Thoughts on the iPad in Education
You might not have to take a look at the search trends to guess that Internet search traffic for the iPad is on par with President Obama and LeBron James. Since the iPad’s launch on April 3rd, over 10,000 apps have been created for the device; that’s nearly 90 apps a day. And you can probably guess that there are already more than a few articles about the iPad in Education. But I have two observations that I think are worth putting out into educational cyberspace.
First, despite all the hullabaloo, the iPad is really not about the device. The beauty of the iPad’s design is that it’s a digital canvas that becomes and facilitates so many things. It’s a book, newspaper, game, compass, menu, recipe, calendar, calculator, communicator, encyclopedia, guitar tuner, sketch pad, research tool, conversion tool, star chart... It is what we want it to be; it is what we make it to be. The mindset is shifting from ‘this-is-what-a-device-can-do-for-you’ to ‘show-what-you-can-do-with-this-device.’ Apologies to JFK, but perhaps the best phase is: “Ask not what the iPad can do for you; ask what you can do with the iPad.”
Second, the iPad meets us where we are. Let’s face it, our lives are hybrid. We’re offline and we’re online and the line between the two has been blurred for a while. We live mobile lives and we don’t think twice about getting and receiving information day or night, no matter where we are. The days are (or soon to be) over when education is tied to location. It first moved from the campus/classroom to the home/library/coffee shop with the personal computer; now it’s moving from the computer’s location to me. Perhaps ironically, I think the iPad is to hardware as Google’s mission statement is to information. It’s a bold move in making the computer readily accessible to more people. It meets the young, the old, the savvy and the novice with ease.
iPad-like devices have just been born; we have definitely not yet seen the best of what they will be or will bring. But, to me, if one of the purposes of education is along the lines of ‘preparing younger generations for the future’, then iPads (and devices like it to come) facilitate the natural next steps from where we are today to education anywhere-anytime.
Luke Cable
Academic Trainer & Consultant
Pearson eCollege
Get a Virtual Guest Lecturer!
A lot of folks who teach online are fairly comfortable with putting their own content into their learning management system. In Pearson LearningStudio, I can easily add PowerPoint lectures, .pdf readings, lecture notes, and even videos that I regularly create to give my students a quick overview of each Unit. But sometimes I'd love to include a guest lecturer to give my students another perspective from just what I've learned in my years of study.
Sometimes you, the instructor, might adopt a particular text that includes a series of videos, flash- or java-based interactive learning tools, etc. These are great, and more are being developed every day. But not every publisher has them, and not every instructor adopts texts from the publishers that do.
But if you want to get that neat content into your course right now, if you want to add that guest lecturer, if you want to engage students at a higher level than just text and some graphics, look to the Internet for some valuable free resources.
Fortunately, there is a lot, and more coming every day. Let's take iTunes U as an example. Even if you're not a fan of iTunes, they are setting a standard for the sharing of valuable academic content (over 250,000 resources for free!) that other content providers are rapidly adopting.
You can access iTunes U by downloading iTunes for Mac or PC. (And don't worry, an online version of iTunes is rumored to hit browsers later in 2010.) Once you've started iTunes, log into the iTunes Store and then click the iTunes U button in the upper-right corner. Voilà, you've found a wealth of Higher Ed. and K-12 content provided by major universities and state departments of education.
Myself, I'm keen on The University of Warwick's Classics in Discussion course. If you right-click on any of the tracks provided there, such as "Epic Poetry: from Homer to Virgil," you can choose "Copy Link" and paste it like this: http://deimos3.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browse/warwick.ac.uk.2015041076.02015041081.2153917069?i=1893573100
If you're using Pearson LearningStudio, you can even use the Insert Link button in the Visual Editor to add it. When students click the link, it will launch iTunes. (The downside is that, as of the date of this post anyway, your students will need to download iTunes to listen. But again, browser-based access is coming soon.) And of course, this being an Apple-provided item, students who own i devices (iPod, iPhone, iPad, iEnergy Efficient Home, iVersion of Myself, etc.) can download these resources and listen to the audio or watch those videos that are available.
Heck, iTunes U even has spring 2010 commencement addresses from around the country available for your listening or viewing pleasure. Governor Schwarzenegger spoke at my alma mater, Emory University, in May. What a boon!
