Teaching with Technology?

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately about the so-called concept of teaching with technology and its overall impact on learning. I was recently at a steering committee meeting for the Apple Digital Campus project and the topic of teaching with technology came up … the overwhelming feeling in the room was, “technology has failed in the classroom …” and “it hasn’t made any difference.” I usually don’t sit these types of discussions out, but being one of the youngest and least experienced educators in the room I decided it was better to just listen. After a bit, I sort of felt like I was listening to a group of grumpy old men … everything they discussed had such a negative connotation to it. None of them (and there were about 30 of us from both higher ed and industry) really had anything positive to say about it all. I was shocked.

This room was filled with pioneers in the utilization of technology in the classroom and all of them were just nailing it. I took it in stride and decided to really think about WHY these people felt this way. What I came away with was that they might be very right and at the same time, very wrong.

Take for example the Internet … probably the one thing that every teacher would really like to integrate into their classrooms appropriately … I know I do. I am very lucky to teach at a place where literally every student has a desktop or laptop in front of him or her. This gives me an amazing opportunity to engage them via technology. But when I teach I very rarely let the students USE those machines to do any sort of Internet related work … I usually walk into class and say, “log out and close the laptops.” When I reflect on that, I can begin to see the perspectives of my colleagues. Maybe it is the technology? Maybe it really isn’t any good for the classroom … or maybe I am forcing my “old school” perspective on the way I think the classroom should be managed.

Then I take another step back and begin to see what is actually going on and I realize that I, for one, have been way too controlling with the way the students want to use it all. It seems to me that this is the most exciting time to be in a classroom that is technology-enabled. There are so many things hitting the mainstream that kids are using outside of class that it just has me very eager to try and let them show me how to make it work within the educational framework.

So the Internet sucks as a teaching tool when you just let them go crazy … but, if you can pull them in and let them all have blog spaces, open discussion areas, give them your IM screen name, and really let their everyday life drive the experience, I believe you’ll end up with a solid experience. The technology isn’t the end all be all … we know that, but it still seems important to say. I am beginning to see the Internet as a very powerful conduit to conduct my eBusiness (educational business) with. The whole idea of teaching with technology is more than Keynote, it’s letting the students teach us a thing or two. These kids are now built from the ground up in a digital framework … they know how to use this stuff.

So what’s the point of this post? Well, I spend all of my days working hard to innovate in the area of teaching with technology, but when I get to the classroom, I seem to freeze up, return to my “death by Keynote” mode of teaching and restrict access. I am now going to do the opposite — its their turn to flip on the technology, tune me out, and start learning. Can it happen? Sure. It does everyday, we just don’t see it as learning, we see as living … pervasive learning doesn’t mean wireless access, it means giving students opportunities to learn ALL the time — no walls, no wires, no lectures, just them living in a digital world and exploring, researching, and reporting on what works and what doesn’t. That’s it … not much of a point after all–>

Welcome to 110

Welcome to the blog space for IST 110: Introduction to Information Sciences and Technology. Throughout the semester I’ll be posting things here that I’d like you all to read and comment on. This may end up being a big part of your participation score.

I am really interested in how all this will work this semester. I am actually toying with the idea of using this same space everytime I teach 110 and see how it works over the long haul. ANGEL doesn’t really allow me to connect multiple semesters’ worth of thinking, posts, and discussion. This may give me a chance to do just that. I will also be cross posting in my real blog space, Learning & Innovation, so take a look over there as well.

The links in the sidebar will get you to some of my other sites and other resources … please explore and comment on that as well. Looking forward to it–>

Driving Adoption: The Edison Services Way

As the Solutions Institute prepares to rollout version 2.0 of our Edison Services toolset we are asking ourselves, “how do we get faculty to use it?” We went through a similar adoption and dissemination effort about four years ago when we started rolling out the first Online IST courses. As the chart below indicates, we were very successful in getting faculty to start using the course materials. It was a lot of good old fashioned leg work that got the ball rolling – visiting different PSU campuses around the Commonwealth, lots of face time with faculty in workshops, and other “high touch” kinds of events.

