|
 Current Projects Affiliated with eDL
The e-Learning Design Lab is involved with several joint projects with the Center for Research on Learning and the Information and Telecommunication Technology Center. The mission of the e-Learning Design Lab (e-DL) is to explore new uses of educational technology to enhance learning environments that meet the educational and professional development needs of society. Following is a list of 2006-2007 projects being addressed by eDL. For additional information about the projects contact Dr. Ed Meyen (meyen@ku.edu).
Fund for the Improvement of Post Secondary Education (FIPSE): Advanced Technologies for Using Assessment Data to Improve Student Achievement (CFDA 84.116A - Application No. P116A041156)
Funding Agency: U.S. Department of Education
Description: This project addresses a major challenge for teacher education programs in assuming a more proactive role ensuring that their graduates will successfully implement national and state policies on testing and curriculum standards. Emerging local, state and national initiatives (NCLB) are fostering policy and practice changes that impact the expectations of stakeholders and parents relative to student achievement. These changes have significant consequences and potential benefits for classroom teachers and their students. The project addresses these issues. Central to the analysis and interpretation of test data is the ability to translate testing evidence into instructional decisions that enhance student achievement. An objective of this project is to integrate teaching analytical and interpretative skills relative to test data and policies with the acquisition of advanced technology skills in delivering instruction. An additional objective is to help teachers translate data from state assessments into instructional plans. Online modules covering 16 topics are being developed and beta tested; currently seven lessons have been completed and beta tested.
Cyber Assessment Merger Project (CAMP): A Supplemental Extension of Three Funds for the Improvement of Post Secondary Education (FIPSE) Projects—University of Kansas, School Performance Network, and the University of Oregon (CFDA 84.116A - P116A041156)
Funding Agency: U.S. Department of Education
Description: The e-Learning Design Lab collaborated with two other FIPSE projects to secure supplemental funding to modify products from our collective projects to meet the needs of principals. The collaborators include John Friedrick with the School Performance Network and Gerald Tindal at the University of Oregon. Anticipated outcomes include 1) suite of tools/content applicable to enhancing the ability of principals to make decisions central to their role in assessment, 2) a web-based system developed to allow users access on a need-to-know basis, 3) comprehensive set of resources that can be used and/or modified for use with teachers and others in their district as part of their leadership responsibilities, and 4) incorporation of networking or community building among principals who share common interests, concerns or demographics.
Blending Assessment with Instruction Program (BAIP)—In collaboration with the Center for Educational Testing and Evaluation at the University of Kansas
Funding Agency: The Center for Educational Testing and Evaluation at the University of Kansas and the Kansas State Department of Education.
Description: The Blending Assessment with Instruction Program (BAIP) is designed to provide support to teachers in aligning their instruction with standards in mathematics. BAIP is made powerful by aligning lessons with statewide assessments that are used to measure the achievement of students in fulfilling performance objectives of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation. All lessons include extensions for accommodating the instructional needs of students with exceptionalities. The lessons for teachers are supplemented by instructional tutorials for students that are aligned with each lesson and designed to develop competencies in the skills and knowledge required by standards in grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 10. Tutorials also serve a remedial function and are designed to be independently studied by students. BAIP includes a feedback system that provides individual student and classroom data to teachers in a timely manner to enhance instructional decisions. All BAIP resources are delivered online.
A Reusable Object Creation and Management System
Description: This project was begun with supplemental funding from the Alabama State Department of Education. The initial purposes were to create a system for disaggregating instructional products into learning objects for placement in a searchable repository that would allow for searching and the recreation of customized instructional units for online delivery and other instructional formats. It soon became apparent that the system had potential to be a tool with broader applications. Additional funding has been obtained from KTEC through a local competition conducted by the Information Technology and Telecommunication Center.
Development of Manual: Requesting Accommodations for Students with Disabilities in Postsecondary Institutions
Funding Agency: Center for Independent Living – Department of Applied Behavioral Sciences/NIDRR
Description: This project was designed to create a hybrid version of an online module that combines some features of the E-book and our module design. The content focuses on what young adults with disabilities need to know when seeking access to postsecondary education and prepares them to be self advocates. The project resulted in one online module. A major feature of the module design and interface features is the emphasis on maximizing accessibility for persons with disabilities.
E-Book Project
Description: The project was a collaborative project with a publisher. The eDL assumed responsibility for the design of the authoring system to create the E-book and the publisher assumed costs for all content, recordings and costs associated with typical author and publisher responsibilities. The E-Book model was designed in an instructional format that allows the student to access a variety of instructional resources. While organized similarly to a traditional book, the web version is intuitive and provides one with navigation and other features that expand opportunities available to enhance understanding of the content. The novel element of the model is that the many features of the e-book are accessible directly from the text version via icons without requiring the learner to exit the text version. In addition to the text and the multimedia version, there is an MP3 version of each chapter for downloading. The features in the website version parallel the chapter structure of the book. On March 9, 2006, the book was being released in the print and e-book versions: Meyen, E.L. & Bui, Y.N. Teaching Exceptional Children and Youth in Today’s Schools: What beginning teachers need to know. 4th edition. Love Publishing, Denver. The products of this project include a hard copy of the text, E-book, E-manual for instructors, and an authoring system for creating subsequent e-books. The university will hold the copy right to the authoring system.
Development of an Online Course that has Options for Smaller Instructional Modules
Funding Agency: The Work Group for Community Health and Development, Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies
Description: This work is being done in collaboration with Professor Steve Fawcett and colleagues. They have developed a series of instructional units that are offered in a hybrid version of online experiences. We are modifying the eDL module design to accommodate their needs. The intent is for the product to be used as a for-credit course and the modules for use in communities with health planning groups. The content is done but the features need development; it is currently in production. The project includes eight modules and 14 lessons.
Preparing Students with Learning Disabilities for Careers in Math and Science by Achieving Curriculum Standards
Funding Agency: National Science Foundation
Description: The objectives for this project include: 1) reducing the achievement gap between the performance of students with learning disabilities and their non-disabled peers in math and 2) enhancing the math preparation of individuals with LD to enter postsecondary institutions to pursue programs and degrees in math, science, engineering, and technology. This proposal builds from a major internally funded project identified as the Blending Assessment with Instruction Program (BAIP) that is comprised of two validated interventions in the form of lessons for teachers to employ in their instruction and online tutorials for independent use by students with LD. The research initiative is designed to investigate the effects of the lessons and the tutorials on the achievement of students with LD in math.
|
Email Page
Print Page