Integration Project: Giti Javidi

Project Overview

The purpose of the project is to design and develop an online course to teach the fundamentals of computer hardware and software (IET 110). In a classroom environment, the students are able to open up a PC, study the components and put them back together. In an online environment, this won't be possible. The intention is to teach all of that to online students thru simulation and interactive multimedia. This is a general education course and is a requirement for all the students to take.

Project Details: IET 110 -- Fundamentals of Computer Technology

We still have much to learn about online learning environments, as research studies have demonstrated them to have both negative and positive impacts in terms of effectiveness and achievement of outcomes. As a result, it is critical that high quality online courses are developed to assure that online learners have the same quality of learning as the traditional face-to-face students. Without a doubt, one important feature of distance education is technology. Distance education is much more than an online substitute for lectures. Literature reveals that we retain 10% of what we read, 20% of what we hear, 30% of what we see, 50 % of what we hear and see, 70% of what we say, and 90% of what we say and do. This being the case, in online environments, where the students have to depend on the technology to interact with the content thru the computer interface, we might have the opportunity to increase online student knowledge retention and learning by using multimedia and existing technology efficiently. The quality of online courses depends heavily on the learning materials, contents, and the tools (including images, sound, video, animation) used to accompany the explanation of the learning material.

For that purpose, I have developed CompuTek, interactive multimedia software, to teach undergraduate students the basics of computer technology. One module of this course (basics of computer networking) is completed. I spent 15 hours/week on this one module. This software can be used in IET110 as well as IET120. With some modifications and additions, it can also be used in our Telecommunication option. CompuTek can be used in the classroom as a supplemental material as well as in distance learning courses as part of the online content. The motivation for designing such software came from the realization that distance education does not simply mean to release information in the same format as the traditional classroom format and expect that learning will occur. This issue is magnified in online industrial technology courses where the students should also gain practical experience.

IET110 was taught for the first time in Spring 2003 in a classroom setting. However, it is proposed to be an online course on KYVU in the future. This proposal was to transform a course by integrating technology into it. IET 110 (Fundamentals of Computer Technology) was developed online at an instructional web site shell in Blackboard. Additionally, the students in this technical course were interviewed for satisfaction, attitude, and endorsement of the content and method of delivery. The outcomes were measured in terms of course-related criteria such as revision of a course web site to enhance the use of technology in instructional practices and/or students' learning, development of a new course-related web site and curriculum pages, revision of existing course to incorporate technology, and deliverable parameters such as demonstration of model project. It should be noted that there are certain challenges associated with creating online technical courses. This project is to serve as an innovation in this area, as well as a pilot test for future products from IET Department. This attempt will show the students' acceptance of the concept and the faculty's efficiencies in such effort.

The students in the course were provided with syllabus, lecture notes, discussion questions. Assessment activities in this course consisted of test, quiz, survey, assignments (graded), participation (in discussions), and projects. But as mentioned before, IET110 was not a completely online course and Blackboard was used to provide online supplemental material to the students and for the purpose of taking online exams. In the future, the online students will either have a link to CompuTek or each will be given a CD. Currently I am working with the office of distance learning to see which option is better for our online students. Due to lack of time no data has been collected on the effectiveness of the software. Therefore, there will be follow-up studies and the results will be reported in the future.