Report for IMPAC Regional Meeting
November 13, 2004
Submitted by Martin Flashman
IMPAC Lead Faculty for Mathematics
Based on Notes by Fran Manion
A list of those attending is included at the end of this report. Participants came from colleges and universities in the Southern and Los Angeles and LA Metropolitan Regions The meeting began by reviewing information from the 2003-2004 IMPAC Annual Report for the Mathematics discipline. This report and other information relevant to IMPAC (such as the agenda for this meeting) are available on the recently developed IMPAC Website - see http://flashman.neocities.org/IMPAC/MATHIMPAC.html .
Discussions covered the following developments.
Lower Division Transfer Patterns (LDTP) Project at the CSU
The LDTP is now mandated by recent State legislative action. The Council of CSU Mathematics Department Chairs adopted an agreement in April 2004, that provides a transfer pattern for community college students planning to major in mathematics at the CSU. A student completing this pattern before transfer will be given a preference for admission to the CSU and will have satisfied most of the lower division GE and major requirements, allowing completion of work for a degree in mathematics to proceed without much difficulty within two years. The LDTP specifies that transfer math majors will have completed three semesters or four quarters of calculus plus all areas of general education except for Physical Science. In addition, individual campuses have locally determined requirements which will specify how to complete the Physical Science general education for that campus. It was noted that these patterns do not apply to the UC system. [Transfer major preparation at UC’s depends on articulation agreements at each of the UC campuses and has not been consolidated statewide at this time.].
Liberal Studies Major and the Teaching Credential
In the past, math courses for Liberal Studies programs have been a pathway to the elementary education credential waiver. However, these courses are no longer required as part of the preparation for the elementary education credential, though still part of the Liberal Studies major. As a result there is likely to be a diminishing number of students enrolling in these courses in the next few years as new pathways develop for teacher preparation.
Resources for Transfer Students
The response by ASSIST to the mathematics IMPAC recommendations of improved web linkage to
major departments has been implemented for the UC campuses. A similar effort is now in process for the
CSU campuses with completion projected by the end of the calendar year.
The participants suggested that the IMPAC Math Webpage include a “transfer assistance” page for college faculty, counselors, and potential mathematics majors. The page should include for each of the UC and CSU campuses links to and/or contact information for
· the person(s) to contact for information regarding transfer, in particular, transfer with a mathematics major,
· the university articulation officer and
· The mathematics department and university homepage.
It was noted that some university mathematics department homepages [such as that of UCLA] provide sample syllabi and exams. These may provide students and college faculty a preview of the level of rigor they can expect at the University.
Communication among the Mathematics Academic Community
Several suggestions from last year’s recommendations for increasing communication between colleges were discussed.
· Intersegmental regional “Math Days” for community college math transfer students would provide an opportunity for students to become familiar with programs provided at various CSU/UC campuses. The agenda for these events could include such topics as transfer information, “star” lectures regarding current research and developments in mathematics, specific topics from upper division courses, and/or careers that use mathematics.
· As an alternative to developing regional “Math Days” it was suggested. University campuses would develop programs to involve prospective transfer students and college faculty in a University campus visit (“field trip”) from many “feeder” colleges. The IMPAC math web site could serve as an information clearing house so the colleges could learn more about these programs [besides from direct communications from the Universities to the feeder colleges].
· CSU/UC Mathematics departments might invite community college math majors and faculty to attend “Career Days” for mathematics majors at the CSU/UC campuses. Fran Manion volunteered to work with Professor Flashman to contact UC and CSU Math Departments to investigate how to do this effectively and make relevant information available.
· It was recommended that the community college mathematics organizations, CMC3 and CMC3-S, should establish links on their homepages to the IMPAC Math Webpage. Reciprocally IMPAC Math Webpage already has links to CMC3 and CMC3-S.
· Although new CAN Math descriptors were developed in Spring, 2002 by an Ad Hoc IMPAC related group, they have not been implemented in the CAN lists.
· CAN is currently developing a new system for proposing and revising CAN courses and descriptions. In this new system, the CAN courses may also include course objectives to provide greater clarity on the nature of the course description. [Note: It is not being proposed that learning outcomes for a course be included with the CAN description.] Information of this type is routinely included in the organization of a course at the community colleges, but not at the universities.
· Though the UC currently does not use the CAN system for creating articulation agreements, the participation of UC faculty in developing CAN descriptions will help clarify course design for the colleges to conform better to comparable university courses at both the CSU and UC.
· There are some funds available to work on revising and/or creating CAN descriptions this year. This task would be organized through Professor Flashman as IMPAC lead faculty for Mathematics in cooperation with the CSU Council of Math Department Chairs and in consultation with selected College faculty with expertise in teaching courses being considered.
