Enhancing Face-to-Face Courses with a Course Management System.

This article presents a development system for faculty creating online materials to enhance their face-to-face courses. The process of determining the purpose, organizing the content, and evaluating the results leads instructors through an effective development plan. Faculty use course management systems for a variety of administrative and pedagogical reasons, such as to augment course content, increase active learning, provide feedback, and increase communication. Organizing the online materials requires a clear, succinct and consistent structure. Through ongoing evaluation, faculty can refine materials to support student achievement. Introduction Technology has quickly become part of the daily living and learning routine. In education, it is common practice for schools and universities to use networked computers with continuous access to Web-based files, resources, and communication. Course management systems (CMS) have become important software for traditional resident faculty as well as distance education faculty. As they create digital information for instructional purposes, their task is simplified by this software that groups technology tools for communication, course content, and gradebook management. The course management technology used in higher education classrooms challenges faculty to rethink how they structure their courses. The following system developed at the University of Pittsburgh helps faculty plan effective online materials using the CMS of Blackboard®. The guidelines can easily transfer to other institutions and CMSs (e.g., WebCT, eCollege, Learning Space, Angel). The three-step system for Web-based course enhancements encourages faculty to (1) determine their purpose, (2) plan the organization of course content, and (3) evaluate the results. Developing Web-based Materials According to the 2002 Campus Computing Project, nearly one-fifth of college courses use a course management system (Warger, 2003) . For traditional, face-to-face courses, Dabbagh (2004) reported CMSs can be used to promote collaborative learning, enhance critical thinking skills, and give all students equal opportunity to express their views. In another study, Cennamo, Ross, and Rogers (2002) noted increased active learning with Web-based materials. They redesigned a large enrollment course to include Web enhancements (e.g., PowerPoint slides, outlines, study guides) and concluded “With the Web pages providing the basic factual information and assessments, students confirm that they have become more actively involved, not only in learning online, but when participating in the face-to-face class sessions” (p.32). Byers (2002) agreed and summarized that there is a “paradigm change from students as passive receptors of data to students as active learners.” While many faculty agree on the benefits of using CMSs, most recognize the “considerable costs in terms of faculty time and effort” (Dabbagh, 2004). Blending two delivery systems requires significant preparation time. Dabbagh recommended careful consideration be given to integrating both delivery contexts rather than duplicating activities in each. For example, an instructor can pair students to exchange drafts of papers online and provide a rubric for evaluation, then trade and discuss the evaluations in class. Students also have time constraints and must understand how to distribute their time between online and in-class activities. I. Determine the Purpose Faculty goals for putting materials online seem to center on either administrative or pedagogical concerns. Some faculty simply want the convenience of sending class email, distributing handouts, or keeping an online gradebook. In her study of faculty from nine universities using Web-enhancements for face-to-face courses, Wingard (2004) noted “the longer faculty work with the Web, the more likely they are to pursue and derive pedagogical benefits from the technologies” (p. 11). Experienced faculty envision a CMS as a means to help them achieve instructional goals through problem solving teams, question and answer sessions, or online simulations. Joe Grabowski in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh notes that “the real benefit of Blackboard may be twofold: (1) the level of organization that it naturally fosters in its faculty users and (2) the ‘just-in-time’ access to traditional and nontraditional teaching material, both of which greatly benefit all students” (J. Grabowski, personal communication: email, January 27, 2003). Whether for administrative or pedagogical purposes, creating online materials is a cumulative process that develops with experience and feedback. Faculty have identified the following as some of their teaching goals for using a CMS: • Augment course content Many faculty augment their course content with handouts, charts, images, study guides, or PowerPoint slides. In addition, the Web offers a rich source of reference materials that enable faculty to supplement and individualize instruction. Faculty often link to tutorials, interactive games, simulations, government statistics, or virtual field trips. Many faculty post PowerPoint slides that students print and bring to class. Slides offer a rich collection of both graphic images, photographs, and text that students use to review key points and enhance note taking. It is helpful for students to review content in a variety of learning formats. • Increase active learning During 50-minute classes, faculty are often challenged just to complete their lectures yet provide supplementary material and additional learning activities. Therefore, they use the CMS to increase active learning outside of class. They create online activities that engage learners in reading, writing, and reflecting on course content. These active learning exercises may include case study discussions, team debates, or review exercises. Joe Grabowski in the Department of Chemistry developed a Web-based interactive Jeopardy game (http://www.pitt.edu/~joeg/CHEM0310/Jeopardy/jeopardy.htm) to reinforce course concepts. Through their CMS site, he and his colleagues link to one or more existing games on the Jeopardy Website. • Provide feedback Feedback can be in the form of instructor or student comments, and can be delivered in either email, chat, or discussion board postings. The asynchronous communication tools (i.e., email and discussion board) allow time for reflection, which is beneficial for higher levels of thinking such as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Furthermore, reticent and international students are often more comfortable participating in asynchronous communication. Noticing the same email questions every semester, several faculty members maintain a frequently asked question file in their Blackboard courses. Others, create question and answer discussion forums by topic or chapter. Each semester, they generate new discussions based on questions submitted by students. This allows students to respond to one another with faculty or teaching assistants monitoring the responses. These question and answer strategies can be time efficient for faculty who find they repeatedly answer the same questions. Faculty also like the CMS quizzes for the practice and immediate feedback they provide to learners. The quizzes provide the opportunity for reinforcement or review. Because of the possibility of cheating, most faculty do not use the quizzes for credit even though their completion may be required. Some instructors consider the quizzes in students’ participation scores. Matching, multiple choices, short answer essay, and true/false question formats are available. In the following question, instructional feedback is provided with an explanation of the correct answer: One of the largest influences on the expansion of the fields of clinical psychology was: A. increased frequency of psychopathology. B. **World War II.** C. mandatory school attendance for children. D. the opening of many new graduate programs. Feedback: America’s involvement in WWII necessitated mass testing of military personnel, a task uniquely appropriate for the field of clinical psychology. The Center for Instructional Development & Distance Education (CIDDE) at the University of Pittsburgh assessed the impact of online CMS materials on Pitt students. Eighty-four percent of the students indicated that the quizzes/practice exams helped them to prepare for exams and focus their study efforts (Nicoll, 1999). Practice for cognitive skills is often overlooked, but it is just as important as is feedback on physical skills. • Increase communication Most CMSs can be set to automatically open to the Announcements page. Here, faculty post friendly reminders of assignments, room changes, or syllabus updates. Instructors who use this Announcements feature most effectively post messages routinely to encourage students to check the course regularly. Once students are online, they’re more likely to check other sections of the course. Pitt instructor Tony Novosel teaches a history course on Ireland and begins the course with a brief “expectations survey” using Blackboard essay-style questions. His questions include (1) What specific experiences and interests do you bring to this history course? (2) What do you want to take away from this class? and (3) Is there any other information you would like to share with me? This survey helps the instructor to know his students and communicate more effectively. Blackboard offers both asynchronous and synchronous communication tools. The instructor’s goal should determine the appropriate communication strategy, e.g., the discussion board when unique, thoughtful responses to a group dialogue are desired; email when repetitive responses such as answers to study questions are expected. In order to build a meaningful dialogue, some faculty require students to post and respond a specific number of times each week.