Access for Equity: Designing a Mobile-First Calculus Course

Presented by:

• Alex Rockey, PhD, Instructional Technology Instructor, Bakersfield College
• Samantha Eastman, Instructional Design Consultant, University of California, Riverside
• Fabiola Torres, Professor, Glendale Community College

Speaker Bios:

• Alex Rockey, PhD, is an instructional technologist instructor at Bakersfield College. As an educator with K-16 teaching experience, Alex has taught online teaching courses to faculty, first-year writing at the college level, and high school English and Puente. Her interests include humanizing online education, accessibility, and mobile learning and design. Alex is passionate about the potential of mobile design to improve student access to high-quality educational opportunities.
• Samantha Eastman is an instructional design consultant for UC, Riverside’s Center for Teaching and Learning, called the “Exploration Center for Innovative Teaching and Engagement” (XCITE). She has 20 years of experience in faculty development, curriculum development, and technology integration for K-20 education environments, extending to support for informal learning and experiential learning, as well as the development of hybrid or online courses, web-based interactives, and multi-platform programs or services. Samantha holds an M.Ed. in Instructional Technology from the University of South Carolina.
• Fabiola Torres is a practicing humanized, online instructor of Ethnic Studies at Glendale Community College. During the pandemic, Fabi collaborated with a number of colleges throughout the country in offering professional development workshops and keynote presentations focussing on applying equity-minded methods such as culturally responsive teaching in the online environment, and humanizing online teaching and learning. Her teaching principles are inspired by her M.A. in Chicana/o Studies from California State University, Northridge & her second M.A. in Learning Technology from Pepperdine’s School of Education and Psychology. Twitter: @iLearnNow

Session Info:

COVID-19 and its associated move towards emergency remote teaching highlighted increased usage of mobile devices for learning and existing inequities in access to home internet. Even before COVID-19 the PEW Research Center found access to home internet varied depending on race and ethnicity as well as household income; notably Black and Hispanic people tended to rely on their smartphones more often than a computer for civic and educational tasks (Perrin and Turner, 2019). In response, Bakersfield College, UC Riverside, San Diego City College, Glendale Community College, and CSU-Sacramento created an online Calculus course designed to close equity gaps through three dimensions: access, relationships, and learning. To address access, students could complete the course entirely on their phones, earn skills-based badges, and use Open Educational Resources ensuring they can access the course for free. To build relationships, the course included a faculty resource module and just-in-time support that guided faculty in building meaningful relationships with students to support student success and retention. Finally, to address learning, the Calculus course incorporated active learning strategies to help students see math within a discipline as content to discover and explore. This course was piloted in the Spring of 2021 at UC Riverside, CSU Sacramento, and Bakersfield College.

This interactive session will guide participants through a reflection of how mobile first design principles can be applied to any course. In addition, initial findings from student and faculty experiences during the pilot of the mobile first Calculus course will guide participants in creating a crowd-sourced toolkit with important takeaways for mobile design practices.

Session Outcomes:

• Identify mobile design principles that apply to any course.
• Create a crowd-sourced toolkit with important takeaways for mobile design practices.

Session Resources:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Q6ESePVC3OIwrXz6IjRMMTgffRalAFOxS7YPGrhY9UE/edit?usp=sharing