[Back to Minneapolis Math Pathways]
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Question 1. Would I lose enrollment by cutting developmental mathematics?
Answer:

• The enrollment shouldn't be a concern. For sure you will lose some students in the developmental courses, but you will get them in the college-level courses. In the case of Minneapolis College, our math enrollment in Fall 21 remains virtually the same as Fall 19 (aka the last pre-pandemic normal year), defying the statewide and college-wide downward trend during the same period. We also reach historic highs in Fall 21 in both the number (>700) and the percentage (75%) of college-level math enrollment.
• (This is politically risky to say, but...) What's more important, student success or the enrollment?

Question 2. Can you share your curriculum and pathway design with my faculty?
Answer:

• We are happy to show your faculty what we do, but use caution before directly transplanting our pathways to your campus.
• A math reform can be successful and sustainable only when it is faculty-driven. We have had our own share of math reforms that faded for the lack of faculty ownership, like the self-paced ALEKS algebra and the Statway. Our new pathways work well for us because they are faculty-driven and home-grown.

Question 3. My math department gives me many questions and reasons that they can't lower the prerequisites. What do I do?
Answer:

• Although I am a mathematician myself, I trust the work to the faculty. Content area faculty are the experts who should be solving the problems instead of throwing them out for the administrators to solve. You can connect your team to those who have had success (like my team) or send them to workshops and trainings. In any case, offer the support but not the solution. (Do I sound like a thesis advisor?)
• On the other hand, the administrators do have clear expectations and should challenge the department when needed. Your math faculty is a group of highly qualified professionals who are well educated, extremely intelligent and absolutely passionate about teaching.  Trust them and support them, and they will get it done.

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[Back to Minneapolis Math Pathways]
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Question 1. ​Your pathways are different from Dana Center's co-requisite model. Why?
Answer: ​

• The co-requisite model works well for those who are willing to reduce developmental math but are not ready to condense it into one semester. In a sense the co-requisite model is a compromise between shortening the pathway and covering a workable amount of developmental math.​
• Minneapolis College doesn't need the co-requisite model because we have successfully consolidated all the developmental math into one semester. This is a rare feat but we are hardly the first to accomplish it: Metro State University has a long-running single-semester developmental math model with no co-requisites.

Question 2. Your Statistics pathway requires one semester of developmental math. Would you make it even shorter by switching to Dana Center's co-requisite model?
Answer:

• The math department considered this but decided against it. I will not speak on their behalf, except that the decision was not capricious.
• As an administrator, I appreciate the simplicity of having a single shared developmental course for College Algebra and Statistics.  After all, the more new courses the harder to staff them, and the more risk of having under-enrolled or cancelled classes.
• (New in Spring 2022). We have completed a revised statistics curriculum that requires no prerequisites and no co-requisites.  The zero-prerequisite Statistics course will be piloted in Spring 2023.

Dear Colleagues,

We made it through 2020!  I wish you a much deserved restful winter break.  Wherever you are, may your winter break be peaceful, and your 2021 be fantastic.

Sincerely,
​Ben

Dear Colleagues,

Happy Thanksgiving. We have almost completed this unusual year, and I am thankful more than ever for so many things you have done for our student and our college.

I am thankful for your hard work in teaching students despite the many limitations. I am thankful for the extra care you give to students who experience insecurities in health, employment, housing and many other aspects of life during this time. I am thankful for your continued effort in making our programs and courses better. Above all, I am thankful for your resilience during this turbulent time of pandemic and social instability. As a team, we did not panic, we made plans based on science and reality, and we responded to situations capably. Our calmness and consistency is a stabilizing force for our students and the entire college community. I am honored to be part of this team.

Thanksgiving is a time for family. My wife and I are first generation immigrants with no other family members nearby except our three children. I am thinking of everyone in the Schools of SciMath and ITEC: You are like my extended family, and I truly appreciate you. We might not see one another all the time, but we care about one another doing well, and we won’t hesitate to to support one another in times of need.

Thanks again for what you do and for who you are. I wish you and your loved ones a fantastic Thanksgiving break.

Sincerely,
Ben

Dear Colleagues,

Since the pandemic began, you have done great work and demonstrated great resilience. I really appreciate it. Above all the things, I am especially grateful for your empathy for the students at a time when they need it more then ever.

Let me share with you a story from my 20's.

In Taiwan, the Army would send troops to help farmers harvest. In 1996, as a military officer, I led a team of 15 soldiers on a harvesting mission to Chu-Shan, one of the poorest towns in the nation. During the mission, an old woman asked us for help. Her rice plants were covered by weeds and the grains were in horrible condition. Her family planted the rice in the spring, but unexpected illnesses took her son, husband and brother-in-law in the same month, leaving her alone with a farm too big to work on. She was ashamed of the terrible crops, and it took her a lot of courage even to come forward to us for help.

