Annual Report, June 2006 Department of Adult Learning & Technology University of Wyoming John Cochenour, Department Head

This report summarizes the activities of the Department of Adult Leaning & Technology during the 2006 calendar year, January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2006. The primary areas of accomplishment were the continued growth and delivery of graduate courses at a distance and the re-design of the professional doctorate and masters degrees. Some of the highlights of the year include:  In August of this year the department welcomed Dr. Doris Bolliger to the faculty. Dr. Bolliger received her doctorate from the University of West Florida, but comes to the department from Saint Cloud State University in Minnesota where she was an associate professor. Her experience and expertise in distributed learning, message design, and technology integration have been welcome additions to the department.  However in the fall, illnesses forced one faculty member to go on full-time sick leave and another to begin half-time sick leave, and these absences constrained some departmental activities.  Several of our graduate students participated in the UW Graduate Symposium and also made presentations at a number of national meetings. The department supported nine different students to present their research at six different international, national, or regional conferences. In 2006, one of our students, Sara Axelson was named vice president for student affairs at the University of Wyoming, and one of our graduates, John Kambutu, was selected to receive the John P. Ellbogen Meritorious Classroom Teaching Award.  Considerable energies were devoted to the updating of the department’s graduate programs during 2006, which included our participation in a collaborative planning session with College of Education faculty for a week during the summer. Building upon this collaboration, along with information from other national initiatives on the professional education doctorate, new requirements and benchmarks were designed for the Doctor of Education and professional masters’ degrees.  The department delivered a residential learning experience for the fifth straight year at Yellowstone National Park with the assistance of the Yellowstone Institute. This residential learning program is the only one of its type offered by adult education graduate programs in the country. These activities contribute to the department’s academic plan emphasis on environmental education.

Academic Planning Implementation

 Action items 1-3, 5,7,9, from the department’s Academic Plan II have been completed and reported on previously.

 Action Item 4: Review use of individual student portfolios to demonstrate proficiency regarding department standards and knowledge bases and evaluate

4／29／2018 1 their usefulness to graduate students. Portfolios have been used consistently in the masters’ programs for the past several years. Interim reviews support their continued use with these programs, however an additional review is being conducted to determine the most appropriate way to both teach the use of portfolios and the best means for assessing them.

 Action Item 10: Work to increase summer enrollments by 5-10% annually. This action item refers mostly to our graduate programs. Undergraduate offerings in the summer remain relatively stable, but above those of 2001 and 2002. Graduate courses have increased steadily over the past five years for which we have data, with the exception of a spike in enrollments during 2002. Discounting that spike, the trend in the, department’s overall summer enrollment is steady growth—100 percent from 01 through 05.

 College of Education Action Item 2.3: Clarify distinctions between the EdD and the PhD with the goal of strengthening graduate specializations at the doctoral level. The department continued its redesign of the EdD, and created new benchmarks to support an updated professional doctorate. Changes to this degree program should be submitted for approval in 2007.

Teaching Activities

During 2006, the department continued to deliver a large number of graduate courses through the Outreach School. Most of these distance deliveries were online environments where the enrollments are controlled and monitored. The department taught 21 graduate courses during the calendar year. We have continued to refine our strategies for online deliveries and training sessions allow faculty to share experiences and a variety of techniques. The department held regular meetings to discuss curricular matters focusing on online delivery techniques, and examination/discussion of syllabi, course materials, assessments, and teaching techniques, and the updating or development of courses.

The department offers 1000 level courses in both ADED and ITEC, but the primary focus of our undergraduate instructional delivery is the required course, ITEC 2360 Teaching with Technology. This course, which focuses on technology integration skills in the classroom, has five sections in the spring and fall and two sections in the summer. The courses are limited in enrollment by the available technology in the education labs. During the 2006 calendar year, 344 students were enrolled in 16 sections of the department’s undergraduate courses. Two graduate assistants assisted with the delivery of the ITEC 2360 courses.

