Reflections on Blended Learning: Rethinking the Classroom

Transcription

1 Reflections on Blended Learning: Rethinking the Classroom Perspectives and strategies from RIT faculty on how to leverage online technology to increase interaction and engagement Michael Starenko, editor Rochester, NY

2 Published by Lulu.com Copyright 2008, Rochester Institute of Technology, Online Learning This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Non- Commercial No Derivatives (by-nc-nd) License. This work may be shared, copied, distributed and transmitted, for non-commercial purposes only. This work may not be altered, transformed or built upon. To view a copy of this license, visit or write to Creative Commons, 171 2nd Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, CA Editor: Michael Starenko, RIT Editor, production manager, cover and layout designer: S. Joanna Bartlett-Gustina, Earthscribe. Photographers: A. Sue Weisler, John Rettallack, Educational Technology Center, RIT Cover photography: Markus Gann, Darko Draskovic and Johanna Goodyear, Stockxpert.com, HAAP Media Ltd. Printed in the United States of America First Printing: October 2008 Library of Congress Control Number: ISBN

3 Contents Introduction 1 Acknowledgements 7 Business 9 Business Information Systems Processes 10 Business to Business ecommerce 15 College Math for Business 19 Database Management Systems 23 Global Issues 28 Human Resource Information Systems 30 Internet Marketing 36 Management of Financial Institutions 41 Microeconomics 45 Principles of Marketing 49 Professional Sales Management 53 Project Management 57 Sales Management 61 Self Promotion and Business 64

4 Communications 69 Effective Technical Communication 70 History of Communication Technologies 73 Interpersonal Communication 76 Science Writing 79 Speechwriting 83 Computing and Information Sciences 85 Access and Accessibility 86 Advanced Routing 88 Formal Methods of Specification and Design 91 Interactive Narrative/Writing for Multimedia & New Media Perspectives 95 Managing Cyber Threats to Critical Infrastructure Protection 99 Quantitative Methods of Delivering Usable Software 102 Software Engineering I 106 Web Design and Implementation 109 Deaf Education 111 Electrical/Mechanical Design CAD 115 Introduction to the Field of Interpreting & Discourse Analysis for Interpreters 112 Programming II in Visual Basic 121 Teaching Deaf Learners with Secondary Disorders 117 Written Communication II 124 Humanities 129 Academic English 130 Arts of Expression 134 Ethics in the Information Age 140 History of Women in Science and Engineering 143 Immigrant Voices in American Literature 146 Writing and Literature I 149

5 Imaging Arts and Sciences 153 Design History Seminar 154 Graduate Forum 159 New Media Publishing 164 Tone and Color Analysis 166 Western Art and Architecture 168 Science and Engineering 173 Anatomy and Physiology I 174 Biochemistry Conformation and Dynamics 178 Math Thought and Processes 182 Plastics Processing Technology 185 Social Sciences 187 Cultural Diversity in Education 188 Energy Policy: Special Topics 191 Fear of Crime & Corrections 196 Foundations of Sociology 201 History and Systems of Psychology 204 Introduction to Psychology 210 School Psychology Practicum 214 Glossary 223 Author Index 226

6 Elizabeth Lawley Web Design and Implementation Information Technology Department College of Computing and Information Sciences winter quarter Background I had been teaching Web Design and Implementation for several years, always in a studio model two hours, twice a week, with a mix of lecture and hands-on exercises. However, this model often resulted in students who completed work quickly waiting for others to finish their work, or for those who didn t finish quickly enough to get lost when I moved on to the next portion of the lecture. Method For the blended learning version of the class, I chose to consolidate the lecture material on the first class meeting of the week and use the second class meeting as an optional studio time for students to work on exercises with me or their peers. This meant I had to provide the in-class exercises online and have a way to evaluate them online as well, since some students would choose not to attend the studio sessions. Instead of mycourses, I used the MovableType weblog-based courseware to make the exercises, readings and materials available to students and required each of them to create their own MovableType weblog to use as a portfolio site. Their exercises had to be written up and posted to their weblogs and linked back to the entry on the class site. This allowed me to see their work, but also allowed them to see each other s work and learn from it. Using MovableType in a web design class provides a dual value, because it gives them an environment in which they can implement many of the class topics CSS, Javascript, CGI scripts, etc. in a way that also allows them to talk about those topics. Not all students liked the weblogs, but many of them liked them enough to start their own private weblogs. I made the Wednesday studio session entirely voluntary, with the exception of the day we did a group-project exercise and the day they took their practical exam. I expected that on most days, no more than of the 37 students in the class would attend but I was surprised (and pleased) to find that at least two-thirds, often more, of the students attended on a regular basis. Because it was an open work time, they could work at their 109

7 own pace on the things they were interested in and didn t have to compare their pace to other students or try to keep up with the lecture at the same time. Many of them also used the time for group meetings, which are often very difficult for students with busy work schedules to manage. I believe this contributed to the fact that the quality of the group projects for this class was significantly higher than in most of my other web design classes. Conclusion Overall, I thought this was a very effective way to teach the class, because it gave me regular in-person time with the students something I find important in teaching as well as providing the students with greater flexibility in how they approached the material. Elizabeth Lawley is an associate professor in the information technology department in B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences. 110