|
||
|
|
||
|
Archived News
2008
|
DSU faculty receive two of four
e-learning awards
The South Dakota Board of Regents recently announced the winners of its new Faculty Recognition Award for Excellence in E-Learning. The Regents created the new awards to draw attention to the importance of the integration of technology into teaching and learning. The awards were made in four categories to the following winners:
“The
awards are an affirmation of the quality of the courses we deliver
via distance and a re-affirmation of the time, effort, and energy
our faculty put into curriculum development and delivery,” said
Cecelia Wittmayer, DSU Academic Vice President. “We're very
proud of the system-wide leadership the DSU faculty provide in the
integration of technology into the curriculum.” In January, academic vice presidents at each of the six Regental universities nominated faculty in each category. Nominations were evaluated by faculty peers and colleagues, some of whom are employed by the Regental universities and some of whom are external evaluators. The selections were made based upon the degree to which the project met category-specific criteria and general criteria. The general criteria included organization, online interactions among students and faculty, and assessment and guidance provided to students in the course. Talley’s nomination was based on a three-page description of his web site, developed in 1997 with support from a summer course development grant. All the materials in his course are delivered over the web, with the exception of a textbook. Over time, features have been added based on student feedback and research he’s conducted from teaching college economics. His website also provides accurate, up-to-the-minute course information for students. His website recently added the ability to replay streaming video lectures over the Internet. The entire course is accessible over the Internet and the students can use the lecture videos to review sections of the course they might not have understood the first time around. “I am very pleased that my website was selected for this honor. And I also thank all of the students who have taken my course over the years for their helpful, constructive, and sometimes brutally honest comments and suggestions,” said Dan Talley, DSU assistant professor of Business and Information Systems. “Their feedback, combined with a good instructional design and excellent technical support, are the primary factors that have driven the successful evolution of my web site.” The Internet permits Talley to assign
a research paper on the Microsoft antitrust trial, using a special
database that is only accessible over the Internet developed by
the Wall Street Journal. The database separates the complicated
legal issues from the economics, so that students can answer the
question of whether Microsoft was guilty of behaving like a
monopolist. “The Internet provides a wealth of information for the economics student, and I find the possibility of using up-to-the-minute news, economic information from primary sources that gathered them, and the opportunity to examine economic issues as they are evolving too valuable not to explore in my courses,” added Talley. “My students can then play back the lectures in their dorm room afterward to study.” Dr. Talley earned a Bachelor of Science in Economics and in Computer Science with a Business Emphasis from the University of Puget Sound. He received his PhD. in Economics from the University of Oregon. Along with his teaching duties, Dr. Talley is working on behalf of the South Dakota Board of Regents as a representative to the Multimedia Resource for Learning and Online Teaching (MERLOT) Project and is the grant coordinator for a Faculty Development Planning Grant from the Bush Foundation. Dr. Talley is also the faculty advisor for the Phi Beta Lambda (PBL) Business Club at DSU.
Hawkes
put together a web-based learning experience for students at a
distance
in his CET
720 Evaluating Educational Technology Outcomes course.
It is an evaluation course, and he believes the items which helped
it get recognized was the nature of the design and the multiple
interaction modes associated with the course. “Anything
I’ve accomplished here at DSU in the way of being innovative or
exemplary with technology has to do with an administration that
supports quality work and colleagues and students who really have
a vision of technology's role in producing quality learning
outcomes,” said Mark Hawkes, DSU assistant professor of
Education and MSCET coordinator. “That holds true especially in
our graduate program in educational technology where I get to work
with colleagues who are constantly pushing the limit of state of
the art e-learning and distance education. Lots of credit also
goes to the students I work with, most of whom are full time
working adults in schools and other teaching and training
situations, that are bright, thoughtful and have high expectations
for their courses. So, that sets a high standard for me to work
for.” “When
you’re working with learners at a distance, some of whom in this
course were as far away as Pennsylvania, you have to think about
lots of ways in engaging them in the content, yourself, and other
learners,” added Hawkes. “So, we get creative with synchronous
chats, audio and video clips introducing course content, streaming
video, audio narrated power points, and several other interactive
tools.” This
enables students, even though they really never work together in
the same room during the course, to still feel like they're part
of a learning community. Hawkes is always quick to respond to
their emails, thus changing the traditional student-professor
relationship so that it is more like a group of friends working
together on a project. He also sets up a challenging but realistic
scope of study that requires his students to create products that
are useful in the places they work. Dr. Hawkes has an Associate of Arts in Economics, Bachelor of Science in Psychology and an Master of Science in Instructional Psychology and Technology, all from Brigham Young University. His PhD. is in Instructional Design, Development and Evaluation from Syracuse University. Dr. Hawkes is an Assistant Professor of Instructional Technology in the College of Education at DSU and the program coordinator for DSU’s Master’s Program in Computer Education and Technology. He is also DSU’s faculty development specialist for the Board of Regent’s MERLOT project. Before coming to DSU, Dr. Hawkes worked at the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL) in Chicago. |
|
|
||
