2006 - 2007 Online Education Report
www.bsu.edu/iandt/official/report2006-2007.htm

Jim Flowers, Director of Online Education, jcflowers1@bsu.edu, 765-285-2879, AT 130A
Department of Technology, College of Applied Sciences & Technology
Ball State University, Muncie, IN, USA 47306

June, 2007

History & Status | Initiatives
Appendices: MA in TE | MA in CTE |Calendar Survey | Survey of Majors

Preface

This is the fifth annual report of the online education initiatives from the Department of Technology (previously, the Department of Industry and Technology) at Ball State University. Previous reports may be seen at:

• www.bsu.edu/iandt/official/report2005-2006.htm
• www.bsu.edu/iandt/official/report2004-2005.htm
• www.bsu.edu/iandt/official/report2003-2004.htm
• www.bsu.edu/iandt/official/report2002-2003.htm
• www.bsu.edu/iandt/official/report2001-2002.htm

Recommendations contained within this report are those the Director and what is hereafter called the Department's Office of Online Education.

For more information, visit the online programs' "classic" Website at www.bsu.edu/iandt or the online program information at the Department's new Website: http://www.bsu.edu/technology/.

Ball State University's Department of Technology (renamed from the Department of Industry and Technology in 2006) offers two graduate degrees over the Internet: the Master of Arts in Technology Education; and the Master of Arts in Career and Technical Education. Except for a pilot course going online in the Fall of 2000, these programs officially became available online in the Summer and Fall of 2002, respectively. The purpose of this report is to provide a description and an internal annual review of online education from the Department of Technology.

The Master of Arts in Technology Education (TE) is intended to meet the needs of technology teachers and others interested in general education in technology. Technology Education is the field that evolved from Industrial Arts, and this master's caters to the needs of teachers in this field who typically teach grades six through twelve. However, community college faculty, elementary teachers, and others can find this program fitting.

The Department also offers a Master of Arts in Career and Technical Education (CTE) (having changed its name from Master of Arts in Industrial Vocational / Technical Education on August 25^th, 2003, in keeping with national trends.) This degree is intended to meet the needs of vocational, or career and technical educators, who typically work at high school level vocational programs with specializations in industry and technology. However, community college faculty, industrial trainers, and others wishing an advanced degree can find this master's very appropriate.

Oversight of these programs is by the Department's Graduate Program Committee, now chaired by Dr. Samuel Cotton and composed of eight Graduate Faculty within the Department. That committee decided to offer these degrees online due to declining on-campus enrollments, and based on a national online learning needs assessment; approval was granted by the Ball State Graduate Education Committee, the School of Extended Education, and the Indiana Commission for Higher Education.

Neither of these degree programs carries initial teacher licensure, since they were primarily designed to service the educational needs of practicing and licensed teachers. However, some students may choose to use selected courses from either program to pursue additional licensing credentials in accordance with their state's requirements for teacher licensure.

By June, 2004, all fifteen planned graduate courses offered from the Department had been delivered online, replacing face-to-face (F2F) sections. In 2005 / 2006 the program committee decided to drop two of non-required courses from the list of offerings when the two professors who had been teaching those courses left the graduate faculty. However, the frequency of other course offerings was increased due to rising enrollments and feedback from majors, as will be discussed later.

Unlike similar programs at some other institutions, the admission requirements do not specify the undergraduate degree areas for applicants, nor do they list a teaching license as an admissions requirement. Thus, these programs are better suited than some competitors' programs to attracting students who may have had completed a baccalaureate degree in a different field.

As with other masters from Ball State, applicants must have an earned baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution with an undergraduate grade point average of 2.75 (on a 4.0 scale), or with an undergraduate GPA of 3.0 in the latter half of their undergraduate work. Those who do not meet these GPA requirements may be able to enter as probationary students and must achieve a 3.0 minimum average in 9 semester hours of graduate work approved by the Department Chair and the Dean of the Graduate School, and must score in the top two-thirds on each section of the general Graduate Record Examination. There are no additional departmental or program admission requirements.

Each degree program can be completed 100% online without a single trip to the campus or a satellite site. Each master's program requires 30 graduate hours, 9 of which may be transferred in from another accredited institution where the student earned at least a B, subject to advisor approval. Transfer hours are also subject to the Ball State requirement that all masters coursework be completed within a six-year timeframe. A thesis is optional in each program, though fewer than 1% of students take advantage of the thesis option. Each program has a separate core of courses, a required research course, a required course in education outside the Department of Technology (removed for the 2007/2009 catalog), and directed electives. Please see the Appendices listing the Program of Study for the MA in Technology Education and the Program of Study for the MA in Career and Technical Education.

