Progress 08/01/04 to 07/31/07
Outputs
YEAR 1: Project goals centered on increasing technology skills in faculty and students beyond word processing through supporting baseline computer competencies. Through focus groups, faculty and students identified a need for an online portfolio tool and interest in the tool for career placement. Many students and faculty showed little interest in increased technology learning with the exception of a capstone class in technology upon graduation. Thus, development and class integration of a portfolio tool enabling further technology skill became the primary project goal. YEAR 2: New Mexico State University (NMSU) developed a Web-based portfolio tool and measured baseline computer competencies of the students in three pilot classes in Fall 2005, totaling 64 students (42 undergrad, 22 grad). Data indicate participants increased their skill in a variety of areas beyond basic word processing, including capturing and editing video and audio files, photo editing, creating and
adding graphics to presentations, and managing digital portfolios. YEAR 3: The digital portfolio tool was embraced by the university community and transferred to a university-wide technical support unit, ensuring the project's sustainability. The technical support unit, which currently offers a central help desk and online training materials, plans to provide training services to faculty and staff. During Spring 2006, 15 juniors, seniors, and graduate students enrolled in an NMSU pilot class, titled Application Technology, on the application of technology in the workplace. The course provided students basic skills in advanced technologies and an updated curriculum making instruction more relevant to today's agricultural industry needs. Technology content was contextually linked to future careers and included digital photography and video, advanced use of office software and blogging. Students and faculty demonstrated increased computer and technology skills in several areas, including
outlining a digital portfolio, creating a PDF file; basic video editing; and adding audio to a presentation. YEAR 4: A key sustainability goal of the project was to explore use of the custom-developed portfolio tool and other strategies at other universities. California State University, Fresno (CSUF) implemented curricula for AGED 150 in Spring 2007. AGED 150 is designed to teach computer competencies and methods of acquiring and managing electronic information resources. The course, with 25 students, was modified to include database management, email, Web development, digital video/photography, basic video editing and development of electronic portfolios. Data showed CSUF students increased baseline technology skills in all areas but one. Students reported a slight decrease in the frequency of checking campus email; however, students were encouraged to consolidate their email by forwarding campus email to their existing accounts (i.e., yahoo, hotmail, etc.). This may account for the
decreased frequency of campus email use. CSUF's pilot use of the portfolio tool was unsuccessful due to staffing changes and incompatibility problems with the network equipment at the university.
PRODUCTS: WEB-BASED PORTOLIO TOOL: NMSU EPORTFOLIO TOOL: A digital portfolio tool for students contains a simple Web interface to create a custom portfolio highlighting artifacts from their academic careers. Artifacts can include research papers, PowerPoint Presentations, videotaped interviews or teaching samples. The tool is easy to use and was well received by students and faculty. ONLINE DEMOS OF EPORTFOLIO TOOL: Self-guided tutorials are online for students to access as needed. Each easy-to-use tutorial walks students through one of the competencies. By using these, students are able to select just the topics they need when they need them. EXPANSION OF TOOL TO REST OF UNIVERSITY: After great enthusiasm for the ePortfolio tool, it is now being institutionalized for use by the entire university community. Self-guided online training tools were developed and policies have been established for adoption of the tool throughout the university. TRAINING MATERIALS: Print and Web-based
instructional information sheets support advanced technology uses through creating PDF documents, scanning documents, editing digital video and portfolio tool use. The help desk created and posted a total of 52 technology tip sheets and resource spotlights; performed 10 face-to-face and web-based popcorn technology training sessions; and performed 14 face-to-face Flower Power Technology Half Hour sessions and 35 Web-based sessions of Powerful Half-Hour Full between January 2006 and July 2007. NMSU EPORTFOLIO: CASE STUDIES & LESSONS LEARNED IN PORTFOLIO USE BY NMSU STUDENTS: Project members presented this workshop at NMSU's Teachning Academy series Oct. 4, 2007. The presenters reviewed the origins of the NMSU ePortfolio tool and the research on how it was used with classes at NMSU, shared feedback from teachers and students on the benefits and challenges of using the tool, and suggested processes for using the free tool as part of course work. More than 30 faculty members, staff and
students attended the workshop and the majority of audience members responded positively to the presentation (and classroom use of the tool), rating it very highly in usefulness, time well spent and information learned. Most audience members encouraged university-wide use of the tool and several said they would try to incorporate the tool in their classes. Some comments included: 'ePortfolios are a way we can assess student learning'; 'Portfolios are a great resource for teaching: assessment and reflection. They're also a great professional tool for educators'; 'Great presentation. I'm looking forward to implementing portfolios in my class and creating a teaching portfolio'; 'Very informative example of a project on campus that was successful in what it set out to do-teach students core technology skills and then attempting to use the knowledge from this project on the university level to help students and faculty.'
