International
Journal of
Educational
Technology

Extending the Impact of IT: The Instructional Technology Program at Virginia Tech

- Barbara B. Lockee, Virginia Tech

Preparing instructional technology professionals to be effective practitioners is one of the primary foci of the Instructional Technology Program at Virginia Tech. Housed in the Department of Teaching and Learning in the College of Human Resources and Education, the IT program offers graduate degrees at the Masters, Specialist, and Doctoral levels.  The program curriculum is theoretically based, pragmatically oriented, and addresses the skills and knowledge necessary for careers across a variety of venues, including higher education, business, and K-12 environments.  Technology is emphasized as a means of dealing with interrelated and complex problems of educating and developing people to their full potential.

While the IT faculty concentrate on serving over 40 full-time doctoral students on campus, the group is also strongly engaged in outreach initiatives to develop IT competencies in a various array of external constituents. The projects described as follows are supported through The Center for Instructional Technology Solutions in Industry and Education (CITSIE). CITSIE is an integral component of the College of Human Resources and Education at Virginia Tech. The Center's mission is to conduct research to inform instructional practice, as well as to provide outreach to clients in K-12 education, higher education, business, and government. Activities of the Center include instructional design and development consulting, instructional technology research, program and product evaluation, and the development of technology skills across a variety of clientele.

The projects of CITSIE provide excellent opportunities for IT graduate students to become involved in authentic, problem-based learning experiences, as well as serve as a milieu for instructional technology research and development. The guiding philosophy of the IT program is that its graduates will be well prepared to design and develop instructional environments based on both behavioral and cognitive learning theories, in order to serve diverse clients with varying belief systems.

ITMA

In 1998, through funding from Virginia Tech's Center for Innovation in Learning, the IT program faculty developed an online Instructional Technology Master's Program (ITMA), designed specifically for public school teachers in the state of Virginia, and now being offered on a national level. The first group of 50 students graduated in Spring 2000, and the program is on its third iteration, currently enrolling over 125 students across the country. A cohort model focusing on the integration of technology in curriculum, instruction, and assessment was used in the first iteration, with each participant simultaneously engaging in a prescribed set of coursework.  The program has evolved over the past four years to become completely asynchronous, allowing students flexibility in the courses they choose to take and the sequence in which they take them. Program design emphasizes teacher inquiry into how various technologies can assist the learning process.  All projects are based on questions, concerns, and curiosities generated by the needs of the teachers, their students and their schools.  The program focuses on identifying successful practices that can be imported and/or exported to complement existing practices.

Such a field-based program accommodates the individual technology needs of the teachers, instructing them to use the technologies available at their site, while exposing them to new developments in the field, and providing them with the information needed to pursue additional funding for technology.  Teachers are introduced to a wide range of current technologies to facilitate instructional events and activities.  Training includes work on Macintosh and Windows platforms and provides hands-on experiences with appropriate instructional software/courseware. Various software packages are tested and assessed, and teachers evaluate the utility of the software as it applies to different levels of learner needs.  Teachers extend their knowledge of student-level activities related to the use of computers and other technologies in which the student is the end user.  Thus, the outcomes of the ITMA program include the integration of instructional technology by teachers and students alike.

Perhaps one of the strongest components of the online program is its web-based student support tool, called the IT Studio. The Studio is a virtual "help" website located within the body of the ITMA program website. Through the Studio, students get several forms of assistance. First, if they have technology related questions, they can email their questions and problems and receive a response within 24 hours from our graduate assistant (hired specifically to provide technological support to the students and program faculty). Other forms of assistance are available as well. There are links to tutorials that addressed program related skills, such as building websites and using on-line quizzing tools. Also, there is a list of frequently asked questions (FAQ's) and a link to the latest program related news (registration info, course calendars, etc.). There is a link to download various tools that are necessary or helpful, such as the latest browsers, plug-ins, freeware, etc. A student discussion forum is also available through the Studio called "IT Talk".  Most students, however, use the program's listserve to communicate with each other and with the program coordinator when they want to interact as a group. Finally, there is a link from the IT Studio to the students' electronic portfolios so that they could publicly display their work, as well as refer to their colleagues' work for ideas, suggestions, etc.

