Faculty Instructional
Support
Moving beyond putting courses online
to curriculum redesign
Leila Lyons, University of Delaware
The numbers tell a story, but what
story?
18000
16000
14000
12000
10000
8000
6000
4000
2000
0
Students
Seats
Fall Spring Fall Spring Fall
2000 2001 2001 2002 2002
College of Engineering
2000 (F) Fall
2001 (W) Winter
2001 (S) Spring
2001 (J) Summer
Civil/ Environmental
2001 (F) Fall
2002 (W) Winter
2002 (S) Spring
2002 (J) Summer
Materials Science
2002 (F) Fall
Electrical /Computer
Mechanical
Chemical
0
5
10
15
Number of Courses Using WebCT
20
25
College of Arts and Sciences: Arts
and Humanities
French
2000 (F) Fall
2001 (W) Winter
Art
2001 (S) Spring
2001 (J) Summer
Music
2001 (F) Fall
2002 (W) Winter
Art History
2002 (S) Spring
2002 (J) Summer
Arts/Science
2002 (F) Fall
Italian
Languages
Philosophy
English
Spanish
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Number of Courses Using WebCT
35
40
45
Arts & Science: Natural Sciences
and Mathematics
Linguistics
2000 (F) Fall
2001 (W) Winter
2001 (S) Spring
2001 (J) Summer
Science/Culture
Statistics
Computer/Info.
2001 (F) Fall
2002 (W) Winter
2002 (S) Spring
2002 (J) Summer
Science
Chem/Biochem
2002 (F) Fall
Psychology
Geography
Geology
Mathematics
Biology
0
5
10
15
20
25
Number of Courses Using WebCT
30
35
Three scenarios where adoption
has been high

Chemical Engineering
 Department

chair mandates adoption
Foreign Languages and Literature
 Spanish
requires WebCT for grading Spanish Intro.
 FL&L has 2 IT professionals skilled in pedagogy

Biology
 Several
faculty interested in curricular change through
problem based learning
An observation on stimuli for
course redesign

Lacking institution wide assessment, more
course redesign appears to take place among
faculty with
 Sustained
interest in PBL (ITUE members)
 Willingness to invest significant time on course
redesign

Example: Biology faculty involved in introductory
courses (were PEW grant applicants)
Consortium Study
Main goal: determine whether or not web
use changes the way faculty member
teaches in the classroom
 9 institutions of Learning
Technology Consortium participated
 56 online responses
 38 in-depth interviews

Research Goals

Purpose: To learn from faculty with
experience using the Web for instruction:
 How
does its use change what happens in the
classroom?
 What is the impact of any changes?
 What is the Web’s potential for enhancing
instruction?
 What support services are needed to facilitate
reaching that potential?
Faculty Participants
Identified by LTC Representatives
 “Experienced” Web Users:

having taught a Web-enhanced course for no less
than four (4) semesters
Using “rich” Web instruction:





content (text, graphics, audio or video)
interaction (activities, quizzes, etc.) and
communication (e-mail, discussion, and/or group work)
“Reflective”: able to articulate thoughtful, reflective
insights into teaching
and learning in their classrooms
Variety in disciplines
Study Summary


Faculty are reporting less change than we
anticipated
Changes reported have potential for
significant impact on student learning

Increased interaction among students and between
students and instructors
 Higher expectations and higher level instruction
 Better organized courses
 Better prepared faculty and students
PI’s observation

Faculty who are not exposed to pedagogy use a
CMS:
 For
"efficiencies" such as easy access to course
materials online
 Do not substantially change the way they teach

Faculty who understand pedagogy
are more apt to
 Use
CMS to make better use of space and time
 These faculty change their teaching style
Elements of an environment that
encourages both Pedagogy and
Technology Adoption
Partnerships
 Faculty Development/Encouragement
 Institutional Support
 Support Staff

 Central
 Departmental

Robust Technological Infrastructure
Partnerships
Institute for Transforming
Undergraduate Education (ITUE)
 General Education Initiative
 Written and Oral
Communications Task
Force (WOC-TF)

ITUE Fellow describes use of
WebCT Communication Tools
Faculty member
skilled in both PBL
and WebCT
Led class through a
problem on justice
for the terrorists
Used online groups
in class to address
the problem
Faculty Encouragement
“Faculty friendly”
Showcase Faculty Work
Institutional Support
Elements of grant proposal
Course Redesign Projects
Biology
 Education
 Consumer Studies
 Plant and Soil Science
 Psychology
 ITUE – small projects

ITUE Small Projects
Small grants of staff and student time
 Awarded to ITUE fellows
 2 examples:

 Harry
Shipman and E-labs for Physics
 John Deiner and Online Newspaper for
Political Science
E-labs in Physics
Online Newsletter for Politics of
Developing Nations
•Students learn by doing
•Study contemporary
economic, political and
social issues in Third
World
•Take on collaborative
roles and produce a
newsletter
•Research on the web
and publish on the web
Central Support




Half of IT support staff have masters degrees in
education
Wide range of skills—programming, digital
media specialist, graphics, Course Management
Systems expertise.
Instructional designer
Form support teams for projects with Librarians
and Center for Teaching Effectiveness staff
Departmental Support

Chemical Engineering
Lessons Learned




Numbers do not tell the whole story
To change the curriculum, need to change how
faculty perceive teaching and learning
Infuse the campus culture with a variety of ways
for faculty to learn about pedagogy and to
reinforce that learning
Faculty readiness is one of the major factors to
consider
Let’s discuss ….
How much extra effort can faculty be
expected to put out for emerging
technologies such as course management
systems?
 Should the first line of CMS support be at
the departmental level, like desktop
computing support is in many places?
