Michael Szabo, Ph.D., Forum Organizer,

Craig Montgomerie, Ph.D., David Mappin, Ph.D.,

and Annette Fuchs, M.Ed.

University of Alberta

Edmonton, AB Canada

The purpose of this forum is to describe the process, issues and some solutions encountered in converting a university-based Masters Degree in Instructional Technology to an alternate delivery format (ADF). Beginning in 1994, courses in this degree program have been converted to one or more ADFs. By the summer of 1999, the core courses in the program will be available in ADF format and have been piloted at least once.

The team involved in the conversion has wrestled with numerous issues that will be discussed during the forum. Some of the issues are:

• What are ADFs and which are useful for our purpose?
• To what extent should the entirety of the courses be placed in ADF?
• How do we deal with conveying expert's knowledge via ADF?
• How do students obtain access to the resources needed to complete the courses?
• What data should be tracked and how will it be tracked?
• What issues arise from building a non-conventional degree in a conventional, research-oriented university?
• What is the reaction of students, who are by and large majoring in instructional technology?
• How does one build an infrastructure to promote ADF courses and degrees?
• What is the role of face to face (F2F) instruction in ADF?

It is expected that others at EDMEDIA 99 are grappling with similar issues and would appreciate hearing how one institution deals with them, discussing their particular situation with respect to ADFs, providing feedback to the forum leaders and networking with others at the conference about these issues.

The University of Alberta has been a leader in the field of Computer-Based Instruction since it acquired an IBM 1500 System in the middle 1960s. The leadership continued when the 1500 system was replaced by a PLATO system, later to be replaced by micros, videodisc, CDs, LANs, WANs, the Internet and most recently the WWW. Many of the faculty members who participated in these early systems now form the core of the graduate program in Instructional Technology (IT).

Throughout that period, extensive research and development on many phases of CBI were carried out. This work could not have been done without the extensive participation of graduate students, many of whom have continued and excelled in the field (e.g., Donald Tapscott, M.Ed. 1978; Greg Kearsley, Ph.D. 1978). Informal masters and doctoral degree programs arose within the Department of Educational Psychology to accommodate these students.

In 1978, the University formalized its Masters degree in Instructional Technology by officially establishing it within the Faculty of Education. Due to a number of factors, such as budgets, changes in organizational structure, and individual personalities, a 'formal' Ph.D. program was not initiated until 1998 with the admission of four doctoral students into the Basic Area of Educational Psychology.

Events in the past several years have provided impetus to explore ADFs for the Masters degree. These include a recent mandate by the provincial government to increase access for our programs to more students, both on and off campus, increased levels of funding, and a growing recognition by the administration of the potential of ADF.

While the course in introductory statistics is not a specific IT course per se, it is a required research course. Historically, the course was originally developed in the early 1960s for delivery on the IBM 1500 system. Budget cuts in the early 1990s suggested a reduction in courses across the Faculty, including the statistics courses. The complete 3 credit graduate course was resurrected, polished, updated, and reconstructed using Authorware. It is delivered via CD-ROM with a unique twist. All student data tracking is done via the WWW, meaning of course that delivery can take place anywhere in the world. There is even a facility to update the user with any modules that have been changed since the CD was shipped.

Around 1996, and effort was made by a professor and graduate student to develop a course whose content is the Internet and the WWW and to deliver the course on the WWW. This course 'broke the ice' and encouraged others to participate. At the same time, the Faculty decided to follow the recommendation to bring the main IT players together in the same office area, regardless of home departmental affiliation.

In 1997, a formal reconfiguration of the Masters program was undertaken. In 1997, work began on developing the course on Introduction to Educational Technology and Communication for web-based delivery, which we call Web-Based Instruction (WBI). This course, as well as two undergraduate courses in IT were funded in part by the University and in part by a special funding mechanism established by the provincial government to stimulate increased access to education on the part of the citizens of the province.

In 1998, partial funding was received to create three more core courses in the Masters in IT program. These courses will all have been developed and piloted at least once by the summer of 1999.

This forum will provide insight into some of the issues listed below along with opportunity for the audience to discuss and network.

There are numerous applications and variations of the term ADFs. In general, we mean any instructional alternative to conventional lecture-seminar format. Given that the Masters degree uses the content of IT, both the content and the methodology need to be discussed, demonstrated and practiced.

What is gained and what is lost by moving entire courses to ADF? What is the role of F2F in the delivery of instruction? Given that there will be an on-campus group as well as an off-campus group, how should any differences in opportunities be resolved?

A particular problem we face is that most of our IT faculty have lived through the days of CBI and have a wealth of experience and scars to show for it. Can we convey that experience in ADF?

A course which requires only reading material has a slight advantage over IT courses, which require that students have access to some of the latest, most powerful and expensive hardware and software, such as Authorware, NT Servers, and so forth. How is this equipment to be provided in ADF?

Performance and communication data can be delivered easily on the WWW but systems to track and make use of that data are still somewhat primitive and difficult or time-consuming to construct in terms of programming, database access, and so forth.

Promotion, tenure, and the occasional deafening lack of interest are but many of the issues to be faced in this category. As members of the Education Faculty, we are privileged that our research and course development activities can coincide. What has been the experience of some of our colleagues and what changes seem to be in the future?

Student involvement in building ADF-courses and their reaction are always important issues. They are particularly crucial when the students are studying IT as opposed to studying other content domains using IT.

ADF courses imply a certain infrastructure to develop and maintain. These include not only hardware, software and telecommunications, but support, encouragement, and active participation by administration.

Is F2F instruction required in all situations? Where can it be optimized and where can it be dispensed with? Is there a body of evidence that argues for or against effectiveness, efficiency and optimality of learning with or without F2F?

The forum organizer, Professor Michael Szabo, has been centrally involved in ADFs since 1970 and designed the original Masters degree in IT at the University of Alberta. Discussants include Professor Craig Montgomerie, Professor of Educational Psychology and Policy Studies, Professor David Mappin, Professor of Educational Psychology and Policy Studies. Michael, David and Craig have been involved in the field of IT since the 1960s'; have authored hundreds of papers and articles in the field; directed major CBI research, development and evaluation projects; worked on mainframe, mini and micro CBI systems; and consulted internationally. Annette Fuchs, Research Assistant has been involved in the development and validation of many of the courses. She completed the Masters in IT in 1998 and is now pursuing the Ph.D. degree.

The courses under discussion can be examined through this link:

http://www.quasar.ualberta.ca/IT/

A short list of publications by members of the form can be examined at:

http://www.quasar.ualberta.ca/IT/research/