1. Project Overview

A consortium of faculty at ten colleges and universities on Long Island, in conjunction with the State University of New York (SUNY) system, is proposing an innovative, multi-faceted initiative to create an environment of interconnected learning across courses in mathematics and mathematically based disciplines. The consortium will be headquartered at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. The other consortium institutions are: C. W. Post College, Dowling College, Nassau Community College, New York Institute of Technology, St. Joseph's College, Suffolk Community College, SUNY Agricultural and Technical College at Farmingdale, SUNY College at Old Westbury, and CUNY- York College. The co-PIs and campus project leaders are mathematicians, physical scientists, life scientists, engineers, social scientists, computer scientists and management faculty. The model for interconnected learning developed on Long Island will be extended to SUNY-wide implementation (64 institutions), and also be disseminated to other institutions inside and outside New York.

The interconnections in this project involve:

• Collaboration and cooperation in instruction among faculty across quantitative disciplines;
• The enhanced effect of combining change in modes of instruction with curricular reform, educational technology, and coordination of instruction among departments; and
• Regional interconnectivity of energized faculty from different types of institutions

The development of this learning environment will have three components: (i) systemic change in instructional practices to produce pedagogical innovation and greater cooperation in all instruction across quantitative disciplines; (ii) creation of new courses and curricular materials that promote the integration of the mathematical sciences with subject matter in quantitative disciplines; and (iii) developing human resources with improved teacher training and enhanced participation by underrepresented groups. Our efforts to build an interconnected learning environment will engage campus administrators, chairs, faculty at all ranks, and undergraduate and graduate students.

This project seeks to create a unified model for large-scale reform of college-level quantitative instruction. We feel that the time is ripe for an effort that greatly expands upon the past pattern of instructional projects that typically involved just a few faculty in one or two courses at an institution. The initial efforts of the consortium have already energized scores of faculty on Long Island to start building curricular and pedagogical connections among their courses, as they rethink how they teach and how their students learn. The strong interest in this initiative across New York State was evident at a SUNY-sponsored conference in November, 1994 which drew 100 faculty from 39 institutions who expressed an eagerness to participate in the project.

Previous | Contents | Next

The Long Island Consortium is sponsored by the NSF Initiative: Mathematical Sciences and Their Application Throughout the Curriculum, DUE #9555142. The original NSF proposal can be accessed by clicking here.