Crimson Course Transformation Initiative
As part of the IUB 2030 strategic plan, the Crimson Course Transformation Initiative (CCTI) seeks to improve student success by working with instructors to redesign the learning experience in courses that are central to student retention and academic progress. By bringing together instructional consultants and institutional data specialists, CCTI provides instructors with the support and dedicated time needed to transform their courses and their teaching, with an emphasis on evidence-based and data-driven course transformations.
CCTI is facilitated by the Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning (CITL), with support from colleagues across and beyond the IUB campus.
Program Purpose and Approaches
The purpose of the Crimson Course Transformation Initiative is to transform high-enrollment entry-level courses at IUB to help more students complete these courses and subsequently enter their desired major pathways. The program may also target challenging courses further within majors that also act as bottlenecks to student progress. Targeted courses have large numbers of students receiving D or F grades or who withdraw from the course (DFWs).
The courses we engage in this program are typically seen as challenging courses at the national level. We do not take a remedial approach with our instructors, but rather we see them as champions of student success who are dedicated to improving inherently difficult courses.
Our approach breaks the course transformation process into three chunks:
- The Discovery Phase helps instructors utilize a variety of data sources to understand the unique challenges within their courses’ demographic patterns of student success/challenge, indicators of where/when students struggle, data about students' prior knowledge and preparation, observations of lectures and discussion sections, student feedback, and more. (spring semester)
- The Redesign Phase utilizes those insights to redesign courses from the learning outcomes up, revising assignments and assessments, implementing new teaching techniques, and improving support systems like tutoring. (early summer)
- The Implementation Phase puts these changes into action, with ongoing support for assessing the impact of instructional changes and implementing ongoing improvements. The CCTI team is also available for class observations and consultations in subsequent semesters. (fall semester)
