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| Instructor's Name: |
| Teresa Franklin |
| Email: |
| franklit@ohio.edu |
| Department/Program: |
| Educational Studies |
| School/College: |
| College of Education |
| Project Title: |
| Together and Alone: The Instructional, Technical and Psychological
Outcomes of Faculty Building Online Courses |
| Related Course: |
| Technology Applications in Education |
| Examples: |
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http://kant.citl.ohiou.edu/apps/showcase/Franklin/papers.html
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| Credits: |
| Teresa Franklin |
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| 1. Describe your Project:
In this research project I report on the findings of a study of online course development at a midwestern university. The study examined the use of a faculty cohort model for online course development and the typical individual online course development to support the instructional, technical and psychological aspects of online course development by faculty in higher education. The study sought to answer the question: Can a cohort model provide the technological, instructional, and psychological support needed in the development of online courses in ways different from a faculty member working alone in the development of online courses?
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| 2. Learning goals or project objectives:
The members of the cohort group were College of Music and College of Education faculty presently developing online instruction using Blackboard CourseInfo 3.11. Attention was given to the details of the online course development process and changes as the faculty designed their courses.
The cohort met to establish the group, to identify technological needs and to discuss planned instructional methods for their courses. The cohort had opportunities to view other online courses in which Blackboard CourseInfo had been used and how the various materials were presented. Often the development of online course materials takes a different form than originally planned when faculty see various methods of presenting an idea. Cohort members discussed how small groups and discussion would occur within their course structures. The College of Music faculty had very different instructional problems than faculty in the College of Education as they needed to be able to place sound files within the Blackboard CourseInfo for their students to evaluate. This posed a unique problem to the music faculty because most were novice users of technology. Help from the faculty in the College of Communications was enlisted to help the faculty envision the possibilities of presenting the music scores online and to help develop the technical skills needed to accomplish the task. Most of the discussion by the cohort focused on course development, problem solving, technical problems, technological skills and course changes made as the course progresses.
Discussion by the members of the cohort was recorded. An instructional technology graduate student and the researcher provided technical support to the members of the cohort. Members were asked to reflect upon the process of developing the course and the instructional and psychological hurdles they encountered in the process. The graduate student and the researcher also maintained a journal of discussion with members, the meetings, and their reflections of the process as an observer.
A group of faculty who had worked alone in the development of their online courses was randomly selected from a list provided to the researcher from the CITL. The faculty were from colleges across the university. Selected faculty were interviewed using the same interview questions as the cohort group. Discussion and answers concerning the interview questions were recorded for examination.
All journals, self-assessments, meeting notes, and recordings from the cohort as well as discussions and comments from non-cohort faculty were examined to determine common themes and differences between the two groups in their instructional, technological, and psychological approaches to the development of online courses.
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| 3. Who was your target audience:
Faculty in higher education who are planning to develop an online program for their department.
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| 4. Roles: Who did what? Instructor, student
workers, CITL?
This was a research project in which instructors in Music Education worked together as a cohort to develop an online Master's degree in Music Education. A graduate student and the researcher (Instructional Designer) worked with the Music faculty to help in the development of the courses and in learning how to use the Blackboard software. The graduate student and researcher acted as mentors. The CITL also provided technical support for the development of Blackboard friendly modules for the music department.
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| 5. Results: Were goals reached or modified?
Yes, the goals were met and the results of the research have been submitted for publication. We found that the cohort model was a very successful method for online course development. It provided psychological, instructional and technological support to the entire faculty. Faculty in the model had more "buy-in" to the success of the program than those courses in which the faculty developed alone. Faculty felt they could depend on the support of other faculty in the cohort to successfully complete the course and implement the course. The Online Masters in Music Education later received an award for its development and implementation. We were very proud to be a part of that success.
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| 6. Problems: What difficulties
did you face? What would you do differently? Advice for other
professors?
I would like to repeat the study with another cohort to determine the characteristics of the cohort that make it a successful planning model for online course development. My advice for other professors is to work with a mentor or with a team. At times the development of an IT project can be overwhelming and by having that person(s) to support you, the project can usually work through the difficult times to success.
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