With this Edison rollout things are different. We aren’t really pushing it like we did with Online IST … it is a different approach and it is a different toolset than courseware. What we are attempting to do now is create something that supports all forms of teaching and learning, innovates in a space that desperately needs it, and really just enables new ways to build community around the concept of teaching and learning with technology. Our goals with Online IST included creating a consistent and quality learning experience at the core of the IST curriculum and build a next generation learning environment that students would actually enjoy using. I think we did that and students seemed happy and faculty adopted the technology. With Edison 2.0, we are trying to get EVERYONE within IST, not just a subset, to use it as the central hub to his or her digital teaching and learning life. The graph below indicates our hopes for adoption over the next several years.

The idea is to make sure every faculty member uses technology for teaching and learning purposes in an appropriate and dynamic fashion. Let’s be honest, part of what we are doing is trying to get students excited about our curriculum … higher education has become a very competitive environment … with budgets as tight as they are its very important to land good students and keep enrollment strong. With that in mind, the entire experience of taking an IST class needs to be as exciting as it possibly can be. One thing our students demand is good utilization of technology in the classroom and by them starting their experience with access to a next generation suite of tools that can support their learning goes a long way towards convincing them that IST faculty know what they’re doing.

I just read an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education today that discusses student’s views of technology in the classroom. What I found interesting was that of the nearly 4,400 students surveyed, nearly 50% said that the biggest benefit of classroom technology is convenience, while only 13% said that improved learning was taking place … What Edison aims at primarily is that convenience factor … but, with keeping an eye on improving the way faculty structure a teaching with technology experience. One of our primary goals with Edison was to streamline and improve the teaching and learning experience for both students and faculty. We wanted faculty to be able to very quickly create cutting edge teaching experiences and we wanted to empower students with features that other LMS/CMS tools just can’t deliver.

But what this entry is really about is adoption. How do we get faculty to recognize the value in the toolset and to take the time to explore and ultimately deliver their materials via Edison? Furthermore, how do we get students to demand an experience like the one they can only get from Edison? Well, to answer the first, we’ll go directly to our faculty, put them through some usability testing, ask them what they want, and teach them how to use the tools. Hopefully they will see the value, understand how this will help them (higher ratings and better perceived quality of delivery), and become strong supporters of the technology. Back when we rolled out Online IST, we picked two or three key members of the faculty as pilot testers and then let them do the selling to the rest of the group – that worked and we’ll do it again. As for student adoption, well, that will have to wait until faculty begin to really use it. When edison 2.5 rolls out for the Spring semester the community tools will be ready and I think students will begin to demand having it available in all their classes.

For now, its back to the good old fashioned leg work to get them to show up on August 15th for the rollout … until then, we can only plan for a good release. If you have ideas, I know we’d love to hear them!

Virtual Learning Worlds — Where are we Headed?

A colleague of mine, Bart Pursel, has an interesting blog site that he has been working on related to what he calls, “Virtual Learning Worlds.” His concept is that the same engines that power today’s most popular games can be essentially re-skinned for education and training purposes. He is clearly onto something. If you have some time, jump over and take a look at some of his postings.

He has been pushing us to add principles of game theory to our courses and tools over the last couple of years and we’ve finally started doing just that. This Fall we’ll be rolling out a new eLearning course that is supported heavily be small interactive exercises that take game theory into consideration. Our hope is that students not only use the materials to acquire knowledge, but then spend a larger amount of time interacting with the material because it is designed as a game. When its all said and done, I think we’ll find that student retention goes up and that their overall levels of satisfaction and motivation will rise as well. We’ll be looking at it in a couple of classes to see what its really all about.

When you take the syllabus as the hub to your digital teaching and learning life concept and extend it with the ability to send students directly into engaging simulations and other game-based interactions you can start to do some very interesting things. For example, let’s say there is a simple game-based simulation that students must interact with to solidify a certain set of skills we hope they acquire … the idea would be to allow them to “play” the game over and over to practice and ultimately assess their learning. If all the students are using this same interaction on a regular basis, you can begin to pull the high scores out and list the top five students every week on the syllabus. I know for a fact it would motivate students to strive for higher scores and ultimately greater mastery of the skill set. There is so much work to be done in this space and when you start to pull it all together you begin to see how powerful a mix of all these ideas can have–>

Hub to your Digital Teaching & Learning Life

Most LMS and CMS tools have the same basic layout … they focus their interface efforts on the folder tab metaphor, or even an old-school CBT main menu structure. These interfaces seem to get worse with every new feature as new tabs, or silly icons must be added to every student’s learning space. One of the tabs is always a syllabus tab … where students are supposed to go in and see their, you guessed it, syllabus. Now, I remember going to high school and even college before the Internet was such a part of the educational experience and I always got a syllabus handed to me the first day of class — and I promptly stuffed it into my notebook.

