F-LIGHT

November 2001

Goal#1 of F-LIGHT: Gather and share examples of studies and of other evaluation-related activity that are making a difference in their institutions.  If you've done something of this sort, whether or not you used Flashlight tools or methods, we'd like to hear about it and have the opportunity to report on it here. 

E-mail is wonderful: please send the URL of this issue to everyone who needs this information! For information about starting or ending a subscription, sending us announcements, etc., see the bottom of this message.

Faculty and Student Perspectives on Teaching, Learning, and Technology: The GAPS Studies at Washington State University

Flashlight has helped focus attention on student-student collaboration, student-faculty interaction, active learning and other "principles of good practice" that technology is so often used to support. In this article, Tom Henderson of Washington State University summarizes three years of data from GAPS surveys used to examine both faculty and student views of these key practices in courses.

Resistance to Evaluation

We have a new section on our Flashlight articles page: The topic is the analysis of, and response to, resistance to evaluation.  We start with the assumption that much of this resistance is quite reasonable and needs to be dealt with on that basis.  Hope you like the two new articles. We'd like to hear your thoughts!

Flashlight is Hiring

Indiana University (IU) and the Flashlight Program want to hire a full-time Research Associate to work in Indianapolis for the next couple of years, half-time for IU, half-time for the Flashlight Program, and full-time on studies of educational uses of technology.  here's the position description and details on how to apply. It's possible we may also need a part-time staff member in Louisiana some time later this year and next year. If that's of interest, please send e-mail to Steve Ehrmann.

Call for Proposals: Mark Your Calendar!

AAHE Assessment Conference (and Flashlight Gathering) June 20-23, 2002 - Boston

We strongly urge Flashlight users to present proposals for, and attend, the AAHE Assessment Conference. The theme this year, "Assessment: A Shared Commitment" suggests, among other things, exploring the potential synergy between Flashlight uses on the one hand and TLT Roundtables and TLT Centers on the other.  Another good topic for sessions: uses of assessment to accelerate and guide programmatic improvement and transformation. Click here for more information on the conference and the call for proposals, due December 3, 2001.

WebCT Funds Flashlight to Develop Evaluation Tools to Assess and Improve the Use of All Course Management Systems: Case Studies Sought

Here are the kinds of studies and instruments in which we are most interested:

• Studies and instruments designed to document how an institution's system has been used, how it hasn't been used, what kinds of support and training were successful or unsuccessful, and what factors affect the system's use for different purposes. 

• Surveys, focus groups, data collection by the WCMS's themselves, and other means of investigation. 

• Studies that produced findings that were seen as useful by the institution (e.g., helped to confirm or alter arrangements for training or support; helped confirm or alter decisions about what WCMS to use). 

• Studies that helped document whether the system was of educational benefit to students, departments or the institution as a whole.

• Studies of the obvious and hidden costs (including time) of maintaining such systems.

Sometimes you just need a bit of help - a contact, an idea, a reaction. We try to be as helpful as we can, so drop us an e-mail and let us know what's on your mind.

The TLT Group publishes F-LIGHT every few weeks. 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. Recent issues are posted on our Web site.