Administrative and Infrastructure Issues for Online Courses
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The document discusses administrative and infrastructure challenges associated with developing online courses, particularly in a teacher education context. It emphasizes the importance of understanding cultural, content, capability, and connectivity issues while addressing the roles of various stakeholders involved in this process. Through workshops and collaborative activities, participants are encouraged to identify potential projects, develop proposals, and present their findings to university leadership.
Administrative and Infrastructure Issues for Online Courses
- 1. Administrative and Infrastructure Issues for Online Courses M.S. Vijay Kumar Brandon Muramatsu September 15, 2013 1Unless otherwise specified this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Cite as: Kumar, V. & Muramatsu, B. (2013a, September). Administrative and infrastructure issues for online courses. Workshop presented to the EDC Pre-STEP Program. Lahore: Pakistan.
- 2. Unless otherwise specified this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Admin/Infrastructure Workshop Agenda Part 1: Introduction Part 2: Setting the Stage Global drivers, Possible projects Part 3: Framing the Process Lunch Part 4: Activity 2
- 3. Unless otherwise specified this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Goals and Objectives Understand the infrastructure issues involved with online program development and delivery with building capacity at the individual and organizational levels We’ll focus on: Culture, Content, Capability and Capacity, Connectivity 3
- 4. Unless otherwise specified this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Today’s Activity You are part of a team planning to move toward an online B.Ed. Teacher Education Program at your university. What are the roles, who should be the members of the team? What are the broad areas (finances, staffing, support the curriculum, promoting the program, etc.) you need to consider? Pick a project (or two) around which to base your proposal Presentation to your Vice Chancellor (the group) 4
- 6. Unless otherwise specified this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Vijay’s Background B.Tech. in Chemical Engineering, M.S. in Industrial Management & Ed.D. in Future Studies in Education Taught courses in Instructional Computing, Educational Planning, Teacher Education 30+ years in EdTech – Developing, Managing, Innovating educational uses of Information Technologies 13+ years in Open Education: Open Educational Resources and OpenCourseWare 6
- 7. Unless otherwise specified this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Brandon’s Background B.S. & M.S. in Mechanical Engineering Taught multimedia design and open education 20 years in EdTech ~10 years in educational digital libraries: Collections, nationwide collaborations, quality and peer review 9+ years in Open Education: Open Educational Resources and OpenCourseWare ―Been There, Done That‖ Multimedia courseware design and course support, course design, video production software design, digital libraries, metadata, learning objects, open educational resources/OpenCourseWare, … 7
- 8. Part 2: Setting the Stage 8
- 9. Unless otherwise specified this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Global Events Affecting Education… Global financial crisis Dramatic reduction in education budgets, continuing rise in costs, and rise in student loan debt Changing perceptions of the value of a university degree Rush for development in many countries Scale of the numbers of students eligible for education but for whom there is no capacity 9
- 10. Unless otherwise specified this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. A Time of Change… Rise of competency-based education / prior learning assessment Recognition of the ―half-life‖ of learning in many disciplines Transition to continual learning in many career paths Rapidly changing learner attributes Rise of openly accessible learning materials and opportunities, at scale Wikipedia, Open Educational Resources, OpenCourseWare, Creative Commons licensing Khan Academy, Codecademy 10 CC-BY • Adapted From: Muramatsu, B. (2013, April). Rethinking education: Course consumption & 21st century learning. Invited Presentation at Harvard Business Publishing, April 22, 2013.
- 11. Unless otherwise specified this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. 11
- 12. Unless otherwise specified this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Local Issues Reliability of electricity Security 12
- 13. Unless otherwise specified this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Our Approach Our approach is technology in the service of pedagogy Educational technology is not new Digital learning is becoming more dominant Current era is based in research and development going back to the 1960s Online learning is not new Current era begins in the mid-/late-1990s 13
- 14. Part 2: Today / Current State 14
- 15. Unless otherwise specified this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. What organizations are involved with providing / supporting infrastructure at your university? 15
- 16. Unless otherwise specified this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. What organizations are involved with providing /supporting infrastructure Dept. of Computer Science, IT Central IT University administration — financial, student services Faculty of Education Center for Instructional Design Donors / Sponsor agencies HEC Dept. of Planning and Development Provincial Governments Statuatory bodies Coursera, external companies 16 Roles may change through the project’s lifetime
- 17. Unless otherwise specified this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Discussion Take advantage of the medium Don’t ―pave the cow path‖ Think about what’s fundamentally different about the new technologies What are the appropriate combinations of offline, online How can one assess learning online? Learning: Formative assessments (questions, quizzes, writing assignments) within the course materials; analyzing student activity in the course (which pages are they visiting, what problems are they having) Knowledge, skills and attitude 17
- 18. Unless otherwise specified this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Discussion Practical Microteaching: Record the teaching, and put online for feedback Trade-offs What are your priorities, how will technologies benefit you? Educational Technology Moving from supporting role, to fear that it’s replacing teaching 18
