The SBC Fellows Program - Indiana University

Daniel R. Brady

"A Modular Approach to Health Science Education."

I propose the development of a series of self-contained modules covering the development, structure, function, pathology and therapies relevant to each system in the human body. I will initiate this modular approach toward understanding human biology by integrating factual information with relevant graphics and interactive programs in a user-friendly environment on the Internet focusing on the nervous system. Initial development will center on Dental, Medical and Graduate level content since the Indiana University School of Dentistry has instituted a new curriculum that requires a shift in the learning paradigm, and all Dental students are required to have a laptop computer and use the internet in their studies. Once Dental students have completed the module and its assessment, the module will be adapted for Allied Health programs that require Anatomy and Physiology courses, as well as statewide undergraduate level (or advanced High School level) courses in Human Biology. Finally, the modules will be further refined to accommodate Continuing Education needs of Health Care professionals throughout the state. The course will be developed using OnCourse and WebCT, interactive programs for use on the Internet. Embedded in this proposal are several roundtable or workshop topics the Project Director would like to direct to assist others in development of their own Web-based use of technology.

Publications & Presentations
Final Report

John F. Kremer

"Development of an Interactive Computer Program: Applying Psychology to Life."

The monies from Ameritech will be used to develop an interactive, Web-based learning tool, "Applying Psychology to Life." Although this program will help students learn several critical thinking skills, it will be especially useful in teaching them to apply course concepts to real life examples. Pedagogically, the program will provide students feedback on their performance, compare it with other students, recognize outstanding accomplishments, vary the level of difficulty based on performance, and keep detailed data on use and learning. The authors have five years of experience developing and providing evaluative and learning-based interactive computer programs over the Web. Samples of these products are available on the Web and referenced in the proposal. To support project activities, the Department of Psychology, the site of this work, has a full-time computer programmer and a full-time multimedia technician. The support of Ameritech will be especially helpful in enabling us to go beyond our previous work and available resources to give students a highly motivational and engaging learning tool.

Final Report
Good Practice

Portia K. Maultsby

"Multicultural Multimedia on the Web: From Spirituals to Hip-Hop, the Music and Culture of Black America"

The proposal requests support for developing three instructional Web sites on African American music and implementing them in classroom instruction. These Web sites will be based on a classroom-tested model produced over the past three years in conjunction with the Teaching Learning Technologies Laboratory (TLTL). The three courses identified for the Ameritech grant examine traditional and popular music genres within socio-cultural and historical contexts using ethnomusicological methods.

These Web sites will serve as resources for both multimedia presentations and students' use of instructional materials to prepare for in-class discussions and as a source for research to complete out-of-class assignments. They will also support two fundamental instructional objectives. The first is to increase the efficacy of the course, particularly in promoting student activities that require the application of critical thinking skills and interactive techniques for cultural analysis. The purpose is to better prepare students "to competently participate in an increasingly intercultural society" and to encourage critical thinking by facilitating educational avenues that are "inclusive of the voices and experiences of the students" (Gorski 2000). The second objective is to advance the computer skills of ethnic minority students as well as whites from rural areas and small towns so that they can successfully compete for jobs in the 21st century.

See Hip Hop Music and Culture.
Final Report
Good Practice

Ali Reza Montazemi

"Intelligent Tutoring System in Support of Mastery Learning."

A primary advantage of computer-based instruction is its ability to provide improved performance by means of one-to-one tutoring. To this end, during the past 10 years, we have been involved in the development of a computer-based intelligent tutoring system in support of students' mastery learning. This system, called MIS-Tutor (MIST), has been used to assist students learn Management Information System course materials at the university level. Our tests show that MIST has significant effect on students' learning process of the subject matter. The artificial intelligence technology embedded in MIST make it possible to adapt the tutoring requirements to each individual student's learning needs. A major component of MIST is its ability to present course materials in different format of text, graph, and picture. In this proposed research, we intend to add video presentation capability to MIST and assess the effect of this added functionality on students' learning performance.

Final Report
Good Practice (to come)

Howard Rosenbaum

"Teaching and Learning Electronic Commerce in a Virtual Economy."

This proposal describes a demonstration project that will promote innovation in teaching and learning through the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for instruction in electronic commerce (ecommerce). A version of this proposal was presented at a November 10 conference "Teaching and Learning with Information Technology" on Nov. 10 at IUPUI. See Building a virtual economy to support L561: Electronic Commerce . The project will support the design and development of an inquiry-based learning environment for ecommerce. Students will have a challenging, novel, technology-focused, and learner-centered educational experience; they will learn by "doing" ecommerce instead of listening to someone talk about how to do ecommerce. A working, robust, large scale, system-wide virtual economy (VE) can provide Indiana University with a powerful learning environment that can become an integral component of many different graduate and undergraduate classes. It will also place Indiana University at forefront of institutions in higher education that are experimenting with non-traditional ways of teaching ecommerce.

Teaching in a VE will involve the development, testing, implementation, and use of a secure Web-based environment where students will experience ecommerce from the ground up. The VE is a distributed digital marketplace that simulates a competitive environment for buying and selling information products. Over the course of a semester, students will be involved in starting up, designing, and operating Internet businesses (e-businesses). Their clientele will use digital money to purchase information products and services. Initially, these shoppers will be students in other IU ecommerce (or related) classes; subsequently, they will come from other colleges, high schools, and the private sector in Indiana.

The project involves pedagogical, service, research, and technical components. The first is pedagogical. The course will be redesigned around the concept of problem-based learning. This will require the development of curricular materials (readings, tutorials, and interactive assignments) and an instructional strategy to support the e-business start-up cycle. I have been teaching ecommerce since 1996 in SLIS (the first such course in the IU system) and will use the current course structure as a basis of the redesign.

Publications & Presentations
Final Report
Good Practice

Catherine A. Shea

"Electronic Enhancement of Supervision Project."

The grant applicants propose harnessing technology to address supervision training. EESP will integrate three information technologies (webcam, discussion listserver [Lyris], & Web pages) to prepare and mentor classroom teachers who will supervise IUS students in southern Indiana and metro-Louisville, KY classrooms. The assumption is that effective supervisors will contribute to preparing better special educators, ones who will stay in the profession.

As early as the 1960s, technology was explored as a way to reduce expensive, time-consuming on-site visitations (Hernie and Whiteford, 1972). Technology has been used with varying degrees of success during early field experiences (Ageneli, 1998), student teaching (Cross and Murphy, 1990), and first year on the job (Thomson & Hawk, 1996). In Indiana, Dr. Dennis Knapczyk, IUB, has used WWW hosted asynchronous, text-based conferencing with Indiana teachers (Chung, Rodes & Knapczyk, 1998), and Dr. Jackie Blackwell, IUPUI, has used campus technology so her university class could observe an off-campus model preschool program (Blackwell, 1999).

Project Impact Beyond Special Education: Findings have implications for a large number of Division of Education students who are not in special education. EESP's innovations could be applied to some of the approximately 1,000 field experiences arranged for the Division's undergraduate and graduate students.

Project Timeline and Activities: EESP has four phases lasting approximately 12 months. Procedures developed by IUS faculty and exemplary classroom supervisors (supervision-mentors) will be piloted with an additional six classroom teachers. Procedures include identifying supervision skills and providing mentorship training to the supervision-mentors. The project's electronically enhanced supervision will be integrated with on-site visits to classrooms as needed.

Publications & Presentations
Final Report
Good Practice