best practices: a cure for the new prep headache ?

Alan T. Burns Terry A. Steinbach

School of Computer Science, Telecommunications and Information SystemsDePaul UniversityChicago, IL 60604

Send inquiries to [email protected]

Goals of IS education research The trouble with new preps Best practices defined Best practices: a cure? Questions

ISECON Pittsburgh, PANov. 1-4, 2007

Burns, SteinbachBest Practices: Cure for New Prep Headache?

ISECON Pittsburgh, PANovember 1-4, 2007

Burns, SteinbachBest practices: Cure for new prep headache?

Effectiveness: Goal attainment / Quality / Ratio of actual outcome to an ideal outcome

Efficiency: Resource utilization / Ratio of output to input

What comes to mind when I say

NEW PREP?

e.g. “We’re assigning you 2 new preps next

quarter”


Burns, SteinbachBest practices: Cure for the new prep headache?

A course already developed, but being taught by an instructor for the first time The instructor can be either experienced or a

novice The course could also be new (never

developed)



(Extremely) Time consuming to prepare (Long) Learning curve: They may take

several iterations to ‘get it right’ Feedback from students may not be

helpful, since they cannot articulate why they don’t understand

Time pressures make matters worse Perhaps the most inefficient activity we

perform



The term “best practice” refers to a superior internal practice within the organization that provides better results than any known alternatives (Szulanski, 2000). We may not know why the practice is “best”.

The scope of a best practice can vary widely (a one sentence tip to an entire set of manuals)

Best practices are best suited to discrete but nontrivial tasks In this case the task is a new prep transfer.



Best practices are typically modeled in terms of communication theory (Shannon & Weaver, 1949) as a form of knowledge transfer.

Communication theory Knowledgeable source Encodes a message Sent across a channel Message decoded by A willing recipient



ISECON Columbus, OHOctober 7, 2005

Burns, JanickiA Case for PKM

It helps us identify and isolate potential (and very different) problems of transfer.

Why might knowledge be successfully transferred? Source (lacks motivation, lacks credibility) Recipient (lacks motivation, lacks absorptive

capacity) Context (distant relationships, lack of incentives) Message (“sticky” knowledge)

Sticky: difficult to articulate (encode), and therefore hard to transfer to the recipient



How to make course preps easier to share? Over the last 2 years, we have been developing

a model for sharing best practices for teaching So far, 3 courses studied (2 u/g, 1 grad)

Two components to our proposed model A central BP document A repository of content

Our paper discusses features of our model, and the anticipated knowledge transfer barriers they seek to overcome



Formality A formal, attractive document increases the

credibility of the source document. Disclaimer

Our best practices are suggestions, not mandatory rules for adoption

This keeps the instructor in control of the course configuration



Weekly schedule(s) Overcome one “sticky” knowledge problem It’s difficult for the source instructor to explain

why topics are sequenced a particular way Schedules help articulate this knowledge

Classroom response system questions e.g. for iClickers Sometimes it is difficult for a source instructor

to describe how a class discussion should flow Articulating questions can help



Drag-drop-deliver model A course is broken down into many sessions

(modules) Each session is driven by specific course

learning goals Each session ideally has a conceptual

component, as well as a “learning by doing” component (homework, in class exercise, etc.)

Sessions are assumed to last about 60 to 90 minutes



Drag-drop-deliver model (cont.) Organizing course content

1 folder per ~90 min. session (module) High cohesion

Folders are self-contained units Low coupling

Folders are independent of one another Instructors pick and choose modules as they wish

Drag from the server, drop onto their desktop, and deliver to the class (in a perfect world)



Inside a module (folder) Instructor notes on the module/session All files needed for the session Conceptual component (readings, PPT) Learning by doing component (assignment, in-

class exercise)



1) A central Best Practices document for teaching a course

2) A repository of content



Seminal paper? Which parts of the Best Practice document

and repository are perceived as being most useful to recipient instructors?

Which parts improve the rate and quality of knowledge transfer?

How to measure benefits? E.g. how much instructor time and effort is saved compared to the traditional method of new prep transfer?



Do best practices improve student learning?

Is a modular approach to course design more transferrable compared to more traditional approaches of course design

What barriers exist in the new prep transfer process, and how might they be overcome?

What are the barriers and issues associated with transfer of new preps across faculty from different universities?



best practices: a cure for the new prep headache ?

Documents