My team and I ended up going the extra mile and breaking several protocols for her, including delivering her rice to the wholesaler with a 2½-ton 6×6 truck, which was for military cargo only. Luckily we were not reprimanded when our commander found out, but we wouldn't have cared anyway. Like one of the young soldiers put it, "She could have been my mom. I would never forgive myself if I don't help."

​To this day, I still remember the look in her eyes, a mixture of sorrow, helplessness and shame. It was her reality, but not her choice.

When I became a teacher, I quickly experienced the job's many stressors, like the frustration and disappointment when students don't do well or don't seem to care. But before feeling overly negative or making unfavorable judgments, I always recall my encounter with this unfortunately woman. I'd rather believe that many students are like her: They might have done poorly or don't even seem to care, but it is the result of their reality, not their choice.

Thanks for being there for our students. They can't choose their reality, but they have chosen Minneapolis College and they have chosen to trust you as their teachers. Let's continue to do our best for them.

Happy Friday.  Today is the last day of Week 6, and we are close to halfway through the semester!  I want to thank you for your great effort and excellent work.  Someone once said, “Never underestimate the resilience of our students, but make sure to provide the support they need.”  It is also true if we change the word students to faculty.  While I am confident in your professionalism and ability, please remember that I am here support you whenever you need a helping hand or a listener.

We are barely in October, but schools and administrators everywhere are already talking about their faculty feeling burned out or stressed out.  I know you are all working hard, probably much harder than in normal times, but please let me know if you are experiencing similar feelings, or if you have any physical/mental challenges.  We are in this together, and I’ll help in any way I can.

Thank you again for being a great team.  Our schools have had no emergencies or urgent issues this semester because of your excellence: you not only get things done but you make it look almost easy.  I appreciate it.

Those who don't have plans for the future are bound to have crises in the present 人無遠慮 必有近憂 --Chinese proverb
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​Dear Colleagues,
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​Congratulations on completing the challenging first week of classes. Except for the regular hustle and bustle of the opening week, SciMath and ITEC started off the semester smoothly. During the meetings with math and biology faculty on Friday, many of you told me that things were going well or at least just fine.
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​Just fine? That's an understatement of how well you handled the most turbulent opening week for the system, the state or even the nation. For our college, this week was marred by COVID-19 reopening and overshadowed by the civil unrest and multiple days of curfew in Minneapolis. But despite these challenges, everyone in SciMath and ITEC was able to focus on teaching. Many of you might not even notice anything if your classes are online.
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​As much as I was in awe with this performance, it didn't surprise me. After all, we planned and prepared well. We didn't count on the best case scenarios; we prepared for the worst ones. We didn't bet on vaccines to save our face-to-face lectures; we grow our online teaching tools and pedagogy. We didn't count on the state or the system to give us permission to reopen science labs; we converted to virtual labs and developed home lab kits. And when several advanced science classes decided to run a few face-to-face labs, we didn't just sit and wait for Public Safety and Facilities to help us; we collaborated with them and made plans for all situations imaginable.
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​Someone once said this about crisis management: ​If things are done right, a crisis will be resolved even before becoming a crisis and we will probably look like overreacting fools. ​Thanks for trusting the overreacting fool in your dean. As always, this fool works for you. Guaranteed.

Dear Colleagues of SciMath and ITEC:

Ten days ago, amidst a looming pandemic, the College and I called upon you to teach the rest of the semester without face-to-face contact.  What a challenge, and yet what a response you have made!  In no time, you converted all 213 sections of the spring 2020 classes to remote delivery.  You remap the curriculum, create new materials, and make things work under less-than-perfect circumstances.  You also explore new technology, learn new skills, and use methods you did not in the past.  You support your peers by sharing knowledge and by encouraging each other.  I am proud of what you have accomplished, and I am inspired by how you did it.

Like Chinese philosopher Mengzi said, grave situations challenge us to become better, and prepare us for even greater tasks.  For our team, the next task is already on the horizon: We need sustainable online teaching practices for future classes, should the pandemic linger.

In the next a few days, I will be working with departments on the summer 2020 schedule. Whether your department chooses to go online full-speed or cautiously, I'd like us to make sure that the students are adequately taught, and that your department keeps developing good online practices to meet future challenges.

Thank you for being great educators and colleagues.  I am proud to be part of this fantastic team.

(No puns intended for Gabriel Marquez's 1988 novel.)

Dear Colleagues,

Please spend a few minutes and read the College's announcement about current coronavirus situation. (The College sent it to you through MplsConnect email channel on 3/4.)