ArizMATYC NEWS

SPRING, 2001 MEETING

February 23, 2000

December, 2000

EXECUTIVE BOARD

President: Dennis Shaw, Phoenix C shaw@pc.maricopa.edu

President - Elect: Kate Kozak, Coconino C kkozak@coco.cc.az.us

Secretary: Sue Jensen, Pima CC sjensen@pimacc.pima.edu

Treasurer: Anne Dudley, Glendale CC anne.dudley@gcmail.maricopa.edu

Past President: Sam Borah, Pima CC sborah@pimacc.pima.edu Newsletter Editor: Maxie Inigo, Cocnino CC minigo@coco.cc.az.us

Historian: Ray Battee, Cochise C batteer@cochise.cc.az.us

Homepage Editor: Shay Cardell, Central AC cardell@azstarnet.com

ArizMATYC Homepage: www.azstarnet.com/~cardell/azmatyc.html

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Letter from the Editor 2

Fall 2000 ArizMATYC Meeting 2

Campus Reports 2

ATF discussions 4

Minutes of the Business Meeting 6

Tohono O'odham Coconino College 8

Student Math League 9

Delegates to AMATYC 9

T–Shirts at AMATYC 9

Spring 2000 ArizMATYC Meeting 10

Call for Presenters

Volunteers for AMATYC 2002 10

Membership Notice and Application 11

Production and mailing costs funded by Coconino Community College

Letter from the editor

Hello Colleagues,

I wanted to let everyone know that I attended the Education ATF on October 13, 2000 as a representative from the Math ATF. Most of the discussion had to do with the minimum math requirement for an Elementary School teacher. The Education ATF did not feel comfortable dictating to the Math ATF what should be the prerequisite of MAT 130- Math for Elementary School Teachers, but has made a recommendation that it be MAT 142 –Applications of College Algebra. This would enable students to complete an AGEC-A at a Community College and transfer without any hidden additional math requirements, namely College Algebra.

Also, I like to wish everyone a happy holiday season!

See you next year,

Maxie

Minutes of the fall, 2000 Business Meeting

October 13, 2000 Math ATF

Campus Reports:

AWC- Hired 2 new faculty. Offering video based courses this semester and utilizing the COMAP book.

CAC- Using Academic Systems, offer workshops to local high school teachers on AMES testing, networking, and talking about math. Would like to expand to middle schools and elementary schools. Offer workshops for development students in reading and writing. Has a new position.

Chandler-Gilbert- 1 new faculty hired. Involved in faculty development. Using Maricopa modules. 3 years of using math cohorts for Arithmetic through College Algebra. Increased numbers in program with ASU East. Late starts for students who had a problem in classes. Using common finals in Beginning, Intermediate, and College Algebra, and now in Precalculus.

Cochise- Using Accuplacer last summer for placement, not going well, came up with cut offs and then had the instructors assess students at the start of the class. New faculty hired. May have a new position in developmental math. Using ALEX software in arithmetic, beginning algebra, intermediate algebra once a week. Offering courses from intermediate and up on the Internet. NCA focus visit on assessment in April. E-mail address no longer needs the tron part. All phone numbers have been changed. Ray Battee’s number is 520-417-4116.

CCC- New Vice President of Academic Support will start in January. New campus will be completed Fall 2001. Classes will start in Spring 2002. NCA accreditation visit in April 2002. Possibility of a new position in the fall.

Dine- new faculty hired. Talking about on-line courses in conjunction with NAU offerings.

EAC-2 new faculty positions, but couldn’t find any qualified applicants. Interested in placement testing. Wants to know what other schools are offering in College Algebra.

Emery Riddle- may be hiring one or two people next year. Articulation is assigned to someone as an extra duty. Looking to get a part-time person whose job is to do articulation in hopes to improve articulation.

Estralea- no report

Gateway- no report

Glendale- 3 new faculty hired. 3 short term (one year) people hired. Math complex is in stages of completion. Tutoring part done this fall, classrooms done in the spring.