· Discussion was centered on which courses might benefit from review, with some deference to what
the CSU Department Chairs considered most useful to them in reviewing courses for articulation agreements.
o Statistics
There is no CAN Math Statistics course. There is a Statistics course:
STAT 2
Title: Introduction to Statistics
Description: Introductory course in probability and statistics; descriptive analysis and presentation of data; hypothesis testing; statistical inference; normal and chi-square distributions; applications.
Prerequisites: Algebra I, Geometry, and Intermediate Algebra (Algebra II).
3 semester units or 4 quarter units.
For purposes of articulation there seems to be concern on the part of some transfer
institutions about the differences between statistics courses which rely heavily on the use
of computer technology (accommodating work with large data sets) and those which use
only calculators. This led to the question of whether there should be one or two CAN
Math Statistics, reflecting the different levels of technology. This is the beginning of a
discussion that will probably continue at a later meeting.
o Discrete Math
There is also no CAN Discrete Math course. Perhaps this can be cross-listed with a
CAN CIS Discrete Math?
CSCI 26
Title: Discrete Mathematics
Description: Elements of discrete mathematics which have applications to computer science; methods of proof including mathematical induction. Topics include logic, sets, relations, graphs, trees, combinatorics and Boolean algebra.
Prerequisite: Pre-calculus.
o Bridge Course
The last IMPAC meeting discussed the possibility of a Bridge Course for transfer
students. There has not been any decisive discussion about the contents of such a course.
The 2003-2004 Annual Report outlined the discussion on the Bridge program. Summer
courses are available: UCLA will offer a Linear Algebra/bridge course while UC
Berkeley will offer a Proof/Bridge Course. There is also the possibility that community
college students can “cross register” at nearby UC/CSU’s for these courses and pay
community college fees.
IMPAC participants are encouraged to locate information about these and similar
courses on the Web for discussion at the spring meeting. It may be possible to get an
NSF grant to develop this type of course for a summer program. IMPAC members can
send names of people who might be interested in developing such an NSF grant to
Professor Flashman. In addition, it was suggested that community college faculty be
encouraged to cross register in a proof course with a view to the impact it would having
on lower division teaching.
· Questions from the CSU Mathematics Chairs
The CSU Chairs have questions on CAN Math 2 (Introduction to Mathematical Reasoning), CAN Math 4 (Mathematics for Elementary Teachers) and (from last spring) CAN Math 26 (Linear Algebra).
Recommendations
1. The proposed CAN MATH Linear Algebra should be submitted to CAN for approval.
2. A group of 20-30 people should meet in four subgroups on a designated day outside of the standard IMPAC meeting to develop CAN descriptions for CAN MATH 2, 4, Statistics and Discrete Math. We need to set a date and invite participation of individuals involved with these courses at the CCs, CSUs and UCs.
Finally, the IMPAC statewide meeting is scheduled for April 30, 2005, at the Radisson at LAX. At that meeting proposals and recommendations based on this meeting and the regional meeting in the Bay area will be reviewed and final recommendations will be adopted.
Registered Participants (as of 11-10):
Arnold, Bruce Department Head UC San Diego barnold@ucsd.edu
Baldwin, William Professor Cypress College cypresscsci@aol.com
Crise, Robert Faculty Crafton Hills College rcrise@crafton.sbccd.cc.ca.us
De Land, Paul Faculty CSU Fullerton pdeland@fullerton.edu
Dostal, Steve Faculty Desert, College of the sdostal@collegeofthedesert.edu
Fay, John Associate Professor Chaffey College drjohnfay@netscape.net
Flashman, Martin Lead Faculty CSU Humboldt flashman@axe.humboldt.edu
Gilmore, James Faculty Canyons, College of the james.gilmore@canyons.edu
Jennings, George Chair CSU Dominguez Hills gjennings@csudh.edu
Kirschvink, Steve Professor CSU San Diego kirschvink@math.sdsu.edu
Lee, Keith Faculty San Bernardino Valley College klee@sbccd.cc.ca.us
Legner, Mary Faculty Riverside College mm.legner@rcc.edu
Linton, Karen Faculty CSU Pomona kalinton@csupomona.edu
Manion, Fran Chair Santa Monica College manion_fran@smc.edu
Marroquin, Mauricio Vice Chair Los Angeles Valley College marroqme@lavc.edu
Mesri, Bahman Faculty Allan Hancock College bmesri@hancock.edu
Mieh, Thomas Instructor Bakersfield College thmieh@bakersfieldcollege.edu
Neelon, Tejinder Associate Professor CSU San Marcos neelon@csusm.edu
Plett, Christina Professor Cypress College cplett@cypresscollege.edu
Qian, Maijian Professor CSU Fullerton mqian@fullerton.edu
Saber, Isabelle Division Chair Glendale College isaber@glendale.edu
Tait, Karen Chair Allan Hancock College ktait@hancockcollege.edu
Velez, Pat Faculty Los Angeles City College velez.pmjr@verizon.net
Woo-Hoogenstyn, Yoly Articulation UC San Diego yoly@ucsd.edu