CAUSE ‘98 Discipline Focused Support at Carleton College: Let the Pedagogy Find the Tool Andrea Nixon and Paula Lackie Carleton College December 1998

CAUSE ‘98 Old Tools And Methods: Technology-Centered “Support”

CAUSE ‘98 Old Tools And Methods: Technology-Centered “Support” Supported Suite of Software

CAUSE ‘98 Old Tools And Methods: Technology-Centered “Support” Supported Suite of Software Class Based Training

CAUSE ‘98 Old Tools And Methods: Technology-Centered “Support” Supported Suite of Software Class Based Training Centralized Help Desk

CAUSE ‘98 Old Tools And Methods: Technology-Centered “Support” Supported Suite of Software Class Based Training Centralized Help Desk Where does curricular innovation fit in?

CAUSE ‘98 A New Structure: Laying the Groundwork

CAUSE ‘98 A New Structure: Laying the Groundwork A close knit partnership between faculty members and members of the academic computer staff must be nurtured and encouraged. Effective lines of communication must be developed between everyone interested in academic computing. All parties must learn how to utilize the specific strengths that each brings to their joint ventures. Final Report of the 1992 Task Force on Academic Computing.

CAUSE ‘98 A New Structure: Laying the Groundwork Cathy Smith - New Director Smith engaged the existing staff in the Computer Center Developed an ambitious five year plan Hired additional staff members necessary

CAUSE ‘98 A New Structure: Laying the Groundwork

CAUSE ‘98 A New Structure: Laying the Groundwork Upgrading the campus network Upgrading student computing environs and documentation Upgrading faculty desktop computers Assessing interests of faculty Training, training, and more training Establishing a Curricular Computing Grant program

CAUSE ‘98 A New Structure: Laying the Groundwork Distancing ACNS from the old model and first impressions: Eliminated all paper forms Coordinators met with faculty one on one Coordinators tailored research

CAUSE ‘98 A New Structure: Laying the Groundwork Follow-up Referring relevant journal articles and other resources Clear communication - as free of techno- babble as appropriate Bring in outside speakers

CAUSE ‘98 ACNS Developments: The First Five Years Educational Outcomes Yet?

Faculty Computer Skill Levels 1995 vs In % of faculty had moderate to high skill levels; that percentage increased to 92% in 1995.

Faculty Computer Usage Levels 1995 vs In % of faculty had moderate to high usage levels; that percentage increased to 94% in 1995.

Faculty Word Processing Skill Levels 1995 vs In % of faculty had moderate to high skill levels; that percentage increased to 93% in 1995.

Faculty Word Processing Usage Levels 1995 vs In % of faculty had moderate to word processing usage levels; that percentage increased to 93% in 1995.

CAUSE ‘98 A New Structure: Laying the Groundwork Educational Outcomes Yet? More one on one training Faculty Advisors attended conferences with ACNS staff Faculty Advisors and Director worked with faculty for the Curricular Computing Grant program

CAUSE ‘98 A New Structure: Laying the Groundwork From 1993 to 1995 curricular uses of computers in the Humanities, Languages and Social Sciences increased from 6% to 24%.

CAUSE ‘98 ACNS Developments: The First Five Years

CAUSE ‘98 ACNS Developments: The First Five Years Staff members interdependent therefore we have a tremendous need for communication Re-tuned professional instincts so that they were in keeping with the mission of ACNS Completed five year plan in three years

CAUSE ‘98 ACNS Developments: The First Five Years QuickLine Created ResNet Position Split the Languages and Humanities division Integrated support for analog classroom technologies Created Desktop Networking Admin. Position Joined the Consortium of New Media Centers

CAUSE ‘98 ACNS Developments: The First Five Years Grants Mellon Foundation supported our Curricular Computing Grant program Mellon Foundation - consortial grant program with Macalester College - specific to faculty in languages Mellon Foundation - Innovations in the Classroom

CAUSE ‘98 ACNS Developments: The First Five Years Combined, all of these resources serve to support faculty in exploring and implementing curricular innovation.

CAUSE ‘98 Academic Computing and Pedagogy: The Diffusion of Innovation

CAUSE ‘98 Academic Computing and Pedagogy: The Diffusion of Innovation The fundamental task of the academic computing organization is to understand what it is that faculty would like to accomplish and then to work with the faculty to select and implement the appropriate information technologies that will increase their effectiveness. Smith & Bierman - Academic Computing Services: MORE Than A Utility, CAUSE ‘95

CAUSE ‘98 Academic Computing and Pedagogy: The Diffusion of Innovation The fundamental task of the academic computing organization is to understand what it is that faculty would like to accomplish and then to work with the faculty to select and implement the appropriate information technologies that will increase their effectiveness. ~ Smith & Bierman - CAUSE paper ‘95

CAUSE ‘98 Academic Computing and Pedagogy: The Diffusion of Innovation Where Appropriate means: The pedagogical needs must dominate decisions surround the adoption of IT innovation into teaching and research at Carleton College.