Research and/or Creative Activities

The department has continued its efforts to encourage a conducive atmosphere for sharing and discussing research and promoting an interest and/or collaboration in research and publication within the department’s research areas. The department continues to conduct regular research meetings that are open to our graduate students, where we review ongoing research, share ideas, and discuss a variety of research issues. The research focus in this department falls into three broad categories: instructional

4／29／2018 2 technology, adult and post-secondary education, and distance education. Specific faculty within the department have narrowed their focus to a number of sub-categories such as message design, diversity, comparative educational systems, residential learning, and online delivery systems. Several articles have been prepared for refereed journals, but need to be submitted and accepted to improve upon the successes of the department.

Items of note during 2006 include:  The publishing of a book co-edited by two of our doctoral students, North American Adult Educators—Phyllis M. Cunningham Archive of Quintessential Autobiographies for the Twenty-First Century, Keith Armstrong, Lee Nabb, and Anthony Czech editors.  A book chapter on creating constructivist learning environments in the Educational media and technology yearbook 2006 by Dr. Doris Bolliger  Nine national/international refereed papers delivered by faculty at a variety of conferences, two of which included collaboration with graduate students. Another seven graduate students presented research at regional or national conferences.

Service, Extension and Outreach Activities

Department faculty are involved in service within the department, college university, and national professional organizations. Service contributions include:  Departmental scholarship committees, faculty search committees, admissions screening, and curriculum development.  College ad hoc committees, sponsoring student groups the College tenure and promotion committee, the advisory council for graduate education, the advisory council for teacher education, and the advisory council for agricultural education.  University senate, scholarship committees and outside members on graduate committees.  International and national professional service includes referees, reviewers and editorial board members for journals, service as journal editors, and acting as board members and committee members for professional associations.

Because of the high number of courses offered at a distance, the department has a close working relationship with the Outreach School. They continue to support the department by funding one-half of a faculty position, and in return the department offers at least two online courses per semester in-load. The Outreach School also funds a graduate assistantship within their offices that one of our graduate students fills. This provides a great opportunity to help one of our students acquire a professional skill set in the management of outreach courses. We have also worked closely with the Outreach School’s field offices to recruit and retain graduate students throughout Wyoming.

Student Recruitment and Retention Activities and Enrollment Trends

The recent trend in enrollment has been an increase in the numbers of masters students admitted and graduated. Graduate enrollments overall have risen and thirty-one new students were admitted in 2006. According to student interviews the strong online

4／29／2018 3 delivery of our masters programs and many of our courses is a major factor in the decision to apply to ALT. Waiting lists exist for many of the courses, and admission to our programs is becoming more selective. The department is currently reviewing the number of doctoral students that faculty can successfully supervise and we have held our admission of doctoral students to lower numbers the past two years. We envision no change to the continued heavy use of distance delivery with our graduate programs.

Recruitment and retention activities include the more following efforts:  Working with alumni to identify potential students.  Using brochures to advertise our programs at national conferences.  Unique summer residential programs were advertised via a national listserv and ALT web pages.  Advertisement of programs and specific courses via the Outreach School.  Visits to F.E. Warren Air Force Base, outreach centers, and other sites of possible value.  Using the department web pages to alert and inform prospective students as well as a source of information for current students. Over the past few years this has been the most productive source of prospective students.  The department maintains an email distribution list with students and a bulletin board in the department area.  Distance students are encouraged to visit the department and an effort is made to coordinate these visits with faculty availability, university and local area tours, and pick-ups at the airport when necessary.  The department also encourages cooperative research and academic interaction among students and faculty. This has been most successful with students who work with the department as graduate assistants, but historically many students have participated in the planning and delivery of conferences and residential learning experiences. The department supported students in professional development with travel allotments for those making national/international presentations.  The department sponsors the Clarence Jayne scholarship.

Development activities and public relations.

Public relations work of the department is done primarily through the department web pages. The department web pages were updated in 2005, reviewed again in 2006 for content, images, and links. Available on the web site are:  program checklists, course schedules, the five-year research course schedule, and course descriptions,  directory, program and application information are also available, along with important links to other college and university departments and agencies, and  also included are scholarship information, historical information, and a scrapbook of pictures taken during department activities.

The web site URL is included in all promotional literature, including promotional brochures for the residential learning programs. Meetings with the college public relations officer were scheduled and information shared for the Blackboard publication.

4／29／2018 4 The department sponsored a variety of events for faculty, students, and alumni. These included dinners and small parties for special occasions and holidays. The department’s commencement gathering on the afternoon after commencement exercises in May included a department open house and attracted a large group. Pictures of the event are shared and provided digitally on CD to those requesting them.

