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F-LIGHT
E-Newsletter for the Flashlight Program
MARCH
2003 ISSUE
- Evaluating a wireless laptop pilot program
- Research ideas: Policy Studies Analyzing a New Kind of Organizational Structure in Education
- A New Approach to TLT/Flashlight Assistance: Combining Program Development, Faculty Development and Assessment
- Upcoming Assessment-related Online Workshops and Conferences
- New subscribing institutions
- Learning More About Flashlight( free demo accounts), The TLT Group and F-LIGHT
Evaluating a Wireless Laptop Pilot Program in Engineering
Joni Spurlin, Director of Assessment at the College of Engineering at North Carolina State University, found differences in teaching and in learning outcomes when she compared sections taking advantage of wireless laptops with similar students in other sections not using computers during class time. Faculty in the laptop sections alternated short lectures with experiential learning using the laptops (experiments, research); the control sections had a long lecture and then, days later, did al large chunk of lab work. At the end of the term, students in the laptop sections did better at problem solving and in the final exams. This was a study worth doing. Future students will be bringing their own wireless laptops and it's now clear that the students can learn better if engineering faculty alter their teaching in ways that take advantage of the laptops. So NCSU is offering faculty training. For a brief description of the laptop pilot program, some of the research, findings, and what was done with those findings, click here to read Dr. Spurling's article.
Ideas for Future Assessment and Research
(Including Potential Dissertation Topics)
Distributed Learning, New Kinds of Organizations, and Some Interesting Puzzles of Design and Policy
Have you seen an organization that is not a university, may or may not be called a university, and that plays one or more of the following roles in higher learning?
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provides computer and network access for disadvantaged people seeking online education or social services (e.g., in libraries, schools, corporations, etc.) and study centers
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provides technical infrastructure for instructors and/or multiple institutions, such as course management systems
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works on behalf of multiple institutions or instructors to attract students to their online courses;;
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provides advising for students of more than one institution;
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bills students of more than one institution;
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evaluates online offerings of more than one institution in order to help improve those offerings;;
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evaluates such online courses in order to protect consumers from inadequate instruction;;
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banks academic credit for learners working with multiple institutions;
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provides credit for life experience for students taking courses in more than one online program;
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provides testing or proctoring services for students in more than one program.;
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creates educational goals or competence frameworks that multiple institutions use as points of reference in developing, marketing or assessing online offerings.
By the mid 1990s, it was already apparent that we were seeing the rise of a family of of education-related structures and services. I chose the inelegant phrase, "infrastructure for integrated access" to suggest that, although the services above, and the organizations offering them, differed radically from one another, they had at least one thing in common: each mediates somehow between multiple learners on the one hand and multiple institutions or sources of instruction on the other. These new institutions help each learner gain integrated access to multiple providers, while helping each provider find and support many learners more easily.
Some of these services were offered singly when i did my study for the OECD in the mid 1990s, while other organizations offered many of them.
Some organizations tried to be visible in order to establish a brand name for students (e.g., Western Governors University") or to garner public support, while others tried to be transparent so as not to obscure the institutions actually teaching the courses. Some were organized by universities, some by government, some by corporations, still others by professional associations. Some offered services for free, while others sold them. Some were subsidized by public funds while others were offered by corporations.
My paper described some of these services and the organizations offering them, and raised questions about how to design and support such services.
The world has changed quite a bit since the mid 1990s - it's time to revisit this topic and take a look at how these structures have developed. Are some combinations of function especially stable or unstable? Do at least some such organizations need to be regulated and, if so, how and by whom? do some need to be subsidized? by whom? are some bridging the digital divide? are others widening it?
We've got a fascinating family of new functions and organizations in the word. Who's paying attention? Feel free to take a look at my original paper and see if it helps formulate a research strategy.
PS Check out our growing list of ideas for dissertations and grant proposals.
Combining Help in Program Development, Faculty Development and Assessment - a new model for TLT/Flashlight Consulting
Steve Ehrmann's February 2003 work with the Collaboration for the Advancement of College Teaching and Learning typified a new way in which The TLT Group and its Flashlight Program work with institutions. He began laying the groundwork for the visit with a survey of potential participants in the upcoming events. In this case, he asked them some concrete questions about their uses of technology; the findings fed into his keynote, "The Seven Principles and Beyond," which was designed to help faculty and administrators imagine ways in which technology use could quickly improve, and ultimately transform, learning institution-wide. The talk combined some useful concepts and some practical advice about the kinds of teaching ideas that spread most quickly, and how to spread them even faster. In a companion workshop, he helped participants address some of the practical challenges of assessing these kinds of technology uses. All these activities were supported with a tailored web site that linked to the survey findings, the slides, related articles, and other resources.
