Western Texas College

Title V Grant Update: Farm and Ranch Management, PBL, & Tutoring

10/19/21

Western Texas College Farm and Ranch Management Program

The Western Texas College Farm and Ranch Management program (FaRM) began in August 2021 with the Farm and Ranch Shop Skills class. Taught by Mr. Jay Waller, students Shiloh Thomison and Sabeida DeSantiago learned to make their own brands. After completing the process, they registered the brands at the courthouse.

Dr. Charles Church currently instructs the Soils class and will teach Animal Health and Beef Cattle Production in the spring. Mr. Waller will be teaching Principles of Feed and Feeding and Introduction to Agribusiness.

Project Based Learning Workshop

The Title V Grant held the Project Based Learning (PBL) Workshop on September 24, 2021, in room 6-102. Presenters included Mitch Brumbelow, Britt Canada, and Dr. Richard Medina.

Mr. Brumbelow presented a semester-long project he had his students complete. The students work in groups of four and are given a master task checklist and calendar so that they can set their tasks accordingly. Mr. Canada spoke about how he incorporates PBL into his Elementary Statistics class. He presented a document with examples of PBL. Mr. Canada also noted how the QEP and PBL tie together to improve teamwork amongst the students.

Dr. Richard Medina said that he gives the students choices of
which type of project they would like to complete. One of the projects involves completing an illustrated children’s book.

Study Hall and Tutoring

Fall study halls and tutoring began on August 24th.
In the first two months of the fall study hall, one hundred twenty-nine different students attended the study hall on Tuesday nights.

Corey Knipe, Director of Student Activities, hosted a game night for students who attended the study hall on August 31st. Ninety-seven students were in attendance.

Open hours and one-to-one tutoring sessions are also available. The Title V staff hired ten peer tutors and two mentor tutors.

This semester, QR codes are attached to the study hall posters placed in high-traffic areas on campus. When students scan the QR code and complete the task, they are entered into a gift card drawing. WTC student Teresa Gallegos won the gift card for scheduling tutoring appointments. WTC donated the gift cards.

Teams, Instructors, and Advisors invited Title V staff to their meetings to present tutoring information.

Transition Team

A transition team has been chosen for the last year of the Title V grant. The transition team will ensure that the progress that Title V has made will be institutionalized. The transition team members are Ralph Ramon, Stephanie Ducheneaux, Shawn Fonville, Laura Caswell, Britt Canada, Jeffrey Martin, and Christy DeBlieck.

Grant Director's Summary
from Britt Canada

The Title V project at WTC continues to strengthen and expand STEM education in rural west Texas.

Just as the hawk is looking at the game camera in the first picture of this newsletter, we are looking at the progress made in the first four years of this project. The last two years have been dramatically affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, we have continued to complete the objectives of the project:

• The principles of Project Based Learning (PBL) have been incorporated into WTC's curriculum. Improvements and revisions of selected courses have led to improvements in other courses.

• Tutoring continues to have a positive impact on students as the peer tutors are trained to help students learn how to learn by emphasizing best practices. The role of the tutor is to help the student to understand the problem-solving process. Life-long learning skills are being taught.

• WTC has demonstrated its willingness to be a partner as we work to add new programs to the curriculum.

• Research opportunities and articulation agreements have grown. As we move into the fifth year of this project, we have begun the work of formally institutionalizing the objectives of the project. This is a necessary step that will increase the effectiveness of the work that has been completed.