Contents:
- Edible Bytes - Paula Vincinni
- CourseInfo: Upgrading Scheduled for May - Roseann Toulson
- Library Databases Are A'changing - Judy Tribble
- Who, What When, Where, Why? - Nancy Millichap
- DegreeLink Gets A Facelift - Visit Our New Web Site - Julie Tipton
- Chat's Room - News from the Faculty Computing Resource Center
- Summer '99 CTA
- Thought for May
Welcome to Interaction, ISU's monthly electronic newsletter for people
interested in developing and teaching distance education courses. The
purpose of Interaction is to provide you with information on course
development and design, new technologies, and teaching distance
courses. As the name implies, we hope to make this electronic
newsletter "interactive," its contents reflecting current issues,
challenges, and innovations in teaching. Your part is simple-just tell
us what you want. Send us your questions, frustrations, and topics of
interest, and we will include information on that topic in a future
issue. In addition, we invite you to share your experiences and tips
on teaching distance courses, and to send us announcements of upcoming
events. Please submit your comments and requests to interact@web.indstate.edu, a
secured access e-mail account. Your
contributions will not be posted as a "global" message to subscribers
of Interaction. The staffs of Continuing Education/Instructional Services,
the Center for Teaching and Learning, the Library, ACNS, and other
ISU offices are eager to answer your questions and offer you assistance
as you develop and teach your distance education courses.
Edible Bytes
by Paula Vincini
"Not since the advent of television has any technology generated more press
and hyperbole than the World Wide Web. The web specifically and networked
computing generally are now causing educators, from pre-school to graduate
school, to re-think the very nature of teaching, learning, and schooling,"
so states Dr. Daniel Kies, Department of English, College of DuPage
(http://www.cod.edu/dept/KiesDan/learning/)
Whether you have yet to begin re-thinking the "very nature" of your role as
a professor, chances are that in the very near future, you will want to have
course sites for all the classes you teach on the web and will be confronted
with the dynamic world of distributed teaching and learning.
As this will be my last contribution to Interaction as an ISU instructional
designer, I thought I would leave with some final thoughts on where online,
asynchronous teaching and learning seems to be headed.
The main point I will make is that evaluation should drive the design and
development of a distance online course from the beginning. By evaluation I
mean a set of criteria that serve as guidelines for quality for the design
and development of the online course. Every pedagogy, technology and
instructional design decision made by the instructor and the course
development team should be informed by this set of evaluation criteria.
I would urge all schools and departments to begin thinking seriously about
creating such a list of evaluation criteria as quality indicators and
benchmarks for delivering a course online for the first time. Evaluation of
the course should then continue throughout the life of the course in both
formative (as the course is being delivered) and summative (end of the
semester course and instructor evaluation) forms.
Basically this is an ongoing, quality improvement process and the best of
the best online courses always incorporate continuous feedback from students
to fine tune the courses. For an example, look to Dr. Charles Severance,
Michigan State University, who developed Engineering 124 - the first course
from Michigan State University developed from scratch to be taught over the
Web. EGR124 was first taught Spring Semester 1998. Dr. Severance states,"
Before Spring 1998, the material for EGR 124 was developed, tested, and
continuously improved over three semesters under the course title "CPS291 -
Special Topics." The course was taught in a televised lecture format during
Spring 1997 and as a completely web-based class Summer 1997 and Fall 1997.
Throughout the entire development of CPS291/EGR 124 student participation in
the development of the course materials has been and will continue to be an
essential part of the process."
His course was one of 183 courses from 148 institutions that were entered in
last year's Paul Allen Foundation Virtual Education contest, which offered
a prize of $25,000 for the most outstanding online course. The article at
http://www.paulallen.com/foundations/education/paradigm.asp
"describes some of the salient characteristics of these courses and the
issues they raise about online education. It is reasonable to assume that
the contest entries are a representative sample of what is going on at every
school and campus in the country; hence these courses provide a window into
the current state of the art. Selected examples of course entries are
provided throughout this document; many of these sites include some form of
evaluation report."
Of particular interest to this Interaction article is the point the judges
made that:
"One of the four primary evaluation criteria for the contest was evidence of
educational effectiveness. Surprisingly, many of the courses submitted
provided no or very minimal evaluation results. In fact many otherwise
impressive courses were eliminated from the final selection because
of such lack of evaluation details. In some cases, evaluation activities
were mentioned but no results reported. It appears than many instructors
feel that simply delivering an online course is adequate proof that it
works! "
At this point I believe that enough is known about principles for the design
of effective online courses that any department at ISU could create a list
of criteria to serve as quality guidelines for instructors: at the
beginning of the design process to guide decisions; through the rapid
prototype and beta-testing development stages so that feedback can be used
to make informed revision decisions; and at the end, before the public
delivery of the course, to ensure it is ready to be opened to students.