Grand Canyon University- no report

Mesa- no report

Paradise Valley- 2 new faculty positions possible, may ask for 4. Searching for new president and Dean of Instruction.

Phoenix- 2 new faculty hired, hosting Spring 2001 ArizMATYC/ATF February 23. Using Maricopa math modules in a few sections of beginning algebra and college algebra.

Rio Salado- no report

Pima- 3 new faculty hired. Construction at several campuses. Started new center in the northeast. Using software along with Gay book. New dean and new chairs on each campus. Concern with lack of algebra in college algebra, looking for a new book.

Tohono Oodham Community College- New college located in Salles- east of Tucson, offered first semester in spring 2000. Has 4 faculty teaching reading, math, writing, and American Indian history. Had 180 students the first semester, mostly Indians and nontraditional students. Most working towards degrees. One third of classes were cancelled due to no enrollment. Any course with some enrollment were run. Offered 12 units of math in the fall 2000 semester. All students co-enrolled with Pima since not accredited yet. Looking for software for open entry/open exit courses and distance learning. President wants to use Plato.

Scottsdale- 3 new faculty hired and one CSC/CIS combo. Moved into new building. Math tutoring center has computers. Self paced, independent study classes in Intermediate Algebra, and College Algebra, with Beginning Algebra just added, using textbooks with videos. Tests taken in testing center and come to instructor for help during class time. Students can come in any time during the time period that the courses are offered. At the end of the semester, if a student doesn’t complete the course they can either get an Incomplete or the student can sign up for Independent study and pick up where they left off. Students must have a 70% on each test and quiz before moving on. Also doing a 3 semester learning community where the students must take beginning, intermediate, and college algebra together with the same instructor. Just started this fall semester.

Rio Salado- no report

NPC- 2 new faculty hired. Received 10 year NCA accreditation. Training in Wisconsin Institutional Design System (WIDS). Instituted a graphing calculator leasing program. Graphing calculators required in college algebra and above. New buildings being built and a new campus in Holbrook to replace current building. Involved in Math Fest that motivates young people to be interested in math. Now have two tracks for Intermediate Algebra, a one semester 4 credit hour class taken out of the lab environment using lecture and video and the two semester lab class.

Mohave- 2 new faculty hired in developmental and 1 position in university studies is still open. Building new classrooms. Has mandatory placement using Compass and departmental assessment test if the student doesn’t like placement by Compass. New faculty evaluation system in place in Spring. No longer offering self paced courses. Concern with AAS degree math requirement. AAS faculty at Mohave want the requirement for math to be less an Beginning Algebra. Their Business Math course is equivalent to Arithmetic. Also, having problem with Math for Elementary Teachers issues because of new requirement at ASU.

South Mountain- no report.

Yavapai- 2 new faculty hired. Using Academic Systems. New dean hired. Has a placement exam, but students can choose anything they want to take, so give a pre-quiz in classes so students know what they need to know for the course. Hoping for new hire to look over satellite campuses. Floating a $70 million bond in November for new building on Prescott campus (library and computer commons), rebuilding each building on the Prescott campus one by one, new buildings at Verde, Chino Valley, and Prescott Valley campuses. Will be changing to common numbering system this year. Verde campus started using Academic Systems as a fast pace course. Will be running fundamentals with math in Spring.

NAU- Murphy Johnson will be retiring July 1, 2001. He is looking for a replacement to attend the ATF. May be one of the lecturers. Looking for a new lecturer. Murphy is also doing placement, so a replacement for that also needs to be found. Offered individual instruction (II) courses in the past. Some suggestions are to have deadlines for tests, classes run in structured class times. Found it very successful. MAT 119, Finite Math, now required for Business Statistics at NAU. Will still accept Business Statistics from other colleges that don’t have this pre-requisite. Math for Elementary Students will continue to have a pre-requisite of Intermediate Algebra and the two semester courses will count for the liberal studies math requirement.

