Technology invigorates teaching, but what is the pazzazz worth the price?

By Bridget Murray
Monitor staff

Scenes from the classroom of the future: Outfitted with a headset mike and radio mouse, Michael Atkinson, PhD, lectures and fields questions while pacing a steel catwalk and bounding about an amphitheater much like the set of "Donahue." Periodically, he beams CD-ROM and video clips onto a big screen to illustrate concepts to his University of Western Ontario students.

Meanwhile, at the University of Southern Maine, John Broida's students take their tests on his web site, and can read their textbook online too.

And at Eastern New Mexico University, psychology professor and webmaster Jack Moore, PhD, offers his psychology courses to students throughout the state, completely online.

All three represent a growing company of professors injecting technology into their teaching. Faculty now use Internet resources in a third of their courses, multimedia technology in a fifth of them and CD-ROM programs in 15 percent of them, according to the Campus Computing Project, a survey of more than 600 higher-education institutions nationwide.

Many have tapped administrative funding to wire their courses, as is the case with Atkinson, Broida and Moore. The three insist the benefits are worth the cost. Multimedia and web technologies stir the senses, capture student interest, and free them from the constraints of time and place, they claim.

But not everyone agrees that those benefits are borne out by research, or that they outweigh technology's expense. Douglas Chute, PhD, a neuropsychology professor at Philadelphia's Drexel University, points to the high costs of instructional technology, including the enormous amount of time it takes faculty to use it, and the hiring of technology staff to help them, not to mention the money needed to buy, maintain and replace electronic hardware. Richard Griggs, PhD, a psychology professor at the University of Florida, isn't sure that those costs are justified.

"We need to ask many questions about the relative costs and benefits of computer technology and get answers before blindly adopting it," says Griggs. "At present, we don't have those answers. Sadly, we don't seem to be asking many questions."

Atkinson's course, for example, cost his university $500,000, although much of that went toward renovating the auditorium and purchasing a high-tech overhead projector, sound system, laser-disc player and other sophisticated equipment.

For most professors, who typically tap a campus Internet infrastructure that already exists, the greatest cost--aside from buying software--is the time it takes to do so. Usually it's considerably more time than they spend on regular courses.

Some faculty also question whether technology really boosts student learning. Griggs even cautions that technology could inflict serious harm if it's used in ways that supplant university faculty and undermine meaningful learning.

"Computers are neither human nor humane--teachers are," says Griggs. "Teachers inspire, stimulate and challenge their students. Computer technology may enrich teaching but it clearly cannot replace it. If it does, we as a society will have committed educational suicide."

What's needed, says Chute, is serious research on instructional technology's worth and effectiveness. To date, there's a paucity of studies in the area, although a growing number of researchers, among them psychologists Matthew Champagne, PhD, of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Curtis Bonk, PhD, of Indiana University's Center for Excellence in Education, are undertaking comprehensive assessments of instructional technology.

Based on his findings so far, Bonk says that used right, technology doesn't replace faculty, but rather changes their role from course lecturer to course facilitator. Used wisely--for instance, steering web discussions to foster reflective thinking--it also enhances student learning, he says. And thus, technophiles claim that universities can't afford not to invest in technology if they wish to compete for students.

"The whole question of technology's worth shouldn't be one of dollars-and-cents cost, but rather, 'Is it doing something that faculty can't normally do or teach?'" says Douglas Chute, PhD, a neuropsychology professor at Philadelphia's Drexel University. "Yes, students can watch a video or listen in a regular class, but with the web or CD-ROM they can interactively tour psychological treatment facilities and ethically develop skills through diagnostic and intervention exercises."

'SuperPsych'

In Atkinson's multimedia extravaganza, known as "SuperPsych," students take virtual tours of the retina and parts of the brain. He projects these computerized simulations, and video clips too, onto a 20-foot screen. Between the visuals, he walks among the 1,200 students who enroll each semester and discusses the clips' content. (Go to instruct.uwo.ca/superpsych for details.)

Atkinson considers the course's high cost in dollars and staff time worthwhile because the university recovers the money in savings and the jazzy format keeps students from tuning out--"enabling them to see and hear the material." More importantly, it allows for cost-effective use of faculty, he says. By simultaneously serving large numbers of students who'd otherwise require several sections of introductory psychology, the course frees up faculty to teach more senior-level courses. Thus, those courses enroll fewer students, and faculty can provide closer supervision where it's needed, he says.

And, considering the projected rise in university enrollment in the coming decade, instructional formats that serve higher numbers of students effectively will become ever more important, says Carole Barone, PhD, who heads the National Learning Structure Initiative at Educause, a professional association for information technology in higher education.

Barone's favorite example of multitech teaching is the "radical" Math Emporium at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute. Housed in a renovated department store building, the Emporium replaces the traditional classroom with computerized work stations for students. Each station hosts six students learning calculus, algebra and other such subjects, via computer tutorials.

Some faculty patrol the premises, tutoring students as needed. Others give short lectures on trigonometry, algebra, pre-calculus and the other subjects students are studying. And students can also choose to view videotaped of lectures on the same topics.

