Big Picture and Wish List
From WikEd
- Group Members: Tom Anderson, Lanny Arvan, Coralyn Beem, Faye Lesht (overseer), Mary Macmanus-Ramsbottom, Scott Morris, Jerry Uhl, Debra Woods, Mehdi Harandi.
- Create a big picture/wish list, assuming unlimited resources. What should the ideal "U of I Online" look like?
- Inspect and contribute to the other working groups: State of Online Education at U of I, Examination of Online Education Beyond UIUC and Research on Online Education.
- Also, we might want to "sign" our contributions to make dialogue easier later?...a convenient way to do this is to "click" the signature icon in the editing options. Mine looks like this...--Thand 11:50, 29 Nov 2005 (CST)...tom anderson...
Contents
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Big Picture Wish List and Enabling the Cultural Change to Get Us There
- The core issue is whether online continues to be viewed as separate from the on ground operation in Urbana-Champaign or whether both become part of a larger whole. As the wish list gets built out, that issue must be addressed front and center. --Larvan 12:10, 30 Nov 2005 (CST)
Hardware
Current situation
- Many students have wifi compatible computers...--Thand 11:50, 29 Nov 2005 (CST)
- The type and quality of hardware available to students is quite variable, particularly in non-engineering disciplines. Departments may or may not provide computing resources, and students' computers are not well-standardized, though most find resources to complete assignments.
- On the server side, most units are doing their own thing with regard to course management, hosting documents, multimedia files, and enabling asynchronous communications (such as this wiki). There is an experiement with Elluminate on the synchronous side, but it is not clear whether that can scale to the campus. --Larvan 12:10, 30 Nov 2005 (CST)
2 years out
- All students are required to own computers that are compatible with UIUC wifi communications--Thand 11:52, 29 Nov 2005 (CST)
- Students have the option to download and carry lectures and other course materials with them on ipod-type hardware.--Thand 07:58, 3 Dec 2005 (CST)
5 years out
10 years out
Applications/software
Current situation
- AO sponsors about 30 Elluminate seats for broadcasting online courses...--Thand 11:50, 29 Nov 2005 (CST)
- COMPASS remains as a useable but critically flawed method of asynchronous distribution.
2 years out
5 years out
- UIUC provides enough Elluminate-type seats for students in all online courses...--Thand 11:50, 29 Nov 2005 (CST)
10 years out
Communication, networks
Current situation
- a few buildings on campus are wireless...--Thand 11:50, 29 Nov 2005 (CST)
- Campus is building towards Wifi service in all public spaces on campus.
2 years out
5 years out
- All buildings on campus are wireless...--Thand 11:50, 29 Nov 2005 (CST)
10 years out
Venues, classrooms and beyond
Current situation
- Many classrooms on campus are "high tech", and wireless. However, the notion of the "classroom" will change dramatically as we include more onlineness. We need some research to help unpack these ideas: the notion of "smart" classrooms, whether classrooms ought to be larger, smaller, more abundant, in residence halls, etc..--Thand 15:12, 29 Nov 2005 (CST)
- Law schools in particular have an interesting connectivity example to look at -- students are connected during class so that additional information is downloaded and kept.
2 years out
5 years out
10 years out
UIUC Organization/Administration
Current situation
- The admin of online courses/programs is sometimes housed in the sponsoring depts/colleges and other times it is thru AO. Is there need to clarify/streamline the various admin roles? Or does this model work well and can be expanded to meet increased future needs?--Thand 15:01, 29 Nov 2005 (CST)
- I think we ought to use this opportunity to think thru president white's vision of a 4th Virtual UIUC campus! Should it be an organizational campus that grants degrees (with chancellors, and such) or an office, or an expanded AO, or an umbrella organization that has spokes in each academic department of UIUC, or of all three campuses?...I think it's exciting to imagine the possibilities at this juncture and not get bogged down creating barriers?...--Thand 09:51, 12 Dec 2005 (CST)
2 years out
5 years out
10 years out
Faculty Reward System
Current situation
- The faculty reward system is not uniform in terms of campus-based or online teaching. It would be helpful if there were more incentives for faculty to teach online. An ideal future, 5 to 10 years from now, would address this issue in ways that are meaningful to faculty and campus....faye...
- Currently, with state resources for education being reduced, there is an ever-diminishing emphasis on education as a part of professional evaluation. Given that most departments ignore educational contributions (unless severely lacking) when considering promotion and tenure, there needs to be a substantial reversal of the trend towards a solely "bottom line" evaluation from the P&T level to the highest levels of administration.
2 years out
- Faculty on the tenue track can support their case for scholarship by claiming and illustrating that to design and teach a course is such as activity. Student, faculy and teaching assistant participation in these courses can be collected automatically in applications such as Moodle, WebCT and WikEd, and used as evidence of how well the course was working, what students were learning and the faculty's role in it. --Thand 09:23, 30 Nov 2005 (CST)
- There is structural support for research-on-teaching through the online experience provided as an incentive for those who commit to the additional effort of online teaching.
5 years out
10 years out
Academics
- Various models of providing testing/examination environments for students taking online courses need to be explored. Currently, AO uses several with GIS and other delivery systems, but with large scale online courses, the issues involved with secure, proctored testing seem integrally important to the widespread use of online courses. It's probably true that many courses will ease up on the use of proctored exams, but enough will continue to insist on the practice that the models will be necessary. Hopefully, the other working groups will uncover what other institutions are implementing along these lines...--Thand 14:59, 12 Dec 2005 (CST)
Current situation
- Content and courses are currently being developed on a piecemeal basis, ranging from simple streaming of pre-existing video content to complex multimedia asynchronous delivery. Results are variable and there is little standardization among classes beyond that demanded by the delivery system.
2 years out
5 years out
- 50% of undergraduate courses are available online--Thand 11:50, 29 Nov 2005 (CST)
- 35% of masters degree courses are available online--Thand 11:50, 29 Nov 2005 (CST)
- 10% of doctoral degree courses are available online--Thand 11:50, 29 Nov 2005 (CST)
- The professor's "smart" office of the future?...aka, computer science current research?...--Thand 11:50, 29 Nov 2005 (CST)
10 years out
Research
Current situation
2 years out
5 years out
- faculty at UIUC are editors of at least 25 online professional journals...--Thand 11:19, 29 Nov 2005 (CST)
10 years out
Other
Current situation
2 years out
5 years out
10 years out
Quality Maintenance
How Do We Ensure That Online Education Provides The Best Possible "Product"?
- It will be of the utmost importance that the results of an online development process not drive the educational experience to a bottom-line, "Most Students For The Least Money" result as so often happens with changes in educational technologies. Maintenance of the quality of student experience is of the utmost importance.
Musings about the University of Illinois Global Campus (UIGC)
- See this fictitious Call For Course Development Proposals as a vehicle for describing certain characteristics of UIGC.
- See this fictitious Reply to Student Inquiry About UIGC as a vehicle for describing certain characteristics of UIGC.
