Contextualized Teaching & Learning: A Faculty Primer

1 Contextualized Teaching & Learning: A Faculty Primer A Review of Literature and Faculty Practices with Implications for California Community College Practitioners Spring 2009. In Association with the Center for Student Success/RP Group and the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges Basic Skills Initiative Bay Area Workforce Funding Collaborative CSS The Center for Student Success The Research and Planning Group for California Community Colleges The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges Funded by the Chancellor's Office of the California Community Colleges Acknowledgements This project is part of the California Basic Skills Initiative aiming to build a

2 Toolkit for community college practitioners in the field of basic skills education. The series of literature reviews began in 2007 with the publication of Basic Skills as a Foundation for Student Success in California Community College (Center for Student Success, 2007). The current report is one of a number of follow-up projects to the initial literature review. The authors surveyed published literature and interviewed California and national community college Faculty and program directors to compile this Primer .

3 The report was then read by members of the review panel identified below. Special thanks are due to the Bay Area Workforce Funding Collaborative (BAWFC) for its support of this project. BAWFC is a partnership of over a dozen California and national foundations which leverages public and private philanthropic investments to support workforce development programs in the San Francisco Bay Area. Contents About the Authors.. 1. Introduction.. 3. A Case for Contextualized Teaching and Learning (CTL).. 4. How prepared are today's students for the 21st century workforce?

4 4. How are California Community Colleges addressing the skills gap? .. 5. What is Contextualized Teaching and Learning? .. 6. What learning theory supports CTL? .. 9. Contextualized Teaching and Learning in Practice.. 15. Intensive Introduction to Composition Reading and Writing .. 21. Basic Math Skills for Statistical Process Control .. 24. Elementary and Intermediate Algebra .. 27. Introduction to Automotive Technology/Shifting Gears Initiative .. 31. Utilities and Construction Prep Program/Career Advancement Academy.

5 35. FastStart@CCD .. 39. Digital Bridge Academy .. 43. Daraja Project .. 47. Bridge to Biotech Lab Assistant Certificate Program .. 51. Spanish to English Associate Teacher Certificate Program .. 55. I-BEST Certified Nurse Assistant Program .. 58. Considerations for Implementing CTL .. 61. Conclusion .. 65. References .. 66. Appendix Faculty Interview Protocol.. 71. Contextualized Teaching & Learning: A Faculty Primer |1. About the Authors Elaine DeLott Baker is the former Principal Investigator of the Colorado Lumina Initiative for Performance and the director of She consults nationally on issues of accelerated remediation, career pathways, and adult education/community college transitions.

6 Through her work with the Hewlett Foundation, Elaine began working collaboratively with the Research and Planning Group and the Carnegie Foundation for Teaching and Learning. In the last two years she has served as a visiting team member for the Hewlett Leaders of Student Success recognition project, which honors California community colleges for their leadership in basic skills. Laura Hope is the Interim Dean of Instructional Support at Chaffey College, where she has spent the past twenty years of her career as an English instructor and Basic Skills leader and advocate.

7 She was a founder and has coordinated Chaffey's nationally recognized Success Centers and the Associate's Degree Program for the California Institution for Women. In addition to her work at Chaffey, Laura is a contributing writer to Basic Skills as a Foundation for Student Success in the California Community Colleges. Kelley Karandjeff is a researcher with the Research and Planning Group for California Community Colleges'. Center for Student Success and a coordinator with the Office of Career and Technical Education at City College of San Francisco (CCSF).

8 She has over a decade of program development, implementation and evaluation experience with a particular focus on CTE at the community college and secondary levels. Kelley recently served as member of CCSF's Basic Skills Planning Committee through which she co-led a Faculty initiative to examine issues of basic skills instruction in occupational programming. Additional Contributions The Research Team extends warm appreciation to the many Faculty and program directors interviewed for the purposes of this Primer .

9 Interviewees include the following: Diego Navarro Cabrillo College; Tom deWit Chabot College; Laurence Clement, James Lewis, Robert Reed, Robert Yung and Carin Zimmerman City College of San Francisco; Daniel Keller College of San Mateo; Kristin Cutaia, Ruth Brancard, Rosalinda Martinez and Lisa Silverstein Community College of Denver; Phillip Sutton and Roberto Pandolfi El Camino College; Rod Brown and Mark Lammers Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana; Myra Snell Los Medanos College; Kelly Dodge, Wally Hanley, Allison Tom-Muira, Tom Vessella Los Angeles Trade-Technical College; Sandra Corona and Angelina Stuart Southwestern College; Jon Kerr Lower Columbia College.

10 The Research Team also greatly appreciates the vital feedback and guidance of its review panel including the following members: Julie Adams Executive Director, Academic Senate for California Community Colleges;. Norena Norton Badway Associate Professor/Director of Higher Education Leadership, University of the Pacific; Dianna Chiabotti Coordinator Child and Family Studies and Academic Senate President, Napa Valley College; Karolyn Hanna PhD, MSN, RN, Professor of Nursing, Santa Barbara City College; Davis Jenkins Senior Research Associate, Community College Research Center, Teachers College, Columbia 2| Contextualized Teaching & Learning: A Faculty Primer University.