- 19. Unless otherwise specified this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Discussion Shift to Learning from Teaching Understanding there are many reasons for individuals wanting to learn Answer the question: ―What combinations of in-person, online are effective in supporting learning?‖ 19
- 20. Unless otherwise specified this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Discussion Challenge: Online courses will involve regular electricity, technicians, staff to run the courses, etc. Do you need to do it all yourself? All at once? Can you offer courses developed elsewhere? Can you partner with other institutions? Services in the cloud? ―Do no harm‖ – It doesn’t have to be perfect, just good enough 20
- 21. Unless otherwise specified this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Discussion Challenge: Quality in online courses Challenge: Student acceptance of a course Understand your audience: Then test early and often (with students, the technology) Challenge: Multiple universities offering the same courses Collaborate instead of compete, consortium? Credit transfer? Different courses have different values and assumptions What areas are efficient to share? Content production? Assessment? Facilitation? 21
- 22. Unless otherwise specified this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Discussion Understand roles might change What affordances do online learning bring? Changes in faculty roles? Facilitation of learning versus deliverer of information. Understand your unique value Understand your audience What is your audience looking for? What are they trying to learn? Understand content is not a course Course is much more than just the content Understand the differences in online 22
- 23. Part 3: Framing the Process 23
- 24. Unless otherwise specified this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Innovation Cycle 24 Experiment Incubate Service Transition
- 25. Unless otherwise specified this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Discussion of Infrastructure Considerations Content Capability and Capacity Culture Connectivit y 25
- 26. Unless otherwise specified this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Content Learning Materials Textbooks, record of knowledge, learning research, audio, video, articles / reading, portfolios, websites, encyclopedia articles, animations, simulations, educational games, tutorials, tests, software, assessment Considerations Pedagogy, instructional design, production / development, interoperability / compatibility, copyright, plagiarism, ethical, production quality, relevancy / content quality, ease of use, media choice: text/video, reliability, profile of the learner, references Updating, revision, sustainability (for the future) Find, select content Skills: Content experts, instructional design, production skills 26
- 27. Unless otherwise specified this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Connectivity Considerations University facilities: networks and bandwidth; hardware: storage of content, servers; reliable electricity and/or generators and UPS; student login / access control; backups and archiving; mirror sites / distribution; free from viruses, will run on multiple computers; learning management system, cross platform compatibility Robustness of the system Student facilities: network, computers, etc. Skills: Technicians and support staff Classrooms: at the university, distributed in cyber cafes, in homes 27
- 28. Unless otherwise specified this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Capability and Capacity Resources in terms of people and right numbers, support offices, numbers of courses Considerations Expertise: Faculty / subject matter, IT, instructional design Training: Faculty, staff to develop AND implement (e.g., appropriate feedback at the right time); students to use the courses Relevance? To be successfully: Good governance, budget, leadership Organizational units: Teaching and Learning Allocation of resources: Reallocate, donor / sponsor 28
- 29. Unless otherwise specified this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Culture Challenges to traditional views, disposition toward technology and change, build ourselves versus borrow Considerations Openness to change, adaptability, progressive minds See examples from a peer, discussion with peers, influence groups Change the mindset of the government, ensure companies / industry understand it Online course are reliable / quality 29
- 30. Unless otherwise specified this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Production Cycle Pre-Design Design & Development Facilitation Evaluation 30 Infrastructure ICD, Policy, Etc. Plan Build Deliver Evaluate
- 31. Unless otherwise specified this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Discussion: Course Design Process Universities have set process to design process Committee of courses, Chair of department appoints subject expertise and curriculum experts, Teams meet and suggest course, goes to dean, etc. Bottom up: faculty and students identify the needs, Process Themes / Big Ideas Learning outcomes Objectives Faculty members write the scripts Experts: Subject expert and curriculum expert (pedagogy, instructional design), educational technology (from different departments) 31
- 32. Unless otherwise specified this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Discussion Experiments and Impact Studies Demonstrate that outcomes are as good, if not better, can get jobs, do knowledge updates Think with the end in mind Get good jobs, or good higher education Replace correspondence with online programs 32
- 33. Unless otherwise specified this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. What do you tell your Vice Chancellor? Cheaper without losing value Revenue generation Larger audiences with proportionate increase in cost Experiment? Identify industry/companies that will hire 50% (or some number) of the graduates – produce the quality that they’re going to hire Perhaps start areas with less risk For example with non-credit courses, professional development Be mindful of inadvertently limiting application – ―It can only be done for these specific areas‖ 33
- 34. Lunch 34
- 35. Unless otherwise specified this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Supply-Side Changes Tools Open-source and community-source tools, free to use Online communications: chatting, Instant Messsaging, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Price of technology decreasing while the capabilities are increasing (tablets, computers, mobile phones) Technology is more accessible as well More educators talking about technology, and technology in education—conversation has changed/is changing 35