U of A- Individual instruction suggestions are to have students sign up for a certain pace (normal, slow, slower). Then students have to keep to that pace or change to a slower one. At the end of the semester, they must be where their pace is suppose to be, i.e. finished, 2/3 through, 1/3 through, or they fail the course. New provost and new college dean. Searching internally for a new chair. Undergoing major 5 year internal and external review. Business math I and II (replacements for finite math and business calculus) to be discussed at the business ATF October 20. MAA offering a series of meetings on specific topics. On October 27, the topic will be a business math discussion by business educators from all over the country. A report will be produced of what they would like for mathematics, and what can mathematicians do for business. The report will be send out by MAA. Business Math I and II required for all business students by the U of A Business College. Expect a large influx of students for spring. If a student transfers with Finite Math and Business Calculus, the course will be accepted, however, there will be a problem with lack of computers and group work. Richard is developing a bridge course for these students. If anyone is interested in teaching Business Math I and II at their college instead of Finite Math and Business Calculus, contact Richard for a CD or brochure on Business Math I and II.

ASU- ASU has openings. Offering a new business calculus for life sciences. Offering a new Statistics course. Offering the standard differential equations course and adding a computational one. University Math that had a pre-requisites of College Algebra has been retired. Calculus sequence of 2 semesters is being retired and the 3 semester Calculus sequence will be the only sequence. Hope to add a College Algebra and Precalculus course that is 5 credits to take care of pre-requisite since Intermediate Algebra no longer offered. Brief Calculus will be on-line starting in the spring and uses Blackboard. Placement testing is mandatory for Intermediate Algebra, College Algebra, Precalculus, and Calculus, with a separate test for each. Hoping to combine into one test on-line, except for calculus. Undergoing a 7 year internal and external review. Searching internally for a new chair. Trying to get a BS in computational math. Not offering Business Math I and II.

ATF discussions and recommendations:

1. Math requirement for Associate of Applied Science degrees: In the last few

years the state board of education has set as a minimal math standard for

graduation from high school the basic content of Beginning Algebra, or

Algebra I in high school, along with Geometry. Beginning with this year's

freshmen, students must pass the math portion of the AIMS test in order to

graduate. Those who don't pass it after their sophomore year can take an

additional math course their junior and/or senior year and retest numerous

times on the AIMS until they do pass it. If they don't pass, they won't

graduate.

Also within the last few weeks an article appeared in our local paper about

changes being made in the state vocational education programs. The article

stated that "education officials want to revamp vocational education in

Arizona, starting with the name but getting into the substance as well."

It continued that a key focus was to emphasize performance, and that

performance measurements will include passage of the AIMS test, i.e., high

school vocational students will also be expected to demonstrate proficiency

in basic algebra and geometry.

Mohave Community College is in the process of changing its general

education core for its Associate of Applied Science degree. Our current

math requirement for this degree has a prerequisite of Beginning Algebra.

However, because so many of our students have a hard time passing Beginning

Algebra our applied science faculty would like to lower that requirement.

Their argument is that many of the state's community colleges allow

something like business math with only a pre-algebra or less pre-requisites to

satisfy this degree. (Our math department recently looked at the business

math text used at our college and it is truly on the level of arithmetic,

not even pre-algebra). Because the state has now mandated that it’s high

school students must demonstrate a proficiency in Beginning Algebra in

order to graduate, it struck many of us at Mohave as a real paradox that

under this scenario students could now actually drop out of high school and

enroll in a community college and obtain a college degree with even lower

general education requirements than their high school diploma! This seemed

completely contrary to the spirit of what we believe to be the goal of our

state to raise its educational standards. Should community college

districts be taxing their constituents to pay for students to obtain

degrees with a lower level of education than is provided by the high

schools?

Recently I contacted the State Board of Directors For Community Colleges of

Arizona to see if they had any insights about this paradox or if perhaps

someone might be able to shed some light on the AAS degree that would make

me better understand why this college degree should have a lower general

education math requirement than is now necessary for a high school diploma.

I was directed to Don Paul Benjamin who is the associate director for

educational services. He agreed that this was an issue that ought to be

addressed. He recommended that we discuss this issue at our Math ATF and

perhaps make a recommendation to the Academic Program Articulation Steering

Committee (APASC).

