The Integration and Effectiveness of Information and Communication Technologies in Canadian Postsecondary Education

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The Integration and Effectiveness of Information
and Communication Technologies in Canadian
Postsecondary Education
Dr. Carl Cuneo, Director, EvNet, Network for the
Evaluation of Education and Training
Technologies, McMaster University,
http//evnetcanada.org/ cuneo_at_mcmaster.ca
Thanks to Brian Campbell and Delsworth Harnish
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Communication Information Technologies the
Seven Principles of Undergraduate Education
1.Student-faculty contacts 1. Email
2. Peer student cooperation 2. Online collaborative projects group work
3. Active learning 3. Online search, explore
4. Prompt feedback 4. Real time chat, email
5. Time on task 5. Efficient remote access to material
6. High expectations 6. Use web publishing as displays to class others
7. Diverse learning 7. Linear v nonlinear hyperlinking
(Chickering Ehrmann, AAHE, 1996)
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Methods of communication very important or
important to students course experience
Face to face in class 84
Face to face outside class with students 70
Telephone 63
Face to face outside class with prof. 61
E-mail with professors 50
E-mail with students 34
Newsgroups, listservs 12
Live real time computer chat 11
10 campus student surveys (Campbell)
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Double-Sided View towards ICTs Per Cent
Students Agreeing With
Computer skills are important for my student work 83
Communicating with instructors by email is generally effective 71
Computer skills are important for most of the jobs in which I am interested 67
Computers do not replace the need for lectures and discussion 90
Communicating with instructors by e-mail is better than talking to them face to face 18
Computer based instruction should replace all face-to-face contact in some courses 6
10 campus student surveys (Campbell)
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What Technologies Do Faculty Students Use?
Technology Faculty Students
Wordprocessor 98 88
Personal email 94 71
Web surf 92 79
Email faculty or student 89 49
Library search 82 50
Computer presentation 45 27
Database 28 36
Games 17 66
Programming 13 15
16 Campus Faculty Student Surveys (Campbell)
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Student Learning Styles, Faculty Teaching Styles
and Appropriate Technologies
New Economy Skills Canadas Global Compet-
tiveness
Student Surface Learning
-
Technology Policy Choices

Student Deep Learning
-
Effective Teaching Learning with Technologies




Faculty Guide on Side
Appropriate Technology Infrastructure

-
Faculty Sage on Stage
-
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Learning Styles Students Who Restrict
Communications to Registered Online Course
Conferences Only

• Competitive learners (marks ultimate goal of
  learning)
• Surface learners (facts memorization)
• Syllabus Boundness (stay within bounds of course)
• Extrinsic motivators (interested in paper
  certificates only)

3 campus online CMC surveys (Cuneo and Harnish)
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Learning Styles Students Who Communicate
Explore Across Non-Registered Online Courses

• Comprehension Learners (explore free association
  of ideas)
• Deep learners (seek the understand the meaning of
  what is leaned)
• Relate ideas (draw concept map of ideas)
• Intrinsic motivators (passionate interest in
  learning, no matter where it takes them)

3 campus online CMC surveys (Cuneo and Harnish)
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Teaching Styles How Do Sages on Stage Use
Computers in Teaching?

• Prepare tests with word-processors
• Record grades in spreadsheets
• To deal with large class sizes
• To cover more material
• To transfer the faculty members knowledge of
  computing to teaching
• To compensate for the lack of teaching assistants
• To teach students more computing techniques

6 Campus Faculty Surveys (Campbell)
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Teaching Styles What Kinds of Technologies do
Sages on the Stages Use?

• Course Management Systems (WebCT Blackboard)
• Spreadsheets Database programs
• Presentation software computer projection
  electronic slide shows
• File transfer protocols (ftp) on web
• Computerized testing question answer drill
  programs
• Preparation of paper tests with software
• Demonstrations/simulations

6 Campus Faculty Surveys (Campbell)
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Teaching Styles How Do Guides on the Side Use
Computers in Teaching?

• Prepare lectures and class notes (writing)
• To get students to write more (normally not
  encouraged in large classes)
• To help students work in groups
• To build informal links betweenstudents
• To communicate more effectivelybetween teachers
  and students

6 Campus Faculty Surveys (Campbell)
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Teaching Styles What Kinds of Technologies do
Guides on the Side Use?

• Wordprocessors (creative writing)
• Web search engines (exploring hyperlinks on web)
• Library and other reference search engines (for
  exploring bibliographies)
• Group messaging systems so students can
  communicate with one another
• E-mail to students as formal part of course

6 Campus Faculty Surveys (Campbell)
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Six Levels of Technology Integration into
Teaching Learning

1. Campus site license
2. Instructor adoptions
3. Integration into course design
4. Easy student access to the technology
5. Efficient use by students
6. Effective impact on student learning

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Policy Recommendations Investment Decisions

• Make evaluation of learning technologies an a
  priori requirement of implementation of ICTs.
• Incorporate learning and teaching styles into
  technology investment decisions
• Too often, decisions are made by technical and
  administrative staff with little awareness of
  learning and pedagogical practices

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Policy Recommendations Diverse Teaching
Learning Styles

• Implement somewhat different technologies for
• Sages on the stage
• Guides on the side
• Deep and comprehension learners
• Surface and syllabus bound learners
• Teachers and learners may be at risk if they are
  forced to work with technologies inappropriate to
  their learning and teaching styles