2005 TEL Grant Overview – Developing a Framework For Distance Education

Introduction

Picture this scenario:

As a faculty member, you have read and heard from colleagues and students about distance education, and are increasingly intrigued with the possibility of taking parts of or even whole courses that you teach and offering them online. You know the university is very interested in online course offerings, especially because they help alleviate the problem of insufficient classroom space for face-to-face classes and because they enable non-traditional students to be able to take classes outside the confines of the traditional school day time limits. You know that the whole area of distance education is not only here to stay, but it appears to be gaining rapid support and momentum across colleges – and even in pre-college education and the business world. You are aware of some of the tremendous possibilities (and feel the pressure of  “lead, follow, or get out the way”), but where do you begin? Unlike classroom teaching, where you are familiar with many methods of teaching and assessment because of having been in countless college classes yourself, you have no experience yourself in taking online classes, so you don’t even have that frame of reference as a starting point. All you know is how to put your syllabus and other course materials online on your faculty website, and how to make limited use online discussion forums -- but that’s just to support your face-to-face, real-time classes. Taking the next step into teaching a whole class on line is a whole other story. You realize from what you have read and heard from those who have ventured into the realm of the “Virtual Classroom” that teaching and learning online is not the same as it is in the face-to-face classroom. But what do you need to know and be able to do to make this transition to teaching online?

This has become an increasingly important question on our campus at the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD), and especially so in our Education Department, where I am a faculty member. Our department has been one of the departments on our campus that has been a leader in using technology to enhance student learning. As part of this, over the past four years we have made significant changes in our Master’s of Education program so that it is now taught primary online. Many of our faculty have been using some aspects of online teaching in their undergraduate courses, and are now looking to teach larger parts of courses, and also whole courses, online. Our first M.Ed cohort of students to take their entire degree through our online learning community model will complete their coursework at the end of this year. Previous cohorts have experimented with different distance learning options, including offering some classes via ITV, having significant components of the class discussions being via online discussion forums (using Web Crossing), and having some lectures offered using streaming video. We currently have four M.Ed cohorts being taught primary online.

As a result of all of the developments in distance education in our department and on campus, it has become increasingly important for us to find answers to the key questions, and it is these questions that formed the foundation of my TEL grant study:

1. What methods of online teaching and learning are most effective for different contexts (such as different types of learners, different types of courses, different instructor teaching and technology skills, different levels of administrative, infrastructural and technological support)?
2. How do we prepare faculty to teach effectively in these different contexts using distance education?
3. How do we prepare students to be effective learners in an distance education environment?
4. What kinds of administrative, infrastructural, and technological support are needed for the successful delivery of distance education programs?

My background and interest in conducting this study:

The focus of my teaching and research as a faculty member in the University of Minnesota Duluth Education Department is in the area of teaching methodology. I teach instructional methods classes to both undergraduate and graduate students. As part of this I have become very interested and involved in the whole area of teaching with technology, in particular looking at how technology can be used as a tool to enhance instruction and student learning. Seven years ago I took a sabbatical so that I could take our Graduate Certificate in Educational Technology (16 credits). Throughout my sabbatical also worked as a volunteer as a technology consultant in a local school. Upon my return I began (and have continued) teaching courses in this technology certificate program. I was bought also out part-time for a year by the UMD Instructional Technology Systems and Services (ITSS) to serve as a technology consultant to help faculty integrate technology into their teaching. In order to continue to develop my own knowledge and skills in technology, I have participated in almost every type of technology training provided by UMD ITSS since I came to UMD fifteen years ago (for example: I have attended Tech Camp, Advanced Tech Camp, Tech Camp for Web course Design, Technophyte Program, and attended most ITSS workshops). I have also taught as an Instructor in three Tech Camps, have taught some of the ITSS workshops, and continue to serve as a faculty representative to the ITSS Faculty Team and Bush Grant Group. I have served on various UMD, College of Education and Human Service Professions (CEHSP) and Education Department technology committees, and currently am a member of a campus wide task force looking at Distributed Education on our campus. I teach a course in our M.Ed program to help prepare students in the technology knowledge and skills needed to participate in our M.Ed cohorts. I also have mentored and continue to mentor Education Department faculty in how to teach online.

As a result of all of these experiences I have become acutely aware of the need for:

1. The development of a systematic framework that will help guide faculty, students, and administrators in making choices about distance education. Although much is being done in distance education on our campus, across the broader University of Minnesota system, and beyond (nationally and internationally), there is still a lack of understanding among most administrators, faculty and students about the many different types of distance education and about which of these are appropriate to different purposes and contexts.
2. The development and teaching of a course that will prepare university faculty (and public school teachers) in how to teach using different methods of distance education.

Project Description:

I was awarded a year long sabbatical for 2005-2006 to conduct an in-depth research study of Distance Education at UMD. My sabbatical proposal was to do the following:

1. Conduct a comprehensive review of the literature on distance education
2. Survey of UMD faculty who have taught distance education classes,  students who have taken distance education classes, and administrative staff who have provided support for distance education classes.
3. Conduct focus groups and interviews with (a) faculty (b) students (c) administrative support people as a follow up to the surveys.
4. Visit other universities who are exemplars of Distance Education to learn about their approaches to distance education.

The TEL Grant provided funding to support me (in salary dollars) to:

• Develop a comprehensive framework or model of methods of distance education to be used to assist the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD), individual colleges within UMD, UMD departments and individual UMD faculty in making decisions about:
• Which courses or types of course would be appropriate to teach through some form of distance education
• Which methods of distance education are best for different contexts (example of different factors to consider: type of course and desired course outcomes; instructor’s teaching style and technology knowledge and skills; student knowledge and skills; instructor and student access to the technology needed to support distance education; administrative and technological support)
• What types of supports are need for a distance education course to succeed within the given context.
• Develop a web-based course for university faculty, public school teachers, and other educators on how to design and teach courses through various methods of distance education. I plan to begin teaching this course in the 2006/2007 school year.

Research design:

1. In-depth phenomenological interviews with faculty who have taught using distance education, with administrators who are involved in providing support and/or leadership in distance education, and with students who have taken courses taught via distance education. As of April, 2006, in-depth interviews had been conducted with 18 faculty, 6 instructional technology support staff, and 4 senior administrators. Three faculty focus groups were conducted, attended by a total of 23 faculty. Student interviews, focus groups and surveys will be completed in April & May, 2006.
2. The following open-ended questions were used:
   • Interview 1: What have been your experiences with teaching with technology from the first time you used technology as part of your teaching until the present? 
   • Interview 2: What are your experiences in teaching with/learning with/providing leadership in technology and specifically with distance education like right now?
   • Interview 3: How have your past experiences in teaching with technology affected the ways in which you teach/learn/administer using technology and specifically using distance education right now? What might be some suggestions that you have for other faculty/administrators/students who are teaching/leading/learning using distance education right now, or who are considering teaching/leading/learning using some form of distance education? What questions do you have about distance education
3. Focus groups with faculty asking similar questions as the interview questions.
4. Participants could choose to remain anonymous. They have the right to edit anything that they have said before publication. Analysis was done based on the premise that theory will evolve and emerge from the data; thus there was no hypothesis at the start of the study. Interview and focus group data were sorted into emerging themes. Category codes were developed based on these themes. Interviews and focus groups will be open-ended (interviews approximately one hour each, focus groups about 1.5 hours each) and were tape recorded and transcribed. Interview data were initially sorted and analyzed by hand coding, but when data collection is complete they will be will be sorted and analyzed using Ethnograph, a qualitative research software program.