vccs nh'10: refining course management systems: listening to those who do it and use it
DESCRIPTION
How do users use content and collaborative systems? Does using a CMS imply certain pedagogies? Presenters will examine the natural teaching and instructional workflow of users as they interact with a collaborative course management system and how it compliments or conflicts with using a CMS. Three perspectives will be examined: instructional designers, instructors, and graduate/teaching assistants.TRANSCRIPT
Refining Course Management Systems: Listening to Those Who Do It and Use It
Refining Course Management Systems: Listening to Those Who Do It and Use It
Presented by
• Amber D. Evans• Teggin Summers• Samantha Blevins
April 7, 2010
TopicsTopics
• Introduction• CMS/CLE & Pedagogy• Research Design• Research Progress• Conclusion & QA
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CMS/CLE & PedagogyCMS/CLE & Pedagogy
Amber D. Evans
Does using a CMS imply or impose Pedagogy?Does using a CMS imply or impose Pedagogy?
Glenda Morgan (2003) found:• CMS use is on the rise,• Important goals for faculty included
“supplementing lecture materials, increasing transparency and feedback”
• Instructors “reported that their communication with students increased as a result of using the CMS,”
• “Accidental Pedagogy”• Faculty look to a CMS to provide organizational tools.• Using these tools causes faculty to “rethink and
restructure their courses” (pg. 4)
Does using a CMS imply or impose Pedagogy?Does using a CMS imply or impose Pedagogy?
Lisa M. Lane (2007, 2008, 2009) reported:•Most users used CMS for course administration.
• Communication, Lecture materials, Email, Gradebook•Length of CMS time didn’t change their use.•CMS encourages novice instructors to "plug in" their content under the appropriate category.•Student-centered tools were “added as ‘features’ (some at additional cost) that simply make a heavy program even heavier” (para. 5, 2007).•Novice Web users suffer the most.
• Unaware and “inclined to utilize only the aspects they understand from a non-web context” (screen 4).
Does using a CMS imply or impose Pedagogy?Does using a CMS imply or impose Pedagogy?Lisa M. Lane (2009) asks:
“Today’s CMSs can be customized, changed and adapted, so why aren’t faculty tinkering with them in an effort to make their individual pedagogies work online?”
We at VT and in the Sakai community ask:
Why can’t we tinker with the CLE in an effort to make faculty pedagogies work online?
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Research DesignResearch Design
Samantha Blevins
Research Design: PurposeResearch Design: Purpose
• Contextual Inquiry• Ethnographic interviewing technique• Gathers qualitative data• Combines interviews and observation• Takes place in interviewee’s work setting• Based on master-apprentice model of learning
• Observing and asking questions about what they are doing and why
• Discovery process instead of evaluation
Research Design: PurposeResearch Design: Purpose
• Four phases to Contextual Design Interview• Traditional Interview
• Overview of interviewee’s work• Establish trust with interviewee
• The ‘switch’• To master-apprentice relation
• Observation• The interviewee “runs the show”
• Summarization• Interviewer summarizes what they learned to the
interviewee
Research Design: PurposeResearch Design: Purpose
• Goal of contextual inquiry • To provide evidence for goal-directed design
• User-centered methodology• Allows research team to create composite user personas
from the collected data• Created personas can be used to determine when a
common need can be met by either common or different interfaces
Research Design: PurposeResearch Design: Purpose
• Our overall goal is to help improve the next generation of Sakai (known at Virginia Tech as “Scholar”)
• Interviews were conducted with• Teaching Assistants• Instructors• Staff• Students
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Research Design: ProceduresResearch Design: Procedures
• One, 60-minute interview with observation notes
• Interviews were audio-taped• Two researchers were present• One to conduct the interview• One to take notes and observe
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Research Design: ProceduresResearch Design: Procedures
• Notes of the interview were then turned into summaries• Summaries were used to create the user personas
• The audio-recordings are currently being transcribed• Transcripts will then be coded for major themes
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Research ProgressResearch Progress
Amber D. Evans
Sakai CommunitySakai Community
• http://www.sakaiproject.org/• Over 160+ institutions• This project is being lead by the User
Experience staff at Stanford University.• Completed all persona compositions• Created Activity Requirements & Framework
for how to structure, setup, and assess• Assignments, Grading / Feedback
• Still collecting info about instructional designers.
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VT ContributionVT Contribution
• At VT we conducted 9 interviews• 4 Instructors, • 1 Graduate Teaching Assistant, • 2 Students (1 Graduate, 1 Undergraduate), and • 2 Instructional Designers.
• Currently summarizing the personas for the Instructional Designers.
• Next steps: • Build out the personas • Create “Requirements Definition”• Problem Set Creation• Provide process to Sakai Developers
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Examples & SamplesExamples & Samples
Amber D. Evans
Instructor/Staff: Problem SetsInstructor/Staff: Problem Sets
Chikako Nakamura Japanese instructor
Terry HeinleinMajors Bio coordinator
Bob MurphyOnline Math Professor
Amanda HarperInstructional Tech Associate
Instructors: WritingInstructors: Writing
Denise Garza Freshman Writing Lecturer
Landon JonesAssociate Professor, Philosophy
Irina Nemkova Graduate Teaching Assistant
Jan NelsonNursing Practicum Instructor
Review submission status
Review individuals
Activity deployment
Course planning
Activity creation
Activity creators Activity evaluators
Review submission status
Review individuals
Activity deployment
Course planning
Activity creation
ReferencesReferences
Example Instructor/Staff processes and workflow slides are credited to Keli Aman and Jackie Mai from Stanford University.
Lane, Lisa M. (2007). “Course Management Systems and Pedagogy.” LisaHistory.net website. Retrieved 28 February 2009 from http://lisahistory.net/pages/CMSandPedagogy.htm Lane, Lisa M. (2008). “Toolbox or trap? Course management systems and pedagogy.” EDUCAUSE Quarterly 31(2). Retreived 31 March 2009 from http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Quarterly/EDUCAUSEQuarterlyMagazineVolum/ToolboxorTrapCourseManagementS/162865 Lane, Lisa M. (2009). “Insidious pedagogy: How course management systems impact teaching.” First Monday, 14(10). Retrieved 6 April 2009 from http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2530/2303 Morgan, Glenda. "Faculty use of course management systems." Educause Center for Applied Research, 2003. Retrieved 1 May 2007 from http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ERS0302/ekf0302.pdf
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Thank you!Thank you!
• Questions?
Contact Information• Amber D. Evans [email protected] • Teggin Summers [email protected] • Samantha Blevins [email protected]
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