Miami Dade College Puts Learning First on the Agenda

Faculty make the most of learning innovation grants to enhance life in the classroom.

Miami Dade College (MDC)—formerly Miami Dade Community College—has implemented a plan to help faculty better achieve learning goals in the classroom. As part of the initiative, faculty can apply for grants to accomplish something they've always wanted to do with new pedagogies, learning models, or cutting-edge curricula. The grants or “Learning Innovation Golden Apple Grants” are the faculty-driven arm of President Eduardo J. Padrón's Learning Agenda, which is a plan that involves academic and student support, as well as administrative and leadership programs.

Located in south Florida, MDC is the largest multi-campus college in the nation and serves more than 163,000 students. The institution's six campuses graduate more Latino/a and African-American students than any other college in America, and this fall, the college will welcome its first class of juniors, expanding its offerings from two-year associate degrees.

Like many community colleges, MDC has a balance of learning excellence and student-centered programs for students from all walks of life to catch up, get ahead, and excel. MDC has programs for underprepared students and an Honors College that draws the highest academic achievers from local high schools. The college also concentrates on workforce development and partners with community leaders to establish hands-on training facilities. MDC's degree-granting “virtual college” enables nontraditional students to work in a way that better suits lives with young families and jobs. The college has improved access to baccalaureate degrees for its students through articulation agreements with four-year colleges and universities, making it possible for MDC students to transfer more easily and pursue scholarships.

Food for Faculty Thought and Action

According to MDC's 2000-2005 strategic plan, the Learning Agenda was implemented and funded to emphasize student success. As part of this Learning Agenda, a “Learning Innovations Leadership Team” of three faculty members was put in place in January 2002. The team issues a request for proposals each year designed to fund faculty initiatives to enhance student learning.

The “apple” grants are meant to feed faculty, taking advantage of their best ideas cultivated from classroom experience. It is a very simple idea, but it is often simply what faculty want: some financial support and time to launch innovative classroom strategies. These grants, which range from $500 to $39,000, help faculty create approaches to learning in specific areas. They help faculty to identify and create strategies to overcome student pitfalls (such as high-risk courses like college algebra) or tailor their work to fit a specific student community (such as an e-zine written for and by ESL students).

The program also supports faculty travel and visiting consultants that contribute to outcomes enhancing student learning and achievement. The Learning Innovations Web site was developed, in part, as a communications vehicle allowing faculty to share their innovative projects. Combining imagination, interest, and careful work, faculty have brought more than forty-five ”golden apple” innovations to MDC students. To date, nearly $330,000 have been awarded in grants.

Easing the Early Math Bottleneck and Demystifying Research

One project launched by a grantee, “On the Road to Information Literacy: Clarifying Library of Congress Classification,” was put together by a faculty librarian in the department of library services at the Medical Center Campus. The project allowed time for her to research and create a CD/video presentation on the Library of Congress classification system. The project demystifies the system for students and teaches them how to effectively locate library and medical resources in all six of the college campus libraries and media departments.

Other projects include a joint effort between mathematics and social sciences faculty. “A Learning Community for Math Enhancement through Student Life Skills” has a basic, important task: to provide students with the academic and technological support to pass their math courses, while gaining a solid foundation for future graduation requirements. The grant provides tutors for the students so they can have face-to-face group tutoring and also additional online support outside of the classroom. Students in these math learning communities receive structured academic advising as well as the opportunity to attend four workshops on becoming better math learners.

The focus of this grant is critical since College Algebra is a preliminary course that often hinders student achievement at the beginning of their college careers. At MDC, 10,000 students annually enroll in algebra. A summary of the grant testifies to its recent success: “In the control group of twenty students, 100 percent of the students were retained and registered for an MDC class during the following semester. More importantly, 98 percent of the students passed the class”.

“Creating a New Learning Community between Philosophy and English” brought together faculty from those two departments to coordinate a common curriculum that included joint assignments to explore links between thought, language, and methods of description.

An English as a Second Language (ESL) instructor launched a student online newsletter dedicated to publishing ESL student work. The magazine will encourage students to proofread, edit, and revise their writing. Designed as a cross-curriculum project, the e-zine will help students integrate the use of grammar, reading, writing, and speech to reach their publishing goals.

“Leadership, Ecological Restoration, and Student Success” was organized by an English department faculty member who designed a modular curriculum to address student leadership skills. As part of the project, students helped coordinate and supervise a semester-long service-learning project at Cape Florida, Key Biscayne, and several Miami-Dade area schools.

The financial and administrative support can only work if it is a strategic priority for the college, according to Learning Innovations Team Members Marie DeCunha, Catherine Hanus-Zank, and Barbara Rosenthal, all faculty who enjoy course release time to coordinate the project. “The introduction of a learning-centered approach requires the support of top administration. At MDC, the Learning Agenda has such support—both financial and academic. The commitment must be long-term, since, as with all new programs that look to bring about change, the results may only occur in small increments.” MDC, they feel, has constructed a solid foundation for such change on paper with the strategic plan, and in reality, with programs such as the Golden Apple Innovations. As they start a new academic year, the Team Leaders look forward to the promise of new grant proposals and to the fruitful learning the faculty labor brings.

Visit the Learning Innovations Web site.

For a complete list of recent Learning Innovations projects, visit www.mdcc.edu/learninginnovations/pages/abstracts.asp.

For more information on AAC&U's recent report, which focuses on student preparedness and the quality of learning in today's colleges and universities, see Greater Expectations: A New Vision for Learning as a Nation Goes to College. MDC President Eduardo J. Padrón, served on the national panel that issued this report in 2002.

For information about other learning-centered institutions, see descriptions of schools that are a part of the Greater Expectations Consortium on Quality Education.