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Information Technology – A Key Differentiator for Higher Education

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Information Technology A Key Differentiator for Higher Education Southern Educational Technology Conference January 8, 2004 James I. Penrod Barbara A. Perry – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Information Technology – A Key Differentiator for Higher Education


1
Information Technology A Key Differentiator for
Higher Education
  • Southern Educational Technology Conference
  • January 8, 2004
  • James I. Penrod
  • Barbara A. Perry

2
Presenters
  • Barbara Perry
  • Doctoral student in Higher Adult Education
    Leadership
  • MBA/LAUNCH Programs Director
  • McAfee School of Business
  • Union University
  • Jackson, TN
  • James Penrod
  • Professor Higher Adult Education Leadership
  • The University of Memphis
  • Memphis, TN
  • Senior Fellow, ECAR

3
Information Technology -The Key Differentiator
for H. E.
  • Provides leverage for higher eds most important
    asset intellectual capital faculty
  • Strengthens the bond between instructor and
    student
  • Increases instructional productivity
  • Helps to redefine the role of the instructor
  • Develops a new learning infrastructure
  • Transforming potential of IT
  • Marvin Peterson, et al, Planning and Management
    for a Changing Environment, Jossey-Bass, San
    Francisco, 1997, p.438.

4
IT Enabled Graduate CoursesIT Trends Issues
and Higher Education Administration
  • Web-enabled, taught in smart classroom
  • Focus in courses
  • IT Trends Issues
  • IT fluency (skills, concepts, intellectual
    capabilities)
  • Learning Organization Concepts
  • Strategic Planning model for higher education
  • Graduate Seminars
  • Individual exploration contribution expected by
    each student
  • Link learning to work interests
  • Significant semester long group exercise (a case
    study)
  • Requires participation in simulation- VU

5
Stanley Katz Quote, CHE, February 2002
We need to be very careful to ensure that
information technology serves the university, and
not the other way aroundwe have reacted to
technology, rather than thinking creatively about
how it might enrich our basic educational
missionwe have confused a tool with a goal.
  • We have too often reacted to technology rather
    than using it creatively!
  • IT is only a tool is a common assertionan
    erroneous one we believe!
  • Instructional technology utilized by an IT fluent
    faculty can effectively transform higher
    education by changing what happens in the
    classroom thus enhancing student learning in ways
    important in the 21st century.

6
What is Virtual University
  • Created by William F. Massey
  • Massey saw a lack of understanding about the
    systematic character of a university
  • First simulation of an American university
  • IPEDS, College Board data, High School and Beyond
    Survey

7
And, the simulation challenges
  • The participant who becomes the
  • college or university president to
  • Choose college or university type
  • To choose from 10 playable scenarios
  • Contend with day to day issues
  • Work in real time
  • Utilize financial and operational reports
  • Receive a performance appraisal from the Board of
    Trustees

8
Virtual University Includes Six Areas of
University Management
  • Resource allocation and finance
  • Academic operations
  • Faculty roles and responsibilities
  • Enrollment management
  • Sponsored research
  • Physical plant activities
  • http//virtualupdate.org
  • http//www.virtual-u.org/index.php

9
Theoretical BackgroundAdult Learning Theory
  • Adults are self-directed
  • Adult life experience enriches learning
  • Adults seek relevance problem-centered more
    than subject-centered
  • Internal factors motivate adults to learn more
    than external factors
  • (Knowles, 1980)

10
Intrinsic Motivation to Learn(Wlodkowski, 1999)
  • Adult learners need to experience intrinsic
    motivation to learn connect who they are with
    what they learn and experience choice and success
    in learning activities
  • For adults thought, feeling and action are
    directed toward making meaning while involvement
    and a search for understanding characterize
    adults intrinsic motivation to learn.

11
Student Learning StylesDavid Kolbs Experiential
Learning Model (1982)
  • Learning Style
  • Converger
  • Diverger
  • Assimilator
  • Accommodator
  • Teaching Strategies
  • Factual Information
  • Individual/Group Project
  • Hands-On, Case study
  • Connections, Reflections
  • Connections, Reflections
  • Factual Information
  • Hands-On, Case Study
  • Individual/Group project

