Learning through technology
Mellon Foundation funds assessment program
Archived article from Feb 4, 2000
By Harvey Trabb
Are university-level courses that use such technologies as the Internet and World Wide Web more cost-effective and better teaching and learning tools than courses that are taught in the more traditional low-tech or no-tech manner?
That is one of the questions experts at Rutgers will try to answer over the next three years under a major new grant awarded to the university by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation of New York City.
The $500,000 grant will greatly enhance Rutgers' analysis of the effectiveness of its Instructional Technology Initiative, introduced on a pilot basis last fall to improve undergraduate education in 17 courses taught by five different academic departments on the university's New Brunswick campuses. Some 8,000 of the 26,000 students enrolled on those campuses are taking the pilot courses this academic year. The disciplines involved are geography, Spanish and Portuguese in conjunction with the library, engineering, communication and the life sciences.
Internet, Web and software technologies being used in the courses are providing round-the-clock computer access for students to such new learning environments as virtual laboratories, class-oriented chat rooms, electronic bulletin boards, e-mail correspondence and online office hours with professors, lecture notes and specialized library programs.
"We believe that Internet and related technologies can bring about major improvements in teaching and learning, opening the door to higher levels of research activity and collaboration for undergraduates than were previously possible," said President Francis L. Lawrence. "However, as a state university, we must assess, evaluate and analyze every initiative to ensure we are using our scarce resources in the most cost-effective way."
The Instructional Technology Initiative is intended to foster instructional improvements and encourage the innovative use of Web-based technologies, explained Joseph J. Seneca, university vice president for academic affairs, whose office is funding the pilot project.
"Our goal is to promote teaching excellence by using technology to transform our curriculum and for adopting exciting, interactive course-development tools and teaching strategies for a large number of students," Seneca said. "This grant is very significant for the university because there is no more important question in teaching right now than the appropriate and effective uses of these technologies.
"As a result of our initiatives, Rutgers has programs already under way that have the scope, academic quality and built-in assessment components that made us a logical choice for the research sought by the Mellon Foundation," he said.
Early results of the pilot program include highly favorable reactions to it from students and faculty alike, explained Gary Gigliotti, a professor of economics and head of the university's Year of the Network initiative. The Year of the Network was established by President Lawrence to help Rutgers faculty, staff and students make effective use of the advanced technologies being put in place under RUNet 2000.
"The Mellon grant will give us the ability to do rigorous and comprehensive studies of our instructional technology initiative and make the results available to the higher-education community on a national basis," said Gigliotti. He will head the assessment effort, while Professor Ted Hollander of the Faculty of Management will lead the cost-measurement team and Professor Angela O'Donnell of the Graduate School of Education will lead the outcome assessment team and co-direct the grant.
"Looking at educational outcomes means more than just seeing if students do better on their exams," Gigliotti said. "We're interested in seeing if they are more highly motivated, more interested in their work, retaining more, and gaining a better sense of how to formulate research problems as a result of using these new learning tools. If we can get these types of outcomes without significant increases in the cost of the courses, we're heading in an important direction."
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