Diffusing Pedagogical and Technical Innovations: A Different Approach

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Diffusing Pedagogical and Technical Innovations
A Different Approach

• Lanny Arvan
• (l-arvan_at_uiuc.edu)
• R. Varkki George (varkki_at_uiuc.edu)

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Background

• SCALE Renewal Grant
• Charged with delivering experiments that test
  methods and software for making ALN better
• Easier to produce materials
• Lower instructor time commitment
• Improve student learning
• Faculty Fellow
• Promote diffusion early adopter charged with the
  task

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Other Projects

• NCSA Emerging Technology Class
• Adult learners and on-campus students mixed.
• RiverWeb
• Mapping exercises for American History
• Travel and Tourism
• Templates for student interns and sponsors
• General Engineering Remote robotics
• Education
• Streaming Video of Student Presentations

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SCALEs Writing Initiative

• Campus does not support mainstream adoption
• This is beginning to change
• Writing intensive courses would benefit from ALN
• Mainstream faculty work with a Faculty Fellow
• 3,000 incentive for assistance or computing
  purchases

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Other Ideas Behind the Project

• Target faculty who care about teaching
• But who are novices with technology
• Faculty mentor has more cachet than support staff
• Questions
• What are the impacts on target faculty?
• How is this support best delivered?

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ALN and Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC)

• Writing promotes thinking and learning in the
  disciplines
• Results quality of the learning experience
  improves but logistics get very complex
• ALN promotes written communication
• ALN helps manage logistical complexity

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Program Setup

• Numbers
• 80 WAC participants contacted
• 15 provided with details
• 5 agreed to participate
• Unable to participate because
• Circumstances (not teaching on leave)
• Timing Lack of time (schedule conflicts other
  commitments)

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Intensive Weekly Consultations

• Initial discussions of teaching objectives
• Intros to technology and pedagogy compatibility
  with objectives
• Advice on implementation strategies and
  sequencing
• Pointers to campus resources
• Help with technical decisions and troubleshooting

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Technology and Pedagogy

• Conferencing can be adapted for short, one-time,
  written assignments
• Manageable peer review mechanism
• Virtual portfolio for longer, staged assignments
• Clarifies stages and sequence
• Provides effective mechanism for assessment
• http//vfolio.scale.uiuc.edu

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Outcomes I (Preliminary)

• Adoption in a variety of courses
• Civil Engineering, History, French, Latino/Latina
  Studies, Anthropology
• Incremental implementations
• Increasing campus support for mainstream adoption

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Outcomes I (Preliminary)

• Measurement
• Comparison with other non-technical adopters
• General quality-of-experience
• Perceptions of complexity, compatibility, and
  relative advantage (Surry and Gustafson)
• Source E-mail conversations
• Caveats
• Small sample, short time frame

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Outcomes III (Preliminary)
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Self-Reflection

• collegiality and individual attention were
  extremely valuable
• Help with pacing of implementation was crucial
• Timing is critical (during or outside the
  semester?)
• 75 of my time was spent on logistics

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How Would We Do Things Differently?

• Use a support team rather than one individual
• More efficient use of resources
• More holistic support
• Foster better communication among participants
• Build a better sense of community
• Our experience with early adopters