OUTCOMES: Students (a total of 89 at both universities) are better prepared to enter the workforce as a result of the Applied Technologies course offered in Spring 2006 and the Agricultural Resources and Computer Applications course offered in Spring 2007. STUDENT INSTRUCTION IN COMPUTER COMPETENCIES: In a 58-day period, 108 student sessions were scheduled in the help desk. With only 64 students participating in the project, each student visited the help desk for one-on-one consulting and average of 1.68 times during that period. The help desk continues to thrive, serving a variety of faculty and students year round. Additionally, the College of Agriculture and Home Economics has completely taken over funding for the help desk, to allow it to offer weekly, monthly, and upon-request training. DEVELOPMENT AND EXPANSION OF DIGITAL PORTFOLIO: All 64 participating students developed a digital portfolio and 29 class sessions on technology use were given. The tool was developed and
integrated with instruction in such a way that advanced technology skills, such as using digital cameras, editing digital movies, scanning and preparing PDFs, and posting documents, were introduced to students. The digital portfolio was embraced by the university community and transferred to a university-wide technical support unit. It was expanded for the use of the entire university, which is an important outcome of this project. Additionally, transferring the maintenance and dissemination responsibilities to a university-wide technical support unit helps to ensure the project's long-term accessibility and sustainability. The technical support unit, which currently offers a central help desk and online training materials, plans to provide training services to faculty and staff. Interest by faculty of the digital portfolio tool is so great, that institutionalization of the ePortfolio tool now gives all 23,000 students and 1003 teaching faculty access to the tool. CLASS--APPLICATION
OF TECHNOLOGY IN THE WORKPLACE: SPRING 2006: Students and faculty members reported and demonstrated increased computer and technology skills. Project team is compiling a list of recommendations for a similar course to be offered in the future. CLASS--AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES AND COMPUTER APPLICATIONS, SPRING 2007: Students (25 total) reported and demonstrated increased computer and technology skills in all but one area (university email usage, explained earlier).
DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES: Online training materials will provide continued accessibility to faculty, staff, students and the public. Project directors are working on two separate articles for planned submission in late Fall, 2007, including one on the portfolio initiative and another on the technology applications classes.
FUTURE INITIATIVES: Based on student interests and feedback, students in the last two years of their academic career lose some of their technology skills and need more advanced technologies to prepare them for the workforce. Participating students felt more comfortable using technology and gained a stronger understanding of the ways technology can be implemented in their chosen career. The ePortfolio initiative has seen tremendous success. The 89 students in NMSU and CSUF classes that have utilized the program have provided very positive feedback, and those students with limited computer skills find the online tool easy to use. Participating faculty have enjoyed using the tool so much they are taking it to faculty senate for endorsement. Perhaps one of the largest measures of its success is the commitment from the NMSU main technology group to adopt the tool and support its implementation throughout campus. Self-guided training materials were developed and posted online for faculty
or students to use the tool at their convenience. Interest was so great other units are voluntarily adopting the tool and offering to provide needed trainings or promotion to see its use increased.
