Source: UNIVERSITY OF GUAM UOG STATION submitted to NRP
TRAINING AND TECHNICAL SUPPORT FOR UOG FACULTY DEVELOPING STEM COURSES FOR ONLINE DELIVERY
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
OTHER GRANTS
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1016902
Grant No.
2018-70004-28686
Cumulative Award Amt.
$146,732.00
Proposal No.
2018-03896
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Sep 1, 2018
Project End Date
Aug 31, 2021
Grant Year
2018
Program Code
[DEG]- Distance Education Grants for Insular Areas
Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF GUAM UOG STATION
(N/A)
MANGILAO,GU 96913
Performing Department
CNAS
Non Technical Summary
The following goals will be addressed by activities in this proposal: 1. Prepare individuals with skill sets in research and applied sciences to help address local food, agriculture, and environmental needs; 2. Prioritize the needs to be addressed for preparing students to successfully complete their degrees in a timely manner; 3. Identify a workflow using a portable LMS servers and the internet to enhance course delivery; 4. Increase the number of science and math courses available for online delivery in the US Insular Institutions. This proposal addresses three Educational Need Areas (ENA): a. Curricula Design, Materials Development, and Library Resources; b. Faculty Preparation and Enhancement for Teaching; c. Instruction Delivery Systems. The four objectives are: 1. Conduct a series of workshops for faculty on the best practices for developing online science courses; 2. Identify and prioritize courses for online delivery in the College of Natural and Applied Sciences; 3. Supply technical support for faculty developing online course materials; 4. Coordinate a cohort of faculty to develop online course materials. The emphasis of this project will be to train and support faculty on the best practices of developing science courses for online delivery.This will lead to an increase on the number of science courses delivered online enabling a greater number of students to gain knowledge in STEM subjects. The PD's previous experience in developing and delivering online courses will help insure that the courses will be developed with current technology to produce high quality interactive course materials.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
9030640107025%
9037410106025%
9037410200025%
9032199107025%
Knowledge Area
903 - Communication, Education, and Information Delivery;

Subject Of Investigation
2199 - Ornamentals and turf, general/other; 7410 - General technology; 0640 - Tropical forests;