Therefore, I would like to propose that in light of the state department of

education setting minimal math proficiency for students graduating from

High School, this ATF recommend to the APASC that Beginning Algebra be

established as a minimum prerequisite for the general education math

requirement for all degrees offered at the state's community colleges.

This will ensure that our general education cores truly extend what is

taught in high school.

Motion was approved by the ATF.

2. Dr. John Jones of ASU Main stated that the community college equivalencies for Math for Elementary Teachers scheduled to end Fall 2000 would be honored through the Spring 2001 semester. It had previously been announced that courses would not be considered equivalent to MTE180 at ASU if they did not have the same prerequisite as the ASU course, namely College Algebra. It was announced that courses with College Algebra as a co-requisite would also retain equivalency with MTE180 in the future. Courses, which have a pre- or co-requisite of College Mathematics will be considered on a case by case basis. Community colleges wishing to retain the equivalency to MTE180 for a course having College Mathematics as a pre- or co-requisite should resubmit their Math for Elementary Teachers courses for equivalency evaluation (CEG Evaluation Forms) along with materials on the corresponding College Mathematics course.

3. Updates of transfer Articulation were discussed. A handout on these updates was handed out.

4. ASU-West may make Math for Elementary Education a 3 hundred level course. No discussion of what this will do to articulation.

5. Dine has a degree for Head Start participants, which requires a Math for Elementary Teachers course with a prerequisite of fifth grade math. A discussion ensued regarding the difference between this course and the Math for Elementary Teachers course that requires Intermediate or College Algebra as a pre-requisite. The request was that Dine number this course differently. No decision was made.

ArizMATYC Business Meeting

1. Call to order at 2:00, October 13, 2000

2. Officers Report:

a. Secretary- no change to minutes from April 6, 2000 meeting.

b. Treasurer-data base now in FilemakerPro. Let Anne Dudley know if you are not receiving the newsletter. Checking balance is $1525.91. Savings account 1 balance is $1044.31. Savings account 2 balance is $10,606.04. Cash on hand is $59 including stamps. Total balance is $13,235.57. $300 was received from MAA for those members who attended MAA meeting in Spring 2000. Student Math League Winners: 1^st Phong Chau from GCC ($350), 2^nd Binh Chau from GCC ($150). Request to pay $120 for the Arizona Mathematics Directory 2000-01- approved. Request to purchase a new endorsement stamp for checks since routing numbers have changed- approved.

c. President-Elect-Ballots returned with no write-ins. Winners are

President-elect: Kate Kozak, Coconino

Treasurer: Anne Dudley, Glendale

Secretary: Sue Jensen, Pima

Newsletter editor: Maxie Inigo, Coconino

Homepage Editor: Shay Cardell, Central Arizona

Historian: Ray Battee, Cochise

Spring 2001 meeting will be held at Phoenix College, February 23.

d. Homepage editor- publishers are interested in web page, so requests should be sent to President or Conference Chair. Upcoming conference information can be on the web site. Give information to Shay as soon as possible before conference. Can also put on a call for presenters. Will have a 2002 AMATYC conference page. Any suggestions for how to improve the web page should be given to Shay. Suggestions that were presented at the meeting are:

Buying ArizMATYC.org so the web site can be found easier. Can do for $10 a year.

Post job positions. Send job postings to Shay as soon as possible.

Links to math pages. Send any links that you know to Shay.

Survey of textbooks, who is using what.

e. Historian: Lacking photos of this group from past conferences or meetings. If anyone has any past meeting photos, send to Ray. The binder that contained ArizMATYC history has been relocated. It is up to date until 1993. If anyone has any information on ArizMATYC before that, please send to Ray. Ray requests that anyone with any information write down what you remember and forward to him.

f. Newsletter: Send any ideas for the newsletter to Maxie.