In 2006, the University Graduate Education Committee approved a number of changes recommended by the Department's Graduate Program Committee for implementation beginning Fall 2007. Among these are the elimination of the "Professional Education" requirement for both programs, and the re-designation of "Electives" as "Directed Electives." Other changes included course descriptions and notes.

Recommendation: A third master's program should be created that is a master of science with a required thesis, serving both existing populations of TE and CTE professionals, and making use of many existing courses. This could be a Master of Science in Technical Education. It would better prepare those who may pursue doctoral education or research in the field.

Recommendation: Additional online degree programs should be pursued, and faculty should be encouraged to place single courses online that could lead to certificate and degree programs.

Course Enrollment, Program Headcounts, and Program Admits

Prior to offering these graduate programs online, course enrollment was low. As illustrated in Figure 1, the graduate enrollments increased as the programs became established, likely due to early market share. However, despite a renewed effort on marketing, there was a dip in enrollment in 2006/2007, seen also in the program headcounts (Figures 2 & 3) which are based on the number of students in a program who are also enrolled in a class. However, the number of Spring 2007 admits (Figure 4) was up in the MA in Technology Education, which supports the interpretation that the downward enrollment seen in 2006/2007 is a temporary fluctuation. Still, the impact of the emergence of competing online degrees in these areas cannot be overlooked as a factor.

 
Figure 1. Online Graduate Enrollment in the Department of [Industry &] Technology by Semester from Fall 2000 through Spring 2007(as of 4/4/07). (Source: ADMAC, except for Fall 2000 BSU@work data)

As noted, program headcounts show an increase at the Fall 2002 period, when the programs began to be delivered online, and a more recent decrease, as seen in the combined program headcounts in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Combined Program Headcounts for the MA in Technology Education and in Career & Technical Education combined, from historical BSU@Work data for Fall and Spring semesters.

Program headcounts from Figure 2 are the sums of headcounts shown for each program in Figures 3. In the last academic year, there has been a decrease in headcounts for each master's program. Enrollment data from 2006/2007 is contrary to what had been forecast in the previous year's report. In light of this fluctuation, no trend extrapolation is now included.

Figure 3. Program Headcounts for the MA in Technology Education and the MA in Career & Technical Education extracted from BSU@work historical data for Fall and Spring semesters.

Admissions

Data from the Graduate School's "Graduate Student Advising Center Database" extracted April 4, 2007, indicates that in the 2006/2007 year, 37 applicants were admitted, 62% of the 60 who applied (Figure 4). This is a slight decrease from the previous two years.

Figure 4. Students Admitted by Semester as of 4/4/07.
Source: www.bsu.edu/webapps2/gradadvisor/

Accommodating Enrollment

Schedule of Offerings

In response to the need to offer more sections of online courses (when students were being turned away due to class enrollment caps that had been reached,) the following schedule of offerings took effect in Summer I 2006; it represents eight additional course offerings per year, including five course offerings in the Spring / Fall and three in Summer sessions:

Beginning in Fall 2006:

Every Fall:

• ITEDU 510, Technology: Use and Assessment
• ITEDU 552, Career & Technical-Related Class Content
• ITEDU 568, Principles & Philosophy of Career & Technical Education
• ITEDU 690, History and Philosophy of Technology Education
• ITEDU 691, Strategies & Materials for Teaching Technology Education
• ITEDU 694, Curriculum Development in Technology Education
• ITEDU 699, Research in Industrial Education

Every Spring:

• ITEDU 510, Technology: Use and Assessment
• ITEDU 569, Organization and Coordination of Career & Technical Education
• ITEDU 635, Implementing Technology Education
• ITEDU 690, History and Philosophy of Technology Education
• ITEDU 691, Strategies & Materials for Teaching Technology Education
• ITEDU 699, Research in Industrial Education
• ITMFG 560, Industrial Safety and Health

Every Summer I:

• ITEDU 550, Career & Technical Student Organizations
• ITEDU 694, Curriculum Development in Technology Education
• ITEDU 696, Techniques in Coordinating Cooperative Education
• ITEDU 698, Seminar in Technology Education

Every Summer II:

• ITEDU 635, Implementing Technology Education

This new schedule allowed for growth. Prior to this, several class sections had reached their maximum enrollment of 20, and some students were turned away from full classes. The faculty size limited the number of sections that could be offered, preventing additional sections from going online to accommodate those students. Furthermore, the Graduate Program Committee had previously voted unanimously to approve a request to lower online graduate section maxima from 20 to 15 in order to maintain the quality of education (a request that was not granted), so increasing the maximum beyond 20 was not an option. The above schedule change was made possible by a shift for some faculty from predominantly undergraduate, to predominantly graduate teaching loads.