Following are some of the criteria that presently exist to guide instructors
taking the Course Transformation Academy:
"Effective learning outcomes can be improved by designing with the
following ACCEL model that builds on learning principles and learner
characteristics:
* Active. Learners participate in a learning program that requires
thoughtful and engaged activity.
* Collaborative. Learners engage in discussions, activities and projects
with fellow students.
* Customized and accessible. The learning program is designed to fit the
needs and requirements of students in terms of time, career goals,
levels of preparation, and learning styles.
* Excellent quality. Courses are designed with a learner focus, enabling
learners to achieve desired goals and objectives. This learning
generally includes communication with faculty members and other
students, and it includes quick and easy access to high-quality
instructional resources.
* Lifestyle-fitted. Interactive distance learning accommodates the lives
of students, affording cost-effective educational opportunities anywhere,
anytime, and at a reasonable speed."
Blackboard is the company that now owns CourseInfo, the courseware many of
you will be using to develop your online courses or course sites. They
offer numerous online handouts to assist you with developing your web-based
courses. The handout "Instructional Design Tips" gives the following
guidelines. The entire handout can be downloaded (it is a Microsoft Word 97
file) or printed at the Blackboard Product Documentation site at http://support.blackboard.net/asp/docs.asp
After all your course site content is developed, review the materials before
permitting student access. Evaluate both the online and classroom-based
material to insure that content, opportunity for participation and feedback,
and appropriate guidance is included. These guidelines, based on Dick and
Carey's Instructional Systems Design, can be used.
1. Is there appropriate motivation established to insure student attention
to the material and assignments?
2. Is the necessary content provided for all course components?
3. Is the presentation sequence of the content accurate and clearly
indicated to guide students through the material?
4. Is all the required information available to the student in some format?
5. Do ample practice exercises exist for students to achieve appropriate
rehearsal, processing, and knowledge acquisition of the content?
6. Are there adequate opportunities for instructor and classmate feedback
included in the materials?
7. Are appropriate tests, activities, and evaluation tools provided to
assess student progress?
8. Are sufficient follow-through activities provided to maintain learning
and motivation over time?
9. Is the student presented with clear paths, navigational guidance, and
transition information to direct them through the course material and
components?
10. Are supplemental handouts, such as outlines or checklists available to
the student to facilitate transfer of learning provided?
Answering 'YES' to all these questions insures that students are presented
with well-organized, instructionally sound, and engaging course material.
However, since Òcourseware alone rarely constitutes the full learning
environment,Ó (Schneider, 1994), it is imperative to support students by
creating a positive online educational experience. Utilizing the
instructional design tips discussed in this paper will insure that your
course site provides students with an online environment rich in feedback,
full of guidance, and ample opportunities for knowledge acquisition.
Other handouts at this site that contain useful information include:
Eight Ways to Get Students More Engaged in Online Conferences
Dr. William Klemm from Texas A&M University recommends following
these eight guidelines to create a strong collaborative learning
environment in your course discussion board.
Where Do I Start? 10 Easy Steps To Taking Your Course Online
Taking your course online may seem like a daunting task, but it is
really very simple. Just follow these 10 easy steps, and you'll be on
your way to creating a successful online component for your course.
Instructional Design Tips
A summary of instructional design components to be considered when
developing solid online learning programs. This is a seven page Word
document filled with information to help instructors create well-designed
courses geared to their learners needs.
In summary, I urge departments and schools who are looking to join the fast
growing world of asynchronous, online courses to begin to develop evaluation
criteria to help instructors work more effectively and efficiently in
transforming their traditional on-campus course to the dynamic, media-rich,
interactive learning environment of the Internet.
CourseInfo - Upgrading to 2.0 Scheduled for May
by Roseann Toulson
We will be upgrading the 1.5 CourseInfo site on isu.indstate.edu to
version 2.0 as soon as the Spring '99 semester is ended. Most of you are
already looking forward to this change since the 2.0 version has a
number of new features in addition to a few bug fixes.
