Dean A. Morss, Ph.D., FRMS
This presentation describes a project developed as part of a summer fellowship in educational
technologies sponsored by a US West grant to Creighton University. It is a project though which a
University can bring its faculty to a common ground in their understanding of emerging technological
advances in education delivery. I believe there is a dichotomy within the faculty at Creighton, as well
as many other Universities and it is this contradiction that forms the underlying assumption upon
which this project will be built. Simply stated, there exists a basic desire on the part of most of the
faculty to use new techniques and technologies in their teaching, but there is considerable
dread/inertia at having to "learn all of this stuff". It is this aspect of the problem that forms the root
cause of what I will call cyberphobia. I firmly believe that the US WEST Fellows should take a
proactive approach and essentially attack this fear of the cyberworld. The approach I propose to
demonstrate in this project will hopefully relieve this cyberphobia through the education of as many
of the faculty as are willing to try a simple computer based training module addressing the
technological tools and data sources available and their potential classroom use by anyone. The
ultimate goal of the project is to enable each faculty member to use the spectrum of resources to the
best of their ability and desire.
Keywords: list up to twelve keywords here
US West
cyberphobia
cyberworld
education delivery
educational technologies
The US WEST Academic Development and Technology Center at Creighton University is a US WEST endowed center that has as its overall goal the improvement of instructional quality at the University through the technological enhancement of faculty teaching skills. The primary objective of the Center is to offer on an annual basis US WEST Fellowships for full time Creighton faculty members. The US WEST Fellows working with the Center receive technological training, access to multimedia computing systems, access to special computing hardware and peripherals, use of special software tools, and support services to enable them to develop new computer based instructional systems for use in their classroom and laboratory teaching. The Center has a half-time faculty Director and two physical locations. One Center training site is located in the Instructional Technology Center in the Carl Reinert Alumni Memorial Library and the second site is located in the Biomedical Communications Division of the University's Bio-Information Center. The Center's sites are networked to the US WEST Center's dedicated Internet server (http://mentor.creighton.edu) which is physically located at Creighton's Information Systems headquarters.
The second objective of the Center is to train the US WEST Fellows to serve as mentors for other Creighton faculty members as they become engaged and proficient with interactive computing and communications technology.
Faculty members who accept appointments as US WEST Fellows must design and intensively work on a project that is the focus of their independent learning and scholarly activity during their fellowship. Individual projects are conjointly planned with the US WEST Center Director and are reported on at a campus seminar after the conclusion of the fellowship. Each US WEST Fellow is required to prepare a proposal detailing the computing project that he or she will pursue during the fellowship training period. This proposal becomes part of the evaluation of the Fellow's training; a written report (with supporting computing outputs) about the project is submitted at the end of the fellowship training. The project report is distributed to the Fellow's Dean, Chairperson, and the US WEST Center's Coordinating Committee. Elements of these project reports are also incorporated into the US WEST Center's Annual Report. Finally, the Fellow is expected to submit their completed project for publication and/or presentation at a regional or national professional conference.
US WEST Fellows also participate in a directed mentoring program which begins at the end of the their individual fellowship program. Mentoring activities include scheduled contact with the next group of US WEST Fellows and faculty members from the Fellow's School or College.
I reviewed the work of previous US WEST Fellows during the early stages of my fellowship period. Previous Fellows had devoted significant effort to the development of the campus network and servers supporting the program, and the establishment of college- and departmental-level home pages. My department already had its home page (established nearly three years ago by our student club members) and I had been publishing a personal home page, with class related materials, for nearly two semesters. Thus I was drawn outside the scope of the previous Fellows; I wanted to see how I could share the technical exposure offered by the fellowship with other students.
It was at this same time that I began to be more aware of the level of expertise exhibited by some of my fellow faculty members; the subject of faculty awareness and exposure to the technology associated with the Internet and the data sources from the Internet became prevalent in the message content of some of the discussion groups and listservs. Was there a way to approach the "reluctant professor" and acquaint them with the basics of the technology, and do it in such a way that no stigma could be attached?
The project herein defined does not have an end point. There can be only a beginning; it is really a great deal more than a project for an individual US WEST Fellow. This is a project through which the University can bring its faculty to a common ground in their understanding of emerging technological advances in education delivery. I believe there is a dichotomy within the faculty at Creighton, as well as many other Universities, and it this contradiction that forms the underlying assumption upon which this project has been built. Simply stated, I believe there exists a basic desire on the part of most of the faculty to use new techniques and technologies in their teaching, but there is also a considerable dread/inertia at having to "learn all of this stuff". It is this aspect of the problem that forms the underlying root cause of what I have chosen to call "cyberphobia". I firmly believe that the US WEST Fellows have the responsibility to take a proactive approach and essentially attack this fear of the cyberworld. The approach I proposed to demonstrate in this project will hopefully help reduce the overall level of this cyberphobia through the education of faculty member; they become the target student body. All that is necessary on the part of an interested faculty member is a willingness to watch a simple computer-based training module which addresses the technological tools and data sources available and their potential classroom use. The ultimate goal of the project is to enable each faculty member to use the spectrum of resources and technologies to the best of their abilities and desires.