Unfortunately, class enrollment in the Fall and Spring of 2006/2007 was lower than anticipated. In one instance, a course was dropped due to low pre-registration. This was ITEDU 635, which had been offered the previous Summer II session. This led the Graduate Program Committee to re-think the wisdom of increasing Summer offerings if it meant eliminating sections slated for Spring or Fall terms. All program faculty, except the Department Chair, who is currently not teaching graduate courses, are on 9-month employment contracts that do not include the Summer, and the standard load for a faculty member is 12 credit hours in each of the Fall and Spring. (Some have either administrative or research assignments that reduce this number.) Since graduate courses can only be taught by specialists in the field who meet the standards set by the department for graduate faculty, it is not realistic to rely on more than the occasional graduate course to be taught by part-time contract graduate faculty. Thus, matching existing graduate faculty with graduate course assignments must occur within the parameters of the 12-credit hour load system, and fluctuations in enrollments, as occurred with ITEDU 635, have loading implications that are disruptive to the system, at times this could lead to last-minute decisions to staff a class with a faculty member due to the faculty member's need for load rather than faculty expertise.

As a result, a newly devised schedule of course offerings has been approved by the Graduate Program Committee to take place beginning Summer I, 2008; it:

• cuts in half the summer offerings of core courses in the MA in Technology Education;
• eliminates ITEDU 690 from the Spring;
• switched ITEDU 568 to the Spring (and ITEDU 569 to the fall) allowing for the possible substitution of ITEDU 568 for ITEDU 690;
• eliminates ITEDU 510 from the Fall;
• adds a new course in Curriculum Evaluation to the Fall.

In the previous surveys of majors, there was a demand expressed for more summer offerings, especially in Summer II. This new schedule does just the opposite, drastically decreasing summer offerings. The Office of Online Education apologizes to students for change, but notes it was precipitated by a need to maintain fall and spring semester load for existing faculty.

The new schedule also includes a new course that is being developed by Dr. Annette Rose on Curriculum Evaluation. It will serve as an elective for both programs, and others on campus, and is slated to be taught each Fall.

Schedule of Course Offerings in Summer I 2008 showing additions and deletions:

Summer I

• ITEDU 550, Career & Technical Student Organizations
• ITEDU 694, Curriculum Development in Technology Education
• ITEDU 696, Coordinating and Conducting Cooperative Education Programs
• ITEDU 698, Seminar in Technology Education Even Years Only

Summer II

• ITEDU 635, Implementing Technology Education Odd Years Only

Fall

• ITEDU 510, Technology: Use and Assessment
• ITEDU 552, Strategies and Materials for Career & Technical Education
• ITEDU 568, Principles & Philosophy of Career & Technical Education
• ITEDU 569, Organization and Coordination of Career & Technical Education
• ITEDU 600, Special Topics: Curriculum Evaluation
• ITEDU 690, History and Philosophy of Technology Education
• ITEDU 691, Strategies & Materials for Teaching Technology Education
• ITEDU 694, Curriculum Development in Technology Education
• ITEDU 699, Research in Technical Education

Spring

• ITEDU 510, Technology: Use and Assessment
• ITEDU 568, Principles & Philosophy of Career & Technical Education
• ITEDU 569, Organization and Coordination of Career & Technical Education
ITEDU 635, Implementing Technology Education
• ITEDU 690, History and Philosophy of Technology Education
• ITEDU 691, Strategies & Materials for Teaching Technology Education
• ITEDU 694, Curriculum Development in Technology Education
• ITEDU 699, Research in Technical Education
• ITMFG 560, Occupational Safety and Health

Need for Faculty

It should be noted that there are currently six core courses scheduled to be offered online in the MA in CTE. Dr. Samuel Cotton, to date, has been the sole full-time instructor for these courses, except for the hiring of Dr. Patrick Jones as an adjunct faculty member to teach one of these courses in Spring 2007. The ability of Dr. Cotton to continue to fully staff these core classes is called into question by the 2006/2007 doubling in frequency of offerings for this program. Moreover, the Master of Arts in Career and Technical Education has been suffering from a lack of intellectual diversity due to a single core course instructor. In order for this, or any graduate program, to provide quality education, students should benefit from diverse approaches offered by multiple faculty members specializing in their area of study. The quality of this program and its ability to grow hinge on whether additional graduate faculty members are added to the ranks.

Recommendation: Additional Graduate Faculty are needed in the Master of Arts in Career and Technical Education Program if the current growth trend is expected to continue. Two additional Graduate Faculty should be hired for the MA in CTE.

Staff: Office of Online Education

In 2006/2007, the staff of the Department's Office of Online Education consists Dr. Jim Flowers (the Director of Online Education), a 1/2 time (10 hours per week) graduate assistant, and one undergraduate student worker on special assignment during Fall and Spring Semesters. During Summer months, the Department Chair assumes the duties of the Office, since the Chair's appointment is a 12-month and the Director's appointment and funds for the student worker are both on a 9-month basis. Enrollment is facilitated by the work of the Office of Online Education, which is typically the first contact for those seeking information.

