Changes in Course Selection System - Research Paper Example

Proposal for changing selection system by allowing in the selected majors to access major first regardless of the academic credits of the student Insert your name Insert course title Insert course code Insert supervisor name Insert date. Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3 1.INTRODUCTION 4 1.1Statement of the problem 4 1.2Background of the project 4 2.PROJECT DESCRIPTION 6 2.1Objective 6 2.2Evaluation of team members 6 2.3Methodology 9 2.3.1Overview 9 2.3.2Scope and sampling 10 2.4Detailed timeline 10 3.BUDGET 13 4.EXPECTED RESULTS 14 5.CONCLUSION 15 5.1Summary of key points 15 5.2Request for action 16 6.WORK CITED 17 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In many universities and colleges, course selection is based on credit priority. Students in senior and junior years have, by nature of being in the system, more academic credits compared to freshmen and sophomore. The seniors and junior years thus have access to select courses for the next semester/term first while the starters will select after them. This has always disadvantaged freshmen and sophomore since they are left to take classes with only the remaining teachers at the remaining time schedules. The system has thus been unfair to starters since it expose them to harsh conditions that can be avoided with installation of a better system. This paper proposes a system where course selection will be based on student’s major than in the academic credits. The student with a selected major will have access to major courses first regardless of how many academic credits they have. This is because; every student has a major whose courses are well defined in any university. The student picks their majors first before considering the major course units they will have to take in the course. The major and its course units are thus the most important aspect of the learning process while academic credits are a product of success in the major. Such considerations will ensure that students get access to their course units, taught by the best teachers, in the best hours as per the student’s preference. The executive approval of this proposal will lead to immediate preparations on how the new system will start by January 2015. 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Statement of the problem The education system is designed in a way that one keeps graduating from one level to the other. The need to graduate to the next level creates a level of anxiety as the student looks forward to achieve certain targets to be able to join the university/college of choice. Once the candidate has achieved the set target the next bond of contention is the major to take in the university/ college. Therefore, to college/university starters, an opportunity to have a major is a lifetime privilege that they are normally so much excited about. However, their excitement is often cut short when they realize they cannot take their major with the best teachers in the system at the time of their convenience. This discouraging factor thus affects the students’ performance that may lead to some of them dropping the course for another course. 1.2 Background of the project Many high school students dream of landing a course in college upon graduating from high school (Gonzales 8). Their target for a good course that will fit their life aspiration directs the amount of effort placed in high school studies. Depending on the academic profile of the targeted course, the students work hard to achieve the profile. For example, some courses require higher entry points compared to other courses. Such knowledge advice the students who want to take majors with higher entry points on the areas they will need to put more emphasis to be able to achieve the high points. Having done all that, final year results determine the course the student will take in college/university. If students cannot get their ideal course, most of them are forced to settle for any other course that may attract their interest. With a second choice, the student can only wish that they will get a conducive environment that will motivate them to work hard in the new found interest. For the ones who got their high school dream courses, the excitement to start on the right footing and become the best they have ever imagined makes them look forward to entering the system. Universities/ colleges thus are the target zones where these dreams and interest will be brood to maturity. With increased qualification levels required in the job market, demand for higher education has grown more than any institution of higher learning would have predicted (Fallis 27). The number of students keeps on increasing with every intake. Many universities have deviced ways of dealing with this crisis by establishing part time classes that normally happen early in the morning, late in the evening and over the weekend. With such arrangements, the teachers available have also had to be specific on the courses they will take. Students are allowed to choose their teachers who most of the time will have specific teaching times that students will have to adopt upon selecting the teacher. However, the arrangement still did not solve the issue since some teachers will find themselves with overcrowded classes while some classes where literally empty. To deal with the issue, many universities devised the method of using academic credits as the main criteria to selection of course. This method ensured that students with higher academic credits got access to courses first before students with lower or zero credit scores. The system of using academic credit scores has been in use for a while now. However, this system have only been able to benefit continuing and the most bright student first before its does so to freshmen and sophomores. The system has presented an unfair state to freshmen and sophomore since they have had to pick course after every other student in the same institution has taken. The results have been freshmen, sophomores, and below average performing student end up taking courses taught by crappy teachers at horrible time periods. This is unfair considering that none of the two categories have a choice to be in any of the two situations; starter or poor performing. This raises the need for the review of the system so that all students can be able to benefit by accessing course of the choice. Using course majors, that every student select from the beginning of the course, to access course units, will ensure that students have classes with teachers of their choice at the most convenient time to them. Such allocations will work as positive impetus to students’ performance. The students will eventually be placed as competitive candidates in the job market. 2. PROJECT DESCRIPTION The broad goal of this project is to present a course selection system that will be more effective through the implementation of college major as the main criteria to course selection accessibility. 2.1 Objective The project analyze the effectiveness of the current academic credits scores accessibility to course selection in university/college, with potential benefits for all university/colleges registered in the country. 