Enhancing Distance Teaching: Faculty Strategies & Tools

1. The Impact of Distance Teaching on College Faculty Trudy Abramson & George Fornshell School of Computer and Information Sciences , Nova Southeastern University, June 1998

2. Computer-Based Graduate Programs at SCIS • Fully on-line Master of Computing Technology in Education program - MCTE • Partially on-line Doctor of Computing Technology in Education program - DCTE • Other on-line programs: computer science, information systems, information science.

3. On-Line Learning Environments[OLEs] • Synchronous Electronic ClassRoom - ECR • Asynchronous Web-based forums • Electronic library & Internet search engines • Faculty web sites • E-mail - personal and group • Electronic student/electronic teacher - ESET • New tools: Moderator, Auditorium

4. Other Connections • Telephone, voice mail • U.S. Postal service • International postal services • Private, national and international carriers - UPS, DHL, Fed EX

5. Overview: Faculty and the Instructional Process • Master course content • Turn content into instructional process • Deliver instruction • Guide student mastery • Provide feedback, answer questions • Write, administer and grade exams

6. Specifics- page 1: Master Content and Create Instruction • Master skills and concepts for course • Select texts and other materials • Write the syllabus • Write the lectures • Prepare demonstrations • Develop interactive assignments • Create assessments that reflect objectives and outcomes

7. Specifics, page 2: Deliver Instruction and Provide Feedback • Present instruction via computer using the forum: anytime, anyplace learning or the ECR: real time • Elicit active student participation using the forum • Communicate via e-mail • Accept assignments, send feedback, and grade in electronic student/ electronic teacher

8. Fornshell’s On-Line Masters’ Exams • Exam available for one week only. • Twenty questions, choice of answers. • All questions must be answered. • Only first “submit” is counted. • Computer collects responses and grades exam. • Clock time is recorded.

9. Classroom-based - set time, set place Faculty office Limited office hours Interaction limited by class time Mastery examinations Internet-based - anytime, any place Faculty home page Unlimited email Unlimited interaction via forum Projects that show mastery On-Campus OLE

10. Common Features • Syllabus , course notes - distribute in class or download from internet • Textbooks - available from bookstore or internet vendor • Library - building with computers or all electronic access

11. Impact of OLE on Faculty Time • Creating an OLE paradigm for learning - simple HTML conversion does not suffice. • Learning to read between the lines - sensing virtual body language. • Participating in forum discussions - students want professors “there”. • Sending meaningful email feedback - individual instruction.

12. Visit Us On-Line http://www.scis.nova.edu http://www.devel1.scis.nova.edu/~gforn1 http://www.scis.nova.edu/~abramson e-mail gforn@scis.nova.edu abramson@scis.nova.edu