Ms. Holly Baltzer, an undergraduate student in Biology, was employed 10 (or fewer) hours per week during the 2006 - 2007 academic year, on a special assignment as Research Assistant in fulfillment of a grant she and the Director co-authored from the Council on Technology Teacher Education. Two articles appeared in 2006 co-authored by Flowers and Baltzer, each on a different phase of that research, and a manuscript is in preparation regarding a third phase.

During the Fall of 2006, Mr. Robert Seaton served as a Graduate Assistant in the Office of Online Education, with a primary charge of responding to requests for information about the program and website management. Upon his decision to resign at the end of that semester, Ms. Kristina Coburn was hired beginning in Spring 2007 in this role. Ms. Coburn uses the other 10 hours in her graduate assistantship to supervise the Department's new Rapid Prototyping Laboratory, and for each of these assignments, she reports to Jim Flowers.

Name Change

During the Summer of 2006, the name of Ball State University's Department of Industry & Technology changed to the Department of Technology.

Change in Schedule of Courses

As noted above, increasing enrollments in 2005/2006 led to additional course sections in 2006/2007 and a lower number of students enrolled in a section. However, this added growing room and allowed students to enroll in classes without being denied enrollment due to classes filling.

Course Development & Review

On March 28, 2007, Ball State's School of Extended Education announced a new procedure for the process of applying for support for the development or revision of electronic distance courses (http://www.bsu.edu/web/iandt/official/SEESteps.doc). Changes to the levels of support include furnishing $3000 rather than $2000 to departments per course, eliminating the $50/student stipend for instructors in online courses for each student over the minimum (6 in a graduate class), and eliminating the $1500 stipend for initial online implementation.

During 2006/2007, one request for online course development/revision had been approved by the School of Extended Education. Jim Flowers was supported to revise ITEDU 510, Technology Use and Assessment, with deployment of the revised course scheduled for Spring 2007 (Application at http://www.bsu.edu/web/iandt/official/itedu510revisionproposal2006.htm). However, a decision was made to re-staff this course, and Annette Rose was assigned to implement ITEDU 510 in Spring 2007, revising it during her initial implementation rather than according to that previous proposal.

The Office of Online Education received two requests for future development revision which were submitted to the BSU Distance Education Review Committee.

• Revision of ITEDU 699, Research in Industrial Education
• Development of ITEDU 600x, Curriculum Evaluation

"P&T" Surveys of Students

During the twelfth week of each Fall and Spring semester, each class in the Department of Technology has undergone a "Student Evaluation of Course and Instructor," providing evidence that is later used for decisions regarding staffing, faculty retention, faculty tenure, faculty promotion, and faculty teaching awards. The evaluation instrument and procedure are developed by the Department's Promotion and Tenure (P&T) Committee, subject to votes by tenure and tenure track faculty in the Department. For online classes, this survey is administered by Dr. James A. Jones of BSU University Computing Services.

During the 2006/2007 year, the P&T Committee concluded its work to revise the instrument and process to improve reliability and validity, especially in light of graduate courses and online course. The previous instrument had been developed primarily for undergraduate laboratory classes, and had been several issues with wording that seemed to threaten reliability. The newly revised instrument is slated to be used beginning in the Fall of 2007, during the twelfth or thirteenth week of the semester. It is a student evaluation of the instructor's performance, instead of an evaluation of both the course and the instructor, as seen below.

Figure 5. Items from the paper version of the new student evaluation of instructor instrument (http://www.bsu.edu/web/iandt/official/DOTInstructorEvaluationInstrument.pdf)

In addition, the Director makes available to faculty at their option an end-of-semester course improvement student survey that does not supply information for anything except that faculty member's improvement of the course.

As done in the previous year, near the end of the Spring 2007 semester, all graduate students majoring in the Department's programs were sent a request to take an anonymous online survey to provide feedback on the online program. The results from the survey of majors are contained in an appendix in this document.

Advising

Prior to February 2005, a single faculty member served as the graduate program advisor for all graduate students in the department. With the increased enrollment seen as the programs went online, this became too much for any single faculty member to accomplish without a course reduction for graduate advising. Such a course reduction was not possible, so in February 2005 advising was divided among six graduate faculty, as shown in the table above. The "Advisor Codes" were established in January 2006.

In addition, the BSU Graduate School implemented the Graduate Student Advising Center at
webapps2.bsu.edu/gradadvisor/index.asp.

