NWACC Grant Proposal

1. Project Objective
2. Method
3. Funding Rationale
---Impact
---Innovation
---Feasibility
---Technology Transfer and Outreach
---Leverage
---Collaboration
---Outcome Assessment
4. Project Budget Details
5. Project Schedule

3. Funding Rationale

Impact:

There are several classes at OSU that have or plan to integrate MWT in traditional classroom settings. Impact and effectiveness data will be compiled for five different OSU courses (Engineering Orientation II, Visual Programming, Physics, Statics, and Statistics) over the next four months. It is estimated that approximately 800 students will be enrolled in these courses. As a result of support from a previous NWACC grant, an assessment tool for student attitudes has been developed and will be utilized in this research. Additionally, support from the Hewlett Foundation has been used to develop a generic course assessment tool that will be used to provide a measure of how technology integration into the classroom has supported the achievement of course learning objectives. These instruments will be the basis of determining impact and effectiveness for the proposed work.

Innovation:

Previous research has focused on the application and the implementation of MWT in a variety of academic settings. A review of the literature has revealed, however, that very little previous research has studied either the impact or the effectiveness of MWT in the classroom particularly for higher education. Of these studies, even fewer have evaluated the cost of the integration of MWT or an evaluation of the cost effectiveness. In an environment where significant budget constraints are a reality, it is essential that educators have tools to assist them in evaluating how to best spend limited financial resources. Developing a methodology by which educators can evaluate the relative cost effectiveness of different MWT options in the classroom setting is essential in maximizing the educational impact of the limited available monies.

Feasibility:

The likelihood of success for this project is high. There are minimal physical/infrastructure requirements to implement the proposed work. The equipment being used in the implementation of MWT in classrooms at OSU was received as part of the 2001and 2002 Hewlett-Packard Mobility Grants. On-going support from the Engineering Schools of the West Hewlett Foundation Grant and the College of Engineering has been committed to support new efforts for MWT integration in additional courses in 2004 – 2005. As a result of being the project manager for both the Hewlett-Packard mobility grant and the Hewlett Foundation grant, the Project Director of the proposed work has an extensive network of contacts that will be utilized to identify a second university to participate in the validation portion of the proposed work. Additionally, the Project Director has already engaged in previous research projects to develop instruments to evaluate student attitudes towards technology in the classroom and to evaluate the impact of technology on student learning. As part of the proposed work, these questionnaires will be redeveloped as web-based surveys to facilitate data collection (these questionnaires are currently paper-based). Given the number of surveys to be collected, creating a web-based survey will simplify the data collection and entry processes. The primary development work that remains is to create a process and tools to assist faculty in estimating the cost for MWT implementation in a particular classroom setting and to develop a family of metrics for cost-effectiveness. Tools associated with engineering economic analysis are quite familiar to the Project Director and the students who will be assisting with this work.

Technology Transfer and Outreach:

While the focus of the proposed work is on MWT implementations in higher-education classrooms, it is possible that the overall methodology may be applicable to other educational settings (K-12). In the final phase of the proposed work the applicability of the methodology to these other settings will be explored using local elementary schools.

Leverage:

Monies from the Hewlett Foundation will be used to support the actual curriculum development efforts necessary to integrate MWT’s into the classroom as OSU.

Collaboration:

In addition to sharing this methodology with instructors and administrators at OSU, the plan to validate the methodology outside of OSU opens up the possibility of developing a web-based set of tools and guidelines for instructors from other institutions to use in assessing different MWT’s. While the basis for the methodology development is integration of MWT into engineering classrooms, it is anticipated that other higher education disciplines will also benefit from this methodology.

Outcomes Assessment:

The nature of the proposed work is focused on not only outcome assessment, but in developing a set of cost-effectiveness metrics that will provide critical information to both instructors and decision makers in higher education to more fully evaluate the impact of MWT’s.