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Please bear with me as I provide a bit of context before getting to the
point.

As a project manager at our Center for Instructional Technology, I am
responsible for designing a number of web based courses for a distance ed
program (an executive MBA program) that will be launched by our Faculty in
the fall of 99.

Like many other faculties worldwide, our administrators have made
technology based instruction, a strategic priority. And like many others
in my shoes, I have some instructional design ideas about what would make
student learning worthwhile in the distance ed mode.

A lot of collaboration with instructors who have content expertise and our
systems staff offering technical knowhow is being planned. And then there
are the software vendors, each proclaiming their bells and whistles to be
louder than their competitors, however, offering very little in terms of
good (learning) practices in distance ed formats.

As a Phd candidate in Educational Technology, again like many others in my
shoes I began with grandiose ideas about heroic contributions to the
field.

Initially, I thought of inquiry along qualitative research traditions. And
spent a lot of time devising various proposals. And once again, like many
of my peers, I have come to the conclusion that my proposal and
dissertation should come down to earth and focus, focus, focus. One
pragmatic supervisor has offered the typical insight that it is better to
get the job done rather than "do time" at the institution!

Well, I wonder if practical time spent in designing web-based courses can
be married to experimental design that serves to further my dissertation.
Surely there are worthwhile questions to be asked in these unchartered
waters?

My very broad reading of the literature on distance ed or ed tech in
general continues to come up with a bottom line that translates to "no
significant effect".

Allow me to ask this forum for your burning question on course design
and/or diffusion of technology. What kinds of questions interests you? How
would these be articulated? What would you test for? Can you point to
others who might be interested in pursuing this further?

I am willing to spend the next couple of years answering the relevant
question that I cannot seem to come up with myself. Yet.

Arshad Ahmad
Department of Finance
Concordia University
Montreal, Canada
H3G 1M8

email: arshad@vax2.concordia.ca

Arshad,
I am doing my dissertation on computer assisted instruction and these are
the questions that interest me:

1. Is there any specific personal learning style that perceives greater
satisfaction in the learning process on computer assisted courses?
2. Is locus of control related to perception of satisfaction on computer
assisted learning?
3. Is laterality related to perception of effectiveness in the learning
process using computer assisted instruction?
From these results I intend to make suggestions in terms of the approach to
desing computer assisted courses.

I hope i did not get off topic.
Ivonne Chirino

At 02:17 PM 14/12/98 -0500, you wrote:
>Please bear with me as I provide a bit of context before getting to the
>point.
>
>As a project manager at our Center for Instructional Technology, I am
>responsible for designing a number of web based courses for a distance ed
>program (an executive MBA program) that will be launched by our Faculty in
>the fall of 99.
>
>Like many other faculties worldwide, our administrators have made
>technology based instruction, a strategic priority. And like many others
>in my shoes, I have some instructional design ideas about what would make
>student learning worthwhile in the distance ed mode.
>
>A lot of collaboration with instructors who have content expertise and our
>systems staff offering technical knowhow is being planned. And then there
>are the software vendors, each proclaiming their bells and whistles to be
>louder than their competitors, however, offering very little in terms of
>good (learning) practices in distance ed formats.
>
>As a Phd candidate in Educational Technology, again like many others in my
>shoes I began with grandiose ideas about heroic contributions to the
>field.
>
>Initially, I thought of inquiry along qualitative research traditions. And
>spent a lot of time devising various proposals. And once again, like many
>of my peers, I have come to the conclusion that my proposal and
>dissertation should come down to earth and focus, focus, focus. One
>pragmatic supervisor has offered the typical insight that it is better to
>get the job done rather than "do time" at the institution!
>
>Well, I wonder if practical time spent in designing web-based courses can
>be married to experimental design that serves to further my dissertation.
>Surely there are worthwhile questions to be asked in these unchartered
>waters?
>
>My very broad reading of the literature on distance ed or ed tech in
>general continues to come up with a bottom line that translates to "no
>significant effect".
>
>Allow me to ask this forum for your burning question on course design
>and/or diffusion of technology. What kinds of questions interests you? How
>would these be articulated? What would you test for? Can you point to
>others who might be interested in pursuing this further?
>
>I am willing to spend the next couple of years answering the relevant
>question that I cannot seem to come up with myself. Yet.
>
>Arshad Ahmad
>Department of Finance
>Concordia University
>Montreal, Canada
>H3G 1M8
>
>email: arshad@vax2.concordia.ca
>
****************************************************************************
****
Ivonne Chirino Barcelo
Human Resources and Management Department Head
Monterrey Institute of Technology
Calle del puente # 222. Col. Ejidos de Huipulco
C.P. 14380
Mexico City
phone number:(525) 483-2244
e-mail: ichirino@campus.ccm.itesm.mx

Arshad Ahmad wrote:
> Allow me to ask this forum for your burning question on course design
> and/or diffusion of technology. What kinds of questions interests you? How
> would these be articulated? What would you test for? Can you point to
> others who might be interested in pursuing this further?

Carter McNamara replies:
Your e-mail message requesting ideas for your dissertation is very
sincere. I commend you. (I snipped much of your original e-mail in order
to shorten this response.) You provide context for your appeal and
clearly convey that you want to make a contribution from your doctoral
program.