This Web-based database interfaces facilitates quicker communications of admission decisions by both the Graduate School and the Department, and allows access to a richer record of information on an applicant. The ability to immediately determine the status of an applicant has facilitated communications with applicants. The BSU Graduate School is to be commended for this successful effort that has already proven to aid communication and facilitate speedy admissions decisions.

Technology

Streaming Media

As noted in previous reports, several of the Department's Colloquium Series presentations had been live video streamed in previous years. External funding for this series ended prior to the 2005/2006 academic year, and those presentations that did occur were not streamed, following requests of the facilitator. Previously streamed Webcasts can still be viewed in an archive at www.bsu.edu/web/iandt/webcasts.htm.

It is hoped that future years will see an increased volume and variety of video streamed and video archived events from the Department and other units at the University. Obstacles to this have been identified to include the following:

• No dedicated studio facility in the Applied Technology Building
• Insufficient funding to support a colloquium series
• Irregular attendance at colloquium events, ranging from 3 to 30 in the audience
• Low use by graduate students-at-a-distance
• Disturbances to sessions caused by the technical requirements of video streaming

Mediasite

In the Spring of 2006, Ball State University purchased several Mediasite systems. The Office of Teaching and Learning Advancement provided a workshop to Department faculty on Mediasite in the Fall of 2007. Mediasite could allow faculty to more seamlessly create either an online or dvd-based recording of a class session, incorporating computer applications (such as PowerPoint sideshows), a document camera, dvd or videotape playback, and capture of the instructor's voice and video image. While it is largely intended to support classes, this technology can also play a role in other presentations. Unlike previous systems at Ball State, Mediasite eliminates the need for an engineer/producer on site during a class or presentation.

Recommendation: It is hoped that faculty will explore many uses of Mediasite in their face-to-face, blended, and online instruction, and in other areas, such as dissertation defenses and guest presentations. However, like other tools, this one should not be used merely because it is available. Instead, faculty should be guided by instructional technologist in the wise use of this tool for instruction, including assistance in determining under which contexts and for which objectives this tool is indicated.

Recommendation: Department faculty seem to be anchored in their own buildings, hesitant to go to a different building to use someone else's technology for course development. For Mediasite to be effectively used in the Department of Technology, it is recommended that a system be purchased for the Applied Technology Building, where it could also accommodate use by faculty in Family and Consumer Science.

Video Conferencing

Unlike a one-way video stream of a presentation, two-way videoconferencing software has been made available through Ball State University's agreement with the Indiana Higher Education Telecommunication System (IHETS). Beginning in the Fall of 2005, faculty in a trial group at Ball State were given accounts for the use of Macromedia Breeze Meeting (now Adobe Acrobat Connect) on an IHETS server. In addition, IHETS has been retained as the sole provider of support for Breeze Meeting (See www.ihets.org/progserv/video/migration/support/).

Breeze is a tool that allows users to connect over broadband Internet lines to share information in real-time. Audio/video feeds from several participants can be simultaneously sent to all receiving the live stream. Additional features allow for sharing presentations, application sharing, polling, and chat.

Those with accounts can log in at interactive.ihets.org. A "meeting" can be established by a host (such as a BSU faculty member.) Others can join that meeting either by invitation and permission, or on a more open basis, by browsing to the "meeting room" URL provided by the host. Meetings can be recorded for later viewing.

The use of Breeze Meeting was piloted by Jim Flowers in ITEDU 510 in both Fall 2005 and Spring 2006. It met with mixed success. One of the problems related to insufficient hardware at students' remote locations. Furthermore, broadband access is needed. Jim also used it to give a presentations to colleagues from several colleges in Indiana.

In the Spring of 2007, the Office of Online Education requested Breeze Meeting accounts for online faculty in the department, and then conducted a workshop for these faculty in the use of Breeze Meeting.

A competing product is under consideration at Ball State: Microsoft Live Communications Server (LCS) (office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX010908711033.aspx). A trial account has been requested by Jim Flowers to pilot the use of LCS in the Department.

Recommendation: Faculty should be encouraged to explore video conferencing, both in their teaching and in other collaborative venues. This could include providing hardware for faculty computers. This hardware should include a dual monitor system, a video camera, and a microphone/headphone. The dual monitor system is best facilitated with a desktop computer, not with a laptop; online faculty should not be asked to teach only using only a laptop computer. In addition, there should be specialized training, not just on the mechanics of using the tool, but also related to how this tool can be used wisely by a teacher and by a learner for more effective education.

Recommendation: IHETS supports the technical aspects of using Breeze, such as aiding in the adjustment of audio levels. However, there is a need for pedagogical support, something previously provided by the BSU Office of Teaching and Learning Advancement (OTLA). OTLA is not charged with providing this support for Breeze. It is recommended, therefore, that additional instructional technologists be hired to allow OTLA to provide this support to faculty.

