COURSE REDESIGN: Increasing Student Success While Reducing Instructional Costs

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COURSE REDESIGN Increasing Student Success While
Reducing Instructional Costs
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TODAYS DISCUSSION

• The National Center for Academic Transformation
• Proven Models for Successful Redesign
• Examples of Successful Redesigns

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• Established in 1999 as a University Center at RPI
  funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts
• Became an independent non-profit organization in
  2003
• Mission help colleges and universities learn how
  to use technology to improve student learning
  outcomes and reduce their instructional costs

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NCAT PROGRAMS

• Program in Course Redesign (PCR)
• 30 institutions
• Roadmap to Redesign (R2R)
• 20 institutions
• Colleagues Committed to Redesign (C2R)
• 60 institutions
• State and System-based Programs
• 60 institutions
• AZ, MD, MS, SUNY, TN, TX

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TRADITIONAL INSTRUCTION
Seminars
Lectures
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BOLT-ON INSTRUCTION
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WHATS WRONG WITH THE LECTURE?

• Treats all students as if they are the same
• Ineffective in engaging students
• Inadequate individual assistance
• Poor attendance and success rates
• Students fail to retain learning

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WHATS WRONG WITH MULTIPLE SECTIONS?

• In theory greater interaction
• In practice large class size
• In practice dominated by the same presentation
  techniques
• Lack of coordination
• Inconsistent outcomes

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WHAT DOES NCAT MEAN BY COURSE REDESIGN?

• Course redesign is the process of redesigning
  whole courses (rather than individual classes or
  sections) to achieve better learning outcomes at
  a lower cost by taking advantage of the
  capabilities of information technology.
• Course redesign is not just about putting courses
  online.
• It is about rethinking the way we deliver
  instruction in light of the possibilities that
  new technology offers.

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• PROGRAM IN
• COURSE REDESIGN
• To encourage colleges and universities to
  redesign their approaches to instruction using
  technology to achieve cost savings as well as
  quality enhancements.

50,000 students 30 projects
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WHY REDESIGN?

• Look for courses where redesign will have a high
  impact
• High withdrawal/failure rates
• Students on waiting lists
• Students turned away graduation bottleneck
• Over enrollment of courses leading to multiple
  majors
• Inconsistency of preparation
• Difficulty getting qualified adjuncts
• Difficulty in subsequent courses

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ACADEMIC AREAS

• Sciences Biology, Chemistry, Anatomy
  Physiology, Physics, Geology
• Humanities English, Spanish, Fine Arts
• Social Sciences Psychology, Economics,
  Sociology
• Quantitative Area Math, Statistics, Computing
• Professional Studies Accounting, Nutrition,
  Organizational Behavior, Engineering Statics

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ALL TYPES OF INSTITUTIONS

• Public
• Private
• Research Universities
• Comprehensive Universities
• State Colleges
• Community Colleges

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SUMMARY OF RESULTS

• 25 of the original 30 showed improvement 5
  showed equal learning
• 24 measured retention 18 showed improvement
• All 30 showed cost reduction
• Results in subsequent national and state and
  system programs have continued to show comparable
  results

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WHAT DO THE FACULTY SAY?

• Its the best experience Ive ever had in a
  classroom.
• The quality of my worklife has changed
  immeasurably for the better.
• Its a lot of work during the transition--but
  its worth it.

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REDESIGN MODELS

• Supplemental Add to the current structure
  and/or change the content
• Replacement Blend face-to-face with online
• activities
• Emporium Move all classes to a lab setting
• Fully online Conduct all (most)
• learning activities online
• Buffet Mix and match according
• to student preferences
• Linked Workshop JIT workshops
• linked to college level course

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REDESIGNCHARACTERISTICS

• Redesign the whole coursenot just a single class
• Emphasize active learninggreater student
  engagement with the material and with one another
• Rely heavily on readily available interactive
  softwareused independently and in teams
• Mastery learningnot self-paced
• Increase on-demand, individualized assistance
• Automate only those course components that can
  benefit from automatione.g., homework, quizzes,
  exams
• Replace single mode instruction with
  differentiated personnel strategies

Technology enables good pedagogy with large s of
students.
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University of Hawaii, Manoa

• The course of 600 students annually suffers from
  problems typical of multiple-section courses
• course drift and inconsistent learning
  experiences for students
• a one-size-fits-all approach
• course material that needs constant updating
• an inability to scale beyond the current
  infrastructure.

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University of Hawaii, Manoa

• Traditional 2 lecture section 20 lab sections
• Redesign 2 hours in optional lecture and 2 hours
  in lab
• Lectures are podcast in 30-minute segments
  students listen to them as they complete lab
  exercises homework
• 5-minute podcasts of chapter summaries are also
  available.

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University of Hawaii, Manoa

• Results
• Scores on Midterm and Final Exams
• Traditional 66.18 and 68.95
• Redesign 83.52 and 75.93
• Increase in level of questions asked by students
  indicating greater depth of learning in the
  redesign
• Greater consistency in grading
• Ability to grow without more staff

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Arizona State UniversityComputing and
Information Literacy

• Issues
• Course is not learner-centered
• Content does not develop problem-solving skills.
• Course does not ensure that students with a broad
  range of learning styles and levels of
  preparation will master the content and succeed.
• Course has high DFW rate, among the 30 highest
  rates at ASU.

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Arizona State UniversityComputing and
Information Literacy

• Traditional 8 lecture sections of 270 - 2200
  students annually
• Redesign in 2 formats
• Replacement 2 lecture sections of 299
• One optional lecture each week
• One open, interactive lab each week
• Online resources
• Online 1 online section of up to 500 students
• Students must pass an online assessment first

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Arizona State UniversityComputing and
Information Literacy

• All students have
• Interactive online projects
• Discussion board
• Quizzes which are automatically graded
• Web-based, multi-media resources aligned with the
  text

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Arizona State UniversityComputing and
Information Literacy

• Learning Results
• Redesign course included more challenging content
• All failing students had multiple missed
  assignments and/or projects
• A very small percentages of students in the
  replacement model came to lecture

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Arizona State UniversityComputing and
Information Literacy

• Students found the course more applied and
  valuable
• Final grades
• Increase in of As in redesigned course from
  38 to 62
• Students in both formats did equally well at all
  grade levels

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Arizona State UniversityComputing and
Information Literacy

• Cost Reduction
• One faculty coordinator, rather than 2
  instructors
• GTAs reduced from 2 to 1
• UGAs replace 6 undergrad graders with 5
  undergrad learning assistants working fewer hours
• Cost-per-student decreased from 50 to 38, a 24
  reduction

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OTHER REDESIGN EXAMPLES

• Drexel University Computer Programming
• State University of New York at Buffalo
  Computer Literacy
• University of Southern Mississippi Introduction
  to Computing

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FACULTY BENEFITS

• Increased opportunity to work directly with
  students who need help
• Reduced grading
• Technology does the tracking and monitoring
• More practice and interaction for students
  without faculty effort
• Ability to try different approaches to meet
  different student needs
• Opportunity for continuous improvement of
  materials and approaches

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A STREAMLINED REDESIGN METHODOLOGYA Menu of
Redesign Options

• Five Models for Course Redesign
• Five Principles of Successful Course Redesign
• Cost Reduction Strategies
• Course Planning Tool
• Course Structure Form
• Five Models for Assessing
• Student Learning
• Five Critical Implementation Issues
• Planning Checklist

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COURSE REDESIGN Increasing Student Success While
Reducing Instructional Costs

• Carolyn Jarmon, Ph.D.
• cjarmon_at_theNCAT.org
• www.theNCAT.org