Math Faculty Members Make Presentation at National Conference
Monday, January 16, 2006
Several Pennsylvania College of Technology mathematics faculty members made a presentation at the annual conference of the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges.
Bryan R. James, Edwin G. Owens and Curt E. Vander Vere, all assistant professors of mathematics at Penn College, were among the educators from the United States and Canada who presented at the 31st annual professional AMATYC conference.
Their presentation was titled "Assessing Student Attitudes/Confidence Levels as Related to Placement." It centered on an assessment project conducted by the mathematics department to determine what effect student attitudes and confidence levels have on success rates in developmental and subsequent college-level mathematics courses. The presentation included how this data is being used as one of several measures within the college's placement process.
The conference, held Nov. 10-13 in San Diego, featured a selection of more than 200 workshops and presentations to improve education in two-year colleges. Other Penn College mathematics department faculty members attending were Sandra Carlson, instructor; and Diana L. Kuhns, assistant professor.
The AMATYC is the only organization exclusively devoted to providing a national forum for the improvement of mathematics instruction in the first two years of college. The organization has approximately 2,500 individual members and more than 100 institutional members in the United States and Canada.