To carry out the larger project, I have developed a demonstration of its feasibility using an easily delivered media; the demonstration module contains the information needed for one of the potential subject areas. As the project grows beyond this demonstration, each participating faculty member will be empowered to realize their own potential for using a multimedia approach to support traditional and innovative teaching techniques appropriate to their desires and abilities. It is essential that the method of delivery used in the project is not so sophisticated as to raise additional concerns because of the technology used; a complex delivery could negate the degree of cyberphobic relief attainable. We must concentrate on an easily delivered, effective description of the information available and the capabilities of the multimedia approach to support all teaching styles. Perhaps as important as the content of the tutorials developed, are the requirements for the modules to be easy to use, to present a uniform "look and feel", and to contain sufficient information to convey the subject in a manner that does not overwhelm the audience.
Implementation of this project is possible through the use two software packages. The first package is Toolbook MultiMedia CBT authoring package (a commercial educational product). This software meets the criteria by allowing development and delivery of stand-alone training modules in an efficient and effective package. The full CBT package allows inclusion of question/response discussion, animation to illustrate pertinent points, video and sound effects, and the a built-in application that enables collation and compression of module files into a self-extracting run file. All the user needs to do is to load a disk into their PC and the module self-extracts into the appropriate directories and installs a ToolBook Reader for viewing the material. The capability provided to develop and present specific examples and tutorials, illustrating multimedia use and potential payoff is virtually unlimited.
The second package is Microsoft's PowerPoint presentation software. A delay in delivery and installation of the ToolBook software led me to investigate the capabilities of PowerPoint as a back-up approach. While it can provide a suitable delivery and presentation of the basic material, it lacks many of the interactive aspects desired for the full production of the informational modules.
Several steps are required to get this project started and then ensure its continuation as part of an on-going Creighton faculty enhancement and training program. My project addressed only those aspects associated with the start up and feasibility demonstration phases of the total program. The long term aspects are not within the purview of the US WEST program, but belong instead to established University programs as an integral part of faculty enrichment processes. Consequently, I see the overall program phased as follows:
Phase 1: Using the ToolBook CBT (or PowerPoint) software package, develop a feasibility demonstration tutorial module designed to address an overall high level view of the Internet and its potential for enhancing the course content of an introductory level science class.
Phase 2: During the Vice President's Academic Convocation on 26 Sept 96, demonstrate the material contained in the feasibility module and distribute a survey form (attachment 1) to those who inquire about the module and its intent. A limited number of copies of the demonstration module could also be available for distribution at this time.
Phase 3. Further circulate this same survey form to all College of Arts and Sciences faculty, to ensure full coverage of the target student body. The purpose of the survey is to determine what the faculty currently use for classroom technology, and to what extent they use or do not use Internet resources. The survey will serve as an introductory tool to acquaint the faculty with a source of information available to them that will present a guide to such technology areas as:
Phase 4: At this point the program has been demonstrated. It will be turned over to the established
University committee. It then remains for the committee, with assistance from US WEST Fellows in
a mentoring role, to realize the potential of the capability through continued module development
and delivery as an integral part of faculty development activities. A cadre of expertise to support
these activities exists within the US West Fellows, as well as with some selected faculty members
who already exploit technological advances within their teaching activities. A campus wide, faculty
based, technology organization directed toward the teaching and learning aspects of technology is
also a possibility in the future. This program could be expanded to other Colleges and professional
schools as the demand dictated.
FACULTY TECHNOLOGY FACT FINDING SURVEY
DATE: 24 SEPT, 1996
TO: COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES FACULTY MEMBERS
FROM: DR. DEAN. A. MORSS, US WEST FELLOW
RE: COULD YOU USE THE INTERNET AS A TEACHING TOOL IN YOUR CLASSES?
The project I have chosen to pursue as part of my Summer 96 US West Fellowship is directed toward College of Arts and Sciences faculty members who are curious, investigative, forward thinking educators. Who among you can not profess to possessing one or more of these basic characteristics of a successful university-level professor? But - and this is a big "but" for some, is there something relatively new out there that could serve as a data, information, and resources tool to enhance the present excellence of your classes? Is there something that you have heard about, but have not explored to see if there is any applicability to the methods and content you currently use in your courses? Well friends, if you would provide some input to the following questions, my project may serve as an initial stepping stone into the use of current technology to enhance the learning environment you present to the students through your lectures, assignments, and daily interactions. I recently demonstrated the feasibility module of this program during the Academic Affairs Convocation on 26 September; if you saw that demonstration and answered this questionnaire at that time, please pass this copy along to a colleague.
By your confidential responses to the these questions you will provide the basis for further development of a series of stand-alone, self-paced introductory tutorials designed to acquaint you with the variety of educational applications possible through the Internet and other simple technology enhancements for the delivery of course materials.
I would greatly appreciate it if you would return this questionnaire as soon as possible. If you would like to see the sample tutorial that I intend to build to demonstrate the feasibility of the delivery method and content, please contact me by sending me with your name, Department, phone number, and email address under separate cover. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me:
Your cooperation is greatly appreciated as I endeavor to share at least some of the information I
have acquired during my period as a US West Fellow.
Dr. Dean A. Morss
Assistant Professor
Atmospheric Sciences Department
Creighton University
2600 California Plaza
Omaha, Nebraska 68123
damorss@creighton.edu
http://thor.creighotn.edu or http://www.creighton.edu/~damorss
N.A.WEB 96 - The Second International North America World Wide Web Conference http://www.unb.ca/web/wwwdev/ University of New Brunswick.