Student involvement is the key to learning.

The most common computer-based technology tools:

2. How do we empower faculty so they become involved in using technology in the classroom (I.e. how do we make sure the necessary resources and support are available)?

Organize diverse task forces of faculty and support personnel to plan for procurement of resources and training for faculty to use the technology tools.

Make sure you have high level support if at all possible. If this is not true, the minimum technologies you need for teaching are Web-server access, E-mail, and a projection device. In some institutions, these technologies are in short supply and teachers need to ask permission to use them.

Staff support is essential for faculty empowerment. If this support is in short supply, the faculty who are early adopters of technology are frequently willing to mentor their peers who are just getting started.

It is very important for an institution to recognize publicly those faculty who are successfully teaching with technology.

In several schools, the pressure to use technology in the classroom is coming from accrediting agencies. Senior administrators often become supportive because of this external pressure.

3. How do we measure change/improvement in student learning after putting forth the significant effort to develop class materials that make use of technology?

There were divergent answers to this question. One response is that perhaps we don't have to prove that teaching with technology improves learning, but only that the learning with these tools is just as good as that observed using traditional teaching methods. Research using instruments such as student course evaluations, portfolios, base tests, exit interviews, and employer surveys do not indicate much difference in student outcomes between the use of traditional teaching methods and the use of technology tools. Perhaps, we should be developing new ways of measuring the learning done using technology and accrediting agencies may force us to develop these new instruments.

The other response to issue 3 is that the technology is too expensive to justify its use if it does not improve learning significantly. To achieve this improvement we cannot just use technology to teach in traditional ways (e.g., transfer lecture notes from overhead slides to Powerpoint); we must use the new tools to really change the way we teach. Technology can allow students to be more creative (c.f. the second keynote address). It can greatly increase student involvement in the classroom, allowing them access to many more resources than simply the text and the teacher. Use of simulation and design tools can provide a richer environment in the lab, providing more opportunities for critical thinking.

Student involvement with technology may be an end in itself, since it will prepare them for the world of work. Common use of technology in the classroom could be a recruiting tool to increase enrollment. A question was raised about the effect of class size on the use of technology and the time it takes to prepare classes which use technology. No one volunteered an answer other than the obvious one about the need for students to be able to see, hear, and work with the technology.

If we can convince students to do first exposure to concepts on their own time before class, then the classroom experience would be much improved. The teacher can be much more helpful working with and responding to students as they process concepts than as a conduit of information students could read on their own. Web technology makes it possible for students to listen to a lecture outside of class or to pull together resources they will need in class. Several participants were skeptical that students would prepare for class any better if the resources were on the web than they currently do by reading the textbook. The key is to motivate them to prepare for class.

4. How do we ensure that student outreach into the community is worthwhile for both the student and the community agency, especially for student teacher and student nurse training, and also community based student projects?

There are two problems here. Community agencies (business, industry, schools, service agencies, etc.) may have better technology than is available on campus, but they can also have much worse technology. We are training our students to be leaders, so they can work with helping agencies to use available funds to upgrade their technology on the one the one hand, and quickly adapt to new technology on the other. The reason that business and industry often has more up-to-date technology than colleges is that the former have to remain competitive, whereas the latter can't afford the time and money to stay on the cutting edge.

5. How can colleges recognize faculty for the extra work involved in incorporating technology into their teaching?

It does take lots of extra work to prepare technology-rich materials. The preparation time may be out of proportion especially for non-technical faculty. In the beginning it can take 2-3 hours to prepare 5-10 minutes of class material. It gets a little faster as one gains experience. It is definitely easier to modify and update material once it is in electronic form. Whereas it is difficult to see where faculty can find the time to improve their teaching with technology, they cannot afford not to take the time to do this. The best advice is to decide how much time you can devote to class preparation, do the best you can in this time frame and go with it, even if it is not perfect. Students come in with better skills than many faculty and have high expectations of faculty in this area. K-12 teachers are especially vulnerable to student expectations.

Some suggested ways of rewarding faculty for using technology were stipends, released time, making technology use a part of the teachingevaluation instruments, providing new equipment, recognizing them as mentors, letting them act as experts during professional development workshops using their materials to train other faculty, supplying them with technology-equipped classrooms, etc. Most agreed that it was important that faculty who get involved with technology be rewarded in some way. Some claimed that the real reward was the belief that they were making a difference in the student learner through use of technology tools. They also found that moving up in their professional organizations and doing the research that they love requires a facility with technological tools.

Although most schools count work with technology (on-line research) as professional development, none of the colleges represented had a specific "use of technology" clause in their promotion and tenure criteria, but some use this criterion for prospective faculty. The question was raised that since technology is just a tool for improving teaching and learning, why would we expect it to be specifically listed as a criterion any more than the use of a blackboard would be so listed.

6. What techniques have faculty found to motivate students to work independently in lab-based courses?

Instead of trying to move the entire class forward in lock step doing a computer application, prepare an assignment with very good very good direction (you will find that the directions have to be constantly improved) and move around the room helping those students who need help as they work through the assignment. The help given should be minimal - try to answer a question with a guiding question so that the student discovers the solution to her own problem. It is important to repeat that we want the students to become independent learners since they will need this skill after they graduate. It is possible to build things into an assignment so the teacher knows who does the work and who just copies from the person beside them.

On-line resources such as web forms can be used to exchange information between students and faculty, such as mid-course assessments, electronic submissions with feedback, etc. It is important to watch out for the response time you need to devote to this feedback. Don't let an entire class email you! Many students will come out of their shells in this environment who might not do so in a traditional classroom.

7. How do you know that students are doing their own work in out-of-class technology assignments?

The best approach is to keep emphasizing that learning is the goal and that the student does not learn if they copy someone else's work. This problem has not changed with the use of technology.

8. How do we stay on top of the use of technology in teaching?

We did not have time to answer this question other than to urge everyone to come back to ASCUE next year.

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CALL FOR PAPERS, TUTORIALS, AND PANEL SESSIONS
2000 Annual ASCUE Summer Conference
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
June 11 - 15, 2000
"Our Second Quarter Century of Resource Sharing"

The Association of Small Computer Users in Education, ASCUE, is seeking proposals from faculty and staff for presentations at its 33rd Annual Summer Conference. Proposals should focus on issues in academic and administrative computing that are of interest to small educational institutions. Proposals on any relevant topic are acceptable, but those that support the conference theme, "Enhancing Education with Technology," are particularly welcome. Suggested topics include:

Presentations for the conference are limited to 45 minutes including time for questions and can be in traditional paper, panel, or tutorial format. Presentations will be printed in the Conference Proceedings that are distributed at the conference and submitted to the Educational Resource Information Center for inclusion in the ERIC database. All presenters must register for the conference.

The 2000 conference will offer pre-conference workshops on Sunday, June 11, and we are seeking individuals to lead full-or half-day workshops on topics that support the conference theme. These workshops have been very successful at past conferences and help set the tone for the conference.

If you are interested in making a presentation, please send your name, title, mailing address, phone number, email address, title of your presentation, and a 100-150 word abstract that accurately describes the presentation. The deadline for submission is January 17, 2000. Notification of acceptance status will be made by February 14. Detailed information on conference registration, accommodations, schedule, and A/V needs will follow that date. Please send (printed or emailed) your proposals to:

Carol L. Smith
2000 Program Chair - ASCUE DePauw University
Greencastle, IN 46135
(765) 658-4287
clsmith@depauw.edu

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