U Teach, I Teach, We Teach: Students in Two University Systems Learn About Alcohol and College Life
A student from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (UMTC) campus logs into the site for the one-credit course Alcohol and College Life and takes an online quiz on the historical role of drugs. A student at the University of Minnesota, Duluth (UMD) logs into a different course site and completes the same quiz. Around the same time, a student at Inver Hills Community College (IHCC) completes the quiz in yet a different course site. The course currently is offered on three campuses in the University of Minnesota system, two in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) system, and also at Concordia College, Moorhead. Although in an important sense this course is “generic,” this is no cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all learning experience. This course is carefully tailored to students’ varied learning styles, and well-qualified teaching assistants work with students closely throughout the course. The course is also carefully tailored for the universities and colleges that have adopted it.
Alcohol and College Life is the brainchild of James Rothenberger, Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, UMTC, who has taught courses on alcohol and drug awareness since 1972. But it wasn’t until 2002 that he took on the complexities of designing a course that could be adapted across campuses and university systems. In order to realize a project of such complexity and scope, Rothenberger has developed a network of partners that continues to grow as the course does. Tayne DeNeui, a former student, currently coordinates the operations and expansion of the course. Rothenberger and DeNeui might not have been able to offer the course to universities and colleges across the state if it were not for Billie Wahlstrom, vice provost for distributed education and educational technology on the Twin Cities campus, who encouraged Rothenberger to develop the course further and has supported his efforts with funding. Gary Langer (Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Innovations, MnSCU), Sue Engelmann (from the UMTC Provost’s Office), and numerous faculty and administrators from Minnesota State University, Mankato (MSUM), IHCC, University of Minnesota, Crookston (UMC), UMD, and Concordia Moorhead also have been key figures in this project. The course is also funded by iSeek Solutions, a partnership formed in 1999 that sponsors iSeek, the Web-based gateway to Minnesota career, employment, education, and business development information and services.
Alcohol and College Life thoughtfully integrates technology and teaching with learning activities that are designed to accommodate different learning styles: auditory, visual, kinesthetic. Course materials are presented in different formats: students can watch video, print out transcripts, or download MP3 audio files. Moreover, Rothenberger and DeNeui designed the course to promote students’ awareness of their own learning styles. Students learn not only about alcohol—the course also functions as an introduction to both the academic and social dimensions of college life. In their correspondence with students, teaching assistants provide detailed feedback on students’ contributions to online discussions, as well as announcements of alcohol-free events on and around campus.
In addition to integrating technology and teaching, Rothenberger and DeNeui took on another challenge: designing a course that could be implemented by colleges and universities in both the University of Minnesota and MnSCU systems. But Rothenberger says he didn’t anticipate some of the complexity involved: “This course has gone through educational policy committees on six campuses now. We’re used to it now, but I didn’t consider that each campus has its own system.” Adhering to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and partnership agreements across campuses has proved challenging, as well.
DeNeui explained that he and Rothenberger developed three different options for institutions adopting the course as the most effective way to meet rising demand. Course materials and training for instructors are always provided by the University of Minnesota. The participating institution then chooses from the options “U teach, I teach, We teach.” “U teach” means there is an instructor of record from the participating institution, but the day-to-day instruction is actually done by teaching assistants at the University of Minnesota. However, because the course is created using the adopting institutions’ technologies and templates, students may not know the course was developed and taught elsewhere. “I teach” means the school employs the instructor of record. “We teach” means the course is co-taught by instructors from the University of Minnesota and from the campus that offers the course.
And what’s next? Rothenberger and DeNeui will continue to find ways to make the course more widely available within and outside of the University of Minnesota system. The team has developed a platform in which material can be stored and accessed using a single, centralized server. In the future, Pachyderm—a user-friendly, open source multimedia authoring tool—will enable instructors on different campuses to better manage the course on their own. And now that the team has developed the templates and procedures necessary for creating a course on alcohol awareness that can be offered by universities and colleges on different campuses, other courses can be developed and implemented more quickly and easily. Rothenberger has received funding from iSeek to put together a team from UMTC and MSUM to co-develop a course on nutrition, exercise, and sleep.