But I'm not saying here that iTunes U is the only option. It's nice, but you have other choices. Check out the resources available at videolectures.net, for example. It's a European-based site that culls valuable video lectures (often classroom recorded) from distinguished professors around the EU. Right now, it's a bit top-heavy in terms of Information Technology-oriented content, but more content in the humanities, and the social and natural sciences is being added all the time.
And let's not forget that most publicly funded museums (and some private museums) like The Smithsonian and The Louvre have their own vast resources, many of which are interactive flash items or videos that enhance students' understanding of art, science, history -- you name it! Check out Smithsonian Education and The Louvre's official Web site for more information.
In short, just because you don't have an on-ground classroom where a guest lecturer can show up, or just because you don't know a good guest lecturer at all, doesn't mean that you're limited in how you can share new content and ideas with students. In the online environment, the possibilities are seemingly endless!
-- Rob Kadel, Ph.D.
-- Academic Trainer & Consultant
-- Pearson eCollege
Marketing Positive Results of Outcome Assessment
I’ve blogged before about the external accountability and internal continuous improvement goals representing two competing perspectives on outcomes assessment in higher ed. In an article posted to Inside Higher Ed on February 22, 2010, Dead Dad articulates yet another thing to consider in this complex dynamic. That is whether or not colleges and universities should tout their achievements in improving the student learning experience as a result of completing a particular degree program.
At first glance it may sound like a great idea for institutions to promote their success in advancing the student learning experience on their campuses, however, as with most things the issue gets more questionable when you look deeper. Dean Dad explains that academics would be motivated to critically dissect underperforming outcomes to figure out where the gaps are when viewing this dilemma from the internal continuous improvement perspective. Conversely, the external accountability perspective wants to make an institution look as good as possible and marketing these results would have a tendency for academic leaders to hide the bad in order to accentuate the positive. Dad explains that “…too much transparency in the early stages of improvement-driven assessment can kill it, leading to CYA behavior rather than candor (Dad 2010).”
Ultimately, I believe that publishing and promoting success will motivate students and parents to look twice at institutions who can prove their students are learning which will pressure the lagging colleges and universities to step up their efforts. What I have seen in my work with colleges and universities is that campus assessment plans typically start with deans and faculty first with the goal of increasing transparency to other stakeholders once the key internal stakeholders have developed a sense of comfort and trust with the process. In the end, everyone agrees that it is in the best interest of all stakeholders to include students, parents, and the broader community in the outcome management and reporting process but it’s a challenge to be the first to take this transparency to the next level.
Could it be that outcome performance statistics is what will eventually start to chip away at the idea that a degree from an Ivy League school is better than that of an online for profit? That may be decades down the road but it will be exciting to watch this issue work itself out.
Dad, D. (2010, February 22). Assessment as Marketing. Retrieved February 22, 2010 from Inside Higher Ed, Web site: http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/confessions_of_a_community_college_dean/assessment_as_marketing
Brian McKay Epp
Higher Education Assessment Consultant
2009…
Do you remember the haunting words sung by Frank Sinatra - "When I was 35...it was a very good year..."? As eCollege turned 13, which incidently is 118 in Internet years, a LOT happened. But more happened to set up 2010 than many people may know. Let's look back for a moment as we look ahead.
Do you know the saying, "Measure twice, cut once?" That is exactly what Pearson is getting ready to do with LearningStudio OE (formerly eCollege). For the past year, we've spent tens of thousands of dollars, hired dozens of new employees, and worked overtime to move the current systems into tighter integration so as to be able to measure more than was ever possible before. Measurement of (and subsequently) performance on outcomes has already proven to make online education stronger in some situations than face to face (http://www.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/tech/evidence-based-practices/finalreport.pdf). But moving forward, and as technology becomes increasingly seamless with life, the measurement that online education brings to the table will change teaching and learning.
For example, we've always had the ability to correlate time on task or clicks in the system to grades, completion rates, retention, etc. In 2009 we helped a number of schools identify hierarchies of outcomes that could be tagged and reported on at any level. Every day we give statistical measures of outcomes, activity, grades, portfolios, etc., to schools so they can better understand their students. Does time in threaded discussions lead to higher completion rates? We know the answer. Does the amount of time a student has to wait for an assignment to be graded lead to program retention? We know that too.