2.2 Evaluation of team members 1. Tom smith Mr. Tom Smith is a curriculum developer with over 20 years’ experience working with a wide range of organizations drawn in different countries. Tom has strong management background in strategy, projects and education financial planning. Among the areas of his competence are skilled instructional coordinator, curriculum evaluation and assessment, interpreting state guidelines, facilitating teaching capacity development as well as facilitation, and implementing structural changes in school curriculum. Tom has in-depth knowledge in development approaches, good interpersonal skills, and excellent problem solving skills. Tom will serve as the team leader and will be responsible for assessing quality of education under the new system. Mr. Tom will also be in charge of relations as well as developing evaluation tools, data collection tools, analysis and reporting. 2. Don Matthews Mr. Don has worked in school management committee for over 10 years. Don has hands on experience in supporting school development for both private and public institutions in areas of change management as well as monitoring and evaluation. He is a strategist in organization management and financing as well as a known trainer in leadership and governance approaches. He possesses a PHD in education from Walden University and a BA in education Arts from University of Nairobi. In addition, Don has other qualifications in ACCA, CFA, and CPA-K. Mr. Don will be the key strategist in establishing high level system development and quality assurance. He will also facilitate validation workshops in the university. 3. Purity Brown Ms. Purity is trained in project management and resource mobilization. She has 15 years’ experience in mobilizing and managing donor funds. She has hands on experience in program management, partnership management, and resource mobilization. In her capacity as research consultant, Ms. Purity had been involved in a number of research studies, program evaluations, assessments and baselines surveys, and institution profiling. She is experienced in both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies, data entry management, and analysis using a number of packages. Purity has brilliant analytical, interpersonal, and communication skills and works well in a multi-cultural environment with minimal supervision. Ms. Purity will be in-charge of primary data collection and will be the key person in tools development, data analysis and reporting. 4. Willis Cliff Mr. Willis Cliff is an accomplished self-motived professional proficient is program management as well as participatory development strategy. Willis has 10 years’ experience in facilitating research, evaluation and related studies in education environment. Willis is results oriented and thus focus on action and expert coordination that will lead to commendable results. With his leadership and interpersonal skills, Willis brings strong negotiation and decision making skills that are so needed in deciding the fate of course selection system in the university. Willis together with Purity will be involved in primary data collection, data analysis and reporting. The project will also incorporate a team of data collectors. The team will be derived from experienced field research specialists. Selection criteria will be based on previous experience on collecting data in learning institutions. There will also be a different team of data entry clerks. This team will be selected based on previous experience in working with excel worksheet since most of the data that will be filled in questionnaires will be keyed in the excel sheet before being imported to the relevant analysis software. 2.3 Methodology 2.3.1 Overview This project aims at taking a multi-layer approach where the evaluation of the existing course selection system will be combined with the validation of the newly proposed course selection system. The project will utilize both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies. The research approach will be participatory since it contributes to learning and ownership significantly. The whole program will endeavor to produce timely and constructive results through participative facilitation. The approach of this project will be bottom up approach that will emphasize on the students experience, perception and views of an ideal course selection system. The students experience and perceptions will thus be interrogated with expert perspective to evaluate their effectiveness in adopting the new course selection system. The main instruments of this project will be questionnaires to be used in interviewing students and focus groups during the discussions. The project will take an exploratory and descriptive approach in that the whole project will be contextualized to be within an education institution. The perspectives of the sub stakeholders in the institutions will be reviewed as key information to the success of the project and its implementation. 1. Questionnaire interview will be conducted to both continuing students and starters (freshmen and sophomores). The data collected form students will be used as part of the triangulation process as well as enable the researchers adjust the data that will be collected from the focus group discussions. 2. Focus group discussions will be conducted to groups of between 6-10 persons. The aim will be to basically collect diverse idea and insights on preselected topics in a comfortable and liberal environment that facilitate free expression of points and ideas. Different focus group discussion guides will be developed for different groups of respondents. 2.3.2 Scope and sampling The scope of this research project is to develop a course selection system that will be used by our university. Therefor the university students and teachers form the scope of the study. The students to be interviewed and the focus group discussion groups will be developed from the already existing list of students emails in the universitiydata base. Among the issues to be considered when sampling will be academic level of the respondents, cost and time constraints as well as accountability and learning orientations. 