2. Project Summary

The Electronics Technology [ECT] program (Indiana State University) was established in 1976. It has been providing industries with qualified technical and managerial personnel. The rapid change and development of contemporary technology have brought both opportunities and challenges to the program. The program is one of three authorized by the Indiana Commission of Higher Education to be delivered through mediated technologies statewide [DegreeLink] to address the needs for continuous learning, degree-completion study, and workforce development.

The purpose of this project is to develop a distance education course [ECT 322 -Discrete Transistor Theory and Circuit Design that is part of the ECT program that is closely related to the DegreeLink objectives to address the needs of non-traditional students and industrial workforce development. ECT 322 will be transformed into a distance education course with the support of this project. The department has given high priority to the transformation of this course, as well as others, and planned to offer it through distance in the near future. The primary media technology proposed for delivering this course will be videotape. An Internet web-site, listserv, and voice mail will also be developed to facilitate the communication and interaction between instructor and students in this course.

The accomplishment of this project will significantly enhance ISU’s ability to serve non-traditional students (especially, Indiana residents) through asynchronous learning and expedite the process of developing an ECT program that can be completely delivered through distance education. It will also strengthen the program to help industries in workforce development.

The proposed project requests a total of $36,908 funding with a 67% ($24,908) matching by Indiana State University. It requests a total amount of $12,000 funding from Indiana Partnership for Statewide Education (IPSE), Course Development Grant Program (CDGP).

2. Project Narrative

3.1 Introduction

Indiana State University has entered into a partnership with Ivy Tech State College and Vincennes University to develop seamless program articulations. This is more commonly known as DegreeLink. The main intention of DegreeLink is to provide access to a baccalaureate degree for Hoosiers who are time-bound, geographically-bound, and financially challenged. Students completing an articulated program can either transfer to ISU as a residential student or as a community-based student. Those students selecting the latter will receive courses through a variety of distance education technologies. Presently there are three approved programs (Electronics Technology, General Industrial Technology, and Industrial Supervision) being offered by Indiana State University.

The Electronics and Computer Technology Department (ECT) is a key part of the ISU partnership with Ivy Tech State College and Vincennes University. The ECT department has identified seven courses that need to be offered by distance education technologies to meet this obligation. The first course in this sequence is ECT 322, Discrete Transistor Theory and Circuits. It is a prerequisite for many other courses and therefore should be offered on as wide a basis as possible.

3.2 Target Audience

The primary learners to be served with this program are people that elect to enroll in the DegreeLink program. Additional people that may be served include technical people that are currently working in industry but wish to upgrade their skills. Recent offerings of a similar course have attracted shift workers that cannot attend regular classes. Finally, electronics students need this course because it forms the foundation to their understanding of all solid state devices, which today is most modern electronics.

3.3 The instructional design.

During the past summer, the project director [PD] developed a course, ECT 222, Electronic Instrumentation and Design that was piloted during the fall [1997] semester. The goal was to offer a hands-on laboratory course asynchronously. This task was accomplished through the use of videotapes which included lectures and demonstrations for the course. This process was necessary because the students did not have access to IHETS facilities, and they were involved in shift-work which prevented them from meeting any regular schedule. The course design also included regular text and laboratory manuals, an electronic experiment board, and a computer-based instrumentation system. The computer system included word processing, Internet access, an electronic simulation software package, video conferencing equipment and virtual instrumentation. The equipment was loaned to the students for the semester. The computers and equipment were made available from an ISU campus grant. The "Web-Course-In -A-Box" program was used to manage the course.

Five students are completing this course at the end of this semester. They have all scored above 90% on the tests and have handed in laboratory reports that were graded above 90%. Their performance has been outstanding. This course was funded as a pilot to establish how to offer laboratory courses at a distance.

There are two models of delivery that the department has experience with — IHETS or videotape + Internet model. The latter model has proven to be very successful, and the department sees a greater potential for students then with the IHETS model. IHETS sites are available in many, but not all places. This proposal is to extend the distance education delivery system to each students home. While this model offers greater flexibility for students, its major inhibitor could very well be that students will not have the appropriate computer equipment.

