Interactive Learning That’s Customized
Enhancing Face-to-Face Learning With Computers
A Lecture-Discussion @
Kalamazoo, MI, June 8, 2000
led by
David G. Brown, Wake Forest University
Professor, Dean (ICCEL), VP, and Former Provost
Congratulations, Western Michigan
• If you were not committed to---
– up-to-date textbooks
– a strong library
– state-of-the-art science laboratories
– 24x7 student access to the Internet
• Faculty would be forced to
Dumb Down their courses to fit the
resources available!
• Faculty would leave because they
couldn’t do their job!
Applause to Western Michigan University
for your decision to move toward a situation
where---
Teaching proceeds on the assumption
that your students have appropriate
access to the textbooks, libraries,
laboratories, and the Internet!
How the Theme
--”It’s Important To Be Connected to the Internet”-will be developed
• How this computer-novice uses the computer
in his own classes!
• Results data
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from my class
from all of Wake Forest
from and also from all of Wake Forest
from professors at 36 of the most wired campuses
• Summing Up Re Why Computers
• Possible Strategies for WMU
• Discussion
THE WAKE FOREST PLAN
F96: IBM 365XD, 16RAM, 100Mhz, 810MB, CD-ROM, 14.4 modem
F97: IBM 380D, 32 RAM, 130Mhz, 1.35GB, CD-ROM, 33.6 modem
F98: IBM 380XD, 64 RAM, 233 Mhz, 4.1GB, CD-ROM, 56 modem
F99: IBM 390, 128 RAM, 333 Mhz, 6GB, CD-ROM, 56 modem
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Thinkpads for all
New Every 2 Years
Own @ Graduation
Printers for all
Wire Everything
Standard Software
Full Admin Systems
IGN for Faculty
Keep Old Computers
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40+30 New People
75% Faculty Trained
85% CEI Users
99% E-Mail
+15% Tuition
~$1500/Yr/Student
4 Year Phase In
Pilot Year
Order at--Plan for 2000
http://iccel.wfu.edu
ICCEL -- Wake Forest University, 2000
What’s Being
Done?
“The Economists’ Way of Thinking”
A Course Required of All Freshmen
For 15 Students
ICCEL -- Wake Forest University, 2000
COURSE OBJECTIVES
• To understand a liberal arts education as an opportunity to
study with professors who think by their own set of
concepts
• To learn how to apply economic concepts
• To learn how to work collaboratively
• To learn computer skills
• To improve writing and
Learning is enhanced by-•
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Collaboration among Learners
Frequent student/faculty dialogue
Prompt Feedback
Application of Theory
Student Self Initiatives
Trustful relations
Personal & Individual Teaching
Brown’s First Year Seminar
• Before Class
– Students Find URLs &
Identify Criteria
– Interactive exercises
– Lecture Notes
– E-mail dialogue
– Cybershows
• During Class
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One Minute Quiz
Computer Tip Talk
Class Polls
Team Projects
• After Class
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Edit Drafts by Team
Guest Editors
Hyperlinks & Pictures
Access Previous Papers
• Other
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Daily Announcements
Team Web Page
Personal Web Pages
Exams include Computer
Materials Forever
ICCEL -- Wake Forest University, 1999
Results Compared to Other
First Year Courses
(Student Response to Brown’s FYS Over 5 Terms)
More
Same
How Much Learned? 2 of 3
1 of 3
How Much Time?
2 of 3
How Much Fun?
3 of 3
Less
1 of 3
Computers Enhance My
Teaching and/or Learning Via-Presentations
Better--20%
More Opportunities to
Practice & Analyze--35%
More Access to Source
Materials via Internet--43%
More Communication with Faculty Colleagues, Classmates,
and Between Faculty and Students--87%
Computers allow people---• to belong to more communities
• to be more actively engaged in each
community
• with more people
• over more miles
• for more months and years
• TO BE MORE COLLABORATIVE
ICCEL -- Wake Forest University, 2000
With Ubiquity--The Culture Changes
• Mentality shifts-- like from public phone to personal phone.