Upcoming Assessment-Related Online Workshops and Conferences
Online Workshop: Using the Seven Principles to Shape Faculty Development and Assessment of Educational Uses of Technology
The seven principles of good practice in undergraduate education, originally formulated by Arthur Chickering and Zelda Gamson in 1986, have become a powerful tool in guiding the use of, and the assessment of, technology in education. The dates are not yet definite, but within the next month or two, The TLT Group will offer an online workshop exploring the seven principles and their applications to faculty development and assessment of educational uses of technology. Staff from TLT/Flashlight subscribing institutions will receive a discount. If you'd like to be notified when registration opens for this important online opportunity, send e-mail to ehrmann@tltgroup.org
To learn more about the topic, see our resource page on the seven principles. There are also special material linked to that page available only for faculty, staff and students from subscribing institutions.
Transformative Assessment Workshop, Seattle WA June 20, 2003
This workshop on Transformative Assessment is co-sponsored by NLII, the Coalition for Networked Information, the American Association for Higher Education, Washington State University, and The TLT Group's Flashlight Program. Teams are encouraged to come to this working meeting to develop plans for using data to shape transformative uses of technology at their institutions. Click here for more information on this workshop, which occurs immediately before the AAHE Assessment Conference. If you'd like to meet with Steve Ehrmann in Seattle, June 20-23, please click here to send e-mail. We'll also be making a special announcement to TLT/Flashlight subscribing institutions on discounts for registering for this event ; if you'd like to be sure to get this message, send e-mail to online@tltgroup.org.
Teaching Well Using Technology , Notre Dame University, South Bend, IN, July 14-17, 2003
This Institute, co-sponsored by Notre Dame and The TLT Group, will help a select group of faculty developers and technology consultants learn and implement a seven step workshop model that can help faculty take advantage of technology to make fundamental improvements in courses. Gathering data is key both for faculty improving courses and for staff running these kinds of workshops. Steve Ehrmann will lead the session on assessment.
For details on this and other Flashlight and TLT Group events, both face to face and online, keep an eye on The TLT Group calendar.
New TLT/Flashlight Subscription Program! And New Materials
The TLT Group recently combined its two subscription series into one trio of institutional subscription options: the TLT/Flashlight Subscription Program:
- The TLT/Flashlight Basic Collection includes site licenses to dozens of program development and assessment tools and resources, while the
- The Comprehensive Collection also includes unlimited institutional use of Flashlight Online, our powerful, web-based survey system that includes validated items and peer-reviewed templates for typical educational studies.
- Network membership includes both the Comprehensive Collection as well as benefits with two free days of consulting and sharply reduced rates for additional days: useful for training, grant-funded studies, accreditation self-studies, and a variety of other purposes.
All three subscription levels include the option to submit assessment materials for peer review and publication, discounts to TLT Group events, invitations to regular online briefing sessions, and other benefits. There are now approximately 330 institutional subscribers. Is yours one of them? Check our list of participating institutions.
New and upgraded materials are added frequently to the Collection. Now available, or to be added soon, are:
- The second edition of the Flashlight Cost Analysis Handbook,
- the second edition of the Student Technology Assistant Program Workbook,
- A survey for collecting easy-to-share teaching ideas from faculty (using the "Seven Principles of Good Practice") and a resource page on the Seven Principles;
- A guide to gathering data about a college's e-portfolio initiative (asking the right questions in order to increase the program's influence on teaching-learning practices while controlling costs, risk, and stress), and
- A new, peer-reviewed survey for studying Course Management System use developed by Cheryl Bielema and her colleagues at the University of Missouri St. Louis.
Each subscribing institution gets free access to all of these materials, along with the rest of the Collection, for its entire faculty, staff and student body.
Among institutions subscribing, or resubscribing, in the last few weeks are Brigham Young University, California Lutheran University, Duke University, Evergreen Valley College, Fairfield University HealthCanada, Lewis University, Morton College, Regis College, South Dakota State University, University of Arkansas Fayetteville, University of Dayton, University of Missouri St. Louis, and the University System of Georgia.
About Flashlight (including free demonstration accounts), the TLT Group, and F-LIGHT (starting and stopping subscriptions)
The Flashlight Program for the Study and Improvement of Educational Uses of Technology is part of the non-profit TLT Group, Inc. Flashlight was created by Annenberg/CPB in 1993. The TLT Group is headquartered in Takoma Park, Maryland, just outside Washington DC, with additional staff in Texas, Richmond VA, and Pittsburgh, and Senior Associates around the world. Our thanks to Washington State University for their many ways of supporting Flashlight, including developing and administering Flashlight Online and providing the listproc for distribution of F-LIGHT notices. We are also grateful to St. Edward's University for extensive support for Flashlight; to the corporate sponsors of The TLT Group; and to funders whose dedication to higher education has aided the TLT Group's work, including Annenberg/CPB, Atlantic Philanthropic Service, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), and the National Science Foundation.
If your institution needs to get a better look at Flashlight Online, the best way is for someone at your institution to request a temporary, free demonstration account. Send e-mail to Flashlight@tltgroup.org with the header "Free Demo Account" to ask for details. One account per institution, please.
The TLT Group publishes F-LIGHT every month or three. You can see the name of the author-editor at the bottom of this message; please feel free to send me mail about issues of evaluation or research on teaching, learning and technology.
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Stephen C. Ehrmann, Ph.D.
Director of the Flashlight Program and
Editor, F-LIGHT
The Teaching, Learning and Technology Group
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