Pearson Education, the largest U.S. education publisher and provider of assessment services to schools and corporations, recently announced that two local educators are the recipients of the coveted Pearson Higher Education Product of the Year Award for 2012. John Squires, Chattanooga State mathematics department head, and Karen Wyrick, chair of the math department at Cleveland State, have been honored for their MyMathLab eCourse Series.
The MyMathLab eCourse Series offers students three steps to proven success. There is a guided learning path through content that has been organized into small, manageable portions. Series topics include: basic mathematics, pre-algebra, introductory algebra, intermediate algebra, and developmental mathematics. “In no sense is it a traditional textbook,” said Mr. Squires. “It really comes out of our experience in the math emporium and what we’ve learned from blended learning, designed for online learning, and on the ground learning.”
Mr. Squires developed the nationally acclaimed Do the Math program, which won the Bellwether Award, while he was at Cleveland State Community College. Since joining the Chattanooga State faculty, he has been the driving force behind the newly designed Math Emporium (math lab). Additionally, Mr. Squires has been instrumental in implementing course redesign throughout the math department. Mr. Squires travels nationwide working with both colleges and high schools on using technology to improve student learning and course redesign.
Cleveland State students have honored Karen Wyrick as the college’s best instructor on more than one occasion. She played a key role in the math redesign at Cleveland State. “We were really excited to hear of our award because a lot of work went into this and there are hundreds of great Pearson products out there,” said Ms. Wyrick. “We have been very fortunate; it takes most authors several years to write a book, and by working with Pearson, we have been able to write six books in less than three years.”
Each of Pearson’s higher education divisions nominate a published or online text based on innovation, quality, results, sales and student feedback. Then the overall winner is selected. This is high praise for the first time publishing collaboration between Mr. Squires and Ms. Wyrick. When asked about student feedback on the MyMathLab eCourse Series, Mr. Squires said, “It has been overwhelmingly positive. I’ve visited colleges that are using our series, and the students like the approach. Students who have previously struggled in math are now able to grasp the concepts. This is what it is all about.”