CAUSE ‘98 Academic Computing and Pedagogy: The Diffusion of Innovation Initially, the Coordinators had to overcome some general assumptions / misperceptions:

CAUSE ‘98 Academic Computing and Pedagogy: The Diffusion of Innovation Initially, the Coordinators had to overcome some general assumptions / misperceptions: That conversations between ACNS & faculty about IT would largely be technical in nature

CAUSE ‘98 Academic Computing and Pedagogy: The Diffusion of Innovation Initially, the Coordinators had to overcome some general assumptions / misperceptions: That conversations between ACNS & faculty about IT would largely be technical in nature That the role of ACNS was to parade the latest technologies in a dog & pony show

CAUSE ‘98 Academic Computing and Pedagogy: The Diffusion of Innovation Initially, the Coordinators had to overcome some general assumptions / misperceptions: That conversations between ACNS & faculty about IT would largely be technical in nature That the role of ACNS was to parade the latest technologies in a dog & pony show That real curricular use of IT must be complicated

CAUSE ‘98 Academic Computing and Pedagogy: The Diffusion of Innovation To overcome this obstacle of misperception required lots of “face-time” with the faculty

CAUSE ‘98 Academic Computing and Pedagogy: The Diffusion of Innovation To overcome this obstacle of misperception required lots of “face-time” with the faculty

CAUSE ‘98 Academic Computing and Pedagogy: The Diffusion of Innovation To overcome this obstacle of misperception required lots of “face-time” with the faculty

CAUSE ‘98 Academic Computing and Pedagogy: The Diffusion of Innovation Technical infrastructure Coordinated Personalized Support Curricular Innovations

CAUSE ‘98 Academic Computing and Pedagogy: The Diffusion of Innovation Building Trust & Teamwork with:

CAUSE ‘98 Academic Computing and Pedagogy: The Diffusion of Innovation Building Trust & Teamwork with: Visiting faculty in their offices & faculty meetings

CAUSE ‘98 Academic Computing and Pedagogy: The Diffusion of Innovation Building Trust & Teamwork with: Visiting faculty in their offices & faculty meetings The Curricular Computing Grant program

CAUSE ‘98 Academic Computing and Pedagogy: The Diffusion of Innovation Building Trust & Teamwork with: Visiting faculty in their offices & faculty meetings The Curricular Computing Grant program Sending notices of items related to faculty research

CAUSE ‘98 Academic Computing and Pedagogy: The Diffusion of Innovation Building Trust & Teamwork with: Visiting faculty in their offices & faculty meetings The Curricular Computing Grant program Sending notices of items related to faculty research Helping faculty to trust their pedagogical intuition

CAUSE ‘98 Academic Computing and Pedagogy: The Diffusion of Innovation Building Trust & Teamwork with: Visiting faculty in their offices & faculty meetings The Curricular Computing Grant program Sending notices of appropriate IT tools Helping faculty to trust their pedagogical intuition Engaging in conversation on many levels...

CAUSE ‘98 Academic Computing and Pedagogy: The Diffusion of Innovation The basis for any new curricular innovation should always address the following questions:

CAUSE ‘98 Academic Computing and Pedagogy: The Diffusion of Innovation What are the primary goals of the course? What is the goal of the exercise or innovative step and how does it fit into the rest of the course? What alternate fall-back position is there if the innovation appears to be failing? What type of support is necessary? Who is responsible for the various types of assistance for the duration of the exercise? How will you know if the exercise achieved its goals? How will you know if the exercise or innovative step had ancillary consequences? - were they positive?

CAUSE ‘98 Academic Computing and Pedagogy: The Diffusion of Innovation The fundamental task of the academic computing organization is to understand what it is that faculty would like to accomplish and then to work with the faculty to select and implement the appropriate information technologies that will increase their effectiveness. ~ Smith & Bierman - CAUSE paper ‘95

CAUSE ‘98 Academic Computing and Pedagogy: The Diffusion of Innovation Whoopie - do for Carleton… Now what? How do faculty learn of information technologies?

CAUSE ‘98 Academic Computing and Pedagogy: The Diffusion of Innovation Through Coordinators Through other faculty Through Curricular Computing Grants Through outside visitors or other resources

CAUSE ‘98 Academic Computing and Pedagogy: The Diffusion of Innovation Through Coordinators Through other faculty Through Curricular Computing Grants Through outside visitors or other resources Recognizing this helps us to encourage the diffusion of curricular innovations

CAUSE ‘98 Academic Computing and Pedagogy: The Diffusion of Innovation Everett Rogers’ five stages of adopting innovation Knowledge – Exposure to the existence of an innovation and the general idea of the innovation’s function Persuasion – A formulation of a favorable or unfavorable attitude toward the innovation Decision – The pursuit of activity that leads to acceptance or rejection of the innovation Implementation – Putting the innovation to use Confirmation – A reinforcement for decision to use innovation or testing its applicability in other contexts

CAUSE ‘98 Pulling It All Together Revamped the installed base of desktop computers and established a replacement cycle Provided faculty members with an effective source of personalized computer training and other workshop resources Established a ubiquitous and stable network -Carleton is among Yahoo’s top 100 Wired Colleges in 1998

CAUSE ‘98 Pulling It All Together Initiated and maintained an effective and supportive structure Established a high degree of collaborative efforts for developing and sharing curricular innovations Enhanced faculty role as a team member in the process of evaluating curricular software..

CAUSE ‘98