Despite her enthusiasm for this model, Barone admits that it's on the outer edges of the technological frontier. And Atkinson's Star Wars course setup is no doubt out of reach for the average professor just starting to experiment with technology, or even slightly fearful of it.

Those anchored in the typical classroom often find web and CD-ROM resources the most practical, workable additions to their teaching. Some call on their university's technical support staff for help using the technologies, while others who feel more comfortable with computers try adapting them to courses on their own.

The future is the web

One professor who's been experimenting with a combination of CD-ROM and web resources in courses developed with colleagues from the National Academy of Neuropsychology is Drexel University's Chute (Visit bc.drexel.edu for details). He might, for example require students to explore case work-ups in neuroanatomy, forensics, or brain injury on CD-ROM for homework, then discuss possible clinical issues in class and on the web. In fact, many instructors favor using the web over CD-ROM because the web is more accessible and less expensive, says John Mitterer, PhD, who uses big screens and video and computer animations in class.

"The real, immediate future of instructional technology is the World Wide Web," says Mitterer, an associate professor with a joint appointment in psychology and computer science at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario. "Faculty are putting more and more coursework online."

Course web sites vary from basic listings of course syllabi to comprehensive galleries of course-work, course activities and study notes. A course site for introductory psychology built by the University of Southern Maine's John Broida, PhD, available at www.usm.maine.edu/psy/broida/101/index.html, even includes an online version of the course text and a semester's worth of tests. The site allows students to take the tests as often as they wish, providing immediate feedback so they can improve their performance on the next round.

"It gets to be a game because students can see how the others are doing," says Broida. "They work harder and harder to get a [perfect score], and those are hard to get."

The only drawback of Broida's testing system is that he can't know for sure who's really taking each test. But, he says, the system is a highly effective learning motivator because it gets students to retake tests, thereby improving their understanding of concepts. His setup is so effective he plans to take the course a step further into cyberspace. Next he plans to videotape his lectures for playback on students' videocassette recorders and offer the rest of his course entirely on the web.

All-out online

For some faculty, among them Chute, courses lose the unique mental stimulation and personal connection of "live" teaching and face-to-face discussion when they become entirely web-delivered.

Acknowledging such concerns, Mitterer admits, "It's tough to say, 'Let's not bother with the lecture and seminar.'"

Yet, he says, the format offers distinct advantages. Most importantly, it removes daunting barriers of time and place, he says. Online courses serve a clientele that, in many cases, can't otherwise attend courses on campus, either because of family and job demands, or because of physical disabilities.

Serving this group promises to brings the university extra money by boosting enrollment, and at the same time gives students access to education they otherwise couldn't obtain, and saves them traveling costs. What's more, online courses hone skills that regular courses don't, says Eastern New Mexico University's Moore.

He teaches a web-delivered introductory psychology course that reaches students hundreds of miles from his base of Portales. Because students' participation is all written--from answering textbook questions to participating in discussion forums and e-mailing one another--they learn to express themselves better in writing.

After a while, people post comments in just a screen's worth of text or less, says Donald Hantula, PhD, who teaches an online industrial/organizational psychology course, accessible via oll.temple.edu/psych170 at Temple University.

"If you take too long to make a point, the other students let you know it," says Hantula.

Despite such advantages, Hantula notes that online courses require a lot of work. They demand structure, ongoing interactive assessment activities and patience to work out the technological glitches.

But the investment is well worth it, as long as faculty are allowed the time and leeway to use instructional technology to their advantage, says Mitterer.

"We have an obligation to engage the enemy because if we don't know the enemy, we can't fight back," he says. "When a new technology comes along, I owe it to my students to explore effective uses. Technology is a way for us, as professionals, to hone our craft."

Further reading

* Bonk, C.J. & King, K.S., Eds. "Electronic collaborators: Learner-centered technologies for literacy, apprenticeship, and discourse." (Erlbaum, 1998)

* Cyrs, T.E., Ed. "Teaching and Learning at a Distance: What it Takes to Effectively Design, Deliver, and Evaluate Programs." (Jossey Bass, 1997).

* Katz, R.N. & Assoc. "Dancing with the Devil: Information Technology and the New Competition in Higher Education." (Educause, 1999)

* Forsyth, D.R. & Archer, C.R. Technologically assisted instruction and student mastery, motivation, and matriculation. Teaching of Psychology, Vol. 24, No. 3, p. 207­212, 1997.

* Hantula, A. The virtual industrial/organizational class: Learning and teaching in cyberspace in three iterations. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments & Computers, Vol 30, No. 2, p. 205­216, 1998.

* Lloyd, L., Ed. "Technology and Teaching." ( Info Today, 1997).

* Owston, R.D. The World Wide Web: A technology to enhance teaching and learning? Educational Researcher, Vol. 26, No. 2, p. 27­33, 1997.

The following sites feature downloadable, easy-to-use software for setting up your own web-based lessons:

* www.madduck.com

* www.webCT.com

* product.blackboard.net/courseinfo/

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