The lessons learned from the design, development, implementation, and evolution of the ITMA program have been invaluable to the IT faculty to inform teaching and research, as well as to contribute to the distance education knowledge base (Moore, Lockee,& Burton, 2002; Lockee, Moore,& Burton, 2001; Lockee, Sherman, Moore, & Burton, 2000; Sherman & Lockee, 2001).  Particularly challenging were the barriers encountered in attempts to scale the program to serve more students across a broader geographic reach and through more flexible experiences than the university traditionally supports. The group has developed web-based administrative systems to manage the tracking and assessment of learners and has collaborated with university support systems to change business processes to accommodate the needs of the program and its constituents.
 

Preparing Instructional Technology Professionals in Malawi

A second CITSIE project recently funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) program is an effort to draw upon ITMA project outcomes to develop instructional technology capacity for the enhancement of educational systems in Malawi. Malawi is a country that could greatly benefit from the increased use of technology, but as is often the case in Africa, Malawi lacks the technical and human infrastructure to fully utilize technology as a piece of its educational solutions. The primary goal of this project is to prepare a group of Malawi educators to serve as instructional technology specialists with the skills to not only design and implement on-line programming regarding IT, but also to serve as technology trainers for other Malawi teachers.  Central to this effort would be the involvement of the University of Mzuzu. Mzuzu is uniquely placed to provide leadership and support to the teacher-training colleges throughout the country of Malawi, as well as to develop distance-delivered modules that directly support the training of community secondary teachers to degree and diploma levels.

The Malawi project is currently beginning with the professional preparation of a Malawian instructional technology cadre through participation in Virginia Tech IT graduate program. The visiting students will engage in coursework related to foundations in instructional technology, as well as specific topics focused on the development and implementation of distance-delivered programs. Examples of course titles include instructional design, distance learning, educational computing applications, and multimedia development to name a few. The students will also engage in independent studies with IT faculty to observe and participate in the existing on-line ITMA program development and implementation process.

Upon the establishment of foundational IT skills and knowledge, the Malawian cadre will re-design existing online ITMA courses for delivery in Malawi. These activities will be conducted through the following means. Customized re-purposing of the online program will occur through the following strategies. Virginia Tech IT faculty will conduct a needs analysis with Malawi constituents to determine a re-design approach for the ITMA program in order to meet the needs of Malawi educators. The Malawi student team will work with VT IT faculty on the re-design effort for delivery of the online IT program to Malawi.

The customized re-purposing, implementation, and evaluation of Virginia-based ITMA program in Malawi will occur through the following strategies. Eighty Malawi educators will be selected to participate in the online ITMA program. Virginia Tech IT faculty will conduct a needs assessment with Malawi constituents to determine a re-design approach for the ITMA program in order to meet the needs of Malawi educators. The Malawi student team will work with VT IT faculty on the re-design effort for delivering the online IT program to Malawi. Virginia Tech IT faculty will begin delivery of the customized ITMA program with the Malawian student cadre serving as the instructional facilitators for the distance delivered programming. Responsibilities include grading assignments, corresponding with Malawi program participants, and providing general program support. Formative evaluation will be ongoing throughout the program implementation by an experienced faculty evaluator from Virginia Tech. The evaluator will also conduct a summative evaluation of the program upon its completion. 

Upon the establishment of foundational IT skills and knowledge, the Malawian cadre will re-design existing online ITMA courses for delivery in Malawi. Customized re-purposing of the online program is occurring through the following strategies. The Malawian student has conducted conduct a national needs assessment to determine a re-design approach for the ITMA program in order to meet the needs of Malawi educators. Based on the resulting data, the cadre is currently working with VT IT faculty on the re-design of the IT program to meet the needs of Malawian participants.

Eighty Malawi educators will be selected to participate in the revised ITMA program. Virginia Tech IT faculty will begin delivery of the customized ITMA program with the Malawian student team serving as the instructional facilitators for the distance delivered programming. Their responsibilities will include grading assignments, corresponding with Malawi program participants, and providing general program support in country. Formative evaluation will be ongoing throughout the program implementation by an experienced faculty evaluator from Virginia Tech. The evaluator will also conduct a summative evaluation of the program upon its completion.

