Achieving the Dream and HIS 101
at Northern Virginia Community College:

Our initiative for the History of Western Civilization I (HIS 101) survey course at the Loudoun campus and at the Extended Learning Institute

Charlie Evans, professor of history, NVCC, cevans@nvcc.edu

Per the college's recent desire to measure student success at the college using some of the activities of the Achieving the Dream Project, in April 2009 I was charged to investigate our History of Western Civilization I (HIS 101) course, which we teach both on the Loudoun campus and online through the Extended Learning Institute to see if we might be able to improve any of our teaching strategies in the course to improve student outcomes. The course was chosen because of its high enrollment per semester, more than 500 students, and the fact that it is a popular course for students to use as a degree requirements. It is also a difficult course to manage due to the number of different instructors involved in it.

I developed and submitted a draft project proposal (*.pdf) with which I hope to

• Investigate teaching and learning strategies for the course
• Engage all of our course faculty in discussions about best practices, instructional strategies, and interventions to improve student success rates
• Develop a data-driven implementation action plan to improve student success rates

The final project write-up (*.pdf) contains.

• Introduction
• List of Data Appendices
• The Revised Action Plan Timeline
• Summary of Data Results
• Suggestions/Recommendations
• Appendices (*.pdf files)
  1. Success rates in HIS 101, Fall 2008 and Spring 2009, Loudoun campus and at ELI, provided by instructors
  2. Enrollment and student success data for your group of HIS courses at ELI, provided by the ELI director
  3. HIS 101 Overall Grade Distribution (OIR Data)
  4. HIS 101 Grade Distribution by GPA (OIR Data)
  5. HIS 101 Grade Distribution and Success in ENG 111 (OIR Data)
  6. HIS 101 Grade Distribution and Lack of an English Placement Score (OIR Data)
  7. ATD Data Request
  8. Screen shots of Blackboard HIS 101 ATD site for Loudoun Campus History