Today's Developmental Math students enter college needing more than
just the math, and this has directly impacted the instructor's role in
the classroom. Instructors have to teach to different learning styles,
within multiple teaching environments, and to a student population that
is mostly unfamiliar with how to be a successful college student.
Authors Andrea Hendricks and Pauline Chow have noticed this growing
trend in their combined 30+ years of teaching at their respective
community colleges, both in their face-to-face and online courses. As a
result, they set out to create course materials that help today's
students not only learn the mathematical concepts but also build life
skills for future success. Understanding the time constraints for
instructors, these authors have worked to integrate success strategies
into both the print and digital materials, so that there is no sacrifice
of time spent on the math. Furthermore, Andrea and Pauline have taken
the time to write purposeful examples and exercises that are
student-centered, relevant to today's students, and guide students to
practice critical thinking skills. Beginning and Intermediate Algebra
and its supplemental materials, coupled with ALEKS or Connect Math
Hosted by ALEKS, allow for both full-time and part-time instructors to
teach more than just the math in any teaching environment without an
overwhelming amount of preparation time or even classroom time.
