Awards Competition in Instructional Technology

ANNOUNCING 2004-2005 WINNERS of the…..

SBC FACULTY-STAFF AWARDS IN INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY

Responding to the growing use of online technologies for instruction at Michigan State University, Libraries, Computing, and Technology held its first annual awards program to both recognize and encourage best practices in the use of technology to enhance teaching and learning.

This awards program, funded by a generous endowment gift from SBC, recognizes outstanding contributions to the use and development of information technology for teaching and learning in credit-bearing courses at Michigan State University. Nominations were accepted in one of two categories: fully online or blended.

Two first place monetary awards, one from each of the following two categories, and three honorable mention “best practice” certificates for both categories were chosen through peer review. The judges were Carrie Heeter, Francisco Villarruel, and Mark Urban-Lurain for Blended competition and Paul Freddolino, Carrie Heeter, and Susan Melnick for the Fully Online competition. A more elaborate presentation of the winners and details on innovation and teaching effectiveness as well as screen shots from their courses will be posted here by September, 2005.

Category One: Fully Online Course Winners
(A course offered in 2003-2005 which meets wholly or mostly online, i.e. not in the classroom, and demonstrates effective and innovative uses of technology for teaching and learning)

Best Fully Online Course (first place):

FCE 444: Interpersonal Relationships in the Family, David Imig

Dr. Imig does an excellent job of deeply integrating and carefully matching technologies to the learning needs of his students.   An online textbook, textual, audio, and video course content, quizzes, discussions, and exercises, and custom software to collect, store, and display complex results of a family relationship scale have been designed and implemented based on research to understand and address student perceptions and learning needs. Assignments grow in complexity throughout the semester.  FCE 444 has been taught fully online every Spring and Fall semester since Spring 2000 (11 consecutive semesters), to hundreds of undergraduates.

FCE 444 Team:

David R. Imig, Professor -- Instructor
Robert Matson, vuDAT Producer -- Course Producer
Gia Barboza, Graduate Student -- Applications Developer
Roger Chance, vuDAT Programmer -- Scale Development
Tory Sawyer, vuDAT Producer -- Course Producer

Three Honorable Mention Fully Online Courses:

CEP 883: Psychology of Classroom Discipline, Jean Baker

Dr. Baker transforms theory into practice in the development of CEP 883.   The course's pedagogy derives from models of contextual teaching and learning as well as best practices recommended for professional development among adult learners.  Learning is carefully sequenced for each unit through learning activities that promote self-regulated learning through collaborative teaming, problem-based learning, and individual critical self-reflection.  Students collaborate in small groups, trading off who servers as leader. Students use a custom-developed audio chat tool.  Streaming audio introduces weekly content. The site has a “playful” appearance and model an important content element of the course, the development of a secure socio-emotional climate for learning in the classroom.

CEP 883 Team:

Jean A. Baker, Assoc. Professor and Faculty Co-Director, School Psychology Program -- Faculty
Scott Schopieray, Asst. Director, VU Center for Teaching Producer and Technology -- eProducer

GEO 204: World Regional Geography, Antoinette WinklerPrins

Dr. WinklerPrins and her team have offered GEO 204 virtually in the summer of 2003, 2004, and 2005.  Number of students has ranged from 170 to a possible high of 450 this year.  They have created a highly student-centered perspective on world  geography that focused not just on geology and political boundaries but also on human geography, linked to current world events and tied to students own experiences.  A wealth of content has been developed in multiple formats, richly illustrated with myriad examples.  Interspersed thought questions challenge the student to contemplate issues and ideas.

GEO 204 Team:

Beth Weisenborn, Virtual Course Coordinator -- Project coordinator and Site manager
Antoinette WinklerPrins, Assistant Professor -- Lead faculty; Course advisor
Alan Arbogast, Associate Professor -- Course advisor
Richard Groop, Department Chair -- Project supervisor
Jen-nien "Ryan" Yang, vu-DAT eProducer -- eProducer

NUR 809: Applied Pharmacology for Primary Care, Patty Peek

Professor Peek makes optimal use of technology to keep Applied Pharmacology fastidiously updated.  New findings about medications appear almost daily, and she updates the site constantly.  NUR 809 is designed with a coherent, consistent structure for each week, starting with a “splash page” highlighting the week's events.  Clinically relevant scenarios and ethical controversies in prescribing are regular weekly features.  Students become acquainted with these external sources useful both for class and throughout their careers as nurses.  Other goals of the course design include encouraging and facilitating active discussion and a strong sense of connectedness.  Professor Peek introduces each week with a personal video from different parts of campus.  The course was first developed in 1998 as an online course and has been offered online to hundreds of students.  

NUR 809 Team:

Patty Peek, Associate professor -- faculty
Bob Matson, eProducer -- eProducer
Tory Sawyer, eProducer -- eProducer
Jesse Barajas, New media art director -- video production
Chris Irvin, New media designer -- artwork & video
Patti Banyas, eProducer -- Angel conversion

Category Two: Blended (enhanced or hybrid) Course Winners
(An in-person course offered in 2003-2005 where online tools are used effectively to enhance teaching and learning, i.e. web-enhanced course, and sometimes to replace some of the in-person class time, i.e. hybrid course)

Best Hybrid Course (first place):

MATH 106: Applications of Algebra, Mary Winter

Dr. Winter mixes and matches diverse technologies to address her learning goals, including weekly in-person tutoring and help sessions, PowerPoint lectures with video and printable handouts, LON-CAPA homework problems, and Excel spreadsheet interactive problems. Each week has variety, coherence, and depth of student experience.  In its current form the course has been offered and refined over many semesters, serving at least 175 or more students per semester since 2003.  Evidence of effectiveness of this approach includes noticeably higher course grades and passing percentages. The Math department hopes to keep the course in the hybrid format. Weekly contact with students at this level is essential.

Three Honorable Mention Hybrid Courses:

HED 250: Integrating Computer Aided Design into the Design Process, Jon Vredevoogd

Dr. Vredevoogd continues to be a role model for innovating new uses of technology for hybrid and online learning.  His current version of HED 250 utilizes CD-ROMs for material students would want to access 24/7 including drawing files, movies, examples, spreadsheets, etc. Online and lab support are provided throughout the week.  Each week students print and submit their work for the week as a PDF file. These files are available to other students for peer review and so that the instructors and invited alums/professionals can discuss and critique the work.  Students can review audio files of the discussions critiques. This course format encourages student collaboration and enhances student-faculty interaction. 

LBS 271: Physics I and II, Walter Benenson

Dr. Benenson has developed hundreds of pages of material running under LON-CAPA, including homework problems and tests and PowerPoint presentations which present as complete a set of modern learning tools as possible to help the students master what they usually find is a very difficult subject. On-line quizzes, individualized and opened at lab time, were created as a model for future computer test administration. The threaded chat-room features of LON-CAPA are used extensively by the students. Individualized tests and exams have now been implemented.  Besides the complete on-line materials with multimedia, there are also in person help rooms and a weekly collaborative study session.

WRA 201: Introduction to Web Authoring, Danielle DeVoss

Dr. DeVoss succeeds in practicing what she teaches when creating web materials for her Introduction to Web Authoring hybrid course.  The design is efficient, well organized, enthusiastic, and cool.  She revises it every semester, updating the look and feel as well as the content and keeping current with the latest trends in web site design.  Class discussion and class projects are crucial, supplemented by an elaborate course web site and extensive links.