Math may be difficult, daunting, and anxiety-producing, but help is available. Student peer mentors can provide the extra help and support that students may need to be successful in their math classes and maybe even in their majors.
Amantha L. Cole
Title III Project Director
205 Turley Student Services Center
1201 Locust Avenue
Fairmont, WV 26554
(304) 367-4981
Amantha.Cole@fairmontstate.edu
Travis Miller
STEM Learning Coordinator
327 Hunt Haught Hall
1201 Locust Avenue
Fairmont, WV 26554
(304) 367-4246
tmiller42@fairmontstate.edu
Ashley Tasker
Business Learning Coordinator
116A Jaynes Hall
1201 Locust Avenue
Fairmont, WV 26554
(304) 367-4889
Ashley.Tasker@fairmontstate.edu
In 2012, Fairmont State University was one of only 15 applicants nation-wide selected to receive a grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Title III Strengthening Institutions Program. This five-year grant, totaling nearly $2 million, has enabled Fairmont State’s College of Science & Technology and School of Business to pilot a project designed to improve student success in targeted high-risk courses—the courses that traditionally have high rates of D's, F's and withdrawals.
Title III Strengthening Institutions Program is a competitive grant program administered by the United States Department of Education. Through the Title III Strengthening Institutions Program, grants are awarded to Institutions of Higher Education to pilot projects that are geared toward increasing student success and retention. Title III funds projects focused on faculty development, planning, establishing endowment funds, administrative management and the development and improvement of academic programs.
The College of Science & Technology and the School of Business collaborated to develop and pilot a project designed to help students succeed in targeted high-risk courses—such as Physics, Chemistry, Accounting and Economics—by enhancing the teaching and learning experience. To do this, the curricula will be revitalized to include collaborative and experiential learning, supplemented by student peer mentoring programs and new instructional technology tools. Experiential learning, or active learning, includes activities like classroom simulation, classroom experimentation, undergraduate research opportunities, job shadowing, internships and practicums. This interactive approach to learning will encourage participation and achievement, as well as prepare the students for “real-world” performance.
Throughout the five-year grant period, an investment of nearly $2 million will fund a number of updates and additions to the College of Science & Technology and the School of Business to promote experiential and collaborative learning and provide a technology-rich environment, including:
Ultimately, our goal is student success. We want to help students be successful in even the most challenging classes they will face. By targeting the courses with the highest rates of D's, F's and withdrawals, the Title III grant will provide technology tools, student peer mentoring and experiential and collaborative learning opportunities that we hope will give students the extra academic support they need to not only survive but to thrive. We want to help students surmount the obstacles that stand between them and academic success, so they can “achieve their professional and personal goals.”
Math may be difficult, daunting, and anxiety-producing, but help is available. Student peer mentors can provide the extra help and support that students may need to be successful in their math classes and maybe even in their majors.
Elizabeth Barkley, Ph.D., one of the nation’s leading authors in teaching and learning, will facilitate workshops for Fairmont State faculty on Tuesday, January 13, 2015. Barkley’s workshop—“Practical and Effective Strategies to Get Your Students Engaged”—will be held at 9-11:30 a.m. with a repeating session at 1-3:30 p.m. Both sessions will take place in the Falcon Center’s third floor conference rooms.
Over the summer, two student peer mentors in the School of Business presented at the Student Success Summit, a statewide conference for educators co-sponsored by the West Virginia Department of Education and the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission.