engaging faculty use of the web in teaching as a basis for designing cathy manduca, serc, carleton...
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Engaging faculty use of the web in teaching as a basis for designing
Cathy Manduca, SERC, Carleton College
Flora McMartin, MERLOT
Wes Shumar, Drexel University
Ellen Iverson, SERC, Carleton College
Science Education Resource Center, Carleton College
Cathy Manduca, Director of SERC
Ellen Iverson, web development and evaluation
Tale of Two Projects Starting Point: Teaching Entry Level Geoscience
Manduca, Merritts, and SavinaNSF NSDL-0226243 serc.carleton.edu/introgeo
On the Cutting Edge: Professional Development for Geoscience Faculty Macdonald, Manduca, Mogk, TewksburyNSF CCLI-0127141
serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops
What we wanted to find out
How do faculty think about their teaching? How do they make decisions about what to do
in class? What are faculty looking for on the web? How
do they find it? How do they use these materials in their
teaching?
Focused study on small sample
8 structured interviews of faculty with a range of teaching experience
21 additional walkthroughs using scenario-based think-aloud protocol
Iteratively developed coding scheme
What are faculty thinking and doing?
Faculty like to talk about teaching. Most expressed interest in teaching higher order
thinking skills. Decisions about what to do in class based largely on
classroom experience of faculty member and colleagues.
Most faculty use the web a lot. sources that colleagues recommend, Google™ on science topics.
Faculty adapt and create from what they find.
What are faculty looking for on the web?
Information or visuals about science topic Specific data to use in exercise or lab Ideas Relatively few faculty search web for teaching
materials Even fewer think of web as source of pedagogic
information
Starting Point: Designed with this research in mind
Teaching examples searchable by geoscience topic and findable in Google™
Pedagogic information linked with example and tips for use and adaptation
Site developed by faculty colleagues and peer reviewed to increase its ability to become a trusted source
serc.carleton.edu/introgeo
Initial Evaluation Results Examples are extremely popular and spark
creativity Many faculty explore site using examples in a
topic Pedagogic information is placed in a useful
context 7000 hits per month; 1/2 from Google™ Long visits initiated with searches on
pedagogic topics
Next steps Broad dissemination of site Demonstrating use
Case studies Web stats On-line feedback Geo-ed survey
Vocabulary testing Crit Lab/Heuristics
On the Cutting Edge: Websites from Workshops
Creating Coherence Website Use Survey
100 respondents 82 used site and recommended to colleague
2004 Workshop Evaluations 93% find workshop website easy to use 96% plan to use workshop website in future Less than 50% indicate awareness for larger Cutting Edge
website Only 1/8 to 1/3 aware of other workshop/topical websites
Primary issue is recognizing that there is more than one thematic collection
Continuing Evaluation
Who is using the site for what? Interviews Focus Groups Questionnaire Website usage
Earth system and resource type vocabulary testing
In sum Research and evaluation have had big
impact on site design Evaluation in progress for purposes of
demonstrating impact Not yet successful in disseminating
interesting results to larger community