Executive Summary of Results

SIFE students successfully implemented and used the software and hardware provided by this program.  This is evidenced by the fact that they won their Regional competitions in April 2004 and 2005 and competed at Nationals in 2004 (Nationals in 2005 is at the end of May).  IU Kokomo is one of only two schools in Indiana to make it to the National level of competition (and the only IU campus to do so).

Need for the Project

SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise) is an international student organization founded by Sam Walton.  SIFE offers students the opportunity to develop leadership, teamwork and communication skills through learning, practicing and teaching the principles of free enterprise.  Communication skills are very important in the job markets that these students will be entering post graduation and SIFE offers a medium for improving these skills. 

The growth of SIFE has brought with it communication issues and so we used Oncourse’s Group Discussion format to facilitate discussions and student-to-student interactions and student-to-faculty interactions.  IU Kokomo is a commuter campus and students often have expressed difficulty with meeting outside of class.  Oncourse facilitated this asynchronous communication; allowing students to provide feedback to each other and the faculty on their projects. These discussions were structured to also provide feedback assessment on the projects and group communication issues. 

Secondly, (and the primary focus of this application), throughout the spring semester SIFE students present their work and their projects at competitions with other SIFE Teams.  For the past four years, the SIFE team at IU Kokomo has been successful in winning the Regional competition in Saint Louis and going on to Nationals in Kansas City.  These presentations are verbal, written, and technology based and the students must do the work of the presentation themselves.  The students are taught Microsoft Publisher for the annual report and have been using Microsoft PowerPoint for the presentation software.  At Regionals, our excellent SIFE projects carry the presentation but it is clear when we compete at Nationals that our students’ technology and advanced presentation skills are clearly lagging behind those of other institutions.  We wanted to use this grant program to address that lack.  As Brian van Camp, the 2003-2005 IU Kokomo SIFE President noted in our original application, "Like today's society, up-to-date equipment and technology are the only ways to help people see the maximum impact of good old hard work in SIFE.  With the use of better technology, we could have made a much more memorable presentation to the judges at nationals."

Use of Technology

Advanced presentation skills are becoming de rigueur for students graduating with a baccalaureate in today’s business environment.  Currently the SIFE class helps develop basic presentation skills in our SIFE team members.  However, our current undergraduate program does not truly take students to the next level of proficiency, communicating with more advanced multimedia for higher impact in authentic competitive business environments.  Thus, we took a group of students and increased their technological and presentation skills via FlashMX, Publisher, and Photoshop.  The grant allowed us to expand upon these presentation skills and included skills and competencies in FlashMX and other presentation software as part of our student learning outcomes. 

While FlashMX was clearly new to our students, we were also able to increase their technological skills in Publisher and Photoshop.  Students demonstrated their proficiencies in these programs using required classroom presentations.

Instructional Design Plan

Our instructional approach is one of collaboration and collegiality as the SIFE projects and presentations are primarily student generated, student led and student presented.  The faculty members serve as resources and mentors in these endeavors.  This means that students must be self-motivated, organized and willing to learn new ways of achieving their goals.  The class is team taught and the two instructors (Joan and Kathy) work well together in facilitating the many tasks and diverse personalities involved in the group.  This is shown by the consistent success of our SIFE teams.  We use a variety of communication techniques (OnCourse, weekly report sheets, reflection papers, etc.) to encourage collaboration and provide feedback during the semester and at the end of the semester.  SIFE is very much a team effort and different learning and communication styles have a very valid place in the many tasks undertaken.

Resources used:  Campus computing provided much needed help on choosing a laptop, remote project, accessories, supplies and digital video camera.  They also installed the FlashMX and Photoshop software on Joan and Kathy’s computers and the SIFE laptop as well as on five computers in the computer labs.  Joan and Kathy underwent training on Photoshop and FlashMX through campus computing.

Student training on FlashMX was done by IUPUI and was built into the grant budget.

We have provided training and copies of FlashMX to various faculty members in the School of Business.  Many faculty members are interested in SIFE and its accomplishments and willing to help SIFE projects – this training allows them additional skills to help train and mentor our students. 

Potential to Impact Student Learning

Advanced presentation skills are becoming de rigueur for students graduating with a baccalaureate in today’s business environment.  Currently the SIFE class helps develop basic presentation skills in our SIFE team members.  However, our current undergraduate program does not truly take students to the next level of proficiency, communicating with more advanced multimedia for higher impact in authentic competitive business environments.  Thus, we are proposing to take a group of students and increase their technological and presentation skills via FlashMX.  The grant allowed us to expand upon these presentation skills and include skills and competencies in FlashMX and other presentation software as part of our student learning outcomes. 

The level of SIFE competition continues to rise (only two schools from Indiana made it to Nationals in 2004 – IUK was one of them – no other IU campus made it to Nationals) and this grant has allowed our students to continue to be successful in competition.  As the competition level rises, so do the skills and knowledge that our students need to be successful.  Our continued success shows that we are building depth of knowledge in our students.

Over 30 students each year are involved in the SIFE class and more in SIFE as a club.  By involving students in a very successful program, students build a bond to campus and to other students.  This is shown by the number of SIFE students (in the club phase) who have been involved actively with SIFE for several semesters and even years.  While 30 students in a class per year may not sound like a large amount, SIFE is the largest student organization on the IU Kokomo campus and arguably its most successful in terms of outreach and outcomes. 

The service learning component of SIFE involves these students in a wide variety of community outreach and enhancement projects throughout the 11 counties that IU Kokomo serves.   In 2003-2004, the IU Kokomo SIFE team completed 30 major projects – generating over 2100 hours of community service.  These projects have included teaching economic and financial education programs to area teachers and students, teaching credit card awareness workshops to community groups, and teaching résumé and cover letter writing to both students and adults through WorkForce One.  In addition, SIFE students often speak about their projects at community groups such as Rotary and Kiwanis.  These projects and speaking opportunities also hone the public speaking skills of the SIFE members.

Assessment Plan

Students were assessed using multiple measures.  First, the overall success of the SIFE team speaks to their effective use of the technology provided by the grant (again, note that we are one of only two teams in Indiana to make it to National level competition).  Second, each SIFE class member was required to demonstrate proficiency using FlashMX and many have demonstrated proficiency using Publisher, Photoshop and the advanced photo techniques made available by the digital camera.  Third, each SIFE class member is required to reflect on communication and technology issues/successes/problems as part of the course grade.  Last, the laptop and remote projector have been used in a wide variety of public speaking venues – Rotary, Kiwanis, public events at IU Kokomo, etc. 

Plan for Colleague Development

We have trained other colleagues on using the software provided in this grant.  This in turn has lead to those colleagues mentoring SIFE students in their projects and presentations.  We have also mentored the IU South Bend SIFE team in their activities and they were Rookie of the Year last year at SIFE Regional competition. 

SIFE is already cross-disciplinary in nature (due to the nature of the outreach projects) and we are working to include colleagues from other disciplines (education, communication, nursing, IT, etc.).  Joan and Kathy believe very strongly in mentoring colleagues and students and are working to include others in SIFE.  The School of Business will have a number of new faculty members in Fall 2005 and they will be invited to join and participate in SIFE activities/projects and be mentored in the use of our technology.

Final Comments on Project Results

Yes, this was a very successful project.  We don’t believe we would change anything in that the grant helped us fulfill our needs and gave us the tools for a successful learning experience.  Our outcomes were what we expected and we appreciate the help in achieving our successes. 

We believe that the grant program was a great way to add much needed technology to an already existing class and help our students become ready for the 21st Century. 

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Last updated: 18 May, 2007

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