1 Panel: National Research Agenda “Research” “Research” 1. Kinzie: NSSE as one example of current national research 2. Ehrmann: national research that could help advance one type of transformation, locally & nationally

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3 Your Part 3. Suggestions for research that could help advance your institution’s work in this arena (10 minutes) 3. Suggestions for research that could help advance your institution’s work in this arena (10 minutes) e.g., Development of funding for transportation systems researche.g., Development of funding for transportation systems research Small group of institutions has far more influence on research agendas than one “unique” institutionSmall group of institutions has far more influence on research agendas than one “unique” institution Cards on the tableCards on the table

4 “Accountability”? Common definition Our View Stick Guidance, carrot, stick “Them” Self, colleagues, students, alumni, taxpayers… Budget cuts? Informed assistance?

Groping Our Way Into a Bigger, More Dangerous World Some National Research Priorities Stephen C. Ehrmann, Ph.D. Director, The Flashlight Program Stephen C. Ehrmann, Ph.D. Director, The Flashlight Program

6 Thanks!Thanks!  180+ institutional subscribers to TLT Group services  Annenberg/CPB and AAHE  Washington State Univ., St. Edward’s University, Notre Dame…  EDUCAUSE/NLII, AAC&U, AASCU, ACA, League for Innovation...  TLT Group Founding Sponsors Blackboard, Compaq, Microsoft, SCT, WebCT Blackboard, Compaq, Microsoft, SCT, WebCT

7 OutlineOutline I.Describe this “transformation” II.Four families of national research that are likely to be useful locally: 1)Tracking the transformation in order to draw resources to it 2)Exploring the transformation in order to clarify strategy 3)Testing the theory underlying the transformation in order to make choices 4)Diagnosing barriers to the transformation in order to increase participation

8 Toward More Distributed Learning Environments  ‘Before’: “All the world is divided into two parts…”  From isolated single hierarchy to multi- center, connected  Metaphor(1987): mainframe, to dumb terminals, to distributed computing

9 Transformation (as I glimpse it)  Increased use of technology in the world and in education  helps many more learners, experts, others  to each get to, and interact with,  more (kinds of) resources, learning experiences, and people (often more specialized than before the transformation)

10 A Few of the Dangers  Over-promising and disillusion; funding backlash  Staff burnout  Red ink  Exclusion of those who are always excluded  Students cheated with shoddy intellectual resources, sterile learning, worthless degrees  (etc.)

Tracking  With what are students learning (origin of resources)?  With whom are students learning (peers, experts) – should be widening  How: Emergence of new instructional models built on reach for greater diversity of resources, people; advantages of scale U of St. Thomas MBA program for medical group managers – national faculty, national student body U of St. Thomas MBA program for medical group managers – national faculty, national student bodynational facultynational faculty MIT Cultura Project MIT Cultura Project MIT Cultura Project MIT Cultura Project Online 24 x 7 reference librarians or teaching assistants Online 24 x 7 reference librarians or teaching assistants

Developing Theory  Basic research on how media choices affect communication, collaboration  For example Start with faculty, students who are skilled at conversation, problem-solving in various communications forms, from classrooms, to chat rooms, to threaded discussion, to video conferencing Start with faculty, students who are skilled at conversation, problem-solving in various communications forms, from classrooms, to chat rooms, to threaded discussion, to video conferencing Test to see how changes in communications architecture affects the ability of these experimenting courses to carry out various activities. Test to see how changes in communications architecture affects the ability of these experimenting courses to carry out various activities. For example, does “face to face” in a classroom of 30 tend to have distinctive advantages over other architectures for courses of that size? For example, does “face to face” in a classroom of 30 tend to have distinctive advantages over other architectures for courses of that size?

Testing Theory  Do institutions with unusually high technology use also feature unusually high levels of some/all of the 7 principles  Do student hybrid/blended courses that encourage interaction foster better student-student collaboration and student- faculty bonding than purely f2f courses of comparable size and emphasis? What are the relative retention rates?

Diagnostic Tools  Purpose: help identify barriers to participation for individuals or groups in order to lower those barriers  Examples of Flashlight diagnostic assessment tools Survey to help faculty and institutions spot barriers to online collaboration among students Survey to help faculty and institutions spot barriers to online collaboration among students Cost Handbook to help faculty and institutions more easily assess how working faculty are using time (e.g., for undergraduate engineering laboratories) in order to help redesign the tasks Cost Handbook to help faculty and institutions more easily assess how working faculty are using time (e.g., for undergraduate engineering laboratories) in order to help redesign the tasks  Increase rewarding uses of time, decrease stress

15 Benefits of Such Research  Findings  Tools that others can use to study similar phenomena in their own context (“All education is local”)  Existence proofs discovered in one locale can be useful for other locales

16 TLT Group’s Flashlight Program  Subscriber-supported work on assessment tools, training, consulting, etc.  We’re interested in working on these issues, with you, NLII, NSSE…