BRENTON R. YANOS, WILLIAM FUSS, CANDICE LAMBERT, EMILY OLTHOF, KAITLYN HARDING, & LAUREN ROGERS

FACULTY ADVISOR: CYNTHIA SIFONIS

Oakland University’s Psi Chi Chapter Explores Open

Education

E-Cornucopia ConferenceMay 26, 2011

Oakland Universityhttp://oaklandpsichi.com/

Psi Chi: the International Honors Society

Purpose: to encourage, stimulate, and maintain excellence on scholarship of the individual members in all fields (particularly psychology)

Goals: academic recognition & nurture a climate congenial to creative development

How? New pathways using technological advances Open education

Theory that knowledge should be transparent and accessible to anyone who wants to learn

Why have an open education policy?

History of students wanting content from our events but not being able to attend Oakland University’s commuter population Many non-traditional students

Inopportune times of events, allowing certain student populations to not benefit OU’s class schedule Work, family responsibilities, distance, etc.

Focus on new events each year (with traditional events being made available online)

The Student Perspective

Educational institutions should take advantage of the growth in technology Rising OU population = more non-traditional students

ConvenienceInformation could reach undergraduates

otherwise unable to attend educational events. “Commuter school” at OU Students can participate in group learning activities

without actually be situated in the same location.

The Student Perspective

“Supplemental education” Online content supplements but does not replace

traditional educational formats Only when combined with traditional formats do students

recognize the benefits of eLearning (Serwatka, 2002) Reexamining “live” information to investigate

information possibly missed. Classroom interaction is important for educational

and social purposes. How will a student ask questions?

Students: The Natural Procrastinators Students may severely underestimate the amount of

time needed for online learning Students must be motivated to look for/access online

material.

The Student Perspective

Student adaptation Overestimation of student technological abilities

The college age group may indeed find it difficult to adapt to this new way of learning

Lack of IT skills is one of the main reasons for student non-participation in eLearning environments (Wilson, 2001)

O’Connell (2002) proposes that some students may experience problems with the eLearning process

Access to information? Students still have the option of using computers at

school if one is not available in the home Time limit

Psi Chi’s Perspective

Post facto: open education benefits students who were unaware

of certain events at the time they occurred

Open education allows students from other Psi Chi branches to gain knowledge from sources outside their respective universities. Creating organizational bonds between Psi Chi

members from across the U.S. Thereby broadening the educational goals of Psi Chi.

Preparation for this conference! Use of eLearning tools

Existing Online Psi Chi Content

Podcasts Psi Chi Psychology conference at Drexel University

(March 2006) Six research presentations http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/psi-chi-cast/id14068

3358 University of Connecticut

Fifteen total topics http://www.psychology.uconn.edu/resources/podcasts.ht

ml Sonoma State University

Five lectures on Autism

Existing Online Psi Chi Content

Oakland University content on iTunes U• There is some non-lecture content posted on iTunes U

• They are not getting many hits.• This could be because the podcasts are not really geared to

undergraduate students• Lecture content on iTunes U have gotten many hits

• Dr. Sifonis has on average 15 hits on every lecture content of hers. • Possibly because the content is for undergraduates

• Our current workings:• http://www2.oakland.edu/psych/psichipodcast.xml• Downloads of non-lecture content geared towards

undergraduates • Hypothesized to result in a moderate amount of hits

Future Online Psi Chi Content

Expecting: More Psi Chi chapters to be using iTunes U

Share knowledge about different events Post how to become or apply for an officer position Post workshops that are held every year to open up space

for different workshops Focus efforts elsewhere

Philanthropy Outside researchers Joint events

Future Direction

Limited data exists However, open education is predicted to benefit many

undergraduates and professors here at OU Professors can:

Have more lectures online as supplemental materials Enjoy multiple benefits

Can help with finding research assistants Can make teaching more interactive Lectures can be heard from people outside the university

Increase awareness of open education across Psi Chi chapters, student organizations, and

educators

Issues Before Recording

Faculty Permission Approval to be recorded

Fear of being recorded Releasing Power Point Presentation

Psi Chi Officer Learning Curve How to use voice recorder/video recorder Equipment set-up New software

Audacity Camtasia (other future programs)

Issues After Recording

Audacity Time

Editing “dead air”, “Q&A” and um’s and ah’s Adding intro

Uploading content to iTunes U/website Problems:

Sampling bit rate Sound differences between computer source and online

content

Time demands New officer position

Benefits of Using Audacity

Audacity Open source File size Saving in different formats

Video Recording

Benefits Visual and audio content work together to enhance

the learning experience

Limitations Video recordings not currently being used

File size limitations on iTunes University Bandwidth issues for hosting videos on our website Harder to edit Faculty are uncomfortable being video-taped Time taken to prepare a “mock presentation”

Future Goals

Camtasia Having a “standard” workshop available enables

More time for student “Q&A” More hands-on experience at workshop Open up time for other new workshops

Give students who are unable to attend the presentation an opportunity to benefit

New Officer Position Open education Editing clips Psi Chi website

Need for Psi Chi laptop Files in one place Programs on one computer Stays in Psi Chi

References

O’Connell, B. (2002). A poor grade for eLearning: Classroom students did better. Workforce, 81(7).

Serwatka, J. (2002). Improving student performance in distance learning courses. The Journal of Technological Horizons In Education, 29(9), 46-52.

Wilson, J. (2001). Lessons of a virtual timetable: Education. The Economist, 2.