Assignment 4, Weekly Update

The following is only the beginning of my final draft for my literature review. Articles included in the works cited section below have yet to be included, but will be added within the next few days.

Literature Review

Working with community college students in remedial math is a critical part of their academic success. Nurses, electricians, plumbers and other important professions critical to the local economic infrastructure are often trained at the community college level. Proficiency of mathematics to a certain level is not only an academic requirement, but an integral component of the profession they pursue. Often, students in community colleges having math skills that are deficient for their tasks and must retake math taught in middle and high school. Given how critical these skills are and the difficulties they present to students, it is important to understand what these difficulties are, how technology can help fill the achievement gap, and determine what needs still need to be met.
This literature review will focus on the following issues:
1. Identifying needs of Community College students to improve remedial math skills.2. Technology learning tools that provide for a new type learning environment and how they address the learning needs identified above.3. Factors that limit access or diminish the success of students in achieving their goals in learning remedial math.
Though the first part of the literature review does not relate directly to technology, it lays the foundation to identify and discuss needs of community college students to determine what needs exist, and the degree to which the current technology is meeting them. The second part considers the different applications of technology for community college students and how they relate to assisting students in achieving their educational goals. The third part identifies limitations to the technology, which includes access, usage, and the failure of technology to adequately address the identified needs of students.



Identify Needs of Community College Students:
Many papers have been written and studies performed to determine the needs of community college students to best determine their educational needs that promote the likelihood of their academic success. In conducting the literature review, correlations between the research will be compared to each other. Additionally, the needs of adults of community college students will be compared with the ideas of Andragogy to see if the considerations for the adult learner either emerged from the studies or were effectively incorporated or considered as factors of adult students’ successes or shortcomings.
The term Andragogy was originally used by Alexander Kapp (a German educator) in 1833, and was developed into a theory of adult education by an American educator, Malcolm Knowles during the latter 20th century. Knowles theories can be summarized with four postulates:
1. Adults need to be involved in the planning and evaluation of their instruction (Self-concept and Motivation to learn).2. Experience (including mistakes) provides the basis for learning activities (Experience).3. Adults are most interested in learning subjects that have immediate relevance to their job or personal life (Readiness to learn).4. Adult learning is problem-centered rather than content-oriented (Orientation to learning). (Knowles, 1984)




The studies and articles that follow will be analyzed to determine if these features of andragogy emerged or were considerations for students.
A report written by Gemignani (1977) discussed the remedial math program at Indiana State University in Indianapolis. From the Spring 72-73 semester to the Spring 75-76 semester, the number of students needing remedial math increased. Not having the funds to create additional sections, class size increased in these six sections. To accommodate the increase, an increase of student tutoring was made available to students. Additionally, the curriculum was changed in the Math 111 (remedial math course), though the same textbook continued to be used during both semesters being compared. The result: the number of students receiving credit for the course dropped from 59% down to less than 45% - a more than 14% decrease. Additionally, it was determined that the students who failed math were also likely to drop out of school.
From the study, Gemignani (1977) concluded that although students needed to understand the math to be successful students, he believed that it was not the role of the university to provide these programs; additionally, Gemignani (1977) further concluded that devoting funds towards remedial work detracts funding from the mission of the college towards a quality higher education.
Such commentary is sobering and raises questions about the role of colleges. If a college accepts students with such deficiencies, is it obligated to provide a quality remedial program to assist students in overcoming them? Half-hearted efforts to accommodate these only resulted in many students dropping out, being likely indebted and with poor grades on transcripts. An unwillingness to accommodate these needs should lead such like-minded institutions to re-examine their admission policies and deny acceptance of students they are not willing to accommodate. Since community colleges have open enrollment, it is important to highlight that institutions must be willing to understand their students’ needs and be prepared to serve them.
Additionally, none of the concepts of andragogy emerged from the article or were considered by its author as important consideration for student success or failure.

Works Cited

Dahlke, Richard (1974).Determining the best predictors of success and of time of completion or dropout in an individualized course in arithemetic as a community college. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education. Vol. 5, No. 4, pp. 213-223.

Gemignani, Michael (1977).Remedial mathematics: An administrator's viewpoint. The American Mathematical Monthly. Vol. 84, No. 6, pp. 481-484.

Gleason, Barbara (2000).Remediation phase-out at CUNY: The "Equity versus Excellence" controversy. College of Composition and Communication. Vol. 51, No. 3, pp. 488-491.

Hare, Angela (1997).Software reviews. The College Mathematics Journal. Vol. 28, No. 2, pp. 140-144.

Knowles, M. (1984). Andragogy in Action. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Kramer, Pamela (1990). Mismeasuring women: A critique of research on computer ability and avoidance. Signs. Vol. 16, No. 1, pp. 158-172.

Purvis, Teresa (1995). The wo-year community college: Into the 21st century. College Composition and Communication. Vol. 46, No. 4, pp. 557-565.

Shaw, Kathleen (1997).Remedial education as ideolotical battleground: Emerging remedial education policies in the community college. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis. Vol. 19. No. 3, pp. 284-296

Tobias, Sheila (1987).Math Anxiety. Science, New Series. Vol. 237, No. 4822, p. 1556.