We all understand the perceived importance of the syllabus — from a teaching perspective; it gives teachers a location to centrally announce what we plan to do over the course of a semester. As a student, it is the spot where we first learn about what is expected of us, when things are due, and all sorts of other procedural stuff. The Internet has not changed our need to produce a paper-based syllabus that articulates the goals and expected outcomes of the course. I am asked every semester to turn in a copy of my syllabus for review at the College level and we as faculty are bound by policy to provide our students with one.

Back to the CMS/LMS model … in the world of teaching with technology we have a few choices, we can use Word (or whatever tool) to produce a syllabus that is suitable for print and then move it online as a PDF, or as a static html document. We can also fight our way through the standard tools inside the LMS/CMS our University or College uses … again, building a static version of the syllabus. We then use all sorts of other tools inside the CMS like the calendar to set up due dates, meeting times, and more … like the email tool to send messages to students, cancel class, and collect feedback … a grading tool to provide secure acces to grades and so on. All of these tools are disconnected across the multitude of tabs or within depths of menus that must be navigated.

The syllabus should be the hub to your digital teaching and learning life.

I am so sick of the tools available to make my teaching life better and I know my students are sick of these same tools as they use them to access information and submit work. You can’t do anything without five or six clicks though poorly structured menus and tabs. Why is it that EVERY class starts with a syllabus and it then becomes the ignored part of the learning experience? Why not make the syllabus the CMS? Why not make the syllabus the central place that students visit everyday to find out what is going on? Why type something in Word — or even DreamWeaver — and then have to retype, print (or PDF), and hand it out again next semester when information technology can change this?

I have maintained for some time now that the syllabus shouldn’t just be typed up and stuffed in a student’s notebook. It should actually replace all those tabs and menus of the CMS … students should just be able to visit a living portal into your class via their syllabus. From there, once logged in, they should be able to see what is going on, read dynamic announcements, communicate with their peers and faculty via email, respond to posts, blog, assess individual and team behavior, connect to readings, assignments, exams, and whatever other resources I choose to assign them to. If we build a hub that allows students to visit one location and link to everything from there and make it a meaningful experience, then we can shatter the typical CMS/LMS paradigm and get on with teaching and learning instead of fighting with technology.

This is just the start of all this … within the year, we’ll have built a syllabus tool that not only does everything listed above, but also intelligently looks at student behavior and begins to work with them. It will pull the best and most read posts to the top, calculate scores and provide students with dynamic feedback, and create reasons why they will want to visit it everyday … the syllabus will become as much of a destination as it is a resource. They will begin to see it the hub to their learning community — when that happens we all win–>

Listen Up! The iPod Can Change Grading

For the last three years I have been an iPod user. When I got my first 5 GB iPod as a Christmas gift a few years back I really thought it was a nice, cool device that gave me a first class MP3 player … what I ended up discovering was that the iPod could enable a whole lot more than just listening to playlists. What does this have to do with grading?

I teach primarily using a hybrid, or blended, approach. In other words, I use the Internet as a huge part of my resident teaching and I don’t usually require students to be in class every week … instead I use computer mediated communication (CMC) technologies, like the PSU ANGEL CMS , or the new features of our own software, Edison Services to assign readings, gather feedback, and discuss things. This usually saves time, but in the last several semesters my classes have become much larger (around 60 students) … the students love the freedom to not be cooped up in class getting the “death by Keynote” treatment from me and it makes the times we do meet much more interactive and engaging.

One of the types of CMC activities I use are called Discussion Activities (DAs). DAs are short, open ended, read and respond style questions that every student in class must answer. There is one DA every week that must be responded to in the ANGEL CMS space. Now, when we came up with the DA concept, class sizes were more in the 25 range. It is very easy to read and grade 25 DAs in a week, provide feedback, and post grades but it is impossible to do the same thing with 50 or more students. What ends up happening is that I just turn the whole process over to a TA and students end up getting very late and unispired feedback.