I spent about six months researching various aspects of distance
education and on-line educational programs. I have some background in
these areas. My PhD is from The Union Institute, an accredited distance
program. I've homeschooled my son so I have some basic context for
self-directed learning. I also developed a 12-course, Web-based, free,
self-directed nonprofit training program.

One "finding" that continued to amaze me was that, where technology has
been able to reduce costs in many other applications, it doesn't seem
readily to be doing so in distance education. That is, one would hope
that overall tuition costs could be reduced as a result of
technology-based distance education programs (from automation, reduced
cost of building facilities, etc.). Instead, I know of two schools that
hope to use their savings from distance education programs to beef up
their other programs. This is disappointing -- and continues to make
education inaccessible to many people who can't affording skyrocketing
tuition costs.

This might be an issue worth analyzing in a doctoral dissertation.
Admittedly, this issue may be as much about social policy as
technology-based education. But without looking at this issue, we might
be building this wonderful "ladder" completely on the wrong roof.

=================================================================
Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD (e-mail: mcnam007@tc.umn.edu)
- Leaders' Circles: networking, problem solving and support groups
that anyone can organize
(see http://www.mapnp.org/library/circles/ldrscrcl.htm )
- Free, Nonprofit Managers' Library at http://www.mapnp.org/library
- Free, on-line, 12-course management training program at
http://www.mapnp.org/library/mgmnt/mba_prog.htm

You'll find extensive research on your topic--look at groupware,
computer mediated communication, group support systems, media richness theory

Chuck Morrissey
Pepperdine

Re: dissertation on computer assisted instruction and these are
the questions that interest me:
1. Is there any specific personal learning style that perceives greater
satisfaction in the learning process on computer assisted courses?

Style presumably results in both satisfaction AND performance. I have seen many
satisfied, but woefully ignorant, students of non-CAI, therefore it is at least
possible for that pairing to occur under CAI as well. It might be useful to
know what styles result in BOTH performance AND satisfaction, assuming a
reasonably high level of "passing" performance.
--
Prof. John L. Naman naman+@pitt.edu

Arshad:

I am interested in a contiguous domain, instructional support websites
for onsite classes. For example, right now, I am considering a research
design with two sections of the same class, one as the experimental
group and the other as the control group. I am interested in studying
the relationship between the introvert/extrovert dimension and students'
participation in seminar type discussion sessions. Are introverts better
able to participate in threaded listserv type discussions compared with
face-to-face discussions? If so, is there an interaction effect where
they eventually participate face-to-face more effectively after
participating successfully in listserv discussions (mayabe call it a
pump-priming effect)? And so on.

What outlets have you found for publishing research in these continguous
domains? What has your lit review turned up?

As an aside, I just returned from CAUSE in Seattle. One first
impression... media rich content doesn't seem to matter in distance ed,
for now. I went to two sessions on successful web-based distance
learning experiences at two very different universities. One was very
high tech and media rich. The other was moderately high tech but also
totally text-based and media impoverished. Both, according to the
presenters, are *very* successful programs in terms of enrollments and
student satisfaction with the programs. An experimental and control
group design on the value added of media content might be interesting.

Any thoughts?

Arshad Ahmad wrote:
>
> Please bear with me as I provide a bit of context before getting to the
> point.
>
> As a project manager at our Center for Instructional Technology, I am
> responsible for designing a number of web based courses for a distance ed
> program (an executive MBA program) that will be launched by our Faculty in
> the fall of 99.
>
> Like many other faculties worldwide, our administrators have made
> technology based instruction, a strategic priority. And like many others
> in my shoes, I have some instructional design ideas about what would make
> student learning worthwhile in the distance ed mode.
>
> A lot of collaboration with instructors who have content expertise and our
> systems staff offering technical knowhow is being planned. And then there
> are the software vendors, each proclaiming their bells and whistles to be
> louder than their competitors, however, offering very little in terms of
> good (learning) practices in distance ed formats.
>
> As a Phd candidate in Educational Technology, again like many others in my
> shoes I began with grandiose ideas about heroic contributions to the
> field.
>
> Initially, I thought of inquiry along qualitative research traditions. And
> spent a lot of time devising various proposals. And once again, like many
> of my peers, I have come to the conclusion that my proposal and
> dissertation should come down to earth and focus, focus, focus. One
> pragmatic supervisor has offered the typical insight that it is better to
> get the job done rather than "do time" at the institution!
>
> Well, I wonder if practical time spent in designing web-based courses can
> be married to experimental design that serves to further my dissertation.
> Surely there are worthwhile questions to be asked in these unchartered
> waters?
>
> My very broad reading of the literature on distance ed or ed tech in
> general continues to come up with a bottom line that translates to "no
> significant effect".
>
> Allow me to ask this forum for your burning question on course design
> and/or diffusion of technology. What kinds of questions interests you? How
> would these be articulated? What would you test for? Can you point to
> others who might be interested in pursuing this further?
>
> I am willing to spend the next couple of years answering the relevant
> question that I cannot seem to come up with myself. Yet.
>
> Arshad Ahmad
> Department of Finance
> Concordia University
> Montreal, Canada
> H3G 1M8
>
> email: arshad@vax2.concordia.ca