But in the next decade...heck, in the next couple of years, all of the measuring will become much more significant. A much more holistic view of students will be available based on more than formative & summative feedback. It will be based on more than activity or grade data. The LMS is almost to a place where we can both report on and predict behaviors as they lead to learning. This individual learning path that students will be able to take will come with complete measurement by the faculty and the institution.
I'm talking about measuring students on a lot more than tests and project feedback. We're talking about measuring the intensity by which a student acts - the number of clicks, the types of interactions with peers, the amount of time spent with a teacher, the number of hints needed to succeed, etc. We're talking about the measurement of far more than raw scores on tests. We're talking about understanding the p value for a question, the median scores for the class, the confidence by which students answered a question - all much more than the answer itself.
All of this measuring will give teachers and/or schools the ability to set students along a path that pushes them into higher levels of learning, regardless of how much time or how much interaction takes place between the student and the system. We'll measure when learning happens, how learning happens, and we'll give individuals the tools to reshape their learning priorities so as to make it more meaningful.
That is the future of the LMS. That is the decade before us.
Will Apple release a tablet in 2010 that will revolutionize that market? Maybe. Will the iPhone 4G come out in conjunction with Verizon, thereby making it even more prolific in all circles, including education? Probably. And a dozen other cool technologies will change the landscape of how we interact and communicate. But what matters to me as I advise Pearson about education and technology isn't each cool new toy. It's not the fun new widget that Sony or Microsoft or Google brings to the party. (Have you seen Google Wave yet?...)
No, what matters is the big picture. We are heading to a place where technology is simply an extension of ourselves. A place where homework isn't done at home and school work isn't done at school (at least as we know it). Christensen predicted 50% of all K-12 happening online by the end of our new decade. I agree. And if that's the case for K-12, imagine higher ed. We're coming to a place where technology, school, work, life, and everything else just merge together. It's the ultimate mash-up. It's teaching, learning, and living. It's...well...it will be what we just call "life". Not virtual life - just life.
So, if you are looking for what's coming in 2010, it's the set up for all the rest of the next decade. It's going to be amazing I think. I hope you think so too.
So here is to 2009. May all of the preparation and activity help us get to that educational dream as fast as possible. And here is to 2010 - where that dream is going to start to be realized. Here is to changing education and, ultimately, to changing lives for the better.
2009 Conference Reflections
Over the past year I’ve attended academic conferences in the U.S., Mexico, Spain, and Bahrain. Here are a few key takeaways I can offer from my perspective as a higher education assessment consultant.
Academics worldwide are debating the scholarship of teaching and learning quite intensely due largely to the disrupting change of the online for-profits, the ubiquitous acceptance of social networking, and the reality of user created content. An article in last week’s The Chronicle of Higher Education nicely summarized the online for profit sector’s impact on challenging all colleges and universities to do a better job not only of creating and tracking student learning outcomes but also for using the data collected to refine curriculum and instruction with an eye toward improving the student learning experience. Most online programs are able to track all activity in a course including page visits, class discussions, assignment uploads, exams, and grades. They are also able to standardize learning outcomes for all sections of a course to ensure comparability of data. This is the point where traditional academics will raise the academic freedom argument, however, I’ve seen traditional faculty agree on a common set of outcomes and even common assessment rubrics even though the assignments they develop to assess student progress may differ by instructor.
I also just returned from the SACS-Commission on Colleges Annual Meeting in Atlanta. I noticed that many universities were talking about course level assessment of student learning outcomes this year which was new. This is an area where I’ve been focusing for the past 18 months so it was nice to see the academy starting to recognize the importance of getting more granular in the assessment of student learning. Previously nearly everyone was satisfied with program level assessment. Program assessment is still important but it should be triangulated with course level assessment data along with indirect measures such as NSSE, CSSE, or Noel Levitz. Many institutions also participate in either the Voluntary System of Accountability (VSA) or the University and College Accountability Network.
The rise of social networking and user created content is another salient takeaway this year. If Web 2.0 or education gaming was in the session title you could count on a packed room. This was the case worldwide. These technologies are moving beyond the early adaptor stage and more into the mainstream. It is important for digital immigrants (those born before 1995) to recognize that digital natives are used to processing multiple channels at once and having just in time access to information. There are theories circulating that indeed even the structure of a digital native’s brain is different. This means we must adapt our method of teaching to be more of a facilitator as opposed to a lecturer who disseminates knowledge. During a Web 2.0 presentation in Guadalajara, Mexico last week I challenged participants to start using at least one new Web 2.0 application first in their personal lives and then to try to integrate the application into their teaching in the Spring semester. I’d be happy to share my presentation with anyone who’s interested. You can email me at briane@ecollege.com if you’re interested.