ECT 322 - Discrete Transistor Theory and Circuits: This is a five credit class that is currently taught by Dr. William Croft and Mr. Donald Kauffman. Dr. Croft teaches the class on-campus and Mr. Kauffman has offered the class over IHETS. The class is currently scheduled to be offered over IHETS both spring and summer of 1998. It is not scheduled again until the summer of 1999 and the spring of 2000. Due to the central nature of this class the department would like to offer it every semester asynchronously, over the web. This is the focus of this proposal.

Since the PD has the experience for developing the asynchronous ECT 322 class, and Dr. Croft and Mr. Kauffman have been teaching the course most recently, they have agreed to assist with the process. However, the PD will take the primary responsibility for developing the materials. Dr. Croft and Mr. Kauffman are included in the budget to review and critique the materials prepare. Once the course is 90% developed Ivy Tech and VU faculty will review the materials.

Students enrolling in this class will need to have a Pentium class computer to which they can add a data acquisition card and a video conferencing card. We have developed extensive, detailed instructions how to do both of these processes. They will also need an experiment board. The costs of these items will be from $600-800.00. The students that are enrolling in the class may already have experiment boards and some of their own test equipment, so they may avoid some of these costs. The equipment specified for this class will be used in at least five courses, so the students will get good use of the equipment.

Technology description

Due to the unique nature of the technologies being recommended in this proposal it is necessary to explain them in a little more detail for the reviewer to get a clear picture of what is being proposed. The technologies include:

1. The computer. The proposed system will work well if the student has an IBM type computer with a Pentium class processor. The machine should operate at least at 133 MHz, have a CD drive and 16 meg of ram.

2. Video conferencing. The US Robotics video conferencing system has been used and is being recommended. This system retails for $350.00,. It includes a modem and all related hardware and software. The price of this equipment may be less by the time it is necessary to be purchased.

3. Data acquisition. The National Instruments data acquisition board and software have been used. This provides an oscilloscope and function generator. ISU has a license for the software that converts this hardware into virtual instruments. This equipment will allow the student to complete the labs. This equipment costs about $300.00.

4. Experiment board. Power supplies and related equipment are required for the student to build all the circuits. This equipment is available for about $300.00. Many students that have completed an Ivy Tech or VU course may already have this equipment or it may be available where they are working.

5. Circuit simulation. Electronic circuit simulation of the devices being studied is critical to the offering of this course. The ECT department has a site license for this software and will make it available to each student for the duration of their taking the electronics classes.

6. Web-Course-In-A-Box. This system is operating at ISU and can be accessed by the students over the web. Each student will need to have access to the Internet. This system makes it possible to have students turn in papers, take tests, get feedback from the instructor and discuss problems with either the instructor or other students. This is the primary communication system for the course.

7. ISU help desk. This will be maintained and paid for by the department. Students will be available on an extended schedule to help students with the lab activities.

Typical "Learning" process

The students that have used this system in ECT 222 say they typically read the text and laboratory manuals to get an idea of what is in the specific unit. They then watch the videotape on the topic and try to get the topic "in their head." Once this is done and they have a reasonable feel for what they are supposed to do they start the laboratory. As they are doing the laboratory they may go back to the tapes or text. As they are doing the labs, they tend to simulate the lab using the Electronic Work Bench software, then actually do the lab using real parts.

If help is needed they call the help desk. During this past semester the PD had several calls from each student to clarify what was to be done and or how to do the lab work. The video conferencing system can really help with this portion of the process.

The student writes a formal laboratory report for each topic. This report summarizes what they have learned and puts the data in an engineering report format. This laboratory report is submitted using the Netscape web-browser and the Web-course-in-a-box system. Once the laboratory report has been submitted, the instructor grades and returns them with comments to the students. This is all done through the Web Course system. Students talk about the labs to each other by posting questions and/or comments and then having other students react. The process has really turned out to be fun.

3.3 Course Evaluation

The formative and summative evaluation procedures for this class will involve several parts.:

A comprehensive pretest will be administered to all students. This will help establish their entry level skill and knowledge levels as well as clearly define the course content for the students.

