nmc helping faculty

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Helping Faculty and Instructors Help Themselves With reusable resources for online teaching and learning Scott Anderson Alan Kirker Katherine Lithgow The Centre for Learning and Teaching Through Technology University of Waterloo, Ontario

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Background & Context UWone - UW’s online environment Templates Challenges & Benefits Lessons Learned Future Directions Presentation Overview

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University of Waterloo 21,650 undergraduate 19,000 full time 2,500 graduate 2,000 full time 787 Faculty Background & Context

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UW has 6 Faculties: Applied Health Sciences Arts Engineering Environmental Studies Math Science Background & Context

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Decentralized support Computing office in each Faculty Processes & procedures vary in each Faculty Liaison in each Faculty to support instructors (part time) Background & Context

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Instructional Challenges Reading not done before class Lab time wasted on basic info Little time for discussion Large class sizes (& growing) Diversity – strong background to no prior knowledge of subject Difficult concepts require extra resources/practice Background & Context

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UW Course Management Systems Pilot to compare WebCT and BlackBoard Fall 2000 Blackboard selected for 2-year pilot Spring 2001-2003 UWone - UW online environment Fall 2001 – Present ANGEL replace BB Fall 2002 Hybrid system integrating various toolsets UW-ACE - UW Angel course environment Fall 2004 launch Background & Context

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UW Online Environment Aim to integrate pedagogy with technology Use “T5” pedagogical model Tasks Topics Teamwork Tutoring Tools UWone

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Instructors attend “New Classroom” workshop Rethink/redesign course to use technology to support instructional goals Online work & F2F coaching sessions Work with Faculty Liaison Encourage using learning tasks Sharing ideas between Faculties UWone

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2003-2004 343 courses using UWone 251 on-campus (hybrid) 92 distance education (online) 170 instructors Example – IS 999 UWone

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Liaisons often face similar challenges in different Faculties Liaisons share & reuse info Enlist help of media designer to improve information design The Need for Templates

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Examples SCI 238 PACS 201 Many Professors not designers Few explicit visual cues to guide users (especially with scanning) The Need for Templates

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Layout & visual design Orientation tasks Generic Tasks (group discussion) Information literacy (Library) search strategy plagiarism FAQ for course Examples Code Kitty (template repository) GER 382 (Prep; info literacy; groupwork) Types of Templates

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Challenges Time initial “set-up” time/costs can be substantial hand-holding still required (modifications) Templates may be too generic or instructors want something that fits their context exactly

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Challenges Potential to just add templates or material rather than consider why/how it is being used Learners may see same module in multiple courses Using model (template) differently than originally intended (poorly)

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Instructors can spend more time on instructional design instead of web/visual design Visually appealing design & appropriate visual cues aids usability and engagement (users not turned off) Consistent look and feel Benefits

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Curriculum development faculty are beginning to consider how Task templates can be used throughout a program to support program/department curricular goals; modify templates to be appropriate for different years (1st yr vs. 4th yr) potential to share curriculum work on a Department, Faculty and ultimately University level. Benefits

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Lessons learned Relationships are key Consistent support & attention to needs Context is important Trying to fit everyone in the same mold does NOT work Templates must be designed to enable easy tweaking

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Lessons Learned Start small Build slowly over time When done properly, students have provided very positive feedback about online components Focus on the learning (instructional challenge) rather than the technology

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Future Directions UW-ACE to launch in Fall 2004 Will replace UWone Uses CSS (style sheets) UWone templates and learning designs will be replaced by “macros” and “libraries” Easier to share (not cut-n-paste) Plans for peer review before release Standards compliant (IMS)

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Acknowledgements Instructors Prof. Larissa Fast Prof. Gertrude Harris Prof. James Skidmore Caryl Russell

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Acknowledgements LT3 Liaisons Jane Holbrook (Science) Paul Kates (Math) Katherine Lithgow (AHS) Pia Marks (Arts) Jeremy Steffler (Engineering) LT3 Interim Director Liwana Bringelson

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Contact Info Centre for Learning & Teaching Through Technology (LT3), University of Waterloo http://lt3.uwaterloo.ca/ Alan Kirker alan@lt3.uwaterloo.ca Scott Anderson sjanderson@uwaterloo.ca