Classified and Professional Staffing

The following staffing changes or adjustments occurred during 2006:  Dr. Doris Bolliger began working in the department with the fall semester. Her teaching assignment is primarily in the undergraduate course in technology integration and the graduate courses in instructional design.  Jeanette Skinner, the department’s office associate, submitted her resignation at the end of 2006. An exceptional contributor to the department over the past four years, she was instrumental in the successful day-to-day operation of the department.  An adjunct professor, Dr. Tillman Ragan, contracted blood cancer and was forced to withdraw from a course after its beginning in the fall. The course was ably taught Dr. Bolliger.  Her doctors placed Dr. Donna Amstutz, a senior member of the faculty, on sick leave in September. She remained on sick leave throughout the remainder of the calendar year. Other faculty covered her assignments and an adjunct was hired to teach her outreach course.  Throughout the fall of 2006, Dr. Landra Rezabek was forced to take extensive sick leave. Dr. Rezabek struggles with Multiple Sclerosis, an autoimmune disease that affects the central nervous system.

Diversity

During the faculty search that was successfully completed with the hire of Dr. Bolliger, department faculty contacted minority faculty from other institutions asking for recommendations of possible applicants and an effort was made at national conferences to seek out qualified minority applicants. Minority representation was included in the search committee membership. The first pool of applicants totaled 55 individuals and included 13 self-identified diverse candidates. The second pool of applicants totaled 68 applicants and included 31 self-identified diverse candidates.

In 2006, a study examining gender equity issues in vocational technical courses and programs and possible gender bias was completed and a report issued to the granting institution, the Wyoming Department of Education. The department continues to deliver a graduate course on race, class and gender in adult education and diversity is a subject of focus throughout the department’s curriculum.

Assessment of Student Learning:

A. The ALT department continues to rely on the learner outcomes of the College of Education, competence, democratic perspectives, and professionalism, in conjunction

4／29／2018 5 with the professional standards established by the Association of Educational Communications and Technology and by the Commission of Professors of Adult Education. The specific professional outcomes for the department programs are listed on the department web site under the link Learning Outcomes. Each set of professional standards is grouped within five domains. Within the field of instructional technology the five domains are design, development, utilization, management, and evaluation. Within adult and continuing education the five domains are introduction to the fundamental nature, function, and scope of adult education, adult learning and development, adult education program processes, historical, philosophical, and sociological foundations, and educational research. Each of the domains listed for both fields can be further sub-divided into more detailed descriptions. These domains and their synergistic relationships are addressed in each degree program within the caveats of the college’s learner outcomes. The college standards and department knowledge areas are also listed and defined within the department program checklists, and form the template for the portfolio required of masters’ students and a portion of the preliminary examination for the doctoral students.

B. During 2006 the review of graduate programs within the department continued with the major focus being on the professional masters degree and the professional doctorate in education. Within our college-wide graduate degrees (Masters, PhD, and EdD) the department offers option areas in both instructional technology and in adult and continuing education. Benchmark assessments for the graduate programs occur at three points:  Admission. These requirements were reviewed and revised in 2005 and remain unchanged.  Mid-point. This assessment includes the successful completion of a set of identified courses associated with each degree program and reflected in a program of study, an individual self-assessment, and for doctoral programs a set of examinations.  Exit. This assessment includes a portfolio and an examination and presentation within a capstone course for masters students. Doctoral students complete a dissertation.

Assessment activities in 2006 included:  Learning outcomes for the masters’ programs were completed and included on the department’s web pages with a specific link from the home page.  The individual self-assessment was designed and approved for mid-point assessment in the graduate programs.  Adjustments were made to required graduate courses and their identification regarding sequencing and requirement.  Common assessments for the ITEC 2360 course were reviewed and are now being aligned to fit within the Wyoming Teacher Education Program (WTEP) and its assessment plan.

C. Efforts to track students once they have graduated and/or left the university have been limited the past couple of years, however the department working with the dean's office has designed a survey to gather information from alumni regarding graduate degree

4／29／2018 6 program outcomes. The survey is scheduled to be used for the first time in the summer of 2007.

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