UC Professor Enhances Gateway Courses through eLearning to Lower DFW Rates

As Noel DeJarnette integrates technology into his classes to teach more efficiently, he finds that it is also a great way to increase his students’ repertoire of learning skills. 

“I really want to use the technology to make sure my students are ready for the class — ready to work with their peers, ready to work on the problems — and then also use it to support, whenever they need extra resources to support them outside of class,” DeJarnette said.

As a professor and assistant director of the UC Math and Science Support Center, DeJarnette works with other instructors as part of Great Gateways, an initiative to lower drop/fail/withdrawal (DFW) rates in “gateway” courses, such as English Composition and Intro to Psychology, that are integral to a major discipline. He helps improve learning initiatives for pre-calculus courses and collaborates with other instructors to develop active learning strategies for the course. 

While the technology he uses in the classroom creates a more interactive learning experience, he said it also provides extra resources for students who do not understand a topic. For example, DeJarnette and the rest of the math department received Wacom Cintiq tablets, sponsored by the Center for Excellence in eLearning, through the Great Gateways initiative. He uses the tablet to record his notes and annotate presentations for his classes.

DeJarnette said the idea behind integrating technology into education is to make courses more accessible for students. While textbooks are good reference materials, he says, many people do not have the skills required to read a textbook effectively. 

“It’s very hard to get something out of a textbook unless you already know what it is trying to tell you,” he said. “I really try to use technology to strip all that out and say ‘How can I get the key information to my students so that they’re ready in class to learn and talk to each other and ask good questions?’”

DeJarnette is currently working to find new ways to fully leverage the resources available through Canopy. For example, he envisions adding online quizzes and video content to Blackboard courses, as well as a peer submission platform for students with questions. Last spring semester, he was able to utilize Canopy resources during the snow days by using Kaltura software to record class lectures for students to watch while UC campuses were closed.

While the technology increases student accessibility and interactivity, DeJarnette also integrates it to make the best use of class time. If he can teach students the basics and prompt them to interact with each other outside of the classroom, they come into class with the skills needed to learn more advanced material.

“I can give students the skills that will make them good learners as opposed to little calculus robots that have to memorize a bunch of problems,” DeJarnette said.