This is where the iPod comes in. The newer iPods have a feature that we think can turn it into a very powerful assessment tool — ratings. I’ve been talking about the concept of one-click assessment for over two years now. One-click assessment will allow faculty to generate a rubric and assign a simple five star rating system to it. The technology figures out the percentages on the fly and it really streamlines the whole assessment process. Now, imagine having a simple app that would automatically turn text files into mp3 files, drop them into an iTunes library on the fly, and sync them to your iPod. Faculty could simply listen to responses and using the built in ratings system, perform simple one-click assessment on each. When the iPod is plugged back into the computer the files are updated with the ratings in place on the faculty’s machine. Again, a simple script would send the feedback to students instantly via Edison Services. I’ve tested it and it saves me a ton of time in grading DAs.

IM Me

So I’ve been doing quite a bit more with IM technology lately … as an avid Mac user, I should be clear, I use iChat. I have an iSight camera that I carry with me everywhere and it has come in handy for quite a bit of stuff. The other day I had a guest lecture in my PGSIT class I teach … he was so good that I fired up the iSight and invited people from my staff to listen to what he was saying. They ended up coming to the classroom and participating in the discussion. That’s not really a big deal, but it has gotten me thinking about how cool the whole AV IM thing really is.

Another story … I do some work with Apple as the lead of Penn State’s Apple Digital Campus project … this means I get to visit Apple a couple times a year. Something very cool happened the last time I was there — everyone in the room (about 20) had a PowerBook and wireless Internet. Everyone also had their iChat up and running. What’s cool is that Apple has a zero config network setup in iChat that finds other iChat members within your subnet … which means I could “see” everyone in the room. What I found amazing was how there were sometimes three or four IMs flying at me from people I had barely met … asking me to pose questions, offering insight, and just talking about what Apple was talking about. For the first time I started thinking that IM is not just a toy, but a VERY powerful business tool.

Since that trip I’ve required my staff to have their IM clients open and their screen names shared so we can communicate more quickly. Gues what — it actually helps productivity.

So, naturally, I thought I’d start to let my students have their IM clients open during class and it is helping as well. I’ve stopped getting pissed about them doing that and engaging them more and more via the technology. They hand in assignments — its faster than the network — pose questions, respond to polls, and send me presentation files that we can instantly look at in front of the class. Very cool and the students really do like it. I’m teaching again this fall and I am going to use it even more … I am going to ask them what the uses are for it and see if we can’t get an agenda together to look at real functional applications for the technology in and out of the classroom. By the way, IM me at workercole.

More on this later–>

Innovation in eLearning and Educational Product Design: The Story of the IST Solutions Institute

Cole W. Camplese
Kristin Z. Camplese
March 13, 2003

Abstract

As a pioneer in developing and deploying innovative curricula in Information Sciences and Technology (IST), the IST Solutions Institute is proud and committed to share the story of our Education and Training Team. In 1999, the School of Information Sciences and Technology at The Pennsylvania State University opened its doors dedicated to the creation of leaders for a global, digital society. As part of our mission, curricular sharing and technology innovation are core success factors. To this end, the IST Solutions Institute was created to meet the challenges associated with this innovative goal.

As the creative center of the School of IST, the Solutions Institute serves as the primary outreach arm through its innovative, media-rich eLearning products and services, information technology research, and student-centered solutions. The IST Solutions Institute’s core areas of specialization include content and process management, Instructional Systems Design as applied to eLearning, and multimedia and visual design, authoring, and application development. Our organization is committed to solid pedagogy, quality products, creativity, and lifelong learning.

Our core initiative, Online IST, sets the Institute apart as the leading developer of integrated eLearning opportunities. Based on a custom instructional design and development methodology, the Online IST project has reached over 5000 students in the last two years. The entire online curriculum is supported by the Digital Design Document (D3), a custom, database-driven content management tool that facilitates content creation, collection, instructional design, team-based collaboration for designers and developers, and flexible course publishing.

The Online IST courses are created based on a custom, four-tier instructional design model. A seven-person team within the IST Solutions Institute manages all facets of Online IST design, development, delivery, and support. The design process is a highly collaborative one that integrates all team members and faculty/corporate subject matter experts. The Institute team has reduced design and development time to six months per course because of this innovative approach. In addition to the online course materials, the team is responsible for several complimentary components that serve to extend and support the reach of Online IST. These include the IST Solutions Exchange — a centralized web-based resource for students and faculty, Edison’s Services — a suite of set-up and management tools for students and faculty, the Pennsylvania Governor’s School for Information Technology — a program for talented high school students, and the IST Faculty Academy — an annual conference dedicated to teaching and learning with technology.