It’s truly an exciting time in higher education. The next decade is going to bring about dramatic changes at colleges and universities. I look forward to participating in dialogue with many of you as we do our best to make education more accessible and effective for both learners and employers.
Brian McKay Epp
Academic Trainer and Consultant
State of the Student Learning Outcome in the Academy
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Over the past month I’ve consulted with both K-12 and higher education leaders in the U.S., Mexico, and the Middle East. Tracking student achievement and the value add provided by an academic program is high on nearly everyone’s priority list. In fact, in a time of shrinking resources this is one area that is still receiving budgetary support.
In his October 26 article Assessment vs. Action on the Inside Higher Ed website, Scott Jaschik summarizes the results of a survey sent to senior academic leaders at 2,809 regionally accredited institutions in the U.S. The survey was commissioned by the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA) which is a joint project between the University of Illinois and Indiana University.
Academic leaders and assessment experts should read the Jaschik article and also bookmark the NILOA website which is an excellent collection of resources and current thought surrounding learning outcome management. Conclusions from the NILOA survey were just released in a report titled “More Than You Think, Less Than We Need: Learning Outcomes Assessment in American Higher Education”.
Essentially, the survey found that nearly all U.S. institutions are actively measuring student learning outcomes driven primarily by accrediting body requirements. The gap that remains, however, is to actually use this data to improve student achievement.
Forward thinkers are actively developing a culture of assessment on campus. They’re using assessment data to drive decisions about everything from curriculum and instruction to admission standards and to inform the strategic planning process (Kuh and Ikenberry, Jaschik, 2009).
Over the past year I’ve been fortunate to work with progressive thinkers who are leveraging technology to enhance the outcome management process and to maximize the time that faculty spend providing meaningful feedback and support to students. I look forward to continuing this work and to identifying and publishing best practices in outcome management.
References
Jaschik, S. (2009, October 26). 'Assessment vs. Action. Retrieved November 2, 2009 from Inside Higher Ed, Web site: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/10/26/assess
National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (October 2009). More Than You Think, Less Than We Need: Learning Outcomes Assessment in American Higher Education. Retrieved November 2, 2009 from Web site: http://www.learningoutcomeassessment.org/NILOAsurveyresults09.htm
Brian McKay Epp
Academic Trainer and Consultant
No Internet Allowed
Like every just about every week for the past 7 years, I was at a college talking to faculty about how to effectively use education just a few days ago. I’ve become quite the e-vangelist in my time and I enjoy it immensely. It’s especially satisfying when I get to speak to instructors who have very little experience with the Internet and who don’t seem to see the tidal wave of technology coming. Showing them things they have literally never dreamed about is fun. I truly get to blow their minds!
But as enjoyable as my time was with these teachers, I came face to face with what I’m starting to consider my own personal Newman. (Sorry if the Seinfeld reference isn’t obvious…) While setting up for a 3 hour stint showing teachers how to make interaction a legitimate component of their online courses, I ran across the local I.T. guy. You know, the teacher / technology “support” specialist. The conversation went something like this:
ME: “Hi, I need to switch out your desktop for my laptop. I’ll be projecting it to the participants in the lab today.”
IT Guy: “Uh, no you won’t.”
ME: “Excuse me? I don’t think I heard you right.”
IT Guy: “Yeah, we don’t let people do that here. You’ll have to use our machine.”
ME: “But I have software on my machine that I need to show your instructors. Stuff that will let them create audio files, screen recordings, movies, and mind maps. I looked at your machine and it has none of that.”
IT Guy: “Sorry, you’ll just need to make due.”
ME: “What about wireless?”
IT Guy: “Yeah, you won’t get that in here.”
ME: “In the computer lab? I won’t get wireless in the computer lab?”
IT Guy: “Right.”
ME: (Frustration mounting) “OK, can I at least download that stuff to your machine so I can show it?”
IT Guy: “No way – not sure what kind of viruses might be associated. Besides, you can’t download anything unless you’re a system admin.”
