Evaluating EDUC 121 Instructional Technology at USF

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Evaluating EDUC 121 Instructional Technology at
USF Amy M. Benish 12/09/04
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Evaluand

• EDUC 121 Instructional Technology
• This course is designed to provide students with
  the necessary technical skills required for the
  classroom teacher of the twenty-first
  century. -taken from course description

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Evaluand (continued)

• EDUC 121 Instructional Technology
• Course objectives are aligned with the ISBE
  technology standards and include
• Use computer system to run software
• Evaluate performance of hardware and software
• Use technology in communication and collaboration
• Integrate advanced features of productivity tools
• Use technology resources to support instruction

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Evaluation Questions

• What, if any, pre-requisites should be required
  for the Instructional Technology course?
• How are the course expectations of the teacher
  candidates being met? (i.e. Are they getting the
  knowledge they want out of the course?)
• How do scores on the ISBE Assessment of
  Professional Teaching (APT) test of the USF
  teacher candidates compare to state averages?

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Data Collection Participants

• Survey
• Undergraduate and Graduate teacher candidates in
  the Initial Certification Program at the
  University of St. Francis who have completed
  Instructional Technology at USF
• Focus Group
• Previous/current instructors of the Instructional
  Technology course

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Data Collection Instruments

• Focus Group
• probing questions designed to address the need of
  pre-requisites for course
• Survey
• designed to address course expectations
• Consisted of Likert-scale and open-ended
  questions
• Pre-existing Data
• Used data supplied by ISBE

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Data Analysis

• Survey
• Used SPSS 12 to analyze qualitative data
• Frequencies
• Reliability
• Cross Tabulation
• Conducted an Informal Content Analysis of
  quantitative data to determine response patterns

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Data Analysis (continued)

• Focus Group
• Did not analyze data scientifically
• Used comments from participants to assist in
  evaluation recommendations
• Pre-existing Data
• Used Microsoft Excel to determine average score
  of USF teacher candidates and compared it to the
  state average score

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Results Question One

• What, if any, pre-requisites should be required
  for the Instructional Technology course?
• Focus Group indicated that pre-requisites should
  be required for the course, including
• Basic computer operations turn on/off, logging
  in/out
• Send/open an attachment
• Upload a document
• Create/manipulate folders
• Working knowledge of Word, Excel, PowerPoint
• Navigate a web browser

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Results Question Two

• Are the course expectations of the teacher
  candidates being met?

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Results Question Three

• How do scores on the ISBE Assessment of
  Professional Teaching (APT) test of the USF
  teacher candidates compare to state averages?

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Recommendation 1

• Assessment tool needs to be established to
  determine what skill level teacher candidate is
  at prior to Instructional Technology course
• Workshop should be developed for individuals with
  no, or limited, computer skills to teach
  necessary pre-requisites

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Recommendation 2

• Course objectives should be reviewed and updated
  to reflect needs of teacher candidates
• Integrate pedagogy (possibly pair course with a
  methods course)
• Encourage instructors to teach the objectives and
  cover similar content (develop course guidelines
  for instructors)

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Questions
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