Technological Requirements and Recommendations

The Office of Online Education has developed the following list of required and recommended technology for online students and instructors:

CAST Faculty Computer Plan

The College of Applied Sciences and Technology has implemented a plan for upgrading the office computer systems for tenured and tenure track faculty every three years with a PC laptop computer.

iweb

Online faculty and students make use of the Webpage space provided by Ball State on the "iweb" server, with some still having accounts on the older "web" server. The disk quota for iWeb accounts has been increased to 2 Gb per account. The University is to be commended for establishing this scalable server and for increasing storage space.

The transition to iweb has unearthed some minor problems. One concerns the use of forms. The default setting for an iweb account does not allow an author to publish a Webpage with an asp form to, say, provide Email feedback from those visiting a Webpage. The solution is for the faculty member to contact Mr. Hamid Tabariasl, Web Technology Specialist for University Computing Services, to gain this functionality.

A second issue was discovered as faculty began to assist students who, themselves, had iweb accounts. The previous "web" server allowed any visitor to view a list of the files in an author's directory, unless that author had taken special steps to block such viewing. The iweb server does not allow this. Students in online classes often publish their work online, and they are often new to online publishing. In the past, an instructor could notice errors related to filenames and file locations; the iweb system removes that ability from instructors, and decreases the service that can be provided to the student in this respect. Still, the advantages of iweb seem to outweigh the disadvantages.

iLocker

In addition to the iweb Webpage-hosting server, the University has established online file storage accounts on its "iLocker" system (www.bsu.edu/ilocker). These are currently capped at 2 Gb per user. Online instructors and students should find them especially helpful in handling larger media files, and in facilitating storage of files so they can be accessed on computers at different locations. The University is to be commended for offering this valuable file storage system.

Blackboard

Online and F2F faculty continue to use the Blackboard Course Management System (Bb) at Ball State. In some online classes, Bb is used to house class content, though in others it is used primarily to facilitate communications, quizzes, grades, and announcements, with "lecture" materials provided as independently published Web pages.

During the Spring of 2007, Drs. Cotton and Flowers pilot tested Blackboard 7, and presented on this at the School of Extended Education Conference on Online Teaching in February, 2007. The session was titled "Optimizing the Use of Discussion Board Forums," and the video stream can be seen at:
http://dvisweb1.bsu.edu/media/extended_education/best_practices/discussion_boards.asx

Three online faculty have expressed a need for the easy extraction of course data from their Bb course sites. In particular, faculty have asked for an easy way to export threaded discussion board data into a format that can be imported to Microsoft Access or Microsoft Excel. These three faculty have used this data both for evaluating student performance and in research projects.

To meet this need, the Director has developed a Microsoft Word 2003 Macro to facilitate the conversion of Blackboard Discussion Board Forum data to a format that can be input in Excel 2003, for either Blackboard 6 or Blackboard 7. These macros and the instructions on their use are available to all within the following document, but those who use it may have to "enable macros" to use the embedded macros:

http://jcflowers1.iweb.bsu.edu/bbconvert.doc

Recommendation: Ball State University should contract with Blackboard for their development of a tool that can be used to allow any Bb course owner to easily extract Blackboard discussion board data from any of their courses at any time into a format that can be input by Access 2007 or Excel 2007, preserving all fields and information about the thread geometry.

Microsoft Vista and Windows

In the Spring of 2007, Ball State University made available Microsoft Vista, Enterprise Edition, and Microsoft Office 2007 to faculty and students as per the Microsoft Campus Agreement. While Ball State is to be commended on this, it should be noted that Webpage creation, which was previously supported by Microsoft FrontPage on BSU computers, has not been addressed. With Office 2007, Microsoft has cancelled production of FrontPage, and introduced in its place Expression Web.

Recommendation: The BSU Campus Agreement should include MS Expression Web both for university-owned computers, and for student use. As communications move forward, it is essential to have a full-featured and current Webpage creation tool, especially for online faculty and students.

Microsoft Vista was released with known compatibility issues. Several department faculty have noticed that AutoCAD, 3D Studio Max, and several other programs do not function properly under Vista, though several companies are working on patches and updates that are hoped to correct the situation. Ball State has provided a beta version of the Cisco Virtual Private Network (See beta downloads at http://www.bsu.edu/webapps2/betaplace/).

One compatibility issue has emerged between Windows Vista and Blackboard 6 that results in the text box editor malfunctioning, with the result of not being able to post announcements, forum messages, etc. There is a work-around for this: after logging in to Bb, a Vista user selects "Personal Information" from among the Blackboard Tools, then sets the Text Box Editor option to "Unavailable." The result is that Blackboard then uses a default message entry system that does not include all of the functionality of the disabled Text Box Editor, but does allow message entry, and even HTML code entry.

