Contents:
TUFTS UNIVERSITY: A GLIMPSE AT DISTANCE LEARNING AND FACULTY DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES
by Paula Vincini
Editor's note: Prior to her position at Tufts University, Paula Vincini served
as Associate Project Director for the Virtual Instructional Designer (VID), a
$1.15 M LAAP Grant awarded to Indiana State University, Vincennes University,
and Ivy Tech State College. Paula wrote the winning proposal for the VID in 1999,
while she was serving as one of the University's first instructional designers.
A Little Background
Since beginning my position at Tufts University, I have been involved in a wide spectrum of
instructional design and faculty development activities. I work as an instructional design
specialist in Academic Technology (AT), a directorate of Tufts Computing and Communications Systems (TCCS).
As a university-wide resource, AT "provides consultations, collaborative partnerships, and faculty development
focusing on the use of instructional technology to support teaching and research initiatives.
The term "university-wide" encompasses three campuses in three cities. The main
campus is in Medford/Somerville where AT's office is located. On this campus are:
the School of Arts and Science; the School of Engineering; and the Fletcher School
of Law and Diplomacy, the oldest exclusively graduate school of international affairs in the
United States. In Boston are the schools of medicine and dental medicine; the Sackler School of
Graduate Biomedical Sciences; and The Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science
and Policy. And finally the School of Veterinary Medicine is in Grafton.
Distance Learning
When I first arrived at Tufts, I feared my experience in distance and web-based learning might be seldom used.
Tufts had only one distance program, and it had been recently initiated. The Fletcher School's Global Master of
Arts Program (GMAP) is a year-long graduate degree program in international affairs "that combines residency
sessions and Internet-mediated instruction for professionals around the globe."
One of the first events I assisted with was the Distance Education Symposium. AT brought in brought faculty
and administrators from across Tufts University to address the potential role of distance learning at Tufts.
Our guest speakers included: Robert Manuel, School of Continuing and Professional Studies, New York University;
Lawrence Regan, Director, Distance Education/World Campus, Penn State University; and Edward Klonoski, Executive Director,
Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium.
For this event, I created the Distance Education Planning Guide to help Tufts departments look at issues
of: Institutional Context and Commitment; Demand and Marketing; and Course Design, Development, and Delivery.
This event sparked interest in a number of the professional schools, and I have begun working closely with Dr. Noshir Mehta,
the Director of the new Craniofacial Pain Center, and Professor and Chairman of the Department of General Dentistry at Tufts Dental
School. Dr. Mehta plans to offer the first Global Dental Masters with a major in Craniofacial Pain.
This master's program would permit dentists in Italy, Austria, India, and Japan, among other countries, to obtain their degrees
at a distance through a combination of online modules, CD-ROM resources, videoconferencing, and 7-10 day intensive seminars in Boston
at the dental school.
Unlike ISU, Tufts has no distance education department. The Fletcher School hired a separate GMAP program staff to design,
develop, and deliver the program within the school, with some assistance from AT in the initial design. Because of my
extensive experience at ISU with distance learning and the design of web-based instruction, I am working closely with
Dr. Mehta on a number of levels, including a pedagogical framework for module instruction, and the rollout of courses and
learning activities. I am also working with ATÌs Curricular Technology Group Manager, David Grogan, and Melanie St. James,
the Interactive Media Designer, on the design of the program and course online environment.
Faculty Development
Since arriving at Tufts, I have been working closely with the part-time AT Faculty Development Coordinator, Rebecca Sholes,
to develop a university-wide faculty development program that helps faculty understand the role technology can play in their teaching,
learning, and research. To date, this effort includes initiating a newsletter, Innovations in Learning; publications such as Your
Course Online; the new Summer Institute for Teaching and Learning with Technology; the Health Sciences Mini-Institute in Boston;
and the Veterinary Sciences Mini-Institute in Grafton. And soon we will be planning the University-Wide Conference on Teaching and Learning,
a responsibility that was just handed over to us from the University Committee on Faculty Development.
Another unique program with faculty that I have been involved with is the A Partnership in Technology (APT) grant program.
This program, which had just given its first four grants when I arrived at Tufts, is "an internal AT grants program for faculty projects
experimenting with the use of instructional technology for teaching, learning and research."
Each grantee receives up to 600 hours of AT staff time over the grant year in support, which includes project management, instructional
design assistance, and development. Currently I am working with staff from the Tufts University Sciences Knowledgebase (TUSK) to design and
develop a case-shell application for faculty in the health sciences that will enable them to easily create and upload cases for their students
to work through online from TUSK.