Impacts
Project members performed a proportion test of significance for each of the 46 technological skills being evaluated. The percent of students that completed the skill examination less than five times in the past year was compared to the percent of students self-reporting a significant change in their ability to complete the task as stated in the survey. Overall findings demonstrate a significant increase of technologies skills for students in eight skills, including outlining a digital portfolio; using NMSU server space to store my digital portfolio; uploading files on 'myNMSU' server space; creating a PDF file; capturing digital video and audio on the computer; completing basic video editing such as importing a video file, trimming front and end, splicing two clips together, saving video to format for web use; and adding audio into a presentation. In addition to developing these skills in innovative technologies, findings have revealed the kinds of technology skills
students need to develop early on in their academic careers and how many students actually retain those skills throughout their academic career. Furthermore, findings show an increase in faculty use of technologies for instruction, communication and leadership purposes with students.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 01/01/06 to 12/31/06
Outputs
Baseline competency and portfolio efforts were launched with a pilot group of students in three classes in Fall 2005, totaling 64 students (42 undergrad and 22 grad). Quantitative and qualitative evaluations from Fall 2005 indicate technology goals were met, with participating students and faculty increasing their skill. The digital portfolio tool has been enthusiastically embraced by the university community and was recently transferred to a university-wide technical support unit, ensuring the project's sustainability. The technical support unit, which currently offers a central help desk and online training materials, plans to provide training services to faculty and staff throughout the university community. Additionally, faculty members at the University of California, Fresno are conducting a pilot launch of the digital portfolio tool within their university computer system and in pilot classes during the Spring 2007 semester. Feedback from the UC Fresno pilot
will indicate potential success of the tool at other universities. A class was offered for juniors, seniors and graduate students reviewing technology and its use in the workplace during spring 2006. The course provided students with basic skills in advanced technologies, improved access to technology tools and an updated curriculum making their instruction more relevant to today's agricultural industry needs. Upon completion of the course, students and faculty demonstrated increased computer and technology skills. Furthermore, the project team is compiling a list of recommendations for a similar course to be offered in the future.
PRODUCTS: Web-based Portolio Tool: NMSU ePortfolio Tool and UC Fresno ePortfolio Tool (in progress) A digital portfolio tool for students contains a simple Web interface to create a custom portfolio highlighting artifacts from their academic careers. Artifacts can include research papers, PowerPoint Presentations, videotaped interviews or teaching samples. The tool is easy to use and was well received by students and faculty. Online demos of ePortfolio Tool Self-guided tutorials are online for students to access as needed. Each easy-to-use tutorial walks students through one of the competencies. By using these, students are able to select just the topics they needed, when they needed them. Training Materials Print and Web-based instructional information sheets support advanced technology uses through creating PDF documents, scanning documents, editing digital video and portfolio tool use. Expansion of tool to rest of university After great enthusiasm for the tool, it is now being
institutionalized for use by the entire university community. Self-guided online training tools were developed and policies have been established for adoption of the tool throughout the university.
OUTCOMES: Instruction in Baseline Computer Competencies In a 58-day period, 108 student sessions were scheduled in the help desk. With only 64 students participating in the project, each student visited the help desk for one-on-one consulting and average of 1.68 times. Development and Expansion of Digital Portfolio All 64 participating students developed a digital portfolio and 29 class sessions on technology use were given. Students at University of California, Fresno, will accomplish similar goals in Spring 2007. Expanding the digital portfolio tool for use throughout the university has been an important outcome of this project. Additionally, transferring the maintenance and dissemination responsibilities to a university-wide technical support unit helps to ensure the project's long-term accessibility and sustainability. Class: Application of Technology in the Workplace: Spring 2006 Students and faculty members reported and demonstrated increased computer and technology skills.
Project team is compiling a list of recommendations for a similar course to be offered in the future.
DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES: Dissemination began in 2006 and will continue at partnering universities in Spring 2007. Online training materials will provide continued accessibility to faculty, staff, students and the public.
