“Technology is Changing Higher Education…”

• Develop scalable institutional models• Need for instructional support staff that are

skilled beyond technology• Promote new ideas about what comprises

quality instructional support• Separate short-term and long-term support• Create faculty learning communities that

focus on technology and instruction• Need for collaborative efforts

Overview of our Project• What are we developing?

• A sustainable, strategically planned support model that promotes efficiency in online course production and maintenance

• Goals• Scalability• Efficiency• Clarify unit priorities• Promote collaboration• Empower faculty

Expected Benefits• Quality experiences for students

• Appropriate mix of instruction/technology

• Qualified instructors

• Quality experiences for faculty• Excellence in support

• Allow professional/personal development

What will we show you?• Select pieces of our model

• Separation of Short Term and Long Term support

• Focus on College of Education/vuDAT support relationship

• Support unit: Virtual University Design and Technology

• College: College of Education

• Outcomes: Of the model

I. vuDAT Model of Support

Provost

Academic Support Units Degree Granting Colleges

Libraries, Computing and Technology

College of Education

ACNS vuDAT Help Line

IVS DMC Trainers Faculty Teaching

Online

InstructionalSupport

Units

vuDAT StaffAdministrators

Support

eProducers

New Media Designers

Programmers

Student Media Developers

Course Development – Outline

• First Contact Mtg./Decision process

• Producer Assignment

• Development

• First Offering

• End of First Offering• “One-up” courses – End of active VUDAT support

• Degree program courses – Project based interactions

New Course – Pre-development

• Faculty member(s) approach VUDAT with new course

• First Contact meeting (information gathering)

• Decision Process

• Producer Assignment

The eProducer• Interpreter between faculty, and support

specialists

• Directs faculty to various resources on campus

• Has technical, design and pedagogical knowledge

• Variety of backgrounds

Development• Set expectations, timeline, goals

• Consultant philosophy

• Design, development, revision

• Make sure faculty understand how to use the technology

First Offering

• Support during first offering• Tech problems

• Revisions

• Often requires more development

End of First Offering

1. “One-up” courses• Revision Period

• Two months or 20 hrs. whichever comes first—revise existing material

• End of active vuDAT support• Future support provided by College/Department

• Can go through the entire process again for major course redesigns

End of First Offering

2. Courses in a degree program• Course debriefing, schedule revision time

• Project based interactions from now on

• Scheduling is done by the producer

II. College of EducationSupport

College of EducationInstructional Technology Support

Center for Teaching and Technology

Computer Support Group

Hardware/softwareEquip.

LoansTeachingSupport

Tech Exp.for Grants

In-class

Serveradmin

ClassroomsupportResearch

Support

Online/hybrid development

Consulting Starting Research

PC MAC

COE Model of Support• Benefiting from changes at college

• Faculty develop skills

• Forming collegial networks

• Support is provided in the form of:• Consulting/Technical Support

• Policy and Planning Committee

• Labs/equipment

• Presentations, workshops and colloquia

Support for Online Program• Consulting / Technical Support

• Pre-/Post-development

• Research

• On-request support

• Policy and Planning Committee• Share successes and concerns

• Plan new directions

• Assess program

Support for Online Program• Equipment loans/Laboratories

• Video equipment• Laptops / projectors• Labs

• Presentations, workshops and colloquia• Lab tutorials• Current trends• Software demonstrations

• CMS• Development software

III. Outcomes

Example of Current ProjectDesign and implementation of a “comment” tool for adult career

development course

What have we learned?• Inter-unit collaboration brings varied views • Relationships between vuDAT and colleges

vary• Inter-college opportunities can strengthen

programs (e.g. breakfast series, brown bags)

• Frequent / open communication, resulting in a “friendly” working relationship

• Open access to all key players

What have we learned?• Core components remain static, methods

must be dynamic

• Separation of short- and long-term support (scalability)

• Allocation of resources (e.g. human, financial, etc.) can be problematic

• Strong institutional commitment to support is vital

Assessment• Satisfaction

• Student ratings

• Administrative support

• Faculty support

• New Ways of Assessment• Under development

• Collaboration with other universities (e.g. UCF)

Future Directions• Model is supporting our needs and goals

• Continuing assessment of program, addressing new needs as they arise and modifying the program as necessary

• Continuing to build new partnerships and invite new parties into existing partnerships

Questions?

Brandon Blinkenbergbran@msu.edu

Scott Schopierayschopie1@msu.edu

More information and resources available at:http://www.msu.edu/~schopie1/educause/