Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
team or site supervisors, 30% felt they were not experienced enough to meet the demands
of the project, and 20% felt they were confused or unclear about the expectations for the
projects.
Although all students agreed that the variety of speakers and formats was a good
concept, 40% said they would prefer the course to be less of a survey course and have more
hands-on or practical activities, complaining that they felt like they were “always an
audience.” Seventy percent of the students wanted more focused lectures that would link
the speakers to the goals and objectives of the course, suggesting that course instructors
might conduct a closing summary after each presentation to stress relevance. Eighty percent
of the students felt the supplemental readings were useful and informative and that the
textbook was easy to comprehend, although 30% also pointed out that they thought the
textbook was “pointless.” Final suggestions from 70% of the students indicated that they
needed more time in class to work with their ETP teams.
Several steps were taken in response to the feedback from the mid-semester evaluation.
In-class demonstrations were given to show students how they would be expected to use
WebCT for uploading or otherwise contributing to class assignments. ETP teams met and
discussed their progress, problems, and other issues with their projects, and these were
presented for class discussion and suggestions. Discussions and group brainstorming
sessions were included in many class sessions following guest speakers. The textbook was
used as the basis for several online discussion groups in which students participated by
relating the readings to their ongoing ETP experiences.
Final Course Evaluation
Final course evaluation data was collected from the course developers, guest speakers,
and students who took the course using several different instruments. Each of the students
completed the standard course evaluation and was expected to write a reflective essay on
their technological progress and their experiences completing the course assignments and
working with their ETP teams. Interviews were conducted with three of the four course
developers and a selected number of students from each school. All guest speakers were
contacted and asked to complete an email interview.
RESULTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Technology Survey
Each student was asked to complete a technology use survey at the beginning of the
course and then again at the end. The survey asked the students to evaluate their proficiency
using Internet tools,
databases, word processing, spreadsheets, and file management. They
were also asked to rate the frequency with which they used various applications and media
and how important it was to them to improve their proficiency of use. Twenty-one of the 26
students completed the pre-course technology surveys (see Appendix A); however, most
did not complete the post-course survey for a number of reasons.
The plan was to have the students complete the pre-course technology surveys at the
beginning of the course. The technology survey was posted on the WebCT, where students
could download it and then resubmit their responses electronically. Nagging commenced
when it was observed that no students had completed the surveys by mid-semester. The irony