ME: “Ok, so can’t you do it?”
IT Guy: “Nope.”
And with that he walked away. I stood there dumbfounded as I tried to scramble my presentation in my head.
It was about that time a teacher approached me. She explained that the lab was actually her typical classroom and that she could show me how to get around the system. We could pull a few wires from various machines and get me onto their network with her password, then I could do what I needed to do.
We were 30 seconds into our clandestine operation when he returned to the room. Caught red handed, the teacher simply said, “We’ve done this before…” The techie was obviously put out. He walked straight to my computer and asked to see my virus detection software. He pulled it up and found that I’d had 3 virus attempts in the past year. He looked at me like I was carrying ebola and gave a little smirk. “See…”
Wow. Here’s the worst part. This story is consistent campus after campus. You’d think I was trying to get onto the Pentagon’s network with my laptop based on how I’m treated by some IT groups.
Now you may be asking what the big deal is. Perhaps you’ve drunk the Kool-aid here and believe your IT department's who treat your campus network like a magical black box. You know, the kind of system that raises far more questions than creates solutions. The kind of system that only an elite few can access, only after lengthy assessments of software, hardware, dna, and possibly a urinalysis. The kind of system that enlightened IT Directors realize is silly...
But here’s the rub. I speak all over the world. I’ve spoken to our government – in a government building – in DC. I’ve spoken in hotels, businesses, high schools, universities, and even a court building. And in every case, I connected to their Internet.
Forget about me for a minute. Let’s focus on the real crime here. How do students connect? I was at a prestigious California university a few months back and I had some time to kill before I was to meet my contact. I sat down in a commons area and fired up my laptop. There were 2 students sitting there with me.
Me: “I’m trying to get on the Internet, is there a guest login for the campus?”
Student 1: “Are you kidding? They don’t give access to students, let alone guests.”
Student 2: “I’m taking 3 online classes this semester and I have to go to Barnes & Noble to do my stuff every day because I don’t have Internet at home.”
Yep. Barnes & Noble. Of course, if they wanted to, students could go to Starbucks or several McDonalds these days. They can find Internet access almost anywhere but their own school. These students can find Internet at airports during Spring Break, at Kinko’s for X cents per minute, or by going to the public library, but they can’t access the world wide web, including their online classes from school. Ugh.
So it is with all sincerity and seriousness that I say, “It’s time to figure it out.” It’s time to get with the program and offer Internet access on our campuses and to our students. How is it that the digital divide actually exists on our campuses? That’s crazy. And while we’re at it, let’s make it a quality experience. I was at an airport the other day with Wireless G – for free – which actually came into my wireless card at 300 mbps! Blazing fast!
Oh, and while we’re at it, knock it off with the super safe guards – you’re preventing students from learning. It’s one thing in a K-12 environment, but these are adults we’re talking about. I was recently at a school where I recommended a YouTube video by an amazing educator (Ken Robinson) and the faculty told me they couldn’t watch that from campus – YouTube was blocked. GOOD GRIEF!
It’s time for our schools to figure out what everyone else seems to have figured out already. “Safe” web access is a smokescreen. If you can’t figure out how to protect your campus while at the same time giving appropriate access to all of your students, teachers, and even to guests, then it’s time to find an IT director who is capable of that. I’ve talked to some of those executives at BIG institutions. The kind of institutions where they have million dollar budgets and a staff of 100 people and they get it. Like they get how important it is to outsource their LMS needs, they understand that access and permission is just as important. It’s not about building an empire and it’s not about holding the campus hostage with technology – it’s about giving an amazing educational experience to their students…their customers…who need it.
To those of you who really get it, I salute you. To those who do their best to help technology and education blend seamlessly, I applaud your efforts. You are more important than you realize in the educational culture. However, to those who use technology to control, manipulate, and scare…well, let’s say I don’t salute you. You are impeding progress and education at a school. Much like impeding reading at a library or stopping the sale of gas at a fuel station.
By the way, the harder it is to get onto your site…the more enticing it seems to be for hackers to try. So Google transparency, accessibility, and academic technology, and step aside. Education is trying to happen.
