E: Instructional Technology
TITLE: Online Learning Systems for Science: From Grant-Funded Project to Widespread Commercial Distribution
PRESENTERS: William J. Vining, SUNY College at Oneonta; Lisa Lockwood, Cengage Learning; David Hart, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
ABSTRACT:
This presentation will describe the genesis, testing, modification, and eventual commercial distribution of a web-based homework/learning system for chemistry. This project relates to the design and implementation of educational materials between a research university and a commercial publisher, and wide use at 2-yearcolleges predominantly undergraduate institutions, and research universities. The OWL project began at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, as an NSF- and FIPSE grant-funded project in the late 1990's. Its first years saw growth of the system and its contents, driven by results of studies performed UMass. The system and the project was then adopted for use through a partnership with Cengage Learning. Through a decade of joint development informed by a variety of research studies, both functionality and content have undergone continual but major changes. This presentation serves as a case study that centers on the story by which a complex undertaking moved from a local grant project to the point where it serves hundreds of institutions with approximately 150,000 users. We will detail issues of adjusting roles, control of content and functionality, intellectual property, and the fine line between academic presentation and marketing. We will describe the decision making process used to decide major issues in a long term academic-commercial partnership.
TITLE: IS-IT Learning? Challenging Students to Think ‘Outside the box’ through Interdisciplinary Contexts for Inquiry in STEM
PRESENTERS: Gwen Lawrie, The University of Queensland; Kelly Matthews, The University of Queensland; Lawrence Gahan, The University of Queensland; Peter Adams, The University of Queensland; Lydia Kavanagh, The University of Queensland; Gabriela Weaver, Purdue University
ABSTRACT:
Large-enrollment first-year STEM courses present a significant challenge to academics in terms of engagement and in catering for student diversity in academic ability, career aspiration, and prior experiences. In this project we have attempted to address these issues through the development of a new approach to collaborative inquiry learning in small groups. Interdisciplinary scenario inquiry tasks (IS-ITs) have been developed through an instructional design strategy that has drawn on literature and current pedagogical practices relating to the integration of collaborative and active learning strategies to foster communities of learners. Facilitation and assessment of these tasks in large-enrolment courses (>1300 students) is too complex and time-consuming for a single academic course coordinator to manage manually; hence a new web-based task-management system, iCAS (interactive Collaborative Assessment System) has been developed to achieve these processes. iCAS facilitates flexible group formation enabling promotion of student investment in both the process and outcomes of the task. The technology-enhanced learning environment has been optimised over a 3 year period during which time 5 separate cohorts of students) completed collaborative research tasks.
The IS-IT challenges were framed in contexts that integrated multiple STEM disciplines with the relevant enabling science (in this case chemistry) as the common denominator. The aim was to increase the relevance and motivation for students thereby enhancing engagement. With this in mind scenarios were identified that encompassed a wide range of contexts which mapped against all of the programs represented by students enrolled in the large first-year courses. Twenty-seven IS-IT scenarios were formulated in two stages by a team of writers drawn from diverse backgrounds and various science disciplines. Using these scenarios students undertaking the assignment were required, over a period of 6 weeks, to generate collaboratively a group report . A critical factor in enhancing learning from these tasks was ensuring interdependency within groups of students. This was promoted by integrating an initial cooperative phase, in which students negotiated and individually retrieved information, with a collaborative phase which relied on integration of all the individual sets of information to generate a collective response to a metaquestion. The transition between cooperative and collaborative phases was managed using iCAS to electronically scaffold individual file submission in a group domain. The task criteria were designed to encourage students to develop skills beyond disciplinary content knowledge including interdisciplinary thinking and applying quantitative information to support arguments.
Evaluation examined three aspects of the implementation of the tasks: the effectiveness of the learning environment, the learning process, and the learning outcomes. Data sources included quantitative (pre/post surveys) and qualitative data (open questions, focus groups and student reports) to measure student perceptions and identify to what extent the task had impacted on learning outcomes. In this presentation, the characteristics of a group that is collaborating in a way that fosters creativity and higher-order thinking will be presented based on evidence. These traits included:
- collective agreement in the structure of collaborative processes;
- effective routes for communication;
- supportive exchanges in communication and
- useful information contributed by all team members during the cooperative phase.
Overall strong evidence emerged of enhancement of both interdisciplinary thinking and engagement as a result of the IS-IT experience.
The introduction of collaborative inquiry-based learning tasks has been demonstrated as a viable strategy for addressing issues in student diversity and engagement. One of the deliverables is a set of guidelines for a capacity to change the way that large courses are presented in universities. Innovative approaches to student learning and assessment in STEM courses can be implemented with initial resourcing and support. While this project has been implemented in a single institution, the next stage which has been initiated is to translate this initiative into other tertiary institutions and disciplinary contexts through existing networks. The secondary sector is also regarded as a potential stakeholder and so options will be explored to integrate the project resources/activities into this context.
TITLE: Cyber Peer-Led Team Learning at IUPUI, Purdue, and Florida International University: A Next Generation Learning Challenges Project
PRESENTERS: Nancy Millichap, Educause; Pratibha Nelson-Varma, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis
ABSTRACT:
The Next Generation Learning Challenges initiative of EDUCAUSE, with support from the Gates and Hewlett Foundations, is a collaborative, multi-year grant program aimed at dramatically increasing college readiness and completion through applied technology, especially for low-income and minority students, who face particular challenges in achieving their educational goals. Additional details about this initiative are found in the abstract for the 6:30 Monday breakout session featuring two other NGLC projects. In this session, conference participants will learn about the concepts and their realization to date from the principal investigators of the Wave I project Cyber Peer-Led Team Learning: Using Communications Technologies to Support Learning and Persistence.
The project addresses blended learning. Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), Purdue University, and Florida International University are participating as a consortium to test the transportability of Cyber Peer-Led Team Learning (cPLTL) developed at IUPUI. During its development, CPLTL was supported with funding from Academic Affairs and the National Science Foundation. The model has been studied at IUPUI and is showing positive impact on student learning in introductory chemistry. Purdue and Florida International Universities were selected as replication sites because they have the infrastructure and the interest necessary for introducing CPLTL into their introductory biology courses. Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL), the face-to-face predecessor to CPLTL, has proven to be a high-impact pedagogy in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. PLTL is a model of teaching that preserves the lecture and replaces recitation in science courses with a weekly two-hour session. During these interactive sessions (workshops), six to eight students work as a team to solve carefully constructed problems under the guidance of a peer leader.
An NGLC program officer will introduce the session and be available to address questions about the initiative as a whole.