During the time the process of upgrading software, migrating courses,
and checking the results is underway, course sites will be UNAVAILABLE
to their instructors. Because of the complexity involved and the
post-upgrade checkout that is required, this process may take a
couple of days. We plan to begin the upgrade immediately following
the deadline for final grades on Tuesday evening, 5/11/99 and release
it for use on Friday morning, 5/13/99.
The migration will involve:
- upgrading the software
- converting all current courses in the 1.5 environment to 2.0
- migrating the courses from the current 2.0 development site
(on isudev) to 2.0 site (on isu)
- tying up loose ends such as the tests and quizzes mentioned below
- checking everything out
With the exception of student information and tests and quizzes, the
contents of any current 1.5 course will automatically be converted to
2.0 by IT/Technical Support as a service of the upgrade.
The conversion software DOES NOT support migration of student accounts.
Because of the end-of-semester timing, student account conversion should
not be an issue. The conversion/migration software also DOES NOT
CONVERT tests and quizzes, apparently based on the theory that tests
and quizzes are not repeated and, therefore, don't need to be preserved.
We feel there may be some faculty who will want to preserve their tests
and quizzes, and we are prepared to help capture the information and
transfer it manually. If you need assistance with test-and-quiz migration,
please contact Donna Janz, Help Desk Web Course Support Specialist,
at ext 3988 or ccdonna@amber.indstate.edu
For the most part, the 2.0 version is upward compatible with the 1.5
version. The new version has a new look and some new features, including:
an organized gateway, new buttons, better test and assessment tools, better
administrative tools, and an integrated user database with a single account
for each student. Student accounts will be handled differently in the
2.0 environment and more information will be sent to you in a subsequent
message.
Instructors involved in the CTA this Spring have been learning about
the new 2.0 features. The IT/User Services (formerly ACNS User
Services) have also conducted some half-day workshops to familiarize
faculty with CourseInfo 2.0. If you would like an update or a special
workshop to prepare you for this migration or have any other questions,
please contact Donna Janz at ext 3988.
Library Databases Are A'Changing
by Judy Tribble, Distance Learning Librarian
In the last Interaction issue, I discussed the new LUIS and library home
page. Other changes include the disappearance of the databases formerly
located on LUIS III, namely, WILI, READ, and ERIC. While the databases will
no longer be available in their familiar format, you and your students will
have access to most of the content of these databases.
WILI has been the database most heavily used by undergraduates
looking for journal articles. One of its advantages has been that it
combines sources from the humanities, social sciences, general
science, and business. The humanities portion of WILI will soon be
available on the Web. Watch for an announcement for the specific
database name and location.
Social science citations and articles can now be found in Social
Science Plus on ProQuest Direct. The business literature is covered
by ABI/INFORM Global on ProQuest Direct. More than three quarters of
the general science publication titles are found in the PA Research II
Periodicals database on ProQuest Direct. The READ database content
is well covered by the ProQuest Direct database, PA Research II Periodicals.
As you know, the ProQuest Direct databases often provide the full-text of
articles so that your distance students can read articles without visiting a
library. Keep in mind that often the library owns those journal titles for
which ProQuest Direct provides abstracts but not the full text. A LUIS
search will tell students whether the library owns the title in paper or on
microfilm.
Distance students can request paper copies of articles to be delivered
via fax or mail by filling out a request form at
http://odin.indstate.edu/level1.dir/dised.dir/wwwcopy.html
Although the request form indicates that there is a fee, we have been
waiving this fee in recent months to encourage students to use our service.
We generally mail or fax articles within 24 hours of receipt of the request.
Finally, the ERIC database has been replaced by three internet options,
two of which are available to off-campus students. Because ERIC does
not provide a full-text article option, students will need to request paper
copy as indicated above. Yes, we can copy the ERIC documents from
microfiche here in our collection. You may also want to remind students
that the full text of almost 300 education publications is available through
the ProQuest Education Complete database in ProQuest Direct.
If you plan for your distance students to use any of the above databases,
keep in mind that they must request a password to access the databases
through off-campus internet providers. It is a good idea to remind students
to apply for passwords early, as they should allow 48 hours to receive their
passwords. Passwords may be requested from the library homepage at http://odin.indstate.edu
Who, What When, Where, Why?
by Nancy Millichap
The Indiana Partnership for Statewide Education will sponsor a fall
conference for faculty and others involved in designing, planning, and
delivering courses via technology. The theme of this conference,
to be held at Ball State University on October 25th, 1999, will be
"Technology, Pedagogy, Community: Distributed Learning for the New
Millenium." This one-day event parallels the first day of the "All Partners"
conferences held in October 1997 at Purdue and November 1998 at
Indiana State University.