All of the initiatives have been widely used throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. In addition to the 19 location PSU Commonwealth Campus System, the Solutions Institute has delivered Online IST courses to educational partners who cannot adequately support an IST curriculum at their location. In addition, because of our close placement to corporate clients, the Institute has created many industry partnerships related to Online IST. Many of these projects have allowed us to validate the custom Instructional Design and Development model with high-level industry training courses.

The strategic direction of the IST Solutions Institute for years 2003-2005 is related to broader dissemination and revision of the Online IST curriculum, increasing the flexibility of delivery opportunities, and refining and extending the capabilities of the D3 content management system. In order to disseminate the Online IST curriculum to wider audiences, the Institute is engaged in creating licensing models that will provide other learning institutions and corporations with the high level learning topics in support of their learning objectives.

Background

As a pioneer in developing and deploying innovative curricula in Information Sciences and Technology (IST), the IST Solutions Institute is proud and committed to share the story of our Education and Training Team. In 1999, the School of Information Sciences and Technology at The Pennsylvania State University opened its doors dedicated to the creation of leaders for a global, digital society. As part of our mission, curricular sharing and technology innovation are core success factors. To this end, the IST Solutions Institute was created to meet the challenges associated with this innovative goal.

As the creative center of the School of IST, the Solutions Institute serves as the primary outreach arm through its innovative, media-rich eLearning products and services, information technology research, and student-centered solutions. Our positioning is unique to all of higher education; we are placed squarely between the School of IST and the corporate sector. This positioning allows the Institute to utilize the thought leadership of the university and apply it to real world challenges associated with industry. Because of this, we are afforded extensive opportunities for corporate partnerships, collaborative projects, and applied research initiatives. The Institute has become a leading applied research and development organization focusing on solutions for technology-assisted education and training challenges. This effort was recently recognized with the IST Innovators Award, presented by the students of the School of IST.

To learn more about the School of IST, please visit: http://ist.psu.edu . To learn more about the IST Solutions Institute in general, please visit: http://solutions.ist.psu.edu .

The Online IST Project

Our core initiative, Online IST, sets the Institute apart as the leading developer of integrated eLearning opportunities. Based on a custom instructional design and development methodology developed by the Co-Director of the Institute, the Online IST project has reached over 5000 students in the last two years. The entire online curriculum is supported by the Digital Design Document (D3), a custom, database-driven content management tool that facilitates content creation, collection, instructional design, team-based collaboration for designers and developers, and flexible course publishing. The goals of the Online IST project include:

• Maintaining teaching and learning as the number one priority, regardless of delivery medium.
• The extension of a problem-based learning approach for the curriculum that focuses on solutions and outcomes to real world problems (Solutions-Based Learning).
• Development of a modular, scalable, reusable, and relevant curricular core.
• Development of content management tools, processes, and teams to oversee the storage and maintenance of our curricular knowledge objects.
• Integration of faculty and industry thought leaders in a collaborative design process that ensures broad-based coverage of relevant IST topics.
• Providing centralized support to the 19 campus IST Commonwealth System through curricular integration and flexibility (i.e. materials used as full package or as supplemental material).
• Providing the content baseline for IST core courses supplemented with extensive rich media.
• Sharing the fully developed curriculum with educational and industry partners.

Currently, there are five fully developed Online IST courses. For a full listing of the courses and links to course demos, please visit:

http://solutions.ist.psu.edu/exchange/online_ist/courses/index.html

A typical Online IST course contains six hundred screens of instruction tied together through a custom Course Content Interface that organizes all materials for students. Within the course, there are, on average, 10-15 online topics of instruction, 2-3 real world problem activities, 5 virtual lab activities, and instructor and student guides (entitled “Roadmaps”). Because they are managed in the D3 system, these discrete components can be “mixed and matched” to create custom offerings due to the modular design. To break this down further, the online library currently contains 2663 screens of instruction, 670 graphics, and 147 high-level, Macromedia Flash-based interactive exercises and animations. To view samples of graphics and interactive exercises, please visit our Media Showcase at: http://solutions.ist.psu.edu/exchange/online_ist/showcase . In short, the Online IST library is a criterion-referenced, highly comprehensive, interactive, and instantly accessible web-based resource that can be made available to allow instructors to create their own IT courses based on their specific learning goals.

