Student Views of TEL
Students increasingly come to the college classroom with a well-defined set of expectations and prejudices related to instructional technologies. To date, published surveys have afforded us insights into students' views of the efficacy of particular technologies for supporting learning, experiences with specific hardware and software packages, and beliefs in the motivational power of instructional technologies. What such surveys often fail to capture in full is students' responses to the question of whether technology does, in fact, enhance learning.
Seminar
March 30, 2004
12:00-1:30 P.M.
101 Walter Library
Moderators:
Marvin Marshak
School of Physics and Astronomy professor, Twin Cities campus
J. D. Walker
Digital Media Center educational technology consultant, Twin Cities campus
Panelists:
Vanessa Armstrong
pre-pharmacy student, Crookston campus
Mike Bietz
College of Liberal Arts senior, Twin Cities campus
Nick Schnoes
Institute of Technology first-year student, Twin Cities campus
Brandon Thiemann
General College student, Twin Cities campus
The panelists will discuss questions such as:
- Does the combination of activity, technology selection, and class organization provide students with learning opportunities beyond what they might experience in the traditional classroom?
- Do students perceive a difference between "using technology" in a class and "learning with technology"?
- What technology-enhanced instructional strategies have students found particularly useful?
Campus Projects
University of Minnesota College of Human Ecology and Digital Media Center. "Instructional Technology Evaluation Project." St. Paul: College of Human Ecology, 2000. http://tlc.che.umn.edu/evaluation/.
University of Minnesota Digital Media Center. "Online Nursing Curriculum Evaluation." Minneapolis: Digital Media Center, 2003. http://dmc.umn.edu/nursing-evaluation/.
University of Minnesota Digital Media Center. "Technology Surveys." Minneapolis: Digital Media Center, 2003. http://dmc.umn.edu/surveys/.
Bibliography
Arbaugh, J. B. "How Instructor Immediacy Behaviors Affect Student Satisfaction and Learning in Web-Based Courses." Business Communication Quarterly 64:4, December 2001. http://www.alnresearch.org (first register, then log in and search for the article).
"Immediacy behaviors" are instructors' attempts to reduce the social distance between themselves and their students, and include such things as using personal examples; using humor; providing and inviting feedback; and addressing students and being called by name. According to Arbaugh, "instructor experience and immediacy behaviors were both positively associated with course satisfaction . . . [this] suggests that more experienced online instructors either learn or [learn] from their classroom experience the importance of immediacy behaviors in the online setting."
University of Minnesota Digital Media Center. "TEL Effectiveness Bibliography." Minneapolis: Digital Media Center, 2004. http://dmc.umn.edu/research/eval-bibl.shtml.
This includes selected citations about efforts to research the impact TEL methods have had at different institutions of higher education. "The researchers investigated a wide variety of aspects of educational technology, including its effects on student learning outcomes, the interaction of gender and technology, and the changing roles of instructors in technology-enhanced learning environments."