We invite the submission of proposals for presentations. (Active committee
members and the institutions they represent are listed near the end of this
call for presentations.)
Who will attend?
Most presenters and participants will be faculty of the higher education
institutions of Indiana and staff who work with faculty to design and
deliver courses via technology. A key purpose of the conference is to
enable Indiana higher education faculty and staff to become acquainted with
interesting work being done on other campuses in Indiana.
What topics are of interest?
The organizers - and the likely conferees - are interested in new
developments in technology-delivered distance or distributed learning. They
want to know what effects the incorporation of technology is having on the
educational process and on higher education institutions.
- What technologies are you using?
- How are they changing teaching and learning for you
and for students?
- How is the use of technology affecting student outcomes?
- How has delivering a course via one technology rather than another, or
offering the same course via multiple technologies, or incorporating
technology into a campus-based course, changed teaching and learning?
- How are technology-delivered or technology-mediated courses affecting
your institution's plans to offer new programs or collaborate with other
institutions?
- What new opportunities have arisen as a result of technology
in learning and how have you taken advantage of them?
- What new problems has technology created, and how have you
addressed them?
- What lessons have you learned?
- Discussion of complete courses, or of programs, is especially encouraged.
To get a sense of issues the conference has addressed recently,
review the first day's sessions from the 1998 conference
(http://www.ihets.org/services/conference/apc/98/) and the 1997 conference
(http://www.ihets.org/services/conference/apc/97/).
Who should respond to this call?
We are interested in receiving proposals from faculty, administrators,
instructional designers, technologists, librarians, or others working on
the planning and delivery of courses via technology, or in proposals for
panels including representation from more than one of these groups.
What kinds of sessions will be considered?
The styles of sessions that we can include are formal individual or group
lecture-style presentations of approximately 45 minutes in length, panel
discussions, hands-on workshops, and small-scale informal demonstrations.
What are the submission guidelines?
Proposals should include the following information:
* the title of the proposed presentation
* the name(s), title(s), and contact information for the presenter(s): for
sessions (with multiple presenters, please indicate a primary contact
and also include complete information for all presenters)
* a summary of the proposed presentation in 300 words or fewer, to
appear on the IHETS Web site if the presentation is selected for the
conference
* an abstract of 60 words or fewer, to appear in the printed conference
flyer if the presentation is selected for the conference
* session type (formal presentation, informal demonstration, panel
discussion, workshop, and small-scale informal demonstrations
* special audio-visual and/or network requirements (an Internet-connected
PC equipped with PowerPoint and a means of displaying the screen will
be made available for all presentations requiring these capabilities)
Proposals should be submitted to nmillich@ihets.org in the form of a text
file attached to a mail message or as a mail message. Proposals should
be received electronically at IHETS by Monday, May 24. Those submitting
proposals will be notified of their status by mid-June.
Who will review proposals?
Conference Advisory Committee (IPSE Faculty Development Committee)
- Karen Bonnell, University of Southern Indiana
- Gary Pavlechko, Ball State University
- Nancy Franklin, Indiana State University
- Carl Stafford, Purdue University
- Joseph Tenerelli, Indiana State University
- Elaine Bennington, Ivy Tech State College
- Nancy Millichap, IHETS Staff
Is there a "price break" on conference attendance fees for presenters?
There has been such a break in the past, but budget constraints preclude it
this year. However, the conference fee is modest (last year, one day's
registration, at "regular" - as opposed to "early" or "late" - rates, was
$55 and included breakfast and lunch.)
If I have questions, whom should I contact?
Nancy Millichap
nmillich@ihets.org
Assistant Director for Network Services
Indiana Higher Education Telecommunication System (IHETS)
957 W. Michigan St. 46202
VOICE: 317/263-8900
FAX: 317/263-8831
Indianapolis, IN
http://www.ihets.org
Please note: A separate IPSE "All Partners" conference, to be held
on October 26th at Ball State, will address issues of student services
and student support for distributed learning. Although some conferees
will want to attend both, the October 26th event will be separately
planned and organized. If you are interested in involvement with the
October 26th conference, please contact Ann Holcombe of the
IHETS staff - holcombe@ihets.org.)