FUTURE INITIATIVES: Interest by faculty of the digital portfolio tool is so great, that institutionalization of the ePortfolio tool now gives all 23,000 students and 1003 teaching faculty access to the tool. Students are better prepared to enter the workforce as a result of the Applied Innovative Technologies course offered in Spring 2006. Based on student interests and feedback, students in the last two years of their academic career lose some of their technology skills and need more advanced technologies to prepare them for the workforce. Participating students felt more comfortable using technology and better understood how the technology can be implemented in their chosen career. The Portfolio initiative has seen tremendous success. Students using the program love it, and even those students with limited computer skills find the online tool easy to use. Participating faculty have enjoyed using the tool so much, they are taking it to faculty senate for endorsement. Perhaps one of
the largest measures of its success is the voluntary (non paid) commitment from the NMSU main technology group to adopt the tool and support its implementation throughout campus. Self-guided training materials were developed and posted online for faculty or students to use the tool at their convenience. Interest was so great other units are voluntarily adopting the tool and offering to provide needed trainings or promotion to see its use increased.
Impacts
Findings show an increase in faculty use of technologies for instruction, communication and leadership purposes with students. Furthermore, the initial findings demonstrate the increase of technologies skills for students to include advanced file use and modification, and developing skills in innovative technologies such as video editing and using, designing and publishing digital portfolios. Additionally, findings have revealed the kinds of technology skills students need to develop early on in their academic careers and how many students actually retain those skills throughout their academic career.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 01/01/05 to 12/31/05
Outputs
Status of Project The project focus is to increase technology skills of faculty and students beyond simple word processing and web research. Emerging goals for the initiative included opportunities for students to be involved immediately in increasing their technology skills, in addition to development of longer term integration of technology in the classroom as well as an increased understanding of general technologies. Two focus groups with students were conducted: 25 students in the Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences (MANRRS) club 20 student college ambassadors, representing all majors in the college. Focus group feedback indicated students were interested in learning high-end skills, such as video editing. Students requested that any technology instruction be integrated into for-credit classes, rather than casual community-group learning (or club projects). There was also interest in developing video resumes, or tools that could give
them an edge in job or graduate school placement. Interest in a digital portfolio reflected enthusiasm of faculty for a tool that would increase technology skills in an applied way. Three student-based initiatives are underway: support of base-line computer competencies, a custom-built online NMSU e-Portfolio tool and integration of the tool with classroom instruction, and the Applied Technology class for students nearing graduation. Baseline competency and portfolio efforts were launched with a pilot group of students in 3 classes in Fall, 2005 totaling 64 students (42 undergrad and 22 grad). Application Technology Class: Spring of 2006 A class will be offered for Juniors, Seniors and graduate students reviewing technology and its use in the workplace. The course will complement the courses that will be offered with the e-portfolio initiative and provide other students the opportunity to increase their own understanding of current technology and how to apply it to their academic and
future careers. As part of the class, students will mentor faculty in specific technology uses, increasing technology skills of both the faculty and the mentor. The course will provide students with basic skills in advanced technologies, and improve their access to technology tools, updated traditional curriculum making their instruction more relevant to todays agricultural industry needs. Quantitative and qualitative evaluation from Fall 2005 has been collected and is currently being analyzed and prepared for reporting. Early reports indicate quantitative research will indicate technology goals will be met, with greater than half of all participating students and faculty increasing their skill. The digital portfolio tool has been enthusiastically embraced by the university community and has proven to be easy to use by students. Assessment will indicate what kind of training is needed for both faculty and student s on integrating this tool with instruction. The project was granted a
no-cost extension until July 2007.
PRODUCTS: 15 Online demos Self-guided tutorials were placed online for students to access as needed. Each easy to use tutorial walked students through one of the competencies. By using these, students were able to select just the topics they needed, when they needed them. Web-based Portolio Tool: NMSU ePortfolio Tool A digital portfolio tool for students could use a simple web interface to create a custom portfolio highlighting artifacts from their academic careers. Artifacts can include research papers, PowerPoint Presentations, videotaped interviews or teaching samples. The tool is easy to use and was well received by students and faculty. Training Materials Print and web-based instructional information sheets were developed to support advanced technology uses in creating PDF documents, scanning documents, editing digital video and portfolio tool use. Expansion of tool to rest of university After great enthusiasm for the tool, it is now being institutionalized for use by the entire
University community. Two additional departments on campus have agreed to continue training, support and programming of the tool after this grant is over. Self-paced online training tools are being developed and policies are being established for adoption of the tool University-wide.