3. Poster for Chicago AMATYC, Anne Dudley.

Pictures from past meetings will be displayed and a listing of past presidents. If anyone has any pictures send to Anne, which she will return. If anyone has a recollection as to which the presidents were before John Jenkins, also send to Anne.

4. Regional Vice President for AMATYC, Sam Borah.

Tom Adamson’s (Phoenix College) name was sent in from ArizMATYC. Sue Jensen also showed interest but declined nomination since she is the secretary for ArizMATYC.

5. Teaching Excellence Award, Sam Borah.

Nominations are due December 11. All colleges are encouraged to nominate a faculty member from their faculty. No award was given in the Southwest Region last time since not enough nominations were turned in. ArizMATYC is nominating Sam Borah. Mary Sibayan from Pima will do the write up for the nomination.

6. Meeting for Fall 2001, Sam Borah.

Eastern Arizona College has agreed to host the meeting on October 5.

Spring 2001 meeting will be held at Phoenix College, February 23.

7. Advanced Technological Education program, Sam Borah.

A handout was given that described a program that may be funded by NSF. The program will emphasize teacher preparation. The request is that at a regional or affiliate conference a workshop is given by this program to promote involvement of two-year college mathematics faculty in teacher preparation initiatives at their colleges and featuring successful regional models. Eastern Arizona said that they may be interested in hosting this workshop at the Fall 2001 meeting.

8. Institutional membership, Sam Borah.

All colleges are encourage to become an institutional member. Would like all colleges to be members by the 2002 AMATYC conference.

9. Student Math League, Sam Borah.

All colleges are encourage to take part in the student math league competition. Ideas were discussed on how to get the students involved. Phoenix College gives out a TI-92 and TI-83 to 1^st and 2^nd place winners. In addition there is $1500 in scholarships to be given ($500 for 1^st place). Has a $3 registration fee to offset some of the cost. The college pays the rest.

10. Delegates for Chicago AMATYC, Sam Borah.

President Dennis Shaw and President-elect Kate Kozak are automatic delegates.

Other two delegates are Ray Battee, Cochise and Teri Glass, Scottsdale.

Anne made the recommendation that each delegate be given $205 to offset registration fee or other costs. Approved.

11. T-shirts for Chicago and Toronto with ArizMATYC logo, Anne Dudley.

It will cost $500 to get t-shirts advertising the Phoenix 2002 conference. Each attendee to the Chicago or Toronto national conference will be given the t-shirt. For those who do not attend either conference, one can be purchased. Price is unknown at this time. $500 cost was approved.

12. Newsletter, Kate Kozak.

It was asked how often should the newsletter be published. It was decided that it should be published twice in the fall (before the fall meeting and after the fall and AMATYC meeting) and once in the spring (after the spring meeting).

13. Meeting adjourned at 3 pm.

Tohono O'odham Community College

By Andrew Winsberg

Sixty miles to the west of Tucson in the heart of the Tohono O'odham reservation, you expect to find a lot of saguaros, an expansive

sky, and an occasional diamondback, but you don't expect to find a community college. Until now! Last spring, Tohono O'odham Community College offered its first few classes, most of them in core subjects, and all taught by adjunct instructors. This fall, four departments were established at TOCC with the hiring of four full‑time instructors: Eric Anderson for reading, Maria Gover for writing, Vivian Saunders for American Indian studies, and Andrew Winsberg for mathematics. (After a lengthy search, the math department decided to send Andrew Winsberg to Prescott in October to represent TOCC.) Our enrollment stands at around 180 students, 95% of them O'odham and most of them non‑traditional students coming back to school after decades away from the classroom. Until TOCC gains accreditation, a process that could take from three to five years, all of our students are co‑enrolled in Pima Community College, so the choices of class numbering, content and textbooks is made to match PCC. This summer, a single class of Math 82 was offered, and this fall, two 82 classes, an 86, and a 92 class are running. The class sizes are an instructor's dream, from a high of 12 students in the 86 class to a low of 1 student in the 92 class. One student! (Perhaps that's more properly called an independent study.) And the students themselves are fantastic to work with. Since so many of them are non‑traditional, there are no questions along the lines of, "What's the point of this class?", "Will this be useful in my life?", and "Do I have to be here?". They already know they don't have to be there, but they also already know what real life is like and would much rather prefer to be a student. We hope to continue to increase enrollment and expand our class offerings, hiring more full‑time faculty as it becomes necessary, and continuing to meet the needs of the O'odham community that we are trying to serve.