The class is divided into six major units of instruction. Each unit has lectures and demonstrations and several laboratory activities. Evaluation instruments will be developed to get student feedback on the effectiveness of each of these units. Particular emphasis will be placed on the coordination of the written instructional materials, video presentations and laboratory activities. In addition to the instructional unit evaluation instruments, feedback will be requested for each lab assignment. These instruments will be carefully studied to see if immediate corrections or changes need to be made. All of these instruments will emphasize the presentation of the content rather than the actual content. The students performance on the content will be evaluated through laboratory reports and written tests.

Each student will be interviewed about their perception of the effectiveness of the course and their suggestions for improvements at the conclusion of the instruction. They will have an opportunity to give this feedback anonymously as well as in person.

3.4 Project Schedule

Once the proposal is approved an initial meeting will be held with the five people involved ( project director, two ISU faculty and two IvyTech faculty) to review and expand the course plan as developed by the director. This course plan will include detailed outlines of lectures and labs for the course.

May 15 - July 15, 1998 Videotapes will be made for the course lectures and demonstrations. These tapes will be made in the ISU distance education classroom with the assistance of the TV production staff. As scripts and videos are produced they will be reviewed by the full team, individually.

July 15 - Aug. 1, 1998 Design team will review all tapes and related materials and suggest corrections. This will be done in a two day session as a group effort. This will gather all the ideas at one time so corrections can be made.

Aug. 1-15 Project director will make corrections suggested by the design team and finalize the preparation of the instructional materials for the students. The materials and course design will be for 20 students during this initial offering.

Aug. 20- 25 Enroll students for course. This process will include normal enrollment procedures plus equipment installation and checkout. This process will occur in Terre haute, Indianapolis, Fort Wayne and Evansville, depending on the locations of students enrolling in the class. We will attempt to make this process convenient for all parties concerned.

Aug. 25 - DEC 10 Offering of the course.

DEC 10-15 Meeting of the design team to evaluate the class and make specific recommendations for improvements.

The course will be revised and improved as each semester progresses.

3.5 Program Objectives

The major objectives of this proposal are: (1) to provide access for students who are time-bound, geographically-bound, and financially challenged, (2) to engage students in critical thinking, problem-solving and writing skills, and (3) to assist students in gaining the competencies needed to continue in the Electronics Technology program.

3.6 Institutional Support

Indiana State University has provided its full cooperation and supports the development of programs and courses for distance education. Recently, DegreeLink has been established statewide to facilitate access to all education throughout Indiana. The College of Arts and Sciences is fully committed to distance education. The Division of Continuing Education and Instructional Services, Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL), Media Technology Resource Services (MTR), Academic Computing and Network Services (ACNS) and Faculty Computing Resource Services (FCRS) of Indiana State University are committed to assist this project by various means including videotaping, audio taping, providing graphic design support, designing web sites, providing hardware and software for web course development. PD’s have been participants of the Course Transformation Academy (CTA) to enhance their skills in understanding how-to prepare a distance education course.

3.7 Key Course Development Personnel

The faculty member involved in the course development include:

Dr. Larry Heath, Professor of Electronics and Computer Technology, will be the course creator. He has the distance education technology experience necessary to develop this course. Dr. Heath will also serve as the project director for this project.

Additional personnel will include an instructional designer, copy editor, graphic designer, and computer/Web specialist.

2. Budget Narrative

The proposed project focuses on the development and delivery of distance education courses. The plan is not only to transform the courses to asynchronous delivery. The major tasks for this project will be to generate interaction with industry, identify industrial liaisons, and develop design projects for distance education. The project budget request will include: project director’s salary, consultant expenses, travel expenses, computer equipment, cost of studio time, videotape editing expenses, videotape production, graphic design work, web page development, student workers, telephone, postage, and printing.

Appendix A - Project Director

Dr. Larry Heath has been on the faculty at ISU since the fall of 1972. He has taught most of the electronics courses offered by the department during this time. His most recent effort was to develop the ECT 222 class for the web. He also taught several IHETS courses for the Industrial Technology Education Department in their HRD program. His doctorate is in Vocational Education from the University of California at Los Angeles. In addition to teaching electronics and computer technology, he has also taught robotics and industrial automation.