ERIC Number: ED423802
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1998
Pages: 29
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Course Restructuring and the Instructional Development Initiative at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University: A Benefit Cost Study.
Jewett, Frank
This report documents benefits and costs of restructuring two undergraduate courses at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University to better utilize instructional technology. Professors of the two courses, one in philosophy and one in microbiology, participated in workshops designed to help faculty explore the potential of electronic instructional technology and then restructured their courses to incorporate this technology. Learning outcomes from courses held in the spring of 1997 were evaluated. Students in the Web-based philosophy course section scored somewhat better than, or as well as, students in the traditional lecture section on 15 of 16 essay-scoring criteria. Learning outcomes from the microbiology course suggest no effect on grades of students taking the course, either before or after its redesign. Students in both restructured courses mentioned such advantages as better access to course materials. Institutional renewal through the instructional development initiative was also found. Analysis of costs (including the workshops, course conversions, and workstations for faculty and students) suggests that if 25 percent of a student's entire degree program were taken in these restructured courses, the cost per student would increase by $331 to $465. (DB)
Descriptors: College Curriculum, Computer Assisted Instruction, Computer Mediated Communication, Computer Networks, Computer Uses in Education, Cost Effectiveness, Course Evaluation, Curriculum Development, Educational Technology, Expenditure per Student, Faculty Development, Higher Education, Internet, Microbiology, Philosophy, World Wide Web
Publication Type: Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Administrators; Practitioners
Language: English
Sponsor: National Inst. on Postsecondary Education, Libraries, and Lifelong Learning (ED/OERI), Washington, DC.; State Higher Education Executive Officers Association.; Interuniversity Communications Council (EDUCOM), Princeton, NJ.; California State Univ., Seal Beach. Office of the Chancellor.
Authoring Institution: Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ., Blacksburg.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A