Student Math League

This year Arizona placed 7 of the top 15 teams in the Southwest Region of the AMATYC Student Math League. The teams were Glendale (4), Pima (5), Mesa (6), Phoenix (8), Paradise Valley (11), Coconino (13), and South Mountain (15). Mesa CC also had the highest average participation (68). Great job!

The statewide winners of the ArizMATYC scholarship are Phong Chau and Binh Chau, both students at Glendale CC. Phong came in first in Arizona (2^nd in the southwest region) with a combined score of 59.5 for all three rounds. He was awarded a $250 scholarship from ArizMATYC. Binh Chau, his brother, came in second in Arizona (6^th in the southwest region) with a combined score of 51.0 for all three rounds. Congratulations to these outstanding math students!

Delegates to AMATYC

ArizMATYC sends four delegates to the national meeting of AMATYC each year. This year ArizMATYC voted to pay the registration fee ($205) of these delegates. Dennis Shaw (ArizMATYC president), Kate Kozak (president-elect), Teri Glaess and Ray Battee were our delegates at Chicago. We are looking for two new delegates for Toronto and Phoenix. Are you interested? The job entails reading up on the issues when you receive your delegate packet, attending the delegate assembly on Saturday of conference week and wearing a cute ribbon on your badge that says delegate. Let Dennis Shaw know if you are interested.

T-Shirts at AMATYC

The T-shirts were a big hit! Over 25 ArizMATYC members wore t-shirts throughout the AMATYC conference in Chicago. Everyone loved them and wanted to know were they could get one. Since you had to be from Arizona to wear one - well, you know the rules of supply and demand. We did share a few with AMATYC officers and staff. What shall we do next year? Come to the 2002 planning session at the February 23^rd meeting at Phoenix College to find out.

Spring ArizMATYC Meeting

The Spring 2001 ArizMATYC/Arizona Mathematics Consortium meeting will be held on February 23, 2001 at Phoenix College. The opening session will be held in the Dome Conference Room. Host for the conference is Anne Hodgkins <anne.hodgkins@pcmail.maricopa.edu>.

This is a great time to share what you are doing in your classroom with your colleagues statewide and to find out what others are doing. If you would like to do a presentation or lead a discussion, please send a note to David Dudley <david.dudley@pcmail.maricopa.edu>. Include a brief abstract and the amount of time you would like to have (10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, or 60 minutes).

Volunteers For the AMATYC 2002

Believe it or not the 2002 AMATYC will be here before we know it. Here is a list of volunteers, there is still time if interested. Please contact Anne Dudley at the e-mail below if you would like to participate.

Chair; Anne Dudley, Glendale CC, anne.dudley@gcmail.maricopa.edu.

Local Interest: Natalie Rivera, Estrella Mountain CC, 3000 N. Dysart Rd,

Avondale, AZ 85323, natalie.rivera@emcmail.maricopa.edu

Hospitality: Kate Kozak and Maxie Inigo, Coconino CC, 3000 N. Fourth St.,

Flagstaff, AZ 86004, kkozak@coco.cc.az.us and mingo@coco.cc.az.us

Saturday Breakfast: Melinda Rudibaugh and Howard Speier, Chandler‑Gilbert

CC, 2626 E. Pecos Rd, Chandler, AZ 85225,

melinda.rudibaugh@cgcmail.maricopa.edu and

howard.speier@cgcmail.maricopa.edu

Tours: Nancy Fray, Phoenix College, 1202 W. Thomas, Phoenix, AZ 85013,

nancy.fray@pcmail.maricopa.edu

Friday Bash: Ann Lindner and Teri Glaess, Ann is at South Mountain CC, 7050