ECT Center Evaluation

Davina Smalley FRIT-‐7739: Practicum FRIT-‐7739: Practicum

ECT Center | Technology Center Evaluation

Part A: Program Evaluation

Executive Summary Research by Billings shows that when students complete a course, they are more likely to persist in the next course. The more successes students have, the more likely they will continue to be successful (Stavredes & Herder, 2014, p. 38). Student persistence increases with increased institutional support because the additional guidance offers them the resources needed to complete course requirements. The Educational and Collaborative Technology (ECT) Center at Georgia Regents University (GRU) helps students, with the assistance and guidance of Instructional Multimedia Specialists, explore their creativity and imagination to create engaging interactive multimedia in support of their academic classes. The Center also collaborates with faculty and departments to coordinate curricula and develop effective course designs. Aligning itself with the greater institutional strategic goal to increase student retention, progression, and graduation, the Center strives to ensure students complete their course of study in a timely and cost-‐efficient manner by providing sustaining support and guidance throughout each student’s career at GRU. The Center further recognizes that students live in a world where knowledge is no longer static and read-‐only. Instructors are now integrating Web 2.0 applications and digital tools in their course curricula and are utilizing mobile devices and mobile apps in their learning activities. Knowledge and ideas are shared through electronic media and are personally constructed, interpretive, and diverse. The Center’s mission is to prepare students to be active participants in a 21st century digital society. It is an essential resource for the students at Georgia Regents University.


Organizational Chart

Methods Multiple sources of data were used to evaluate the ECT Center activities and operations. After careful consideration of all data, the findings show that the Center fully supports its goals and mission to assist students and faculty with all academic-‐related multimedia needs to advance student persistence. The Center management is aware of a growing demand for additional services that extend beyond their current service offerings. They are actively drafting proposals to request additional resources and funding to support future services and educational programs. The following sources were used:

Center Profile Questionnaire -‐ Completed by center manager to gather introductory data to build a general center profile. Interview with Center Manager -‐ Focused interview about center goals and its support of student achievement and faculty teaching. Staff Questionnaire – To be completed by each staff member and student worker to gather data about roles and responsibilities, Center operations, student/faculty requests, workload, etc. ECT Website –http://gru.edu/art/ectc.html

ECT Center Manager

Instructional Multimedia Specialist

Instructional Multimedia Specialist

Technical Illustrator

Student Assistant

Student Assistant

Student Assistant

Student Assistant


ServiceNow requests – Enterprise IT help desk information system. Analyzed student and faculty requests entered into the system by Center staff and student workers

Observations – Actual observations and interactions with Center staff, student workers, students, and faculty.

Center Context and Goals The Educational and Collaborative Technology (ECT) Center strives to provide students with educational and technical multimedia support to enable them to persist through their academic studies. The center also collaborates with faculty to coordinate curricula and course content. Prior to the consolidation of Georgia Health Sciences University and Augusta State University, the center served faculty and students on the Augusta State University campus and was known as the Media Center. Once the consolidation completed, Georgia Regents University was born (GRU). The Augusta State University campus became the Summerville campus and the center was renamed Educational and Collaborative Technology Center. The ECT Center promotes GRU’s mission of excellence in teaching through the level of educational support available to the institution. ECT reflects the institution’s values in the hands-‐on, at the elbow support offered to its major stakeholders, all students and faculty. ECT staff are trained in the industry standard multimedia software and are able to provide expert-‐level support. ECT staff has a reputation on campus as being willing to go above and beyond to assist in any way possible. ECT has four full time staff members (one manager, two instructional multimedia specialists, and one technical illustrator) as well as four student assistants that support center operations:

Manager: Manages daily operations and the staff of the Center. Also provides “at-‐the-‐elbow” support for faculty and students in development and design of educational multimedia and interactive instructional materials for the University, as well as design projects as needed. Instructional Multimedia Specialist: The Instructional Media/Multimedia Specialist is responsible for providing “at-‐the-‐elbow” support for faculty and students in development and design of educational multimedia and interactive instructional materials for the University.