Recognition

Student Scholarships and Awards

The Department of Technology annually recognizes outstanding students in different degree programs with awards and scholarships at a Spring banquet. A Department Scholarship Committee coordinates the selection of awardees with Department faculty, and an Awards Reception Committee facilitates the ceremonies.

Only one scholarship is available for graduate students in the Department, the Dr. William H. Middleton Scholarship, named in honor of a long-time and respected faculty member. Prior to 2007, the scholarship was only open to on-campus students. However, the success of online delivery saw the decrease in on-campus graduate students. As of Spring 2007, there are no full-time on-campus graduate students in either the MA in Technology Education or the MA in Career and Technical Education. Representatives of the Department and the BSU Foundation met with members of the Middleton Family about this, and a change was made to the criteria for awards, giving preference to on-campus students, but allowing awards to online students. The revised scholarship, administered by the Department Scholarship Committee, can be seen at http://www.bsu.edu/web/iandt/official/MiddltnSchrsh07.doc and students may apply online at http://www.bsu.edu/inqsit/inqsit.cgi/wescott/surveys?MiddletonScholarship.

The Department Chair, the Scholarship Committee, and the entire Middleton Family are to be commended and thank for continued work to facilitate the wonderful impact Dr. Middleton continues to have on graduate students of today.

The 2007 Dr. William H. Middleton Scholarship awarded to Ms. Kristy Rhodes, who was accepted for admission into the Master of Arts in Technology Education beginning in Fall 2007. The Department thanks all students who have applied for this award, and offers is congratulations to Ms. Rhodes on this honor.

 

Faculty Awards for Teaching

Dr. Jim Flowers was selected by the BSU School of Extended Education as the 2006 winner of the Rawlings Outstanding Distance Education Teaching Award. This honor actually reflects on the faculty and staff in the Department's two online masters degrees, and on those support staff within the Department of Technology, the College of Applied Sciences and Technology, the School of Extended Education, other offices at Ball State, and the wonderful and hard-working critical and creative graduate students in the program. For more information, please see the article at: http://www.bsu.edu/news/article/0,1370,--46349,00.html

Funded Research Awards

Dr. Jim Flowers and Ms. Holly Baltzer received a 2006 competitive Research Incentive Grant from the Council on Technology Teacher Education for a project titled, Need, demand, and models for an online doctoral program in technology [technical] education. Work on this began in Spring 2006, and is ongoing at the time of this writing. Dr. Edward Lazaros joined this research team in Spring, 2007, to work on the third phase of research, characterizing existing doctoral programs in this field.

Scholarly Publications

Department faculty have numerous publications. Listed below are those from the most recent year in the field of online education.

• Flowers, J., & Baltzer, H. (2006). Perceived demand for online and hybrid doctoral programs in technical education. J. of Industrial Teacher Education, 43(4), 39-56.
• Flowers, J., & Baltzer, H. (2006). Hiring technical education faculty: Vacancies, Criteria, and Attitudes toward Online Doctoral Degrees. J. of Industrial Teacher Education, 43(3), 29-44.
• Flowers, J., & Cotton, S. (2006). Student self review: Impacts on future class discussion. Paper presented at the 22nd Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning, Madison, WI, proceeding retrieved from http://www.uwex.edu/disted/conference/Resource_library/proceedings/06_4028.pdf.
• Cotton, S., & Flowers, J. (2006). Online master’s degree in CTE from Ball State. News & Views, 4(1), 4. Indiana Association for Career and Technical Education.

Presentations

Presentations at conferences and elsewhere have marketed the online programs. Among the presentations by Department faculty related to online education were the following.

• Flowers, J., Person, T., Shepelak, D., & Coburn, K. (2007). Adobe Macromedia Breeze Meeting." Conference on Technology Enhanced Teaching in Distance Education. BSU, Muncie, IN, Feb. 16, 2007.
• Flowers, J., & Cotton, S. (2007). Optimizing the use of discussion boards. Conference on Technology Enhanced Teaching in Distance Education. BSU, Muncie, IN, Feb. 16, 2007. (Streaming video: http://dvisweb1.bsu.edu/media/extended_education/best_practices/discussion_boards.asx)
• Elvin, G., Flowers, J., and Johnson, J. (2006). Creative faculty uses of Breeze. Indiana Higher Education Telecommunication System 2nd Wednesday @ Noon Virtual Brownbag. Indianapolis, IN. October 11, 2006. (Streaming video: http://interactive.ihets.org/p14204887/)
• Flowers, J., & Cotton, S. (2006). Student self-review: impacts on future class discussion. Co-presenter with Sam Cotton, Distance Teaching and Learning 2006 Conference, Madison, WI. August 4, 2006.

