Faculty on Fire

Ross Brooks

Ross Brooks is our FL-C LSRCE faculty liaison at Tallahassee Community College. Originally from Bonifay, Florida, he decided to attend Florida State University in nearby Tallahassee. As a community college graduate, Ross brings a unique perspective to the FL-C LSRCE, the only Louis Stokes Regional Center of Excellence that is led by a state community college.

Community colleges have become a viable pathway for students to pursue STEM degrees. They provide students with encouraging and supportive environments to succeed on STEM pathways. After originally attending Chipola Junior College (now Chipola College) Ross found that, “The experiences I had as a student at a community college gave me the desire to want to teach at a two-year college.”

Currently, a professor of algebra and statistics – Ross’s area of interest is statistical inference using simulation and active learning. He explains that the reason for his interest is, “because it allows for students to get a better idea of statistical concepts. To me, allowing students to have hands-on experience adjusting variables and manipulating data is engaging and increases understanding and retention of ideas in a more effective manner than just lecture.”

During the spring of 2020, Ross was tasked with converting a section of an Introduction to Statistics class from a face-to-face class into a hybrid class mid-term due to the COVID-19 shutdown. The limited number of class meetings was a challenge and he decided to utilize growth mindset interventions in hopes of boosting student success and retention and was hoping to see positive results in that area. But the mid-term switch proved challenging. Despite applying interventions and refining components of the course, the students didn’t respond as well as hoped.

Ross happily reports that his Summer 2020 statistics students are responding well to his active learning efforts – where they use Zoom breakout rooms and Minitab to actively engage with data sets. “Students seem to enjoy this as they are consistently attending online each week, scoring above-average on assessments, and seem to have a better comprehension of our ideas after interacting with one another on these projects.  I believe starting out with this format, and not having to switch toward the middle of the semester, has made this online active learning experience easier.”

He explains that, “I love seeing students grow academically and personally each semester.”  But when he is not teaching, Ross enjoys playing guitar and taking trips to Disney World with his family and is planning to pursue his Ph.D. in the future.