Student Assistants: Support the Instructional Media/Multimedia Specialist in providing “at-‐the-‐elbow” support for faculty and students for lower-‐level needs, as well as running and operating the circulation desk.

Technical Illustrator: Designs and creates a variety of multimedia materials, particularly print materials, in support of the academic, clinical, and research missions.

All staff members have experience with multimedia production, such as video editing and print production, and experience with the Adobe Creative Suite, Final Cut Pro, iMovie and various other general video editing applications. The Technical Illustrator has experience designing print materials and technical illustrations.

Center Activities The center provides the following services:

Multimedia Lab: The Center includes computer workstations designed to accommodate individual and small group multimedia development including: video, print, audio, presentations, and other multimedia. The computers are equipped with the latest software including Final Cut Pro and Adobe Creative Suites.

Video Production: Staff in the Center are available to assist in the capture, editing, and production of video materials.

Checkout Equipment: Students and faculty may checkout equipment including digital cameras, digital camcorders, voice recorders, and related equipment in support of their academic multimedia development efforts.

Technical Illustration Services: A Technical Illustrator designs and creates a variety of multimedia materials, particularly print materials, in support of the academic, clinical, and research missions. Printing and Laminating: Producing, printing, and laminating scientific research posters and other large formatting printing needs.

The following types of equipment are available for student and faculty use:

• 28 Apple iMacs • 18 laptops • 26 HD Camcorders and tripods • 18 external hard drives


• 14 digital cameras • 20+ audio recorders • 10 laser pointers • 6 external SD card readers • 6 HD digital projectors • 10+ projection screens • 3 DVD recorder bays • 2 CD/DVD duplication towers • 1 CD/DVD label printer

Evaluation

Analysis The Center is open Monday – Thursday, from 8 AM – 8 PM and on Friday from 8 AM – 5 PM. It is closed on Saturday and Sunday. It is usually very busy between 10 AM and 2 PM each day. It becomes increasingly busy during midterms and the week before final exams. At least two staff members are always present at the Center desk. The Manager is always on duty. Student assistants work late afternoon and evening hours, usually relieving one of the full-‐time staff members. Over 200 students and approximately 10 instructors visit the Center each day. Staff members may assist between 15-‐25 students per day and between 5-‐10 instructors per day. The Student Assistants may assists between 3-‐4 students per day and between 2-‐3 instructors per day. Some requests may extend over two weeks for both student and faculty. These requests are typically related to multi-‐phased video projects.


Figure 1 -‐ Average number of ECT Center visitors per day

ServiceNow requests and Center observations show that most students come to the Center to receive assistance with editing video projects, uploading and exporting media, checking out media equipment, scanning documents, photo editing, word processing, designing visual presentations, constructing a visual presentation, printing and laminating, using the Learning Management System, and learning basic computer competencies. However, some students were observed spending a large amount of time on Facebook and other social networking websites. Most faculty requests are related to checking out equipment, video recording for online and hybrid courses, software tutorials, assistance with AV equipment, embedding media into lecture presentations, and general troubleshooting of technology. To utilize any ECT Center service requires valid GRU identification. The Center primarily serves the Summerville campus, which consists mostly of liberal arts and social science disciplines. The Health Sciences campus faculty and students rarely visit the Center, with the exception of faculty and student researchers who utilize the Technical Illustration and Printing and Laminating services for high-‐quality poster designs and large format printing. However, Center staff reported increasing numbers from Health Sciences students requesting multimedia lab, equipment checkout, and video production services over the past few months.

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Average number of ECT Center visitors per day

Students

Instructors


Figure 2 -‐ Frequency of services requested by students and faculty

Findings The findings from this evaluation reveal that the ECT Center does supports student persistence during their educational experience at Georgia Regents University. Most students who are assigned multimedia projects generally have never used the required equipment and software needed to complete the assignment. The ECT Center helps to fill the gaps between what is taught in class and what students need to know to complete assignments which instructors may not have time to teach in class. The Center provides students with personal one-‐on-‐one instruction and a high level of expertise for multiple technologies used in today's 21st century digital society. Students gain the necessary skills to complete projects with persistence, which leads to the achievement their course objectives. Similarly, the Center assists instructors with designing and implementing multimedia projects in the class as well as providing the equipment and training to make those projects a reality. The center benefits the instructor's teaching experience by housing high-‐end equipment for visual presentations and a myriad of professional software that makes presenting numerous teaching materials possible. Instructors can build multimedia technology assessments into their curriculum because the Center is available to enable students to complete the projects assigned.