Field Of Science
1060 - Biology (whole systems); 1070 - Ecology; 2000 - Chemistry;
Goals / Objectives
The activities of this project will provide training and technical support for faculty to develop and deliver more STEM courses online at the University of Guam. The following goals will be addressed by activities in this proposal:1. Prepare individuals with skill sets in research and applied sciences to help address local food, agriculture, and environmental needs.2. Prioritize the needs to be addressed for preparing students to successfully complete their degrees in a timely manner.3. Implement a workflow using a portable LMS servers and the internet to enhance course delivery.4. Increase the number of science and math courses available for online delivery in the US Insular Institutions.The objectives to adress these goals are:1. Conduct a series of workshops for faculty on the best practices for developing online science courses.2. Prioritize courses for online delivery in the College of Natural and Applied Sciences.3. Provide technical support for faculty developing online course materials.4. Coordinate a cohort of faculty to develop online course materials.
Project Methods
Objective 1) Conduct workshops for faculty on the best practices for developing online science courses.Activity: Prepare and deliver a series of workshops to science program faculty interested in working on science courses delivered online.Workshops will be held to show faculty the best practices for delivering online science courses. The topics will include:1. Best practices for online delivery2. Developing lab activities for students to do at home3. Using SoftChalk and Adobe Captivate to convert PowerPoint lectures into interactive lessons4. Technical support available to assist with their course development5. Online materials and training available to online through Lynda.com (funded through the current DEG) and other sources. Some Lynda.com topics available are:• Learning Moodle 3.1• PowerPoint for Teachers: Creating Interactive Lessons• Programming Foundations: Fundamentals• Excel 2016 Essential Training• Premiere Pro CC Essential Training (2014)• PowerPoint 2016: Animations• Building an Ubuntu Home Server• Gamification of Learning• Learning CentOS Linux• Managing DNS Essential Training.6. A Course Project Design form will be explained, and participants will complete as an activity in the workshop.Participants that want to develop a course will complete a Course Project Design form which describes the course, timelines for course development, learning goals and outcomes, and knowledge assets that will be used. A questionnaire will be given to participants at the completion of the workshop to assess the effectiveness of the workshop. Data on the number of courses developed by workshop participants will also be recorded.Objective 2) Identify and prioritize courses for online delivery in the College of Natural and Applied SciencesThe current UOG courses offerings will be reviewed to compile of courses that are potential courses to be developed for online delivery. The courses will be prioritized to produce a list of courses that should be developed. Among the considerations are:1. service courses to multiple programs.2. the current and potential enrollment3. regional interest in online coursesObjective 3) Supply technical support for faculty developing online course materials.Activity 1: Purchase copies of Adobe CaptivateCopies of Adobe Captivate will be purchased and distributed to faculty that complete the Course Project Design form described in Objective 1. Faculty will be given introductory training and additional technical support by the Research Associate hired for this project.Activity 2: The Course Project Design form will be used as an agreement between the faculty and the Research Associate of this project. This will help faculty understand what work needs to be completed and also to identify the technical support needed. The technical support will be available for the duration of this project. Faculty will be given assistance in helping locating suppliers of lab kits and online simulations.Objective 4) Coordinate cohorts of faculty to develop science courses for online deliveries.After completion of the workshop the participating faculty can meet with technical support and the PD to discuss general topics. Meeting can also be set up on an individual basis for specific questions. The cohorts will meet to discuss any specific issues or questions.Assessment of the developed courses will be conducted using the individual science programs' approved assessment activities.Plans for Dissemination Anticipated Products and OutcomesResults will be reported at national meeting such as NACTA. Results will also be available to other Insular Area Institutions. The possibility of offering courses will be discussed with regional institutions.Evaluation of activitiesThe objectives of the evaluation are to:(i) assess the project's progress in achieving its objectives(ii) assess the project performances and outputs drawing out lessons from the assessment of the evaluation criteria that may be relevant tothe on-going implementation of the programAn independent consultant will gather information listed in the evaluation plan and this information will provide some insights to the overall effectiveness of the program. The evaluation will also include focus group discussions with project managers, faculties, research associates, students and financial managers. DEG activities' performance indicators will be assessed in detail during the independent evaluation.The evaluation will also include desk reviews of project documents, online courses and presentations. Student reports, student surveys, laboratory reports, brochures, flyers, student internship reports, teachers' workshops reports etc. will also be assessed. The Independent Evaluation Report will include an executive summary with key findings and lessons learned, conclusions, recommendations and ratings for each of the criteria.

Progress 09/01/18 to 08/31/21

Outputs
Target Audience:For the technical support, audiences reached were the University of Guam Faculty and Administrators through online meetings and individual communications as COVID impacted face-to-face meetings. Students at the University of Guam received formal classroom and laboratory instruction using materials developed with technical support provided through this project. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This project gave technical support during the COVID pandemic to faculty that unexpectedly needed to deliver courses online. Through this support faculty developed the ability to deliver the courses online. The technical support also help resolve technical issue that enabled delivering the courses online. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? 1. Prepare individuals with skill sets in research and applied sciences to help address local food, agriculture, and environmental needs. Due to the emphasis on online teaching, due to COVID, numerous courses were supported to coverapplied sciences addressing local food, agriculture, and environmental needs. 2. Prioritize the needs to be addressed for preparing students to successfully complete their degrees in a timely manner. Most courses were delivered online and support was offered and given to all instructors requesting assistance/support. 3. Implement a workflow using a portable LMS servers and the internet to enhance course delivery. There was a very successful transfer of Moodle to Raspberry Pis to produce portable delivery without needing the internet. The procedure developed was used to produce arborist training using the portable LMS for another project. 4. Increase the number of science and math courses available for online delivery in the US Insular Institutions. The project supplied technical support that successfully prepared course materials for online delivery. Which was the sole means of delivering the course materials

Publications


    Progress 09/01/19 to 08/31/20

    Outputs
    Target Audience:The audience(s) reached are the University of Guam Faculty and Administrators through presentations and individual communications. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Individual training and technical support were available. The technical support was conducted face to face and remotely due to COVID through most of this period. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Announcements on the availability for technical support and training at Program and College meetings and through email correspondence with Programs and individuals What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?1. Conduct a series of workshops for faculty on the best practices for developing online science courses. Training will be offered to academic programs. The preferred training delivery is on an individual basis giving specific support. 2. Prioritize courses for online delivery in the College of Natural and Applied Sciences. All courses are being delivered online so technical support is offered to all STEM-related courses. 3. Provide technical support for faculty developing online course materials. Technical support will continue through online means. 4. Coordinate a cohort of faculty to develop online course materials. New lab materials are being developed using Adobe Captivate to include questions and guidance using conditionals and branching. As students conduct lab experiments asynchronously at home the exercise will ask questions and branch to relevant information based on responses.

