Faculty considering using technology to add a credit to a Gen Ed course can contact Academic Computing for help. We can consult with faculty who are just starting to explore whether a given technology will work for them and their course. We offer one-on-one or group workshops for faculty who wish to learn how to use a specific technology.We can also help faculty learn how to best present technology to their students, including having an OIT Academic Computing Consultant make an in-class demonstration when a technology is first introduced into a course.
Here are some ideas on how to use teaching technologies to add a fourth credit to General Education (GenEd) courses:
General Considerations
When considering the use of technology in a course, instructors should carefully consider their goals. In most cases, technology can be used to extend student activities outside of class in order to add a credit. The instructor, however, should carefully consider how much work a specific technology will require and match it to their expectations:
- Some technologies can simplify administrative processes for the instructor, thereby freeing up time for other tasks (e.g., using SPARK to collect assignments).
- Some technologies require the instructor to put in significant time at the start for training and preparation, but this can lead to time savings later on in the semester (e.g., preparing online materials and self-tests).
- Some technologies require very little work to set up, but then require the instructor to spend extra time during the semester facilitating and evaluating student work (e.g., having students participate in online journals or discussions in SPARK).
Using Technology to Simplify Administrative Processes
Technological tools that simplify basic classroom administrative tasks can free up time for the instructor to attend to other matters. SPARK is one of the most common tools that instructors can use for this purpose; however, there are other tools that may be used as well.
Examples:
- Use SPARK as a basic course Web site for posting syllabai, assignments, and other course materials. This reduces the amount of time spent in class responding to requests for basic information.
- Use the assignment tool in SPARK to collect, respond to, and grade projects. This keeps all materials in digital form and in an organized structure, reducing the amount of effort used to sort and manage paper.
- Use the discussion tools in SPARK to collect short written assignments. Students can easily submit written responses to questions in an online form. These assignments can be structured as private journals seen only by the student author and instructor, or as blogs or discussions that are open to class review and peer evaluation.
Using Technology to Support Specific GenEd Learning Objectives
Here are a few examples of technological solutions based on learning objectives and GenEd goals. Depending on the specific solution and objective, these can require different amounts of work on the part of the faculty member to manage or evaluate the project.
Information Literacy
Online media such as Web sites, blogs, and podcasts can be a rich source of information for students. As a note of caution, though, each source should be evaluated carefully by students to ensure veracity and credibility.
Examples:
- Each week, provide students with a blog post or news clipping and require them to fact-check it. Their evaluation can be posted in SPARK in the Assignment tool or a Journal Discussion (where only the instructor or TA will see it), or as part of a Threaded Discussion (which allows others in the class, or a group, to review each other’s evaluations).
- Variation on above: Assign a specific blog or author that a student will follow over the course of the semester. Reviews and fact-checked evaluations can be posted on SPARK, summarized in a paper, or used as part of an oral presentation given to the class.
- Have the students (in groups or individuals) track activity on Wikipedia pages related to the topic of the class. Students can follow the behind the scenes “Discussion” on the page, and even participate in the editing of the page.
Technological Literacy
Certain kinds of projects can be modified so that students need to use technological tools to execute the assignment. These can be specialized programs that are used in specific fields, or common programs for general use. Typical projects include the use of PowerPoint, spreadsheets, statistical programs, audio/video editors, or design software.
The chief requirement for such an assignment is that the faculty, including TAs, understand the software well nough to provide adequate guidance to students. Faculty may also want to consider setting up a peer mentoring system, so that those with experience with a piece a software can assist those who need help.
Examples:
- Have students learn to use PowerPoint effectively by preparing and presenting (or recording) a presentation to the class. A discussion or “Grading Form” in SPARK can be used to collect feedback from the class.
- Students are assigned a specific data-analysis project in class and given several software options to use in its execution. Students are required to learn the software on their own using online resources (such as Atomic Learning or YouTube-based tutorials). Students will reflect and report on the learning process in order to develop their own list of best practices for learning new software.
- Have students create a handout, presentation, or “screencast” demonstrating a specific aspect of a software package used in their field (e.g., instructions on how to use the command VLOOKUP to merge data between two Excel spreadsheets).
Oral Communication
As hardware and software for audiovisual content production becomes increasingly common, it has become easier to produce short audio or video projects. Students can use these tools to capture their own spoken words and share them with others.
These kinds of assignments require access to recording hardware and training, and they require a means for collection and evaluation by the faculty.
Examples:
- In a course that deals with controversial science or health issues, provide students with a clip or transcript of a question/statement from an extreme view of a topic (such as is heard on a pundit-based tv show) and have the students record a 30-second to one-minute verbal response.
- Have students follow the model of NPR’s “This I Believe” segment and record their own submission to the program.
- Have students create a “digital storytelling” project in which they explore their personal reflection on a course-related issue (such as the definition of “home” in an Anthropology class). Students then write a script and record the audio for a narrated slide show or video.
Application to Real-world Problems and Contexts
The Web and the Internet allow a classroom to have a global reach. Students have real people with real issues at their fingertips. Web 2.0 tools, and the ease with which one can use those tools to publish Web-ready content, make it easy for students to get involved in helping people outside the classroom and around the world.
Examples:
- Have students choose from a prescreened list of online causes and organizations, and spend some time getting involved in the organization’s online efforts. Then, ask students to keep a journal on paper or in a SPARK Journal discussion to describe and track the experience.
- Select a specific issue, and have students interact with others interested in the topic through Web 2.0 tools such as blog “comment communities” or Facebook.
- Using social media sites such as YouTube or Flickr, have students collect images and videos posted by people involved in a specific issue, event, or location. Materials can be collected for a presentation about the topic. Assignments could also include online (email or chat) interviews with the people responsible for the posted materials.
Collaborative Learning
Tools such as wikis, SPARK, and other Web 2.0 sites provide ways for students to collaborate on projects without additional scheduling and coordination. Tracking features in some of these tools allow instructors to assess more easily the amount of effort each participant puts into the work.
The public nature of some Web 2.0 tools can be an issue if certain kinds of FERPA-protected information is involved. However, making collaborative projects “public” can raise the stakes for students and make them take more care with their work.
Examples:
- Using Wikipedia or another public wiki site, have groups of students coordinate the creation of new pages on a course-related topic. (Side note: In Wikipedia, pages in need of elaboration are called “stubs”.) The instructor will need to track the process carefully to evaluate specific contributions.
- Have students coordinate the development of a group presentation to the class by using SPARK for online communications and UDrive for sharing files. At the end of the process, students will reflect and report on their collaborative process by reviewing the record of their online activities.
- Present the parameters of a scientific model (e.g., how disease spreads in a given population), and then ask groups to work together to predict the outcome of an event based on specific variables. Outside of class, students can use SPARK to coordinate their discussions and research. In class, technologies such as laptops and the Personal Response System (PRS) can be used to do research and collect responses in real time.