ection 3.1
Introduction

As you read the Management Plan, it is important to keep in mind that it is intended as a guidance framework, presented as an example, rather than a set of rigid rules. In fact, one of your key tasks is to decide how the Management Plan can be adapted to your college's/state's educational guidelines.

The Management Plan includes a checklist of steps relative to obtaining approval for the course, an example of a course outline, and an example of a syllabus. The course outline is written to the faculty; the syllabus is directed to the students. The outline and syllabus provide a framework of information for the course (requirements, scope, objectives, learning outcomes, assessment of student work, assignment guide) that can be adapted to the needs of each college and faculty member. The assignment guide is based on a semester and must be modified for a quarter system.

Possible course titles include:

1. Mathematical Journeys
2. Mathematics Exploration and Scientific Inquiry
3. Mathematics in a Technology Context
4. Problem Solving – Mathematics and a Technology Situation
5. Interdisciplinary Studies – Mathematics, Science, Engineering, Technology
6. Exploring a Technology Problem With Research, Mathematics, and the Scientific Method
7. Practicing Mathematics on a Technology Problem
8. Bridging Two Worlds: Mathematics and Technology
9. Spanning Worlds: Mathematics, Science, Engineering, Technology
10. Seminar – Bringing Mathematics and Research to a Technology Problem
11. Uncovering Technology Problems With Mathematics and Research
12. Mathematics, Research, and Technology – An Integrated Approach
13. Connecting Worlds – Mathematics and Technology

The role of a Mathematical Journeys course within the curriculum is necessarily college specific. For identified associate degree or certificate programs, the course could be a requirement, an elective, or one of the courses in a set from which students must select a certain minimum number of credits to fulfill general education or liberal arts distribution requirements.

A Mathematical Journeys course requires that students work in teams. More generally, the course involves problem-centered instruction built around collaborative learning strategies. "....Problem centered instruction immerses students in complex problems that they must analyze and work through together." ¹ "'Collaborative Learning' is an umbrella term for a variety of educational approaches involving joint intellectual effort by students, or students and teachers together. In most collaborative learning situations students are working in groups of two or more, mutually searching for understanding, solutions, or meanings, or creating a product". ²

It is important to ascertain whether your state requires state-wide approval for a new course. If so, it is necessary to examine the criteria for such approval, to determine whether a Mathematical Journeys course would need to be modified to satisfy the criteria, and to make required changes consistent with overall Mathematical Journeys objectives.

The following is a checklist of possible steps to obtain your college's approval for the course:

1. Verify that your proposed course supports the needs of your college's students and mission.
2. For each of your college's associate degree programs, determine whether the course would become a requirement or an elective. Also, identify the general education and liberal arts distribution
3. Determine how the course will transfer to four-year colleges that your students typically attend.
4. Review your college's course approval process, including deadlines.
5. Check to see whether an existing course can be retooled as a Mathematical Journeys course. In some colleges, the course might be offered as a particular realization of an existing generic course such as Interdisciplinary Studies, Mathematics Inquiry, etc.
6. Use the Course Outline (See Section 3.2) to prepare a course proposal in accord with the format required by your college's new-course review/approval process.
7. Explore the means whereby students could enroll for credit more than once in the course if different labs are used. This may require a different course designator for the course each time it is offered with different lab content. In most cases, this would require discussion with your registrar and the personnel who maintain your academic data base.
8. Discuss the course proposal with your supervisor.
9. Obtain approval for the course in accord with your college's policies and procedures – departmental, curriculum committee, college-wide, state-wide, etc. Obtain approval of the course for at least two academic terms.
10. Assure that the schedule for the course is included in the list of offerings.
11. Announce the course offering in student newspapers; in circulars mailed to students, to faculty, to advisers and counselors; and on the web.

^1. p13 Collaborative Learning, A Sourcebook for Higher Education by Anne Goodsell, Michelle Maher, and Vincent Tinto with Barbara Leigh Smith and Jean MacGregor
Published by National Center on Postsecondary Teaching Learning & Assessment (NCTLA) copyright 1992 NCTLA
^2. Ibid, p10