Faculty Advisor Spotlight on Kathleen Almy, Rock Valley College (IL)

Kathleen Almy uses MyMathLab in her statistics and developmental algebra classes at Rock Valley College.  Almy became a Faculty Advisor because she realized that, regardless of different rules for course redesign across the country, "we're all facing the same problems.  Students are struggling and faculty want to improve the situation."  Being in contact with instructors by answering email, presenting at schools, or working one-on-one with departments beginning to implement course redesign can make the difference independent of individual goals. 

For her own courses, Almy finds that MyMathLab allows her to teach, "with all content and course management components in one place."  She uses MyMathLab's homework, quizzing, review, and remediation features within her courses to help students assess their own skills.  "With MyMathLab, I have enough of a carrot to get students to attempt problems" allowing them to get a, "feel for their knowledge or lack thereof."  This in turn leads to better in-class questions and more engaged students.

Almy likes, "connecting with and helping other faculty begin or continue with their course redesigns" but says it's okay not to have all the answers. "Sometimes I get questions that I can't answer or a situation with which I'm unfamiliar," but, "my goal is to get answers for faculty, be they through me or someone else."  Almy uses her resources within Pearson to truly advise those instructors she works with as a Pearson Faculty Advisor.