Supporting the Application of Appropriate Technology for Solving Instructional Problems

Funded by the federal program "Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology" (PT3), the IT faculty at Virginia Tech and our Consortium partners have created a K-12 technology integration project entitled "Supporting the application of appropriate technology for solving instructional problems".  Primary project goals are: 1) to facilitate communication among faculty, pre-service teachers, and technologists to solve instructional problems; 2) to locate or create products and programs that address identified instructional needs and meet national standards; and 3) to develop a collection of resources that assist faculty and pre-service teachers with the integration of original appropriate technologies. The specific needs to be addressed will be driven by project constituents, guided through the needs identification process via developed heuristic software. Unique to this project is the creation of a collection of databases and services with a web-based front-end, drawing from ITMA's ITStudio system, that can connect users to an archive of training materials, grade/content appropriate tools, and useful links. In addition, in-service workshops and experiences for university and partner school faculty will be offered. Partners include Virginia Tech, Roanoke City and Montgomery County schools, the Appalachian Educational Laboratory, and the Virginia Educational Alliance.

Heuristic software will be created to guide University faculty, teachers from partner schools, and pre-service teachers through the needs identification process.  Development of the software content will be based upon interviews with representative members of each group. The interviews will not be limited to issues associated with preparation and delivery of instruction but will also explore a complete range of professional needs, ranging from grading to class management to reward systems.  The results of these interviews will identify tasks and problems common to instructional personnel in different disciplines as well as tasks and problems that are unique to a specific context.  Development and subsequent use of this guide will ensure that needs that can be addressed by technology will not be overlooked.
Because many of the individuals we will be dealing with are novices, either professionally or technologically, the software will be sufficiently robust to assist teachers and students as they grow.  In other words, the software will function both as an analytical and a teaching device.  Although development of the heuristic procedures and content is a complex process, a simplified interface will be provided for the users.

Following the identification of instructional needs, a common technology vocabulary will be developed.  The vocabulary will be research-based and will permit description of instructional needs in non-technical terms.  Upon development of the common vocabulary, software that facilitates application by faculty and pre-service teachers will be created.  Utilizing the software, the identified instructional needs will be converted into technology-related terms and analyzed to determine if they can be met by technology.  For those needs that can be met by technology, descriptions of solutions will be stated in technology-related terms that can be understood within and among disciplines and skill levels. The final product will be a tool that can be used to provide the K-12 teaching community with access to instructional technology expertise in a manner that is useful and immediately applicable.

Synergy of Missions

The aforementioned CITSIE projects will not only be addressed through independent approaches, but each will also be enlightened by IT faculty and student involvement across projects, and the sharing of lessons learned from different aspects of project work. CITSIE director Dr. John K. Burton states that these endeavors are indicative of the Center mission to serve as the nexus for the tri-partite missions of Virginia Tech: research, teaching, and service. He states, The Center provides the ability to inform instructional technology practice as we leverage opportunities to test our own teaching and learning theories through real world experiences, and at the same time provide service to our constituents.

References

Lockee, B.B., Moore, D.M., and Burton, J.K. (2002). Measuring success: Evaluation strategies for distance education. Educause Quarterly 25, 1, 20-27.

Lockee, B.B., Moore, D.M., & Burton, J.K. (2001). Old concerns with new distance education research. Educause Quarterly. 24(2), pp. 60-62.

Lockee,  B. B., Sherman, G. P., Moore, D. M., & Burton, J. K. (2000). Framing the questions of distance education research.  Paper presented at Distance Education Conference 2000, Austin, TX, 115-125.

Moore, D.M., Lockee, B.B., & Burton, J.K. (2002). Developing and delivering an online master's program in instructional technology. In M. Fitzgerald, M. Orey, and R. Branch (Eds.), Educational Media and Technology Yearbook, v27, 27-32.

Sherman, G. P., & Lockee, B. B. (2001). Visualizing outcomes: Portfolio-based instructional design and assessment strategies for an on-line instructional technology Master's program. Journal of Visual Literacy, 21 (1), 77-94.