Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Forgotten Dreams


As we get older, many of the dreams we had in our youth seem out of reach and so are forgotten. A college education can be the key to making those dreams real. But for many returning students, the thought of having to take math classes is more of a nightmare than a dream. In this interview, two returning students discuss how college resources provided the necessary emotional and academic support needed to pursue their forgotten dreams.


Entire Interview (YouTube Video IVCTV33)


Entire Interview Audio(wma)
Entire Interview Audio(mp3)

Monday, September 5, 2011

Taking the "Dis"out of Disability

Is there a limit to one's ability? In this interview you hear two successful students speak openly about the college experience with their learning differences.

Audio Excerpt (wma)
Audio Excerpt (mp3)


Video Excerpt (YouTube MuchoMath)



Entire Interview Audio(wma)
Entire Interview Audio(mp3)


Entire Interview (YouTube Video IVCTV33)

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

The Student Teacher Relationship


Overcoming difficulties in mathematics requires a partnership between the student and the teacher. In this interview you can listen to two students and two teachers discuss how this relationship can generate positive results.



Entire Interview (wma)
Entire Interview (mp3)

Friday, August 26, 2011

It's on! The First Day of Instruction!

Research tells us that 70-85% of California community college students assess into basic skills courses. Algebra2go is only a small part of Saddleback College’s action plan to meet the needs of its basic skills students. On the first day of instruction we were honored to have Trustee Marcia Milchiker and College President Tod A. Burnett join us in a conversation centered on student success.

Saddleback College President Tod A. Burnett
(wma format)
(mp3 format)

Trustee Marcia Milchiker
(wma format)
(mp3 format)

Entire Interview
(wma format)
(mp3 format)

Monday, August 15, 2011

The Web Design of Algebra2go

Patrick Quigley, the web designer of Algebra2go, joins us to discuss the development of this project. His programming talents along with an intuitive online approach to addressing the emotions of adult learners have contributed immensely to the success of this project.


Sloan-C Effective Practice Award 2010

Award Acceptance Interview

Entire Interview (wma)
Entire Interview (mp3)

Monday, August 8, 2011

Family and Education

Although the website was specifically designed to help alleviate fear among adult learners, it does appear to have possibilities in assisting students in secondary education. A current student reflects on his challenges with math and is accompanied by his two sons. Together they share a family experience.

Entire Interview (wma)
Entire Interview (mp3)

Monday, August 1, 2011

A Prelude to Math

As the semester approaches only three weeks away, we faculty begin to think about syllabi, updating websites, and training sessions we need to attend to prepare our minds for the upcoming academic year. But what does a math student think about, who maybe hasn’t seen a classroom for several years? What is the preliminary to the act of walking through that math classroom door? It was a delight having a past student join us in this conversation helping us explore an emotion often experienced by today’s returning adult students. To our benefit, the student's current work in music therapy leads us to a conversation regarding the relationship between music and math.



Entire Interview (YouTube Video IVCTV33)




Entire Interview Audio(wma)
Entire Interview Audio(mp3)

Monday, July 11, 2011

The Algebra2go Team

It was a joy having Candice Jhu Harrington participate in this recent conversation. Candice was enrolled in my second semester Calculus course back in 2002 and was one of the first students I purchased notes from. Since then she has contributed immensely to the development of this project. Together we got to hear firsthand the result of our work from two of my most recent pre-algebra students, Laura and Rebecca.




Entire Interview (wma)
Entire Interview (mp3)

Monday, June 27, 2011

Beyond the Fear of Math

Successful students would likely agree that beyond the fear lies a student's full potential. In these recent student interviews, restored confidence appears to be an important factor in achieving this.

Student Interview 1 (wma)
Student Interview 1 (mp3)

Student Interview 2 (wma)
Student Interview 2 (mp3)

Entire Interview (wma)
Entire Interview (mp3)

Sunday, June 26, 2011

A Learning Culture

It takes a community to educate a diverse student population. Community college students bring many different life experiences to our classrooms, some of which can certainly hinder student success. With mature returning students, there also appears to be a level of fear motivated by the thought of sitting in a classroom with a much younger student population. But yet, once a returning student overcomes this fear and succeeds in a developmental math course, it is not uncommon for them to realize that they have been applying basic mathematics in everyday tasks throughout their entire life. They become more aware of its value and begin to see math, not only as a subject to be learned, but as a necessary part of a learning culture where one improves the quality of their lives.

The following is an interview of a returning student talking about his experience coming to back to school after many years. This student was never enrolled in any of my courses but it does appear that the website was able to support the student both academically and emotionally. This could be an example of how technology can be integrated into a learning community that supports student success.

Student Interview (wma)
Student Interview (mp3)

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

The Story Behind Algebra2go

Over the years there have been many student interviews conducted to capture the emotional side to learning mathematics. This gathered information led to the development of the Algebra2go website. Thanks to the support of KSBR and the effort of Donna Jo Thornton, a past student on mine, we now begin to capture the results of this student driven project. The interview below is the first of a series that we hope will promote awareness of the affective dimension of student learning. In the near future, Patrick Quigley, the one who designs the web pages for this project, will reveal his thoughts regarding this work.

Student Interview (wma)
Student Interview (mp3)

Complete Interview (wma)
Complete Interview (mp3)

Monday, March 7, 2011

For my Friends at Argosy University

Hello everyone! I’m Larry Perez. I currently teach mathematics at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, CA. After spending some time in the US Navy’s submarine fleet I entered school at CSU Fullerton, CA to pursue a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering followed by an M.A. in Applied Mathematics. During my graduate studies I taught mathematics part-time at CSUF and found that I had a strong passion for teaching the subject which led me to seek the fulltime position I now hold at Saddleback College. I’m here at Argosy into my sixth year pursuing an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership. I am not sure if I will eventually look for an administrative position in the educational arena as I feel my talents would be best served in a community college classroom full of basic skills math students. My research interests are centered on these particular adult learners who are now turning to the community college system looking for opportunities for career advancement.

While at Argosy learning about leadership theory, I took some of the ideas for managing organizations and used them to help guide the development of a methodology that would be used to investigate poor success rates in basic skills math classrooms. Applying this methodology resulted in a free online supplemental instruction learning environment called Algebra2go designed to meet the needs of my challenged basic skills students. It is this online learning environment I hope to study giving me a current topic title of “ANALYSIS OF THE IMPACT OF A DEVELOPED ONLINE SUPPLEMENTAL INSTRUCTION TOOL ARRAY ON PRE-ALGEBRA STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT AND ATTITUDE”.