Getting Started with Course Redesign

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Getting Started with Course Redesign

• Lead Speaker
• Carolyn Jarmon, Vice President, National Center
  for Academic Transformation
• Participants
• Beverlee Drucker, Mathematics Instructor at
  Northern Virginia Community College (VA)
• Danae Hudson, Associate Psychology Professor at
  Missouri State University (MO)
• Teresa Overton, Developmental Math Coordinator at
  Northern Virginia Community College (VA)
• Brooke Whisenhunt, Associate Psychology Professor
  at Missouri State University (MO)

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REDESIGNING STUDENT LEARNING ENVIRONMENTSGetting
Started
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TODAYS DISCUSSION

• Quick Overview
• Readiness Criteria
• Case Examples

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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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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.

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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 lets make a difference
• 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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TEAM EFFORT IS KEY

• Each team included
• Administrator
• Faculty experts
• Technology expertise
• Assessment assistance

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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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REDESIGN CHARACTERISTICS

• 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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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

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

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READINESS CRITERIA

• What does it mean to be ready to do a major
  course redesign?
• Is your institution ready?
• Which courses are readyi.e., are good
  candidates for a comprehensive redesign?

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READINESS CRITERION 1Course Choice

• What impact would redesigning the course have on
  the curriculum, on students and on the
  institutioni.e., why do you want to redesign
  this course?

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FACTORS TO CONSIDER WHEN THINKING ABOUT HIGH
IMPACT

• High drop-failure-withdrawal rates
• Student performance in subsequent courses
• Students on waiting lists
• Student complaints
• Other departmental complaints
• Lack of consistency in multiple sections
• Difficulty finding qualified adjuncts

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READINESS CRITERION 2Redesign Model

• Which redesign model do you think would be most
  appropriate for your redesign? Why?
• What aspects fit your particular discipline and
  your particular students?

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READINESS CRITERION 3Assessment Plan

• Which assessment model do you think would be most
  appropriate for your redesign? Why?

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ASSESSMENT GOAL

• To establish the degree to which improved
  learning has been achieved as a result of the
  course redesign.

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ASSESSMENT PLANNING

• Step 1. Establish the method of obtaining data.
• Step 2. Choose the measurement method.

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ESTABLISH THE METHOD OF OBTAINING DATA

• Baseline Before (traditional) and After
  (redesign)
• Parallel Sections Compare traditional sections
  and redesigned sections

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CHOOSE THE MEASUREMENT METHOD FOUR MODELS

• A. Comparisons of Final Exams
• B. Comparisons of Common Content Items Selected
  from Exams
• C. Comparisons of Pre- and Post- Tests
• D. Comparisons of Student Work using Common
  Rubrics

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READINESS CRITERION 4Cost Savings Plan

• Which cost savings strategy do you think would be
  most appropriate for your redesign? Why?

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COST SAVINGS GOAL

• Create cost savings that can be used to sustain
  ongoing redesign, to fund future operations and
  to free up resources for program and/or
  institutional priorities.

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WHATS YOUR ENROLLMENT SITUATION?

• Is your enrollment growing or projected to grow?
• Is your enrollment stable or declining?

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ACCOMMODATE ENROLLMENT GROWTH

• Increase the number of sections.
• Increase the section size.
• Change the mix of personnel teaching the course.

Mix and match for greater savings!
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RIO SALADO COLLEGEPre-Calculus Math

• Redesign
• 4 courses taught by 1 instructor
• Student interaction interactive software, 1
  course assistant, and 1 instructor
• 31 cost-per-student

• Traditional
• 4 courses taught by 4 instructors
• Student interaction each instructor
• 49 cost-per-student

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U OF TENNESSEESpanish

• Traditional
• 57 sections (27)
• Adjuncts 6 TAs
• 100 in class
• 167,074 (2931/section)
• 1529 students _at_ 109

• Redesign
• 38 sections (54)
• Instructor-TA pairs
• 50 in class, 50 online
• 56,838 (1496/section)
• 2052 students _at_ 28

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STABLE COURSE ENROLLMENT

• Reduce the number of sections and increase the
  section size. (Reduce the number teaching the
  course.)
• Reduce the number of graduate teaching assistants
  (Only 9 of 30 projects!)
• Change the mix of personnel teaching the course
  (Adjuncts, undergraduate learning assistants.)

Mix and match for greater savings!
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FAIRFIELD UNIVERSITYGeneral Biology

• Redesign
• 2 sections (140)
• 4 faculty
• 50 wet, 50 virtual
• 98,033
• 350 cost-per-student

• Traditional
• 7 sections (35)
• 7 faculty
• 100 wet labs
• 131,610
• 506 cost-per-student

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READINESS CRITERION 5Learning Materials

• Are the faculty able and willing to incorporate
  existing curricular materials in order to focus
  work on redesign issues rather than materials
  creation?

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READINESS CRITERION 6Active Learning

• Do the faculty members have an understanding of
  and some experience with integrating elements of
  computer-based instruction into existing courses?

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READINESS CRITERION 7Collective Commitment

• Describe the members of your team, the skills
  they bring to the project and what their roles
  will be in both the planning and implementation
  phases of the project.

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NCAT PLANNING RESOURCES

• http//www.thencat.org/R2R/R2R_Planning_Resources.
  htm

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REDESIGNING STUDENT LEARNING ENVIRONMENTSGetting
Started

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

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CASE STUDIES

• Danae Hudson and Brooke Whisenhunt
• Department of Psychology
• Missouri State University
• Teresa Overton and Beverlee Drucker
• Department of Mathematics
• Northern Virginia Community College

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QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

• What problem are you trying to solve?
• What barriers exist to getting started?
• What data would be useful?
• Who should be part of the team?
• What process would be useful in getting started?

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CONTACT INFORMATION

• Carolyn Jarmon
• cjarmon_at_theNCAT.org
• Danae Hudson
• DanaeHudson_at_missouristate.edu
• Brooke Whisenhunt
• bwhisenhunt_at_missouristate.edu
• Teresa Overton
• toverton_at_nvcc.edu
• Beverlee Drucker
• bdrucker_at_nvcc.edu