1. Alan T. BurnsTerry A. Steinbach School of Computer Science, Telecommunications and Information Systems DePaul University Chicago, IL 60604 Send inquiries to aburns@cs.depaul.edu

2.  Goals of IS education research  The trouble with new preps  Best practices defined  Best practices: a cure?  Questions ISECON Pittsburgh, PA Nov. 1-4, 2007 Burns, Steinbach Best Practices: Cure for New Prep Headache?

3. ISECON Pittsburgh, PA November 1-4, 2007 Burns, Steinbach Best practices: Cure for new prep headache? Effectiveness: Goal attainment / Quality / Ratio of actual outcome to an ideal outcome Efficiency: Resource utilization / Ratio of output to input

4. What comes to mind when I say NEW PREP ? e.g. “We’re assigning you 2 new preps next quarter” ISECON Pittsburgh, PA November 1-4, 2007 Burns, Steinbach Best practices: Cure for the new prep headache?

5.  A course already developed, but being taught by an instructor for the first time  The instructor can be either experienced or a novice  The course could also be new (never developed) ISECON Pittsburgh, PA November 1-4, 2007 Burns, Steinbach Best practices: Cure for the new prep headache?

6.  (Extremely) Time consuming to prepare  (Long) Learning curve: They may take several iterations to ‘get it right’  Feedback from students may not be helpful, since they cannot articulate why they don’t understand  Time pressures make matters worse  Perhaps the most inefficient activity we perform ISECON Pittsburgh, PA November 1-4, 2007 Burns, Steinbach Best practices: Cure for the new prep headache?

7.  The term “best practice” refers to a superior internal practice within the organization that provides better results than any known alternatives (Szulanski, 2000).  We may not know why the practice is “best”.  The scope of a best practice can vary widely (a one sentence tip to an entire set of manuals)  Best practices are best suited to discrete but nontrivial tasks  In this case the task is a new prep transfer. ISECON Pittsburgh, PA November 1-4, 2007 Burns, Steinbach Best practices: Cure for the new prep headache?

8.  Best practices are typically modeled in terms of communication theory (Shannon & Weaver, 1949) as a form of knowledge transfer.  Communication theory  Knowledgeable source  Encodes a message  Sent across a channel  Message decoded by  A willing recipient ISECON Pittsburgh, PA November 1-4, 2007 Burns, Steinbach Best practices: Cure for the new prep headache?

9. ISECON Columbus, OH October 7, 2005 Burns, Janicki A Case for PKM

10.  It helps us identify and isolate potential (and very different) problems of transfer.  Why might knowledge be successfully transferred?  Source (lacks motivation, lacks credibility)  Recipient (lacks motivation, lacks absorptive capacity)  Context (distant relationships, lack of incentives)  Message (“sticky” knowledge)  Sticky: difficult to articulate (encode), and therefore hard to transfer to the recipient ISECON Pittsburgh, PA November 1-4, 2007 Burns, Steinbach Best practices: Cure for the new prep headache?

11.  How to make course preps easier to share?  Over the last 2 years, we have been developing a model for sharing best practices for teaching  So far, 3 courses studied (2 u/g, 1 grad)  Two components to our proposed model  A central BP document  A repository of content  Our paper discusses features of our model, and the anticipated knowledge transfer barriers they seek to overcome ISECON Pittsburgh, PA November 1-4, 2007 Burns, Steinbach Best practices: Cure for the new prep headache?

12.  Formality  A formal, attractive document increases the credibility of the source document.  Disclaimer  Our best practices are suggestions, not mandatory rules for adoption  This keeps the instructor in control of the course configuration ISECON Pittsburgh, PA November 1-4, 2007 Burns, Steinbach Best practices: Cure for the new prep headache?

13.  Weekly schedule(s)  Overcome one “sticky” knowledge problem  It’s difficult for the source instructor to explain why topics are sequenced a particular way  Schedules help articulate this knowledge  Classroom response system questions  e.g. for iClickers  Sometimes it is difficult for a source instructor to describe how a class discussion should flow  Articulating questions can help ISECON Pittsburgh, PA November 1-4, 2007 Burns, Steinbach Best practices: Cure for the new prep headache?

14.  Drag-drop-deliver model  A course is broken down into many sessions (modules)  Each session is driven by specific course learning goals  Each session ideally has a conceptual component, as well as a “learning by doing” component (homework, in class exercise, etc.)  Sessions are assumed to last about 60 to 90 minutes ISECON Pittsburgh, PA November 1-4, 2007 Burns, Steinbach Best practices: Cure for the new prep headache?

15.  Drag-drop-deliver model (cont.)  Organizing course content  1 folder per ~90 min. session (module)  High cohesion  Folders are self-contained units  Low coupling  Folders are independent of one another  Instructors pick and choose modules as they wish  Drag from the server, drop onto their desktop, and deliver to the class (in a perfect world) ISECON Pittsburgh, PA November 1-4, 2007 Burns, Steinbach Best practices: Cure for the new prep headache?

16.  Inside a module (folder)  Instructor notes on the module/session  All files needed for the session  Conceptual component (readings, PPT)  Learning by doing component (assignment, in-class exercise) ISECON Pittsburgh, PA November 1-4, 2007 Burns, Steinbach Best practices: Cure for the new prep headache?

17. 1) A central Best Practices document for teaching a course 2) A repository of content ISECON Pittsburgh, PA November 1-4, 2007 Burns, Steinbach Best practices: Cure for the new prep headache?

18.  Seminal paper?  Which parts of the Best Practice document and repository are perceived as being most useful to recipient instructors?  Which parts improve the rate and quality of knowledge transfer?  How to measure benefits? E.g. how much instructor time and effort is saved compared to the traditional method of new prep transfer? ISECON Pittsburgh, PA November 1-4, 2007 Burns, Steinbach Best practices: Cure for the new prep headache?

19.  Do best practices improve student learning?  Is a modular approach to course design more transferrable compared to more traditional approaches of course design  What barriers exist in the new prep transfer process, and how might they be overcome?  What are the barriers and issues associated with transfer of new preps across faculty from different universities? ISECON Pittsburgh, PA November 1-4, 2007 Burns, Steinbach Best practices: Cure for the new prep headache?

20. ISECON Pittsburgh, PA November 1-4, 2007 Burns, Steinbach Best practices: Cure for the new prep headache?