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? Objectives: 1. Conduct a series of workshops for faculty on the best practices for developing online science courses. No workshops were conducted. Announcements of technical support were made to Academic Programs and this resulted in individual inquiries for technical support. Questions on specific issues were supported individually with possible solutions suggested. An online workshop was conducted for the Chemistry Program Faculty on various applications available for the preparation of online course materials and labs. 2. Prioritize courses for online delivery in the College of Natural and Applied Sciences. In the Fall 2019 Semester, course development was expanded to include all STEM-related Programs. We identified a list of prioritized courses for online delivery. The courses included CH 102 General Chemistry, BI 110 Human Biology, AL 102 Introduction to Plant Science, AL 185 Human Nutrition and AL 330 Nutrition Through the Lifespan, AL 351 Personal and Family Financial Management, and AL 445 Food Chemistry. We offered our technical support and assisted with the initial setup of the online classes. Instructors were taught how to work on the course materials and so work on the courses continued by individual faculty with technical support given as needed. As a result of the virus, All courses were offered online for semesters Spring 2029 and Fall 2020. All courses offered in Spring 2021 are also being prepared for online delivery. 3. Provide technical support for faculty developing online course materials. Remote technical support for specific issues was available, and the issues were generally addressed within 24 hours. For course development, there were ongoing updates and revisions. The majority of the technical support activities were resolving questions on Moodle and Adobe Captivate. Within Moodle, there were specific issues resolved, such as the best browser to use with Big Blue Button. The best results were found when using Google Chrome. Other browsers were not able to support screen sharing of apps and web sites. 4. Coordinate a cohort of faculty to develop online course materials. Course development was done individual by face to face training and through most of the past year by remote communication where instructors would send inquiries and the questions were address. The courses supported were: CH 102 General Chemistry, BI 110 Human Biology, AL 102 Introduction to Plant Science, AL 185 Human Nutrition and AL 330 Nutrition Through the Lifespan, AL 351 Personal and Family Financial Management, and AL 445 Food Chemistry.

    Publications


      Progress 09/01/18 to 08/31/19

      Outputs
      Target Audience:Target audiences for this project include : 1. University of Guam Students 2. University of Guam Faculty 3. Students throughout Micronesia The audiences will be reached through online-delivered classroom instruction using curriculum developed using innovative teaching methodologies. Changes/Problems:Workshops were not effective in faculty continuing to work on the course materials in a group. Moving forward, the technical support will be offered to individual faculty. There are not many faculty interested in developing online course materials at this time. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?1. A workshop was conducted that covered the use of Adobe Captivate for developing course materials using PowerPoint presentations to adding conditionals and branching. 2. Faculty preferred to work independently and so going forward the technical support will involve meeting with individual faculty. 3. Faculty interested in delivering online courses met with technical support and discussed what format to prepare for their lectures. The courses included: Human Biology (BI110), Human Nutrition class (AL185), Introduction to Plant Biology (AL102), Introduction to Chemistry (CH101). How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The availability of technical support for developing online courses will be announced at various meetings. We will continue to give technical support for developing online courses using Adobe Captivate. We also support resolving issues and offer support for courses developed in Moodle.

      Impacts
      What was accomplished under these goals? The following objectives addressed the goals of this project: 1. Conduct a series of workshops for faculty on the best practices for developing online science courses. A workshop was conducted that covered the use of Adobe Captivate for developing course materials using PowerPoint presentations to adding conditionals and branching. 2. Prioritize courses for online delivery in the College of Natural and Applied Sciences. The courses included: Human Biology (BI110), Human Nutrition class (AL185), Introduction to Plant Biology (AL102), and Introduction to Chemistry (CH101). 3. Provide technical support for faculty developing online course materials. Faculty interested in delivering online courses met with technical support and discussed what format to prepare for their lectures. 4. Coordinate a cohort of faculty to develop online course materials. Faculty preferred to work independently and so going forward the technical support will involve meeting with individual faculty.

      Publications