Developing and Delivering Effective Instructional Technology

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Developing and Delivering Effective Instructional
Technology

• Connie K. Varnhagen
• Department of Psychology
• University of Alberta

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Goals of the Undergraduate Curriculum in
Psychology

• Realize the nature and breadth of psychological
  studies
• Acquire of psychological knowledge
• Develop oral and written communication
• Apply psychological knowledge

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Realities of the Introductory Courses

• Large lecture classes (N500)
• Minimal interaction
• Brief survey of many topics
• Multiple choice exams

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Meeting Our Goals Through Introductory Psychology

• Realize the nature and breadth of psychological
  studies
• Barely accomplished
• Acquire of psychological knowledge
• Barely accomplished
• Develop oral and written communication
• No opportunity
• Apply psychological knowledge
• No opportunity

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Goals of introKpsych

• Provide more extensive exposure to psychology
  through the Web
• Allow a more flexible pace than normally
  available
• Transfer responsibility for learning
• Develop communication skills
• Develop critical thinking skills

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introKpsych Technologically Enhanced
Introductory Psychology

• Keynote Lecture
• Sites to Visit
• Asynchronous Discussion
• (Multiple Choice Exams)

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Critical Thinking for Introductory Psychology

• Assess credibility of a source
• Identify assumptions
• Distinguish cause and effect from correlational
  relationships
• Draw inferences from data
• Recognize inconsistencies in reasoning
• Be open minded

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Evaluation of introKpsych

• Student reports
• Student log files
• Student course performance

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Student Reports of Use Usefulness
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Student Reports of Time Involvement
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Type of Page Accessed Each Day
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Average Number of Posts Made Each Day
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Correlations
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ConclusionsUse and Usefulness of introKpsych

• Students generally use introKpsych in ways we
  might expect them to.
• Students respond best to deadlines.
• Student use is related to performance.
• More access, better grades.

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Conclusions introKpsych and Critical Thinking

• introKpsych discussion is important for critical
  thinking.
• Better students (in terms of performance) do not
  necessarily have better critical thinking skills.
• We arent doing a good job of measuring or
  rewarding critical thinking in introKpsych.

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Developing Instructional Technology

• Instructional technology development must be
  based on sound pedagogical principles.
• Specify goals, objectives, outcomes
• Then develop instructional technology.
• Empirical evaluation is important for
  understanding
• Student use of the technology
• Usefulness of the technology
• Success of the technology

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Cautions

• Faculty development time
• Faculty implementation time
• Faculty evaluation
• Student access to computers
• Student skill level
• Appropriate assessment

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Levels of Inclusion

• Minimal, but useful
• Lecture notes on Web
• Email with students
• More involved, but worthwhile
• Demonstrations/simulations in lectures
• Maximal, so consider costbenefit
• Web supplements