In general, Online IST courses are adopted by individual faculty members and delivered to students at either the University Park or Commonwealth Campus location. To date, over 170 course sections of Online IST have been delivered by approximately fifty IST faculty members. Traditionally, faculty members have resisted usage of online or technology-based learning opportunities as course replacements. The adoption of Online IST has been effective in removing this traditional stereotype because of our focus on teaching, learning, and support.

The Online IST courses are created based on a custom, four-tier instructional design model. A seven-person team within the IST Solutions Institute manages all facets of Online IST design, development, delivery, and support. The design process is a highly collaborative one that integrates all team members and faculty/corporate subject matter experts. The Institute team has reduced design and development time to six months per course because of this innovative approach. In addition to the online course materials, the team has designed several complimentary components that serve to extend and support the reach of Online IST. Some of these include:

• The IST Solutions Exchange is the central starting point for both students and faculty for all Online IST learning opportunities. All of the opportunities below are integrated within the IST Solutions Exchange. Available at: http://solutions.ist.psu.edu/exchange
• Edison’s Toolbox and Services are custom registration and support tools that empower PSU faculty in the delivery of Online IST courses and students with personalized support components. In Edison Services, accounts can be created for users external to the PSU authentication system. Available at: http://online.ist.psu.edu/Edison/index.cfm
• The Online IST Problems Library is a problem-based learning repository that provides faculty and students with direct access to the ever-growing library of Online IST real world problem assignments. The goal of the Problems Library is to increase a faculty member’s flexibility with regard to usage of problem-based activities in the classroom. Available at: http://solutions.ist.psu.edu/exchange/online_ist/problems/index.html
• The Online IST Print Library provides printable versions of Online IST Topic Packs to faculty and students. These Topic Packs are generated by the D3 System to provide easy access when users cannot be connected to a computer. Available at: http://solutions.ist.psu.edu/exchange/online_ist/print/index.html
• Solutions-Based Learning Live is an “always on” streaming channel designed to distribute guest lectures of visiting professors and industry experts to a geographically-dispersed audience. Available at: http://solutions.ist.psu.edu/exchange/innovation/sbl_live/index.html
• The IST Expert Exchange is a community of users committed to providing answers to IST-related questions. This community consists of over 75 leading experts, as well as the IST faculty and student body. Available at: http://expert.ist.psu.edu

All of the initiatives have been widely used throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. In addition to the PSU Commonwealth Campus System, the Solutions Institute has delivered Online IST courses to partners who cannot adequately support an IST curriculum at their location. Some of these course-sharing partnerships have involved:

• Juniata College, a small rural private college
• Holy Family College, a small urban, non-traditional college
• Cheney State University, a Historically Black College and University in a suburban setting
• State College Area School District, a large school district in central Pennsylvania.

In addition, the Online IST courses are shared with the Pennsylvania Governor’s School for Information Technology. This program, supported by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, brings 75 of the top high school juniors to PSU for a five-week, intensive residency program in the summer. Designed and delivered by the IST Solutions Institute, this program focuses on solving relevant, real world information technology challenges using modular components of the Online IST learning repository. To review last year’s challenge, please visit: http://solutions.ist.psu.edu/exchange/pgsit/

Because of our close placement to corporate clients, the Institute has created many industry partnerships related to Online IST. Many of these projects have allowed us to validate the custom Instructional Design and Development model with high-level industry training courses. Three examples include:

• Infinity I/O (II/O): II/O is the leading provider of Storage Area Network training content. By combining the Online IST tools and methodologies with II/O content, a new standard for online training has been established.
• Lockheed Martin Material and Data Services: The IST Solutions Institute created the world’s only Level 5 CMMI (Competency Maturity Model Integrated) interactive training course. This course is delivered to approximately 8000 Lockheed Martin employees.
• IBM: The IST Solutions Institute has partnered with IBM to provide NetDB2, a web-based database manipulation tool that allows students to query data without a client application, to all IST students and faculty in the Online IST 210 course (Organization of Data).

Organizational Growth

The strategic direction of the IST Solutions Institute for years 2003-2005 is related to broader dissemination and revision of the Online IST curriculum, increasing the flexibility of delivery opportunities, and refining and extending the capabilities of the D3 content management system. In order to disseminate the Online IST curriculum to wider audiences, the Institute is engaged in creating licensing models that will provide other learning institutions and corporations with the high level learning topics in support of their learning objectives. Learn more by visiting: http://solutions.ist.psu.edu/license/topics/index.html .

