RCC awarded $1.1M NSF grant to lead national effort transforming math instruction

Five-year project will produce free open educational resources for Precalculus Algebra, multi-episode documentary, online professional development, and new research

Randolph Community College has been awarded $1.1 million by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to lead ACCTION — Advancing Community College Teaching, Innovations to Overhaul Norms — a five-year, national initiative to accelerate the shift from lecture-heavy instruction to active learning in foundational mathematics. RCC serves as the lead institution with Chandler-Gilbert Community College (Ariz.) as a partner.

“ACCTION lets us do what community colleges do best: Turn big ideas into practical tools that change classrooms,” RCC Vice President of Learning and Workforce Development/CAO Dr. Lisa Johnson said. “By filming a full Precalculus course on our campus, building an Active Learning Space, and paying students to help produce national OER [Open Educational Resources] and a documentary, we are uniting teaching excellence with real-world experience. This is about removing barriers in math and scaling what works here at RCC and across the country.”

The ACCTION project will deliver four high-impact outcomes for instructors and students across the country:

• Free, public OER for teaching Precalculus Algebra with active learning;
• A multi-episode, expository documentary by RCC’s nationally renowned Photographic Technology Program;
• An online professional development (OPD) program for math faculty;
• New research on how instructors transition to active learning and how the documentary shapes teaching perspectives.

“ACCTION puts our students, faculty, and classrooms on the national stage while delivering free, practical tools any college that wants it can use," RCC President/CEO Dr. Shah Ardalan said. “At RCC, everything starts with Access and ends with Success — and this project does both: It brings modern math instruction within reach and proves that an active, collaborative teaching methodology drives results.”

As the project’s production hub, RCC will be front and center: A 16-week MAT 171 Precalculus Algebra course taught by Principal Investigator and Mathematics Instructor Dr. Carrie Lineberry, who authored the grant, will be filmed in full on campus, and a traditional classroom will be renovated into a state-of-the-art Active Learning Space (ALS) — with the build-out documented in the documentary’s first episode. The effort spans multiple RCC programs, including Photography, English, Graphic Design/Marketing, and Cosmetology, showcasing cross-campus collaboration and real-world creativity.

“I'm thrilled that RCC is spearheading this national ACCTION initiative to improve mathematics education, both here on our campus and across the country,” Lineberry said. “The ACCTION project is fundamentally about dismantling math barriers by providing instructors nationwide with practical, research-backed tools and training in active learning. We aim to inspire and equip faculty nationwide with the tools to adopt more engaging teaching methods. This work is driven by our fundamental goal: To make success in gateway math courses achievable for far more community college students.”

She added, “Having our dedicated RCC faculty and talented students directly involved in creating national resources like an episodic documentary and free educational materials — alongside our collaborators at Chandler-Gilbert Community College — truly showcases the innovation happening right here in Randolph County.”

The project gives RCC students paid, real-world roles — from serving as on-camera participants in the filmed course to working on the production team handling storyboarding, filming, editing, interviews, branding, web, promotional trailers, and instructional content — all mentored by national experts and documented through formal work logs. It is a portfolio-grade experience that travels with the students.

When complete, ACCTION will provide free OER, a national-level documentary filmed at RCC, and scalable professional development — positioning RCC and its partners to raise the floor for math teaching quality across community colleges nationwide.

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About Randolph Community College: Randolph Community College (RCC), under the leadership of President/CEO Dr. Shah Ardalan, is committed to providing relevant career training and educational opportunities. Ranked No. 1 in North Carolina by Niche.com, the College offers affordable degrees and short-term certificate programs that start throughout the year, both in person and online. To register, visit randolph.edu/register or call 336-633-0200 and expect to engage with the most competent and compassionate team of faculty and staff.