OUTCOMES: Instruction in Baseline Computer Competencies In a 58 day period, 108 student sessions were scheduled in the help desk. With only 64 students participating in the project, each student visited the help desk for one on one consulting and average of 1.68 times. Development of Digital Portfolio All 64 participating students developed a digital portfolio and 29 class sessions instruction students on technology use were given. Class: Application of Technology in the Workplace: Spring 2006 Class size is limited to 20 students Focus testing with 45 students and 14 faculty and staff were conducted to confirm project goals and objectives. The majority of 64 students engaged in the pilot project self-reported growth in at least one technology skill. Assessment is still being compiled for reporting purposes. The digital portfolio tool gives them a valuable product to use in searching for jobs or graduate skill, and indications are that they increase their technology tool in the
process of using it. All 4 faculty members in the pilot project are enthusiastic about continuing with the digital portfolio initiative. Their self-reported technology skill has increased, and they have used additional technology in their classes as a result of interaction with the Technology Help Desk. 24 training workshops have been held so far for faculty, with an average of 15 people in attendance at each. Technology Help Desk has responded to 3,610 requests for assistance by the College, supported in large part by this program. 15 online learning demos have been created to assist students with baseline competencies. In a 58 day period, 64 students requested one-on-one assistance with technology 108 times.
DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES: This project is still in the developmental phase. Dissemination will begin in 2006.
FUTURE INITIATIVES: Interest by faculty of the digital portfolio tool is so great, that institutionalization of the ePortfolio tool will occur in Spring 2006 so that all 23,000 students and 1003 teaching faculty can use the tool. Students will be better prepared to enter the workforce as a result of the Applied Innovative Technologies course offered in Spring 2006. Based on student interests and feedback, this 3-credit hour course reflect our initial findings: students in the last two years of their academic career lose some of their technology skills and need more advanced technologies to prepare them for the workforce. Participating students should feel more comfortable using technology and better understand how the technology can be implemented with their chosen career. The Portfolio initiative has seen tremendous success. Students using the program love it, and even those students with limited computer skills find the online tool easy to use. Participating faculty have enjoyed
using the tool so much, they are taking it to faculty senate for endorsement. Additionally, participating faculty have agreed to panel a faculty session during university implementation of the electronic portfolio tool. Perhaps one of the largest measures of its success is the voluntary (non paid) commitment from the NMSU main technology group to adopt the tool and support its implementation campus wide. This spring, self-guided training materials are being developed so that faculty or students wishing to use the tool can go through self-paced interactive tutorials online. Additionally, handouts and training guides will supplement training done by other units on campus. Interest was so great, other units are voluntarily adopting the tool and offering to provide needed trainings or promotion to see its use increased.
Impacts
The assessment and evaluation of the project is still underway with data collection and analysis. However, initial findings show an increase in faculty use of technologies for instruction, communication and leadership purposes with students. Furthermore, the initial findings demonstrate the increase of technologies skills for students to include advanced file use and modification, and developing skills in innovative technologies such as video editing and using, designing and publishing digital portfolios. Additionally, initial findings also revealed the kinds of technology skills students need to develop early on in their academic careers and how many students actual retain those skills throughout their academic career. Outcomes for this project include: The majority of 64 students engaged in the pilot project self-reported growth in at least one technology skill. Assessment is still being compiled for reporting purposes. The digital portfolio tool gives them a
valuable product to use in searching for jobs or graduate skill, and indications are that they increase their technology tool in the process of using it. All 4 faculty members in the pilot project self-reported technology skill has increased, and they have used additional technology in their classes as a result of interaction with the Technology Help Desk. 24 training workshops have been held so far for faculty, with an average of 15 people in attendance at each. Technology Help Desk has responded to 3,610 requests for assistance by the College, supported in large part by this program.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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