EME 5457

Online Course Report

Submitted by: XXXX

October 14, 2007

Course Reviewed: EDIT 605: Instructional Systems Design

Course Instructor: Dr. Larry Israelite ()


For this report, I interviewed Dr. Larry Israelite who is currently conducting an Instructional Systems Design course at the University of Bridgeport. The University of Bridgeport was not among the Distance Education Programs listed on the Wiki. However, the professor that I contacted at the Learning Resource Network (LERN.org) did not respond to my survey. In his October 5th email response to my request, he indicated he appreciated that I reached out to him for this project, and that he was interested in participating, but in the end he stated that he would respond to my request only if he found the time prior to my deadline. I sent him follow up e-mail after receiving his response, but I did not hear back from him again. On the morning of October 13th, I contacted Dr. Israelite. He is a former Director of Strategic Learning at Pitney Bowes whom I worked with for several years. I knew he was teaching a Distance Education course, so I called him and he agreed to participate in an interview over the phone. The report that follows is based on our conversation.

Designation & Sponsor

The subject of this research assignment is the Instructional Systems Design course (course designation EDIT 605) at the University of Bridgeport conducted by Dr. Larry Israelite. It is a required course in the university’s Master of Science in Instructional Technology (iMSIT) program offered by the School of Education and Human Resources. This is the first time Dr. Israelite is conducting this course and his first experience conducting an online course for a university.

Goal

According to its course catalog description, Instructional Systems Design examines strategies, trends, issues and research findings related to the design and development of standards-based instructional systems and programs. It focuses on both behavioral and cognitive strategies for instructional design including the theory and research background related to each approach. Students apply these strategies in assessment of needs, analysis, design, development, management and evaluation of an instructional system or program. Dr. Israelite summarized this description by stating that the goal of the course is to help students understand and apply instructional design in their work by designing a unit of instruction using the Dick and Carey model.


Audience

The primary audience for this course is graduate students participating in the University of Bridgeport’s iMSIT program. Dr. Israelite stated that the students’ ages are late twenties to mid thirties. They are all working professionals. Most of them are employed in the field of education. Some of the jobs held by his current students are: teacher (technology, software, ESL programs), school administrator, media specialist and media technologist. Dr. Israelite described his students as possessing a moderate level of computer literacy which he characterized by stating they are generally familiar and comfortable with computers, but they do run into some problems with online tools from time-to-time.

Modes of Instruction

Instructional Systems Design is primarily conducted as an asynchronous online course with four, face-to-face, synchronous discussions held once per month on Saturdays for three hours at a time. Blackboard is used as the course management system. All announcements, assignments and activities are accessed from there. Weekly assignments generally consist of required readings followed by discussion board activities moderated by the instructor. All assignments are due by the end of the day on Fridays. The complete syllabus is posted on Blackboard so students can plan or begin working on weekly assignments at any time. There are no required group projects in the course. All activities are completed as individual assignments.

Evaluation Procedures and Evidence of Success

Since this is the first time Dr. Israelite is conducting this course, and the course is still in progress, he is only able to project what success will look like at this time. The main indicator will be completion of the course project. In addition to designing a unit of instruction, there are also four required papers in the course that will be used to gauge success: a student autobiography; a description of the context of the design project; a comparison of learning analysis approaches (Dick & Carey vs. Allison Rossett); and a reflection on the design project.
To evaluate performance in the weekly discussion activities, Dr. Israelite stated that he views the students’ comments as a way for him to gauge their understanding of the content. He looks for particularly insightful comments and incorporates them into his planning for the face-to-face synchronous discussions.

Challenges

The biggest challenge Dr. Israelite is facing is how to help his students get the most out of the course. Since this is his first time conducting an online course, he is still learning the capabilities of the course management system and gauging how students respond to the activities and assignments. He did express frustration about not being able to interact directly with the students as often as he would like, but feels this is something he will get used to and compensate for over time.

Student Needs and Perceptions

Dr. Israelite estimates that students need to spend up to eight hours per week in study time to meet the course requirements. He does not have any minimum posting requirements at this time; although class participation is graded. This is intended to motivate the students to participate in the weekly discussions. To meet students’ feedback needs, Dr. Israelite comments on a portion of the postings on the discussion board. He has also set up a separate discussion board titled Rants, Raves and Reflections that allows students to comment on any aspect of the course or content. He has found this to be a very helpful feedback mechanism. Dr. Israelite also takes advantage of the opportunity provided by the monthly face-to-face meetings to make himself available to students on an individual basis. He arrives 45 minutes early and stays 45 minutes after class on these days to meet with students.

Future Plans

Since this is the first time he is conducting this course, Dr. Israelite is reflecting on all aspects of it as he goes along. Currently, he uses Powerpoint presentations, web references and the Dick & Carey website in his course. He would like to expand content sources and the use of technology over time. He is also considering tightening up instructions for the activities and implementing a “minimum number of postings” requirement to ensure even participation from the students.

Percent / Points
Points / Earned / Earned / Requirements
10 / 100.0% / 10.00 / Goal: What is the purpose/goals of the distance course/program?
10 / 100.0% / 10.00 / Designation & Sponsor: Describe its official designation (course, curriculum, resource, training event) and sponsoring institution/body.
10 / 100.0% / 10.00 / Audience: Describe the target audience; who are the students?
10 / 100.0% / 10.00 / Student Needs: What motivates individuals to participate? (advancement, compulsory attendance, convenience, etc.)
10 / 90.0% / 9.00 / Modes of Instruction: How are the course(s) structured (self paced, course duration, asynchronous/synchronous, technologies)?
10 / 60.0% / 6.00 / Success: What is the evidence (enrollment statistics, testimonials, awards, number of graduates) of success thus far?
10 / 100.0% / 10.00 / Challenges: What are the major frustrations/problems faced?
10 / 100.0% / 10.00 / Evaluation Procedures: What are the means of evaluating student learning and program/course effectiveness?
10 / 60.0% / 6.00 / Student Perceptions: How is the program perceived by students (e.g., degree of interaction, frequency and quality of feedback, resources availability, personal contact with instructor or participants, etc.)?
10 / 100.0% / 10.00 / Future Plans: What are their future plans for improving the program?
20 / 100.0% / 20.00 / Organization of Article: (see rubric below)
20 / 100.0% / 20.00 / Clarity in Writing: (see rubric below)
140 / 131.00 / Total points earned
93.6% / Percent Score (A = 93+, A = 90-92, B+ = 87-89, B = 93=87, B- = 80=83, etc.)
18.71 / Points toward course grade = (20 possible pts X Percent Score)
Writing Style:
- 30% / - 20% / - 10% / - 0%
Organi-zation / Random or weak organization / Lapses in focus and coherence / Logical organization / Careful, clear, suitable organization
Clarity / Incorrect and/or ineffective wording and/or sentence structure / Simplistic and/or imprecise language / Acceptable, effective language / Precise and rich language; variety of sentence structure and length.

Thanks for reporting your findings about the ISD course at the University of Bridgeport. I thought it was interesting to see some of the practices that were or were not used in the course due to Larry’s first-time experience teaching a course online. I hope you find my comments to be helpful! J --Allan