September 20, 2001
Troy, N.Y. — Ten colleges and universities across the
country will receive $2 million in grants from The Pew Grant
Program in Course Redesign at the Center for Academic
Transformation at Rensselaer. The grants were announced by
Carol A. Twigg, executive director of the Center.
This is the third and final round of a three-year, $6 million
grant cycle funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts, bringing the
total number of projects funded to 30. The purpose of the
program is to encourage colleges and universities to redesign
their approaches to instruction using technology to achieve
cost savings as well as quality enhancements.
The 10 institutions will receive grants of $200,000 each for
course redesign projects with the potential to have an impact
on a significant student numbers and generate substantial cost
savings. The focus in on large-enrollment, introductory
courses.
“Information technology allows us to rethink all aspects of
how we teach and how students learn,” says Twigg. “By using IT
to support a reconfiguration of a full course rather than a
single class, we can make radical improvements in both the
quality and cost of how we teach. The key to these redesigns is
the commitment to collaboration and coordination among all
faculty teaching the course. Once that commitment is made, IT
enables instructional resources to be collaboratively
developed, captured, stored, shared, and continuously
revised.”
Below are brief descriptions of the projects. For full
descriptions go to:
www.center.rpi.edu/pewgrant/rd3award.html.
Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University in Salt Lake City, Utah, will
redesign its first-year writing course, which enrolls 3,280
students in more than 170 sections each year. The course is
taught primarily by graduate instructors in the master’s
English program. The redesign will reduce the amount of time
students spend in class from three hours per week to one hour.
A series of interactive multimedia lessons, more one-on-one
time with faculty, and the addition of peer-to-peer sessions
will replace class time. The lessons will standardize the
curriculum across all sections, provide a more consistent
experience, and reduce the time graduate instructors spend
preparing and presenting in the classroom. It is estimated the
redesigned course will save 45 percent.
Drexel University
Drexel University in Pittsburgh, PA, will redesign
introductory Computer Programming by combining two courses.
Taken together, the two courses are required for 33 percent of
freshmen and anticipated enrollments could exceed 1,300. The
redesigned, combined course will replace the large lecture
format with interactive, Web-based modules that will enable
students to self-schedule their learning each week. Each module
will cover a particular topic at different knowledge levels,
enabling students in different majors to acquire the
appropriate skill level. Students will be able to enter the
course in one of three groups and earn varying amounts of
credit based on their knowledge and skills. The redesigned
course will reduce per-student costs by 36 percent.
Florida Gulf Coast University
Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, Fla. will
redesign Understanding the Visual and Performing Arts, a
required course in its general education program. The current
course is taught primarily in face-to-face sections of 30
students each (plus two small sections at a distance) and uses
a large number of adjunct faculty members. The redesigned
course will create a single section and use a common syllabus,
textbook, set of assignments and a course Web site.
Students will be placed groups of 48. Each group will be
divided into Peer Learning Teams of six students each. Students
will be directed to learning activities most closely suited to
their learning styles as measured by the Myers-Briggs Type
Indicator (MBTI). The goal is to create a custom,
individualized learning environment. The university will use an
alternative staffing model that makes the best use of the time
of full-time faculty, and a course coordinator. The result will
be a 39 percent reduction of the cost per student.
Iowa State University
Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa will redesign Discrete
Mathematics, a gateway course for a large number of students
and a required course for all business and social sciences
majors. Enrolling about 1,800 students per year, the course
currently consists of two large lectures and a recitation. In
order to increase consistency, improve student morale and
performance, and provide individualized feedback, Iowa State’s
redesign will offer self-paced, Web-based modules. The
Web-based environment will integrate WebCT for learning
management, eGrade for online testing and materials by
Barnett/Ziegler/Byleen (Prentice-Hall) for content. The
traditional course uses 12 faculty members and 15 teaching
assistants annually to deliver the course at a cost of $129 per
student. The redesigned course will result in a cost savings of
42 percent per student.