Based on the knowledge we have gained in the last three years, the Institute has made the decision to provide faculty with online tools from Edison Services that empower the creation of individualized learning environments using the Online IST learning repository. A major focus of this effort will be on building easy and intuitive user interfaces with multimedia and graphical elements to streamline the creation of learning environments. The courses and learning objects are also under a constant revision process with plans for a new Course Content Interface, as well as new versions of all courses beginning in Fall 2003.

Furthermore, the Institute will be extending the D3 System to work more closely with emerging content repository standards. These standards will allow the Institute to effectively distribute our pre-designed knowledge objects for broad-based adoption. This move will allow the Institute to engage in a true “e2e” (education to education) distribution model.

The IST Solutions Institute is slated to move into a new, state of the art building in Fall 2003. This facility has been designed to create a “living value chain” that optimizes the research, development, and dissemination of our applied solutions. It will also allow for human resource growth in the areas of data and database management and client relationship management. By hiring other key personnel to expand our team, the Institute will be able to enhance the creativity of our solutions and bring them to life in more powerful ways. Other planned growth activities include visiting faculty members every semester to engage in scholarly activity, corporate sponsorships to create research clusters around key initiatives, and expanding the technology infrastructure to support our activities.

Core Competencies

The major disciplines and technical areas that the IST Solutions Institute specializes in are:

• Content and Process Management: The foundation of the Institute’s initiatives are built on our custom design and development model using the D3 System. These models are based on proven instructional systems design models merged with product development theory. There is a synergistic relationship between our process and technology tools. It is a distinguishing characteristic of the Institute that our content management initiatives have been in place for nearly four years and are used in an actual production environment.
• Instructional Systems Design as applied to eLearning: Our team’s experience is rooted in Instructional Systems Design theory. We have applied this knowledge to create “best in breed” eLearning solutions that meet the learning needs of students and provide a solid teaching basis for faculty. In addition, Instructional Technology Specialists within the Institute ensure that media is used to target multiple learning styles based on course learning goals.
• Multimedia and Visual Design, Authoring, and Application Development: The IST Solutions Institute has a unique ability to bring its technology solutions to life using creative design techniques. Our learning repository is filled with interactive activities that extend the thought leadership of the content. Without these media elements, it would be impossible to capture the attention of our primary audiences. All of the initiatives related to Online IST are managed using web applications for authentication, delivery, and communication.

Teaching, Learning, and Creative Expression

Teaching, learning, and creative expression are core to the IST Solutions Institute mission. These elements form the foundation on which all projects are based. The obvious focus on teaching and learning occurs within the Online IST curriculum. Unique, problem-based learning models ensure that students are engaged in motivating, real world scenarios. In addition, student and faculty evaluation allow us to constantly improve the learning environments, as well as to research emerging trends and best practices for online learning. In support of this, the Institute manages and delivers an annual statewide conference, the IST Faculty Academy, which focuses on teaching and learning with technology within the “K-20” environment. For more information, please visit: http://pafaculty.org/ .

Fostering creative thinking is critical to the overall success of the IST Solutions Institute. To this end, team members are encouraged to engage in “design experiments” several times per year. These experiments allow members of the Institute the creative space to envision new solutions without the constraints of project timelines. Many of these design experiments make their way into actual projects delivered to both internal and external audiences. The only requirement of the design experiment is documentation and presentation of results to the entire team.

Furthermore, a focus on lifelong learning is required of the Institute team. Professional development funds are made available to support ongoing research and learning by the team. Penn State University also encourages lifelong learning by providing a 75% tuition reimbursement to all university employees. This allows our team to engage in higher level learning opportunities, including masters and doctoral degrees. Externally, our advisory board and corporate partners provide the Institute with learning opportunities and insight into real world processes, technologies, and challenges.

Although we pride ourselves on our ability to compete in the corporate sector, the IST Solutions Institute’s work is grounded in the spirit of higher education. Our direct ties to an academic department provide the underpinnings of teaching, learning, research, and service for all of our initiatives. While our production capabilities rival those in business, our main focus will always be on improving teaching and learning and creatively advancing our field.