Distance Course Revision Proposal: ITEDU 510
Jim Flowers
Department of Industry and Technology
Ball State University
December 14, 2005

This proposal follows the format suggested by the BSU School of Extended Education Faculty Input Group (www.bsu.edu/iandt/official/rfp.htm) that has been adopted by the Department of Industry and Technology.

Proposed Distance Course Revision

1. Course

  • ITEDU 510, Technology Use and Assessment (an online course)
  • (Current learning objects can be seen at jcflowers1.iweb.bsu.edu/rlo/510prep.htm.)
  • Jim Flowers, Professor, Industry & Technology, jcflowers1@bsu.edu 285-2879
  • Revision to occur in Fall 2006 for implementation in Spring 2007
  • Support sought: $750 course revision stipend from University Teleplex in the 2006/7 fiscal year

2. Rationale

  • Adding to the topic of formal technology assessment, new instruction on the assessment of many smaller, informal technological decisions and impact analysis.
  • Adding instruction on "sustainability" as it relates to the topic of technology assessment.
  • Adding practice in using technology assessment strategies.
  • Adding video conferencing with Macromedia Breeze for collaborative meetings among student teams.

3. Course Revision Plan

The course currently uses a number of features found to be effective with online graduate students, including reusable learning objects, formative quizzes, some media, whole-class cooperative learning, a jigsaw approach to team collaboration with cognitive role assignment, a course objective and activity individually negotiated with each student, a usability research activity (proposed, designed, implemented, and reported on by each student), as well as external texts, social support, metacognitive activities and many others. The proposed revision deals primarily with new content that was found to be lacking rather than new use of technology, with the exception of implementing video conferencing for team collaboration using Macromedia Breeze. This was attempted informally with one team in the Fall 2005 section of this course, and it was determined that it should be fully implemented with all teams in future offerings of the course.

Assistance will be sought as needed from support personnel at Ball State.

4. Revision Timeline

Instructional materials will be developed before and during the Fall of 2006, and may be tested with a section of ITEDU 510 that semester. The materials will be ready for full implementation during the Spring 2007 semester at the time during that semester when they are covered, according to the course calendar.

5. Evaluation

A report will be made on the work that was accomplished, and an informal assessment of the impacts of these changes. Some information for this assessment will be provided by end-of-course course improvement surveys collected in April, 2007, from participating students, supplemented with evidence from class discussions, other feedback from students, and the instructor's assessment. This report will be published online and the URL provided to the Graduate Program Committee of the Department of Industry and Technology and all other interested parties by June 15, 2007.