• Teaching Assumptions shift-- like from books in the
public library to everyone owns a copy of his/her own.
• Timelines shift-- like from “our class meets MWF” to “we
see each other all the time and MWF we meet together”
• Students’ sense of access shifts-- like from “maybe I
can get that book in the library” to “I have that book in my library.”
• Relationships shift-- like from a family living in many
different states to all family members living in the same town
Wake Forest University
Http://iccel.wfu.edu
ICCEL -- Wake Forest University, 2000
Chemistry-- Dartmouth, Millsaps,
Reed, Wake Forest, Worchester Tech
Physics-- Vassar, Arizona, Washington and
Lee, Michigan State, , Whitman
Business and Economics--- Vanderbilt,
Kansas State, Wake Forest, Middlebury
Fine Arts-- Tufts, Reed, Connecticut,
Williams, East Carolina
Writing and Literature--Johns Hopkins,
Northwestern, Missouri-Rolla,
Language--- MIT, Smith, California-Davis,
Texas-Austin, Northwestern
Biology and Medicine---Oberlin, Virginia,
Johns Hopkins, Texas-Austin, Hendrix
International and Politics---Tufts, Oregon
Computer Science and Math---Harvard, NYU,
American, Washington State
93 Essays
36 Universities
26 Disciplines
WHY COMPUTERS?
…the faculty answer
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Interactive Learning
Learn by Doing
Collaborative Learning
Integration of Theory and Practice
Visualization
Communication
Different Strokes for Different Folks
I know my students learn more
when I teach with technology!
• Technology increases collaboration.
More collaboration means more learning
• Technology enables different strokes for
different folks.
More customization means more learning
• Technology enables more interaction.
More interaction means more learning
• The opportunity cost of learning how to use
technology is becoming negligible.
WHY COMPUTERS?
…the institutional answer
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Communication!
Level Playing Field
After College Use
Faculty/Students Demand Them
Customized/Personalized
Digitized Scholarship
Competitive Disadvantage Without
WHY PORTABLE?
Academic Reasons
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Continuous Contact
More Collaboration
Greater Faculty Availability
Greater Sense of Ownership
More Flexibility: On site data collection &
essay writing. In class use.
• Study at best location, not limited to dorm
WHY PORTABLE?
Administrative Reasons
• Stronger Recruitment/Retention
• Quick exchange when machine is broken
• Fewer Computer Labs: More Space for
Other Activities
• Built in refresh mechanism
• Access to college continues when on
vacation, abroad, and after graduation
8 BASIC MODELS OF
UBIQUITOUS COMPUTING
(Ordered by total cost, starting with the most expensive)
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All + Powerful + Laptops + Annual Refresh UMC
Refresh Less Frequently WFU WVWC NMU
Substitute Desktop Computers USAFA
Provide One Computer Per Two Beds Chatham
Specify Threshold Level SSU UNC
Substitute “Palm Pilots” Mt. St. Joe (Ohio)
Provide Public Station Computers BC
Teach with Explicit Assumption of Access
ICCEL -- Wake Forest University, 2000
WAYS TO REDUCE
START UP COSTS
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Annual Lease
Phase in by classes
Phase in by programs (WMU)
Phase in by type of program
Phase in by category (faculty, students, staff)
Hand me down
Loaner Pool
ICCEL -- Wake Forest University, 2000
Policies that Make a Difference
• Low Hanging Fruit
Students First
• Communication
Standardize
• Interactive Learning
Ubiquitous Access
Explicit Faculty
Endorsement
• Eager Faculty
• Marketable Difference
• The 80-20 Maxim
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David G. Brown
Wake Forest University
Winston-Salem, N.C. 27109
336-758-4878
email: brown@wfu.edu
http//:www.wfu.edu/~brown
fax: 336-758-4875
ICCEL -- Wake Forest University, 2000