Northern Arizona University
Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Ariz., will redesign
College Algebra, one of its ten largest classes with an
enrollment of more than 900 students. Inconsistent student
outcomes and about 47 percent of students eventually withdraw
from the University as a result. Most sections meet three hours
per week and are taught in a standard lecture format by
full-time faculty and graduate teaching assistants. Using
ALEKS, a Web-based instructional software and course management
system, the redesign will promote active and collaborative
learning and address individual student learning styles.
In addition to offering 24/7 access to course materials, ALEKS
can be customized. The course redesign will result in a 48
percent decrease in costs per student.
The Ohio State University
Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, plans a
second-generation redesign of Introductory Statistical
Concepts, a five-credit course enrolling 3,250 students each
year. A 1990 redesign retained three lectures per week and
replaced two recitations with an active learning laboratory
environment. OSU will offer students a choice of
interchangeable paths to learn each course objective, including
lectures, discovery laboratories, live and remote reviews,
small group study sessions, videos, training modules, oral and
written presentations, active large group problem solving,
homework assignments, and individual and group projects.
Additionally, a “statistics help desk” will be created to
improve responses to students. The redesign is expected to
improve retention and reduce the cost per student by 31
percent.
Portland State University
Portland State University in Portland, Oregon, will redesign
Introductory Spanish, a yearlong, multiple-section course. The
redesigned course will address inconsistencies among sections
through improved planning, coordination and training of
teaching assistants. Class meetings will be reduced from
three-to-two per week with increased class time spent in
interactive speaking. Using multimedia, PSU will move testing,
writing and grammar instruction, and partner/group activities
outside the classroom, and shift responsibility for assignment
development to the course director. Additionally, it will spend
more time training teaching assistants, increase oral practice
in study groups, reduce in-class time for students performing
above standards, and direct low-achieving students to small
group sessions for additional oral practice. The university
intends to reinvest the cost savings to serve more students per
year.
Tallahassee Community College
Tallahassee Community College in Tallahassee, Fla., plans to
redesign College Composition, a required course for its 3,000
degree-seeking students. The current success rates are less
than 60 percent annually. The redesign will use technology to
provide diagnostic assessments for individualized learning;
interactive tutorials in grammar, mechanics, reading
comprehension, and basic research skills; online tutorials for
feedback on written assignments; follow-up assessments; and
discussion boards to facilitate the development of learning
communities. The classroom environment will be restructured to
include a range of writing activities that foster
collaboration, proficiency, and higher levels of thinking. The
redesign will save an estimated 43 percent per student.
The University of New Mexico
The University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico plans
to redesign General Psychology, the largest and most popular
undergraduate course enrolling 2,250 students. The redesign
will improve the course’s retention, and graduation rates. It
will reduce the number of lectures each week to one and
incorporate a weekly 50-minute studio session led by
undergraduate teaching assistants in computer labs. These
activities will be supplemented by interactive Internet/CD-ROM
activities, quizzes, and programmed self-instruction offered on
a 24/7 schedule. Students will be quizzed each week and there
will be an intervention strategy to ensure students are making
progress. The redesign will reduce the cost per student by 47
percent.
University of Southern Mississippi
The University of Southern Mississippi in Long Beach,
Mississippi, will redesign World Literature, a required course
enrolling 1,000 students. The course is offered in 16 lecture
sections per term, half are taught by full-time faculty and the
other half by adjunct faculty. The redesign will place all
students in a single online section and will replace the
passive lecture environment with media-enriched presentations
that require active student engagement. A course coordinator
will direct the team teaching of four faculty members and four
graduate assistant graders. Each faculty member will teach his
or her area of expertise for four weeks. The faculty team will
offer course content through a combination of optional live
lectures and required, Web-delivered presentations. Savings are
estimated to be 56 percent per student.
Contact: Dr. Carol A. Twigg, executive director of The Center
for Academic Transformation, 518-695-5320 or twiggc@rpi.edu
Contact: Megan Galbraith
Phone: (518) 276-6531
E-mail: N/A