Website

The Department of Technology website transitioned to the Vignette Content Suite over the Summer of 2006, and can be found at http://www.bsu.edu/technology/. Previously, the department website did not house information on the online master's programs, which was instead contained in a second site developed by the Office of Online Education at http://www.bsu.edu/web/iandt/.

1. Main Page Current Department Website www.bsu.edu/technology/

2. "Faculty" Page "iandt" Site www.bsu.edu/web/iandt/faculty.htm

However, the decision to place information about the online graduate program within the department's website provides a unified web design, and shifts maintenance from the Office of Online Education to the department's Administrative Coordinator, both of which are advantageous.

It should be noted, however, that Ball State University's contract with Vignette expires, and a decision has been made to phase in a new content management system beginning in Summer 2007. As a result, the old site at http://www.bsu.edu/web/iandt/ will be maintained by the Office of Online Education until that newer version has been established.

Brochures

Brochures had been designed for the MA in TE and the MA in CTE and were used beginning in the 2004 / 2005 year. It has been suggested by some program faculty and potential students that the brochures be redesigned to include more program information, especially a listing of courses, along with the mailing address of the department. These had been present in older program brochures.

TE Brochure www.bsu.edu/iandt/te.pdf

CTE Brochure www.bsu.edu/iandt/cate.pdf

Recommendation: Upon the next redesign of these two brochures, program requirements (including lists of courses) and a mailing address should be included.

Website Listings & Banner Advertisement

A banner advertisement was again placed at the Website of the International Technology Education Association, on their "Where to Get a Degree" page: http://www.iteaconnect.org/Resources/institutionalmembers.htm. This links users directly to the main page supporting online graduate programs off the department's Vignette site: http://www.bsu.edu/technology/onlinemasters/. The banner is an animated graphic consisting of two frames:

Magazine Advertisements

In an effort to boost enrollment, primarily in the Master of Arts in Career & Technical Education, the 1/4-page advertisement at the right was developed for placement in two magazines typically read by CTE teachers. One of these is Tech Directions, which is distributed to both CTE teachers and Technology Teachers at no charge by Prakken Publications. The second is Techniques, the journal of The Association of Career and Technical Education. A third placement of the ad was made in the guide for the ACTE 2006 National Convention.

This marks a return to magazine advertisements, which had been attempted when these programs first came online and was abandoned due to meager evidence of effectiveness. However, with attitudes toward distance education changing year-by-year, the Graduate Program Committee suggested a trial return to this marketing strategy, using both the magazine previously employed (Tech Directions) and one not used before (Techniques.) It should be noted that word-of-mouth advertising has been found to be a factor among those who have applied to this program, and that magazine advertisements can promote both direct marketing of readers and indirect marketing of those who hear information from readers.

Related Developments in 2006 / 2007

• A new degree was proposed to the Department's Graduate Program Committee by Dr. Som Chattopadhyay: Master of Science in Technology & Supply Chain Management. It was proposed as a joint program housed in the Department of Technology but jointly under both Information Systems & Operations Management, and to Marketing and Management. The Committee offered its assistance on this exciting collaborative venture.
• The Director provided consultation services to faculty from other departments interested in online education. Possible future online offerings also have been discussed with various Department faculty.
• The BSU School of Extended Education offered its first conference on online education on February 16, 2007, titled, "Conference on Technology Enhanced Teaching in Distance Education." The success of this in-house conference has led to plans for future conferences that are open to those outside Ball State University. The School of Extended Education is to be congratulated for this undertaking that serves faculty and positions Ball State University as a more meaningful player in the field of online education. Jim Flowers served on the 2007 Conference Committee, and Sam Cotton serves on the committee for the 2008 conference.

Appendix A. Program of Study for the Online MA in Technology Education Program

The following was approved beginning Fall 2007:

Total Hours Required: 30 Professional Core (15 hrs required)

• ITEDU 635 Implementing Technology Education (3)
• ITEDU 690 History and Philosophy of Technology Education (3)
• ITEDU 691 Strategies & Materials for Teaching Technology Education (3)
• ITEDU 694 Curriculum Development in Technology Education (3)
• ITEDU 698 Seminar in Technology Education (3)

Research Requirements (3 hrs required, 3 - 9 hrs possible)

• ITEDU 699 Research in Technical Education (3)
• THES 698 Thesis (1-6) (optional)

Directed Electives (6 to 12 hrs, to achieve 30 total program hrs)

• ITEDU 510 Technology: Use and Assessment (3)
• EDPSY 641 Statistical Methods in Educational & Psychological Research (3)
• ITEDU 550 Career and Technical Student Organizations (3)
• (other electives or transfer credits approved by the program advisor)

Appendix B. Program of Study for the Online MA in Career & Technical Education Program

The following was approved beginning Fall 2007:

Total Hours Required: 30