DegreeLink Gets A Facelift - Visit Our New Web Site
A new DegreeLink web site is up and running! This new site offers lots of
information on DegreeLink programs and also provides step-by-step
instructions to help students get started at ISU. Topics include:
admissions (a link to Admissions' on-line form makes it a little easier
now), registration, financial aid, purchasing textbooks, and obtaining
an ISU Network Account. In addition, the site offers prospective students
an overview of course formats available to ISU's distance learners.
Much of this information is also included in the DegreeLink Program
Guide, a new publication that will be available in June.
The development of this new site (and the DegreeLink Program Guide)
has been a team effort, with information and input provided by department
chairs, faculty, ACNS, the FCRC, the Library, Financial Aid, Admissions,
the Registrar, instructional designers, the CEIS staff, and the statewide
DegreeLink "network" of student services coordinators.
Please visit the site at: http://web.indstate.edu/degreelink If you have
suggestions, e-mail Julie Tipton at exttipto@ruby.indstate.edu Since the
goal is to make life a little easier for new students, and ISU staff and
faculty, we need and welcome your feedback.
Chat's Room - News from the Faculty Computing Resource Center
Are you going to be moving around this summer, but still want
access to your (campus) email? Many faculty members who use
Pegasus Mail feel chained to their offices for e-mail and listserv access.
In fact many faculty members who even use Netscape Mail, or some other
POP-mail program, feel chained to their computers, whether on campus or at
home. This is because when their mail arrives, it is deposited on their PC,
wherever that happens to be. Once that happens, it is no longer accessible
from the server.
Of course your POPmail program (e.g. Netscape Mail) can be
configured to "leave mail on the server" so that it can be accessed from
more than one place, but even this can be a hassle. Also, while it is
true that you can "pop" your campus email using just anybody's PC by
changing the settings on that machine's mail program, it can be a hassle
and the questions asked in the "settings" can be somewhat technical.
There is also the danger of getting your mail mixed up with the person
whose PC you are using.
Here's a neat and simple solution, in fact one that my transient and
commuting students also use. It's also a nifty solution for your distance
education students who might have an on-campus e-mail address already
assigned to them. Simply use any of the many free web-based email
offerings which are out there on the web. A web-based e-mailer only
requires that you have access to a web browser such as Netscape
or Microsoft's IE.
Yesterday, when I was visiting at Rose-Hulman, I saw an internet-connected
PC in a hallway and was able to read and respond to my (ISU) amber mail
within a minute. Last year, I was able to do the same when we were at the
Epcot Center, doing the obligatory "Disney thing."
There are many choices for free web-based email nowadays. This semester,
my students used Yahoo Mail and during the previous semester they used
Hotmail. There are a whole host of others out there, but it might be
prudent to use the more commonly known providers such as Netscape,
Excite, Lycos, Altavista, and so on.
Taking Yahoo as an example, simply go to http://mail.yahoo.com. Once you
sign up, you are presented with an option to check your Yahoo mail as well
as your "external" mail, which might be, for instance, on the
"ruby.indstate.edu" server. As you sign up, give yourself a "handle."
Mine is chatchatterji@yahoo.com
Then simply tell it that you also want to check your "external" mail. By
clicking this option, Yahoo's server contacts your ISU server, fetches your
mail, and displays it to you on the web page itself. From here you can reply
if you wish--but be sure to clarify to your recipient where you would like
to them reply/correspond with you in the future. (You don't want them
sending mail to your Yahoo account if that's not where you will be
regularly checking your mail.) On the other hand, many of my students
liked this method so much that they use it as their permanent
address--particularly useful to them when they are away for the
summer. Speaking of which, have a nice one!
-Chat Chatterji
CTA Workshops
CTA for Your Colleagues
Are any of your faculty colleagues planning to develop web-based
courses and looking for help getting started? The next CTA workshop,
scheduled for May 17-21, 1999, is a one-week, intensive CTA modeled
after last summer's well-received intensive version. Those interested
should call Mary Luz Petrowski at x8639 to register, or direct
questions to Nancy Franklin at x8452.
Thought for May:
Power consists in one's capacity to link his will with the purpose
of others, to lead by reason and a gift of cooperation.
- Woodrow Wilson
Interaction is an electronic newsletter delivered on the first day of
the month via electronic mail. Each issue offers information on
teaching, learning, course design and educational technologies, and
events pertaining to distance education at Indiana State University.
We invite your comments, articles, and suggestions. Please contact
Interaction at interact@web.indstate.edu
Interaction is published by the Office of Continuing
Education/Instructional Services.