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Multimedia Lab

Video Production

Checkout Equipment

Technical Illustration Services

Printing and Laminating

Faculty

Students


Recommendations Center Awareness. The Center is currently inward focused and as such assists with on-‐site GRU and GRU-‐related projects only. Services provided, for both hardware checkout and software support, are only intended for academic-‐related projects. Similarly, only current students, faculty or staff may make use of the Center and its equipment. However, there is an increasing demand for video production services by entities outside by non-‐academic business units. The Center should explore opportunities to extend their service offerings to the entire institution as a way to gain institution-‐wide awareness and also to generate additional revenue that would enable it to fund future initiatives that would further support the Center’s mission and vision. The Center should also consider launching detailed marketing advertisements to the Health Science campus whose faculty and students rarely visit the Center. Online Learner Support. There is currently no active support model for online students in place at the Center. As GRU academic programs begin to expand their online presence, the Center will need to evaluate how to accommodate online learners whom may need multimedia support for course projects. The Center should collaborate with the in-‐house Instructional Design staff to develop self-‐directed online courses, training videos, instructional modules, and synchronous online training sessions that could be accessed by online students from the Learning Management System. Teaching focus. The Center currently implements a service-‐oriented support model that is available to students on a “when-‐needed” basis. As society becomes more globally and digitally connected, it will be imperative that students be competent in the use of digital media tools and understand the foundations of digital citizenship. A focus on teaching and learning as a means to build these competencies will enable the Center to meet this need. Workshops, instructional training sessions, online courses, and training videos are just some of the opportunities available. Additionally, faculty development workshops and training sessions would offer a more rich experience to instructors who build multimedia into the face-‐to-‐face and online curriculum and who use digital tools in their classrooms.


Appendix

Manager Questionnaire

1. What are the center’s hours of operation?

2. How many personnel staff the center?

3. What are the job titles and brief position descriptions for personnel who staff the center?

4. What background experience is required for personnel?

5. Describe the services, activities, or programs carried out by the center. For

each activity: The ECT Center checks out multimedia equipment for use by the institution for academic purposes. The Center also provides at the elbow support for software related issues regarding multimedia production.

a. What is the purpose of the activity? b. Who is the audience? c. Where is it conducted (on site, online, elsewhere)?

6. Does the center provide services to the local community? Is the center

involved in any local community projects?

7. How many computers stations are in the center?

8. What types of computers are available?

9. What other equipment is available? How many of each?

10. What would prevent someone from being able to use the center resources?

11. Are there any limitations in the services that can be provided?


Manager Interview Questions

1. What is the mission of the center?

2. What are the goals of the center?

3. Who are the stakeholders?

4. How does the center promote the institutions goals and mission?

5. How does the center supports student achievement and persistence throughout their studies at GRU?

6. How does the center support faculty teaching at GRU?

Staff Questionnaire – delivered via SurveyMonkey Web link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LPR6WXM

1. What is your title? What are your job responsibilities? What are your work hours?

2. What time(s) is the Center the busiest for you?

3. What point in the semester is the Center the busiest for you?

4. What kinds of requests do you typically encounter with students?

5. What kinds of requests do you typically encounter with faculty?

6. What is the most time you have spent assisting a student? What was the request?

7. What is the most time you have spent assisting an instructor? What was the request?

8. On average, how many students do you assist each day you work?

9. On average, how many faculty do you assist each day you work?

10. How do you think the Center supports student achievement and persistence throughout their studies at GRU? How does it support faculty teaching at GRU?


Works Cited Stavredes, T., & Herder, T. (2014). A Guide to Online Course Design: Strategies for Student Success. San Francisco, CA, USA: Jossey-‐Bass.

ECT Center Evaluation

Documents

Transcript of ECT Center Evaluation