Guidelines for Creating and Evaluating Scholarly Instruction in Internet-Delivered Courses

October 15, 1999, 8:15-9:15 Split Rock Resort, Lake Harmony, PA

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education

Sally Kuhlenschmidt, Ph. D., Western Kentucky University

Index

• Overview
• What is Internet-delivered instruction?
• What is scholarship?
• Activity
• Continuing Issues
• Resources

Overview

Faculty Development Officers and those needing to evaluate faculty on-line work for compensation, promotion, and tenure.

Objectives

At the end of this session, participants will

1. have an expanded understanding of issues in Internet-delivered instruction
2. understand some potential components of scholarly on-line work
3. have begun to explore the application of Glassick's 6 principles of scholarship to on-line instruction

Index

What is Internet-delivered instruction?

Key dimensions

• Methods
  • E-mail course.....to......
  • Blended (F2F w/ Internet component).....to.....
  • Entirely or primarily on-line with limited F2F contact.
    • Single page to complex website
• Extent of human interaction
  • self-paced tutorial w/rolling enrollment.....to......
  • discussion seminar-- all on-line communication using webboards or chat; cohort moves together

Index

What is scholarship? 3 Models

Minimum Level

• Information Audience needs to cite the work
  1. Author (Webmaster? Statement of credentials? Mailto link?)
  2. Created and Modified Dates
  3. Clear and Descriptive Title
  4. Sponsoring Institution
• Citations by Author of sources: Bibliography (including Websites)
  • Is accuracy necessary to be scholarly? or peer review?
• Presented in interpretable manner
  • Readable
  • Visual Design
• On each webpage

Boshier, Mohapi, Moulton, Qayyam, Sadownik, & Wilson (1997)

1. Accessibility

2. Interaction (Human interaction, not technological interactivity)

3. Attractiveness

Glassick, Huber, & Maeroff (1997, p. 36)

1. Clear Goals
• states basic purposes of work clearly
• defines realistic and achievable objectives
• identifies questions important in the field
2. Adequate Preparation
• shows understanding of existing scholarship
• has skills needed for the work
• has the resources necessary for achieving progress
3. Appropriate Methods
• selected methods are appropriate to the goals
• effectively applies the methods
• if circumstances are altered, adapts procedures
4. Significant Results
• achieves the goals set out at the beginning
• the outcomes make a difference to the field
• opens additional areas for investigation
5. Effective Presentation
• style and organization of presentation of work is suitable and effective
• uses appropriate forums to reach the intended audiences
• the message is presented clearly and with integrity
6. Reflective Critique
   • critically (and publically) evaluates the work
   • uses an appropriate breadth of evidence in the critique
   • uses the evaluation to improve future work

Index

Activity

Objective: Explore how to apply the Glassick criteria to Internet instruction.

1. If we have sufficient attendance to form small groups, elect a recorder/speaker (a volunteer or the person who got up earliest this morning). Otherwise, listen for instructions.
2. You'll be assigned one of the 6 Glassick, Huber, & Maeroff (1997) criteria, given a transparency and a marker.
3. Consider/discuss what would be necessary for Internet-delivered instruction to meet that criterion. For "adequate preparation," for example, is knowledge of content area sufficient? necessary at all?
4. Record as many ideas as you can in the allotted time on the transparency or flip chart sheet.
   
   If there is too little time to share all ideas with the group, I will post them to this website (see top of handout for address).

Results of Group Discussion

1. Clear Goals

• Should post clear instructional objectives
• Should post Purposes of the course
• Use questions to promote inquiry
• Encourage increased student interaction
• Learn to read and write on-line (It is different from print reading and writing).
• Think outside of the box.

2. Adequate Preparation

• Organizational structure
• Depth of Content
• Knowledge of Content
• Good Computer Skills
• Get training and follow-up with further training
• Build-in activities that speak to the objectives
• Students have access to computers and course material
• Guidance for access issues
• Relevant links to necessary resources.

3. Appropriate Methods

• Use of on-line tools to foster (all 3 must be included):
  1. Faculty-student interaction
  2. Student-student interaction
  3. Student-resource interaction
• Such tools may include but are not limited to:
  • bulletin board
  • chat room
  • quizzes
  • e-mail
  • gradebook
  • posted notes
  • Powerpoint slides [Note from Sally Kuhlenschmidt: I personally feel that posting Powerpoint slides needs to meet a very specific objective serviceable only by this action. Presentation software is visually and textually designed for small group presentations, not for a single individual viewing it at a monitor. It is using a media for other than it's designed purpose and I generally avoid it. There are some occasions when it is better.]
• All methods must be clearly linked to course goals and objectives.
• On-going instructor assessment of success of methods must be implemented.

4. Significant Results

• Focus/specificity
• Return to objectives-- have these beeen addressed in activities/information.
• Give students a few sites and have them go either on their own or guided and then come back to us to judge if learning grew.

5. Effective Presentation

• Structured, stable concise site with clear writing and multiple pathways
• Amount of information presented needs to be low.
• Evidence of chunking-- small bits
• Take advantage of media--not just text
• Structure--clear navigation
• Use of color
• Logical layout with multiple routes for re-entry
• Inverted pyramid construction/writing style for text
• Appropriate links: not too many and annotated and links operable (work)
• Stability of site

6. Reflective Critique

• Student Survey of Technology/Techniques
• Recycle Student comments into notes
• Assessment of Student Knowledge
• Peer Review (as participant)
• Links to original resources
• Use to improve course

Other ideas

• Focus on learning outcomes from web instruction.
• How do learning styles mesh with web instruction?
• Helping students to learn on-line.
• Distinguishing when Internet is appropriate or not.
• This link was suggested as helpful: http://www.cdl.edu

Index

Continuing Issues

"In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists." --E. Hoffer.

1. Societal Issues of Importance to Scholars

• Legal obligations

  • Intellectual Property (copyright notice)
  • Student Privacy (1974, Family Education Rights and Privacy Act)
  • American Disability Act
    
    
• Ethical questions
  • Identity--own and students
  • Privacy--tracking site use

2. Peer Review

• Who are the peers?

  • Content experts in the discipline?

  • Instructional design experts?

  • On-line instruction experts?

• Developmental Quality of On-line work

  On-line work is organic, not static: Is re-review needed? How frequently?

3. The Challenge:

When we attend to the scholarship of on-line work:

• our credibility grows
• the quality of instruction is improved on-line and F2F
• our students learn more effectively

Index

Resources

Index