Jeff D. Borden
Senior Director of Teaching & Learning
Momentum Building for Competency Based Learning
Most of us have heard of the European Union along with the establishment of the Euro as a common currency across the continent. Fewer have heard of the Bologna Process which began in June, 1999 with the goal of creating a more standardized higher education system in EU member nations. One initiative has been a tuning project where academics work to define a common set of learning outcomes by discipline and degree level.
The dialogue continues worldwide today about whether a focus on competencies versus assignment grading leads to an improved student learning experience but most would agree there is a difference. Many students are able to memorize processes or to cram for an exam but the ability to apply knowledge, skills, and concepts to new situations requires a deeper level of learning which is better suited for competency based assessment.
A June 4, 2009 blog post on The Chronicle for Higher Education website summarized a recent report commissioned by the Association of American Medical Colleges and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute calling for institutions to focus on competencies instead of courses as a way to improve curriculum for pre-med and medical schools. The report convened a group of educators, practitioners, and researchers to define a set of competencies both for entrance into and graduation from medical school. NCATE has already defined similar competencies for educators and other accreditation bodies are coming on board as well with efforts to agree on a core set of competencies by discipline.
The Lumina Foundation for Education also recently announced a three state Tuning USA project that seeks to define “the subject-specific knowledge and transferable skills that students in six fields must demonstrate upon completion of a degree program”. This is a bottom up effort involving faculty, students, and employers. Representatives from Indiana, Minnesota, and Utah will each define student learning outcomes for two disciplines while striving to preserve the ability for individual institutions and faculty to retain their academic freedom to teach to a common set of outcomes in the manner of their own choosing.
Pearson eCollege will continue to monitor this trend and seeks input from our partner institutions for best practices in outcome management and competency based learning.
References
Benelux Bologna Secretariat (n.d.). About the Bologna Process. Retrieved June 12, 2009 from Web site: http://www.ond.vlaanderen.be/hogeronderwijs/bologna/about/
Lumina Foundation for Education (2009, April 8). News Release. Retrieved June 12, 2009 from , Web site: http://www.luminafoundation.org/newsroom/news_releases/2009-04-08.html
Mangan, K. (2009, June 4). 'Competencies,' Not Courses, Should Be Focus of Medical-School Curricula, Report Says. Retrieved June12, 2009 from The Chronicle of Higher Education, Web site: http://chronicle.com/news/article/6588/competencies-not-courses-should-be-focus-of-medical-school-curricula-report-says
Narrative
Do you know the story of the student who kept taking his Final Exam after the class session ended? The instructor of the large, Freshman lecture called for all tests to be turned in on her desk. Every student complied, creating a very large stack, save one. He just sat in his desk, writing and filling in bubbles. After three attempts to get his attention and the student obviously ignoring her pleas, the instructor sat down at her desk and watched, excited to refuse the exam of such a petulant student. Finally, after twenty minutes, the student put down his pencil, stood up, and casually walked toward the instructor’s desk. As he began to extend his hand with the exam in it, the instructor spoke up. “Young man, I asked for these to be submitted twenty minutes ago. You took more than the allotted time and so your test will not be counted.” The young man cocked his head and chewed his lip. “Do you have any idea who I am instructor?” he asked. The teacher was indignant. “I don’t want to hear about how your parents donated a building! I don’t know who you are and I don’t care!” At that, the student said, “I didn’t think you’d know me…” as he lifted half of the stack of tests on the desk, placed his exam in the middle, and walked out of the room.
Walter Fisher (1995), arguably the most notable story researcher of our time, discusses the narrative paradigm in great detail. He suggests that all people are essentially storytellers who make decisions on the basis of (their perception of) good reasons. History, biography, culture, and character determine what we define as “good reasons”. The world is a set of stories from which we choose (and constantly re-create) our lives.
In education, story is powerful. Story creates context. Examples define paradigms. Illustrations generate meaning. In other words, narrative bridges learning style preferences, increases attention span, helps retention, and integrates curriculum across disciplines. If the world is full of storytellers and narrative is how we make sense of that world we live in, the question of usage in the classroom is obvious.
How often do you tell stories in your course? For my online teachers out there, this becomes even more relevant. How often do you tell stories in your online class?
What a great potential for audio clips in the online course. Adding a link at the top of a difficult concept with “Listen To Fred’s Story” or “Here’s A Real Life Example of Statistics in Action” might be one way to incorporate stories. Voice threads from Web 2.0 sites like www.voicethread.com might offer a way for teachers and students to share narratives in the online course. Or a simple text box, highlighted by color or bold font might be enough to emphasize your point through illustration.
