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Abstract

The Adult and Professional Studies Division of Indiana Wesleyan University proposes to convert its UNV120 Career Development course from classroom instruction to asynchronous online delivery. This course is important for setting up graduates to succeed by teaching them how to find a new job and grow professionally in their job. It is a full-credit course (3 credit hours) that may be applied towards undergraduate degree programs. As a part of this course conversion, it is proposed to improve the online interface to significantly save Web Master team’s time to allow them to deliver more online courses. The total estimated cost of this project is $16,418. IHETS/ISPE is requested to fund half ($8,209).

Objective

Benefits Expected

Approach

A full-time faculty member who wrote and teaches the UNV120 Career Development course, now taught in the classroom only, will write the online course. He will use the course writer tools developed as part of this project. Currently, course writers type online content into a word processing template, and the Web Master team tediously cuts and pastes the text and graphics, changing fonts, colors, spacing, etc., as necessary to make the interface visually appealing. The new course writers’ tool will accomplish these activities automatically such that the Web Master team only needs to copy the file directly off the course writer’s disk onto the server.

Need for the Course

The UNV120 Career Development course is designed to assist adult learners in various stages of career development or career transition. This course will help students assess personal skills and interests and develop an understanding of how these relate to career options and decision making. The course includes developing job search techniques through resume writing, interviewing techniques, and personal networking. Online education is an ideal way to educate adult learners who work full time and may not even be able to attend night classes.

Choice of Course and Technology

Indiana Wesleyan University has developed an effective online interface. This delivery method was chosen because it offers flexibility in time and space to adult students, providing content and timely faculty-students and student-student interaction. This specific course was chosen for conversion to distant education because of a university initiative to develop a Center for Life Calling and Leadership Development. It is desired to help set up our graduates for success in their professional career. However, other students may take this course as an "unclassified student."

IWU’s online delivery is asynchronous. The interface mixes online mini lectures with both online learning activities (e.g., group projects, discussions, research via the Internet) and offline learning activities (e.g., reading, watching video, individual projects). WebBoard is used for class discussions, which has both asynchronous and synchronous chat room capability. Students respond asynchronously within WebBoard to instructor’s discussion questions. Each student receives these postings and may reply to each other’s comments. Students are encouraged to participate by assigning participation points toward their final grade.

Online asynchronous delivery allows working adults the flexibility to access quality education without the constraints of time and space. Consequently, working professionals will be able to raise their level of preparation and better serve their companies and communities. No longer will students have to move away from their communities to take advantage of educational opportunities.

Institution’s Capacity and Commitment

Indiana Wesleyan University is committed to providing online education (see the Vice President’s letter in the Appendix). IWU has established eight online elective courses and an online MBA program, are planning online courses in other areas of study such as education and nursing, and hired a Director of Distance Education. Processes have been established for developing online courses, which include orienting new online facilitators and course writers to this mode of delivery. The university has a Web Master team devoted to providing all support needed to faculty, staff, and students for online education. Improving the interface will allow existing personnel to support more online courses than they can now support. Once this course is written and placed in the online interface, IWU has qualified adjunct faculty who can facilitate additional offerings.

Instructional Design Plan

This course is taught in the classroom now. No further approval is needed to offer this course in a distance education mode. When the course was first created, a focus group was conducted with several faculty members to determine the course’s objectives, format, and content. Another focus group will be conducted to rethink the learning activities required to achieve learning objectives in online delivery. The course writer (Dr. Bob Harper) will use this input and submit drafts to the Program Director (Ms. Sharon Drury). The Program Director will send the draft to adjunct faculty for peer review. Upon approval of the final draft, a proofreader will accomplish final editing. The instructor will use the course writer tool developed as part of this project, which should be easier for both the course writer and Web Master. After the Web Master team inputs the course into the server, the interface will be tested for consistency and integrity of links according to an established plan.

Course Evaluation Plan

An assessment plan comprised of attitudinal and administrator evaluations will be used to measure the course’s effectiveness. Specifically, end-of-course surveys by students, faculty, and alumni, assessment of curriculum with regard to scope and currency will be evaluated by peers and the division’s Curriculum Advisory Council. Data will also be collected to identify the online student’s demographic characteristics such as age, gender, and income level. These will be compared to the on-site offered UNV120 Career Development course.