Helping faculty understand how Blackboard can help them meet their instructional goals has also been an important part of my work here at
Tufts. Because Tufts has not participated in the online distance education movement, faculty have mostly used the Backboard courseware to
upload course materials and send email to their students. Also, Blackboard is only supported through the School of Arts and Sciences, but is
made available to instructors in other schools on request. Several of the participants in last summer's institute are now using the Blackboard
discussion tool for the first time, including a Latin professor, an instructor from the Prosthodontics and Restorative Dentistry Department, and
the Chair of the Department of Drama and Dance.
Currently there is growing interest in the use of e-portfolios and classroom performance support systems. Part of my job is researching new
instructional technologies, recommending software, and designing pilot testing to see how these technologies achieve learning goals.
Finally, my previous work with Nancy Franklin, the former director of distance education and faculty development at ISU, connected me to a
unique
opportunity. The Dean of the College of Business and Economics, Donald Bates--a former dean of ISU's School of Business, now at the United Arab
Emirates
University, contacted me based on Nancy's referral to come to the university and present on the topic of using wireless laptops in the classroom
for active
learning. UAEU has begun an active learning initiative that involves the use of laptops. They also have recently contracted with Blackboard for
their
course management environment. I spent four days presenting to the College and meeting with faculty and administrators on how to best use these
new
technologies to foster active learning in and out of the classroom.
For more information on any of these programs or initiatives, please feel free to contact me at:
Paula Vincini
Instructional Design Specialist
Academic Technology
16 Dearborn Road, Somerville, MA 02144
Tufts University
Phone: 617.627.4182
Fax: 617.627.3667
Email: paula.vincini@tufts.edu
Links of Interest:
ROSE-HULMAN CONFERENCE: A CALL FOR PAPERS
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology is hosting an
interdisciplinary conference on the visions, technologies,
and directions that characterized the Web's first decade:
WWW@10: The Dream and the Reality
September 30 through October 2, 2004
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
Terre Haute, Indiana, USA
This conference will provide a forum in which scholars and
practitioners of all disciplines (cultural, historical, and technical)
can share perspectives, concerns, and innovative ideas.
Submissions are invited for papers or panels on all aspects
of the Web's history and future development. Student
submissions are encouraged.
Possible threads include, but are not limited to:
- The Next Big Thing(s), from Wiki Wiki Webs to Voice Over IP
- The wireless revolution
- Dot biz: Internet economics after the bubble
- Transformations in communication and culture
- The dark side of the Web, from spam to spyware
- The Founding Fathers: the ideas of Tim Berners-Lee, Robert Cailliau, and other pioneers
- Web pedagogy: course management and teaching applications
- Politics and the Web, from emancipatory dreams to campaign fund-raising
- Hypertext or just hype? Web models of knowledge and narrative
- The Star Trek Computer: the Web and science fiction
Deadline: Abstracts due April 15, 2004
For details, visit:
http://www10.cs.rose-hulman.edu
DISTANCE NEWS @INDSTATE.EDU
Over 1,600 individuals are currently subscribed to
Distance News @indstate.edu -- an e-news service
for ISU distance learners.
The goal is to provide just-in-time news and information
on University procedures and resources. Subscribers
include graduate and undergraduate students.
Please browse the archive and encourage your distance
students to opt-in by completing the form at:
www.indstate.edu/distance/news
Faculty and staff are invited to submit news items and
articles for inclusion. We are especially interested in
including information on:
- Student awards / achievements
- Faculty awards / achievements
- Departmental news
- Events, and student clubs and organizations with membership open to distance learners
News and information should be sent to:
Julie Tipton
j-tipton@indstate.edu
ETCETERA, ETCETERA, ETCETERA
IU, MIT, University of Michigan, and Stanford are developing a new
open-source software for course management called Sakai. Once developed,
other universities will be able to access the Sakai software through an
enhanced version of uPortal, and choose the course management components
they want to use on their campuses. Funding includes a $2.4 M grant from
the Andrew Mellon Foundation as well as over $4 M contributed in services
by the four partners institutions. The first release of the Sakai software
is set for summer of 2004.
URL: www.sakaiproject.org
Source:MIT News (23 Jan 04)
Enhance your course with a great timeline! HistoryWorld includes timelines,
over 400 histories, 4,000 tagged events, and 200 Tours through Time, each displaying
a succession of events on a given theme. Themes include: architecture, literature,
science, technology, and medicine. The site is sponsored by Britain's Virtual Teacher Centre
(and underwritten by the National Grid For Learning).
URL: www.historyworld.net
Source:The Scout Report (23 Jan 04)
THOUGHT FOR MARCH:
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity;
an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. "
- Winston Churchill
Interaction is published by the Office of Distance
Support Services - Indiana State University.
