December 2002 Innovative Instructional Technology
Faculty Grant Recipients
Project Summaries
Gene Byrd (Physics and Astronomy)
Many students at The University of Alabama take Astronomy 101
(AY 101), an elective course on the history of astronomy, the solar
system, stars, galaxies and the universe. In teaching AY 101, Dr.
Gene Byrd, Professor of Astronomy, became concerned about attendance
problems with students putting off studying until just before major
exams, with predictable consequences. During the 2002 Interim term,
he tried a simple prototype solution. Every class day, he gave
a one-page, multiple-choice, open-book quiz. These could count
up to 1/6 of the grade, so students had an immediate incentive
to actively attend every day. The daily quizzes also increased
interaction with the instructor and class members, further encouraging
attendance. Comparing a lecture-only 2001 Interim class to the
2002 class with lectures plus daily quizzes, attendance was over
90 percent, much better than previously. On the final exam, the
average score was 80%, much better than the 2001 Interim class’s
57%. However, a paper exam during each of the much larger number
of class days during fall or spring terms would consume much class
time (not to mention trees) for the typical classes of over 100
students. To solve this problem, the University Office for Academic
Affairs has awarded Dr. Byrd an instructional technology grant
to fund purchase and installation in the AY 101 class room of a “Classroom
Performance System” (CPS). The CPS consists of a computer
receiver unit, 128 individual wireless response pads and software
for creating quizzes as well as real-time questions. Students will
be familiar with this technology in that the response pads look
much like TV remote controls except that they will be used to answer
multiple choice questions during class rather than changing channels!
The grant will also enable hiring a Computer-Based Honors Program
(CBHP) student, Susanna Coleman, to adapt the quiz files, etc.,
to the CPS technology. Ms. Coleman will also finish preparation
of a Web site so that the students can interactively review the
daily quiz questions and other course materials before the major
closed-book examinations. The whole package should be easily modified
for other courses. After installation and software installation
during spring 2003, Dr. Byrd plans a full trial of the CPS system
and Web site in an Interim 2003 AY 101 course.
Angela Collins/Donna Gullette/Ann Graves (Nursing)
To be able to manage critically ill patients in rapidly changing
situations, nursing students must learn critical thinking and make
rapid decisions with life-affecting consequences. These experiences
are often not available for all students or when needed are too
life-threatening to entrust to students. The purpose of this technology
grant is to produce a CD that will afford realistic but safe practice
in management of complex patients. Students will perform a series
of assessment on virtual patients that require analysis of the
relationships among symptoms, medications, laboratory findings,
and physiological consequences and will make decisions within a
realistic timeframe. Depending on their decisions, the virtual
patients will recover, become increasingly unstable, or die. This
CD will fill an important gap in the education of nursing students
about complex situations and may be marketable.
Shelley Hancock and Anna McFadden (Human Environmental Sciences)
The College of Human and Environmental Sciences is using the Classroom
Performance System (CPS) of the eInstruction Company in NHM 101,
an Introduction to Nutrition course with 126 students. The CPS
is an IR response system that obtains immediate feedback from every
student. This system allows the instructor to easily record attendance,
often a problem in large classes. Feedback about attendance may
be a positive factor in retention and performance in large classes.
The system also provides a non-threatening environment which allows
all students to participate in a large class, even the shy ones,
and will allow them to respond in a limited amount of time, which
should also increase performance and retention in large classes.
It is our primary hypothesis that by means of student-response
technology we can create a method of analyzing student responses
in a large class that will lead to a deeper understanding of their
abilities to learn and the contexts in which learning occurs most
effectively and efficiently. During the semester, data will be
gathered during large-group instruction to: improve classroom lectures
in large sections; measure and trace students’ states of
understanding and changes in those states during instruction for
time periods ranging from a single class session to several weeks
of instruction; provide real-time feedback on the state of student
conceptual understanding during an individual class period and/or
between two consecutive class sessions; and provide an opportunity
to study how students and instructors interact with a new teaching
environment that enables rapid feedback on the level of student
understanding and transfer.
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Kevin Shaughnessy, Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Organic Chemistry is a required class for all students in biology,
chemical engineering, and chemistry, as well as any student wishing
to go on to medical, veterinary, pharmacy, dentistry, or other
health professional school. Organic reaction mechanisms, which
are detailed descriptions of how a chemical transformation occurs,
are important for students’ understanding of the material
presented in organic chemistry, as well as important topics in
biochemistry and molecular biology. The goal of this project is
to develop an interactive, Web-based tutorial that would allow
students to gain a better understanding of this important material.
A game-like environment will be designed in which representations
of all of the molecules involved in a given transformation will
be shown. Students will manipulate the virtual molecules in order
to bring about the correct sequence of reaction steps. Manipulation
of the molecules in the correct fashion will lead to a chemical
transformation to the next step. Attempts to carry out incorrect
chemical reactions will not lead to the next step. In this way
students will get visual feedback about their proposed mechanism.
Feedback will be provided about the percentage of correct steps
and/or time required for completion. It is hoped that student use
of this tutorial will lead to improved understanding of these key
concepts, which will allow for better understanding of the other
material in organic chemistry.
Ronnie Stanford and Vivian Wright (College of Education)
The College of Education has a number of graduate degree programs
for teachers in U.S.-type schools in Latin America. This grant
will target, over a two-year period, improving the 10 courses in
the Elementary and Secondary Education Master’s Degree curriculum
for overseas teachers. The grant will provide assistance and technical
expertise for faculty in the College of Education to revise and
upgrade learning activities in courses so a portion of these can
be completed via distance education through the Internet. These
learning activities will be designed to occur prior to and following
the professor’s teaching at the Latin American school. This
increase in student engagement in course assignments/activities
will significantly improve student learning opportunities. The
course management system, WebCT, will be used to provide instructional
flexibility to faculty and a level of consistency for both faculty
and students who work through the College of Education’s
Office of International Programs.
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Marietta Stanton (Nursing)
This grant will help in the development of an orientation module
for our on-line rural case management program. Although the graduate
program provides great access to rural nurses, a mechanism for
providing a graphic overview of the case manager role was sought.
To accomplish this, vignettes are being developed to provide insight
into the role and enhance student's professional socialization
as a case manager.
Bailey Thomson (Communication)
Dr. Bailey Thomson, associate professor of journalism, will use
his $2,000 technology grant to purchase video equipment and software
to enhance his lectures for Journalism 311, the foundation for
reporting. Using the technology, Thomson will create video clips
of short interviews with leading journalists, who will discuss
specific practices and issues, such as objectivity, writing and
ethics. Students will view these clips at appropriate times within
the classroom instruction, thereby gaining valuable insights from
professionals in the field.
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