2.4 Detailed timeline The project will take approximately 135 days in total. The description below outlines a detailed program for the development of the new course selection system. Consent will be sought from students and teachers via emails. The email will give details of what the project is all about, the scope and what it aims to achieve. Students who will respond to the email will be considered for the interview. Teachers’ emails will be followed up with school visit to elaborate more on the reason for the interview as well as what the study aim at achieving. Direct assessment and in-person interviews will involve performing direct assessments and student interviews. Direct assessment will entail evaluating academic performance of students based on class time allocation and the teacher. The assessment will be conducted by our trained personnel that don’t have to be necessarily working in the university. Student interviews will be conducted through questionnaires to student’s whose performance assessment was successfully completed. Focus group discussion will be made up of teachers and students separately and there will be one with both teachers and student. Teacher focus groups will be divided into academic levels. First academic level teachers will be asked about classroom practices and student’s performance in their classes based on the course selection system in place. The student’s focus group that will also be divided as per academic levels will focus on collecting data on experience and perception of students learning process and motivation based on course selection process. Later there will be a teacher-student focus group that will aim at checking the significance of teacher capability and student judgment in facilitating learning in the current course selection system. The last stage will involve triangulation of data, data analysis and reporting. The timeline will be as shown below Key Steps/Timelines Main Activities Expected Results Time/Days Stage 1: Preparatory 1. Send emails to students and teachers 2. Follow up-emails with detailed information of the research study with the teachers. 1. A good number of students will respond to emails. 2. Teachers will allow the meeting to take place as well as confirm participation. 30 days Stage 2: Primary data tools development 1. Finalize on detailed data collection program plus develop tools and materials. 1. Facilitation program, tools and or materials developed 15 days Stage 3: Actual study/ primary data collection 1. Actual primary data collection - facilitate study per the methodologies, selected 2. Triangulation of data from all sources 1. Primary data collected during field work from different respondents per the agreed program. 60 days Stage 4: Data entry and Analysis 1. Analysis of the data/information. 2. Distillation of emerging / cross cutting issues 3. Identification of major findings, lessons learned, recommendations, and conclusions 1. Data organization and cleaning undertaken 2. Qualitative (and quantitative data, where applicable) analysis done 15 days Stage 5: Report writing 1. Validation & Learning Session 2. Develop final report with recommendations 1. Final report developed and shared 15 days 3. BUDGET This project is estimated to cost approximately $124,868. Majority of the funds will be on personnel expenses for the essential collection of interviews data. The total personnel cost is estimated to be $ 109,868. This includes compensation for main investigators to conduct the interviews, support for main investigators and subcontractors for teachers and student interviews, coding and analysis of the data collected and validation and reporting. The estimated direct expenses will be $10,244 and will include cost of supplies and interview transcription. Travel cost will take $4,756. This will facilitate travelling to the university campuses for direct interviews. Budget Item Amount Sub-Total 1 Personnel Expenses Support for main investigators and sub-contracted interviewers (approximately 100 interviewers @ receiving approximately $250. Stipend and expenses for main investigators and sub-contracted interviewers. Coding and analysis Validation and reporting $25,000 $54,228 $25,412 $5,228 Total Personnel expenses $ 109,868 2 Direct expenses Cost of supplies and interview transcription $10,244 Total Direct expenses $10,244 3 Travel Cost Travelling to the university campuses for direct interviews $4,756 Total Travel Cost $4,756 TOTAL EXPENSES $124,868 4. EXPECTED RESULTS This research project expects to change the course selection system and give students an opportunity to access course units based on their majors. The students will be able to choose teachers and class times that they are more comfortable with. This way, students including freshmen and sophomores will feel part of the system since there will be no discrimination. The action will inspire students to work hard in their careers since they will be able to pursue their career in the most convenient environment. Convenient class hours have been the main drive towards online learning. Students look for flexible learning hours where they can access their courses at any time without having to be forced to take a class (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek 6). The online students also have a chance to pick teachers of their choice and will plan to attend the classes at the time when their preferred teachers will be in class. This concept has made many online scholars to perform better since everything is working at their convenience. Applying the same concept to in-campus classes will ensure that students get a chance to interact as well as pursue their dreams in the most convenient way. Students will be able to learn in a class of their choice. This project aims also at exposing crabby teachers who take advantage of the student vulnerability. It is certain that some of these teachers are aware of reasons why high credit students will not pick their classes. Implementation of the project will ensure that these lecturers comply with good teaching practices for the benefit of the students as the main reason why they are employed. The university will also benefit by being known for providing highly qualified and motivated students since they had a chance to enjoy their school life. The job market will look forward to each graduation since they will be sure of hiring the best skills the market can have. 5. CONCLUSION 5.1 Summary of key points Student join institutions of higher learning with the aim of pursuing their career in the most convenient environment the college/university can offer. Apart from continuing students, freshmen and sophomores come in with higher expectations that the system will work for them. However, the university course selection system has not presented a fair ground to all students. The current academic credit system have disadvantaged freshmen and sophomores by ensuring that they access course units after all continuing students with credit scores have accessed. This is unfair considering that freshmen and sophomores have no choice since before joining the institution, they could not have taken any classes that could have assisted in accumulating credit scores. 5.2 Request for action The situation as at now remains wanting since freshmen and sophomores need to be treated fairly by the system. The university curriculum managers should look into creating a leveled ground where all student access course units based on their majors. This will ensure that students access relevant course units to their major. With such accessibility, the university will be able to produce individuals with vast knowledge in their fields since at no point did they have to fill in a course unit because their course unit was inaccessible when they needed them. 6. WORK CITED Fallis, George. Rethinking higher education: Universal higher education has been achieved. New York: McGill Queen’s University press, 2012. Print. Gonzales, Robert G. Young lives on hold: The College dreams of undocumented students. College Board Advocacy, April 2009. Web. 24 Nov. 2014. Simonson, Micheal, Smaldino, Sharon, Albright, Micheal, & Zvacek, Susan, ed. Teaching and learning at a distance. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2011. Print. Read More