12
Learner-Centered TeachingTheory Supports
Practice
13
Personal mastery goes beyond competence and
skills, though it is grounded in competence and
skills. It goes beyond spiritual unfolding or
opening, although it requires spiritual growth.
It means approaching ones life as a creative
work, living life from a creative as opposed to
reactive viewpoint. When personal mastery
becomes a disciplinean activity we integrate
into our livesit embodies two underlying
movements. The first is continually clarifying
what is important to us. The second is
continually learning how to see current reality
more clearly. The juxtaposition of vision (what
we want) and a clear picture of current reality
(where we are relative to what we want) generates
what we call creative tension a force to bring
them together, caused by the natural tendency of
tension to seek resolution. The essence of
personal mastery is learning how to generate and
sustain creative tension in our lives. Peter
Senge, The Fifth Discipline, Doubleday, NY, 1994,
pp.141-142
14
  • Three
    Class Comparison
  • Question
    Means 841503 840103 841502
  • Use of IT in classroom enhances learning
    4.6 4.5 4.5
  • E-mail communication is an important tool
    4.8 4.6 4.7
  • Web-based material enhances learning
    4.6 4.4 4.1
  • Have adequate access to Internet for class
    4.9 4.8 4.3
  • Had skills to use basic technology
    4.7 4.5 4.4
  • Did not have skills but acquired them in class
    1.6 1.6 2.1
  • Had skills to use web-based materials
    3.9 3.6 3.8
  • Did not have skills but acquired them in class
    1.9 1.5 2.2
  • Use of CMS enhances overall learning
    1.0 1.0 1.1
  • Electronic communication enhances learning 1.0
    1.1 1.1

15
  • VU Comparisons Fall 2003 Classes
  • Questions
    Means 841503 840103
  • VU added to overall learning experience
    3.5 2.6
  • Enjoyed VU exercise
    4.1 2.5
  • VU simulation exercise will be useful to career
    3.8 2.6
  • VU as timed exercise enhanced motivation
    3.4 2.6
  • Control of progress through VU enhanced learning
    3.7 2.6
  • Immediate VU feedback was helpful
    3.6 3.3
  • VU positive to overall learning
    1.4 1.9

16
  • Comments from 8415 Class Members
  • My experience was very positive and exciting.
  • The fact that web-enabled courses offered 24 hour
    accessibility gave me the kind of flexibility
    that most traditional classes don't. I highly
    recommend that all students have this experience.
  • As a new student using WebCT, I found the
    experience very exciting and it really helped me
    learn more about how to utilize numerous
    technologies in the classroom.
  • I think the professor makes all the difference
    in how well a WebCT course is taught.
  • I agree that the technology in the class can
    enhance the learning experience. However, for my
    learning style, I still need in-class lectures to
    best understand the material. I strongly
    recommend that all teachers make use of
    technology that you have used in this course to
    enhance their courses.
  • Great set up for graduate course meeting once a
    week. Allowed reviewing of course material
    during the week.
  • Overall, a very informative course. However, the
    week to week reports and power point reviews
    became a bit laborious. The information provided
    was beneficial.

17
  • Comments from 8401 Class Members
  • UV is a great instructional tool when effectively
    utilized in the classroom.
  • I feel I would have learned more if the scenario
    ran as a class instead of individually. As a
    HIAD student, I feel I should be familiar with
    the terms of VU used such as real tuition,
    surplus smoothing etc,, but I did not learn these
    things because they were not discussed in class.
  • If VU is effectively used as a model and played
    as a group (class) situation, I feel it would be
    beneficial.
  • VU assumes one has an understanding of strategies
    and terminology general to administrators.
    Myself and my peers (even with a background in
    education) found this simulation frustrating and
    ineffective because we merely pushed buttons on a
    screen without understanding what we were pushing
    and what effect it was making in reaching our
    objectives.
  • WebCT was very beneficial and useful! Virtual
    University WAS NOT!

18
Formal Course Assessment ResultsFall 2002
19
Critical Success FactorsIT Infrastructure
  • A full function campus network
  • A relatively easy to use but comprehensive course
    management system
  • Available digital library resources
  • A smart classroom
  • Access to a technology support structure
  • 24X7 help desk availability

20
Critical Success FactorsInstructor Design
Intent
  • Course make-up and content need to focus on the
    art of thinking and exploration
  • The course needs to encourage the use of skills
    and knowledge in a variety of contexts enabling
    students to extract general principles from their
    experiences of learning by doing
  • The instructor needs to
  • ModelCoachScaffoldArticulateReflectExplore
  • Learner-centered Teaching

21
Critical Success FactorsStudent Openness
  • Must be open to use and experiment with new
    technologies in ways different from past
    experiences
  • Overcome competitive tendency to participate and
    contribute as part of a self-directed team
  • Understand that the course is work oriented
    requiring focused study on many new concepts

22
Conclusions
  • Preliminary findings lead to following
    suppositions
  • Web-enabled courses allow graduate students to
    choose from a variety of options that enrich
    their learning experiences
  • IT can positively impact student learning if used
    in a transformative way
  • A technology enriched curriculum leads to best
    practices in education, meets the variety of
    learning styles of students, promotes intrinsic
    motivation to learn for graduate students
    becomes a key differentiator for higher education
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