as a next step.  The proposal also reflects a conceptual shift towards seeing the student as a customer to be served.

At the core this proposal is about space.  The open and exposed environment of the classroom inhibits student teacher interaction.  Yet many faculty cubicles are not set up in a manner that invites a student in for assistance.

The remedy is to set up student work station where the student can work and receive personalized assistance from a faculty member.  The only location in which this could occur is the  instructor's cubicle.

The concept is to rearrange a cubicle so that two people can effectively work in the cubicle.  A cubicle was set up this way in 1996 with two desks and two computers.   This experiment did prove functional at that time. 

This pilot project would seek to recreate that environment, this time tracking student usage and performance indicators. The primary indicator that would be tracked would be student success rates for assisted students versus student success rates for unassisted students among cohort students in a course with assisted students.  This metric is riddled with confounding factors, but it is success rate that is the target to be impacted.

The rearranged cubicle would consist of an instructor desk and a student computer desk with a computer.  The computer would permit the student to utilize support software and to work with assistance from the faculty member.

Altering the cubicle would engender no construction costs.  The only costs would be that of a basic student computer and a desk.  Connectivity with the network might require upgrading a hub.

As this proposal is, from the point of view of most faculty members who see their cubicles as inviolably private space, this proposal suggests using the author's cubicle as the pilot site.  If this site is chosen for the project, then the hub in that location would have to be upgraded from eight ports to sixteen ports.

This proposal would integrate well with the cohort-based counseling and study hall support concepts that have been discussed as possible next directions for the College by Title III personnel. 

"Smaller Learning Communities"
An expansion, extension, and fleshing out of the above proposal

1. Twenty brand new freshmen advisees will meet with their advisor twice a week, Monday and Wednesday afternoon, at 4:00 P.M. for academic assistance and for the purpose of working on life and career goals.  The sessions might also have guest speakers.
2. Lee Ling's advisees would also utilize the tutoring station being set up in his office.  The station would be open to other students as well for tutorial support in mathematics and the sciences.
3. At the end of the term we look at how Lee Ling's advisees performed versus other new freshmen.  This analysis, probably based on GPA or simple promoted/not promoted, would be crude and subject to multiple confounding variables.  Success and the earning of a degree, however, is ultimately measured in terms of passing grades and a GPA of 2.0 or higher.

The above would be a pilot "smaller learning community."  This project/proposal is in keeping with the transition of the research role portion of the Title III Math Science Software Specialist.  Lacking from this proposal is the section clustering utilized in other small learning community projects.

Progress Reports

The desk for the project arrived on 12 June 2000. 
A computer station was set up on 15 August 2000 in the rear room of F105.

Lee Ling home
COM-FSM home page