Justification for Using a Consultant

Mr. Jim Weaver’s participation in this project is critical to its success. He is an active member of IWU’s Distance Education Steering Committee (attends monthly meeting and provides valuable technical input). He also participated in the task force that led online education development and personally developed the current interface. IWU’s Web Master team does not have the technical expertise or time to make such large improvements to the online interface. The expected time savings provided by this interface are significant.

Key Program Staff

Dr. Bob Harper – Course Writer / Instructor (see details in Appendix)

1992 Ed.D. in Adult and Community Education from Ball State

1974 M.A. in Counseling from the University of Evansville

1968 B.S. in Marketing from the University of Evansville

Dr. Hank Kelly – Director of Distance Education / Project Director

1986 Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois

1981 M.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Arizona

1976 B.S. in Civil Engineering from the U.S. Air Force Academy

Ms. Sharon Drury – Academic Program Director

1997 M.S. in Management Science from Indiana Wesleyan University

1987 B.S. in Human Resources from Indiana Wesleyan University

Mr. Jim Weaver – Consultant who will improve the online interface

Project Schedule Timeline

January 1999 Grant announcement; begin converting interface to XML

February 1999 Organizational planning and faculty/course writer’s training

March 1999 Finish converting interface to XML and accomplish testing;

begin writing course

April 1999 Begin developing course writer tool

May 1999 Finish developing course writer tool and accomplish testing;

finish writing/editing of course

June 1999 Entry of course into the course writer tool

July 1999 Entry of course into the online interface and test its integrity

August 1999 First offering of course

University Description:

Indiana Wesleyan University is a Christian liberal arts, coeducational university with an enrollment of 5365 students as of the fall of 1997. In addition to numerous undergraduate and graduate degree programs offered on its main campus, IWU has committed itself to the educational needs of the working adult professional and currently offers 10 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to students at more than 70 off-campus locations. This division now includes more than 8,500 graduates. Graduates of IWU adult programs are representative of learning partnerships with more than 500 Indiana employers, school districts, corporations, and organizations.

IWU operates campus and conference centers in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, and Kokomo along with 70 other sites for class meetings throughout the state. IWU offers off-campus support services for all of its extended class sites. Students may access special extended university library services by telephone, fax, telnet, or mail, where they will receive assistance with research or bibliographic questions. It is the goal of Indiana Wesleyan University not to merely provide classes, but to provide an "extended university" designed to meet the needs of both students and employers.

University Online Goals:

The goals of IWU’s online program is to allow individuals who have access to a basic computer, modem, and Internet Service Provider access to our courses. The online interface and course content is structured to meet the needs of adult learners using today’s technologies. Development of courses is guided by these key objectives:

 

APPENDIX

Course Writer/Instructor - Robert T. Harper

Academic Degrees

B.S. Marketing University of Evansville 1968

M.A. Counseling, University of Evansville, 1974

Ed.D., Adult Education, Ball State University, 1992

Professional Experiences and Employment History
    1. United States Army
    1. Associate Director of Admissions, University of Evansville
    1. Director of Counseling, University of Southern Indiana

1990-Present Indiana Bell Project Director and Faculty, Indiana Wesleyan University

Courses Developed

Career and Life Planning, University of Southern Indiana

Study Skills, University of Southern Indiana

Career Development, Indiana Wesleyan University

Wellness Strategies for Management, Butler University

Courses Taught for Indiana Wesleyan University

Analysis and Decision Making

Career Development

Concepts of Wellness

Motivation and Change

Nutrition and Health

Psychology of Personality

Qualifications to Develop Course

Several of Dr. Harper’s M.A. and Ed.D. courses dealt with career planning, career testing, career assessment, etc. As the Indiana Bell Project Director, he administered career tests and counseled on how to grow professionally within the company. When Indiana Bell became Ameritech and downsized, he taught job hunting skills to personnel losing their job. He developed and continues to facilitate Indiana Wesleyan University’s UNV120 Career Development course that teaches students job hunting skills and how to grow professionally in their job.

Technology Experience

Adept at working with Personal Computers for a variety of tasks. To prepare Dr. Harper to write and facilitate this online course, he will take two three-week online courses (Driver’s Ed on the Information Superhighway and Orientation for Online Facilitators), shadow an online course, and read IWU’s Online Curriculum Development Manual. This preparation will be done under the supervision of the Director of Distance Education.



Last updated: July 06, 2006