- 36. Unless otherwise specified this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Changes… Shift from scarcity to abundance There’s lots of content available Networks/access means we’re not limited to physical classrooms Institutions are predicated on the notion of scarcity Example: Video production Economic Needs -> Living and Learning at the same time Demand side: Individuals aren’t able to take full degree programs, or want to take a course while riding the bus 4 year degrees? Shorter? What expectations do we have, should we have? 36
- 37. Unless otherwise specified this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Today’s Activity You are part of a team planning to move toward an online B.Ed. Teacher Education Program at your university. What are the roles, who should be the members of the team? What are the broad areas (finances, staffing, support the curriculum, promoting the program, etc.) you need to consider? Pick a project (or two) around which to base your proposal Presentation to your Vice Chancellor (the group) 37
- 38. Unless otherwise specified this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Group #4: B.Ed. Online Program Consortium: Cooperation University of Singh, Karachi University, International Islamabad Change mindset of community to bridge the gaps from B.Ed. And Online Team: 10 people with 6 faculty member, 2 Internet technicians, production manager, student advisor/student service Online production of online B.Ed. system: Internet facility, content, student services, human resource development B.Ed. Online registration website, page with enrollment, and then the student can download the course (build on existing OER), videos, assessment, upload assignments (can choose with whom to share his/her materials) Question: Estimate the resources required? 38
- 39. Unless otherwise specified this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Group #2: B.Ed. Online Program Proposal: To launch one course Common Concerns Security (esp. at Women’s universities), responsibility to the community to share courses (via online), can contribute to internationalization of online education Careful Planning Infrastructure: Number of concurrent users Human resources: Content developers, instructional designer, monitoring and evaluation team, experts to deliver courses, student services and student support. Orient students before they use it. Budget; marketing the program Training: For faculty and students Benefits: Cost: Scalability, analytics, reusabilty of the modules, cater to different individuals’ learning styles 39
- 40. Unless otherwise specified this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Group #1: B.Ed. Online Program Why go online? Reach rural areas, enable participation of women students, cost effectiveness, no seat capacity issues, anyone of any age can attend programs, it’s the modern style of education Development process Management needs to support the initiative (―attitude‖) 40
- 41. Unless otherwise specified this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Group #3: B.Ed. Online Program Proposal Planning Produce quality teacher thru online program for quality education Target: Pre-service teachers for B.Ed. 4 year program Follow HEC and Provincial HEC guidelines Present the proposal to curriculum committees, NSPT National Professional Standards for Teachers, and accredited through National board Content Development Subject experts: Training to develop online content curriculum, and technology experts Production facilities, supporting software, campus management (enroll students, lifecycle) 41
- 42. Unless otherwise specified this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Group #3: B.Ed. Online Program Proposal Infrastructure and Human Resources Staffing (Everything mentioned earlier), DVD duplication/replication, Studio, graphics and animation, editing Business continuity plan—What happens if issues affect the course Delivery Websites, collaboration software Advertising, marketing Examination systems (question bank, multiple choice, etc.) Student services Budgeting 42
- 43. Unless otherwise specified this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Questions Develop higher order learning And the assessments need to match those learning higher order skills What are the differences between Virtual University Courses and online courses Bilingual courses Entirely online Don’t generalize as a question of ―Quality‖, but rather the set of questions that should be asked Efficient (learners’ time and teacher’s time) For a course learning outcomes are met 43
- 44. Unless otherwise specified this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Take Aways Planning of online course is important General awareness It’s an important thing to be doing right now Faculty members need to build support with their peers, which will build support at the institution over time Suggestion to participants: Think of this exercise in a much more specific way. Think of a real proposal. 44
- 45. Unless otherwise specified this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Next Steps VU Offers to become a central repository through their OCW site for online courses from institutions A national repository Online seminar to continue the conversation Vice Chancellor’s Forum Be collaborators with each other at events like this 45
- 46. Unless otherwise specified this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Wrap-Up Moodle Hosting for 1-Year: Service Provider: http://viper.pk Questions? Contact M. Aslam Sharif, gmt@beaconhouse.edu.pk Virtual University: Javed Yunis, mit@vu.edu.pk M.S. Vijay Kumar, vkumar@mit.edu http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/opening-education Brandon Muramatsu, mura@mit.edu 46
Editor's Notes
- #2: Cite as: Kumar, V. & Muramatsu, B. (2013b, September). Administrative and infrastructure issues for online courses. Workshop presented to the EDC Pre-STEP Program. Lahore: Pakistan. Unless otherwise specified this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
- #12: Creator has requested no credit
- #27: Learning Resources, Pedagogy, Development, Use
- #28: Network (satellites, bandwidth), Computers / mobile phones / tablets, SoftwareAvailability and configuration of central classrooms, regional sites
- #29: kills in course development, technology, assessment, subject expertiseResources in terms of people and right numbers, support offices, numbers of courses
- #41: VU: 1 teachers:300 students