No matter how you slice it, stories are important to our culture and our world, so they should be peppered throughout our courses. They can be personal (which then creates a nice tie to Instructor Immediacy…but that’s another blog) and they can be from outside sources (creating a good venue for modeled credibility). Just try not to “hear” my message today, instead really “listen” to it!
A Congressman once publicly criticized the Department of Agriculture for wasting the taxpayers’ money printing useless pamphlets. According to the politician, they printed pamphlets about “everything except the love life of the frog.” Following the Congressman’s speech, the Department of Agriculture began to receive orders for The Love Life of the Frog. As more and more orders arrived, the department eventually had to make a public statement announcing emphatically that no such pamphlet existed. After the public denial, letters requesting The Love Life of the Frog began to arrive by the hundreds. Finally, the Secretary of Agriculture, in a national address, stated that the department had never printed such a pamphlet and had no intention of ever doing so. Following the broadcast, thousands of orders for the pamphlet arrived in the mail.
See…listening is crucial…and so is storytelling.
Jeff Borden, M.A.
Director of Academic Training & Consulting
Fisher, Walter R. (1995). "Narration, Knowledge, and the Possibility of Wisdom" in Rethinking Knowledge: Reflections Across the Disciplines (Suny Series in the Philosophy of the Social Sciences). (Fisher & Robert F. Goodman as editors). New York: State University of New York Press.
Implementing Competency-Based Learning
Over the past few months I’ve been reflecting and writing about assessment accountability and its intersection with workplace competencies. I believe today’s post on competency-based learning nicely integrates these two topics and provides academic leaders with a progressive assessment model that dovetails nicely into learning outcome management systems which support the more rigorous demands of accrediting bodies.
The figure below, taken from a 2002 U.S. Department of Education report, is a graphical representation of a pedagogical model showing the progression of learning from the engagement with one’s prior knowledge to the demonstration of acquired skills, abilities, and knowledge following a learning experience.
Source: U.S. Department of Education, 2002.
Many traditional, course-based learning models stop after conducting some form of assessment to verify that basic knowledge transfer from faculty to student has occurred. More progressive programs extend this assessment to a more granular level and actually prove that students can demonstrate performance of required competencies. An additional benefit of the more granular, performance-based learning outcomes is that it forces faculty to write specific, observable, and measurable learning goals.
One of the key barriers faced by institutions who are considering a move to competency based learning is the challenge of moving beyond the course-based assessment model along with the subsequent issue of how competency based learning units transfer into traditional academic programs. Western Governors University (WGU) has moved the furthest along this path by defining competency domains required both for general education and major area studies. While WGU is widely recognized as being at the forefront of this movement, other institutions such as Rutgers University, Alverno College, and Maricopa Community College have chosen their own paths and provide alternate implementation strategies (A. Voorhees, 2001, p. 84-86).
Dr. Richard Voorhees, a published author in the field of accreditation and assessment of both distance education and competency-based learning models, provides a twelve point list of actionable best-practices for those considering a move into this paradigm. It includes suggestions that range from obtaining senior level management support to ensuring that multiple assessment points are embedded within a degree program so that meaningful data analysis can inform curriculum enhancements (2001, p. 12).
While many may be reluctant to embrace a degree that didn’t come with a traditional course-based transcript, I believe employers would be impressed with how these graduates could both demonstrate general knowledge as well as the ability to perform required workplace competencies at a higher level than traditional program graduates. Has anyone been directly involved with implementing a competency-based learning model? I’d be interested in your comments on what you learned and how students responded.
References
U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Defining and Assessing Learning: Exploring Competency-Based Initiatives, NCES 2002-159, prepared by Elizabeth A. Jones and Richard A. Voorhees, with Karen Paulson, for the Council of the National Postsecondary Education Cooperative Working Group on Competency-Based Initiatives. Washington, DC: 2002.
Voorhees, A. (2001). Creating and Implementing Competency-Based Learning Models. New Directions for Institutional Research. 2001(110), 83.
Voorhees, R. (2001). Competency-Based Learning Models: A Necessary Future. New Directions for Institutional Research. 2001(110), 5.
Brian McKay Epp, M.Ed., Academic Trainer and Consultant
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