Systemic Progress in Teaching and Learning 2003 Award Winners

DePauw University

361° Initiatives

In February 2001, DePauw University, a selective, national, liberal arts college in Greencastle, Indiana, received a $20-million Grant of Distinction from the Lilly Endowment to establish a national technology center and launch a series of initiatives to guarantee that the university's 2,350 students, faculty, and staff will be equipped to provide the creativity and leadership required by the digital age. The name of the resulting model—"361°"—refers to DePauw's goal that these initiatives will "prepare students for every degree of life and for creating the future." DePauw's efforts reinforce the institutional emphasis on "critical thinking, problem-solving, interpretation, learning through experience, and learning through reflection." In this context, information technologies are integrated into curricular and co-curricular activities as a liberal art rather than in a skill-based approach, and IT tools are used as a scaffolding for discussion.

Among the 361° initiatives are:

• Student Technology Assessment Resources and Training Program (START), through which students can assess and improve their technical skills, taking advantage of student-led workshops, Web-based training featuring University-developed modules, and one-on-one assistance from START's 20 well-trained student consultants
• Information Technology Associates Program (ITAP), a three-year training program that provides special opportunities for up to 200 DePauw students to develop advanced skills in a range of information technologies including digital video production and Web design, information analysis, desktop and network hardware, along with career-development and leadership training
• Faculty Instructional Technology Support (FITS), which helps faculty members enhance their own teaching and their students' learning through a focus on pedagogical applications of technology; five full-time staff members. With the implementation of the 361° programs, technology utilization is being recognized in the faculty tenure-review process.

Evidence drawn from ethnographic listening points such as faculty tenure files, pre- and post-course student surveys, and student results from a standardized test (Tek.Xam) are used to measure and increase the efficacy of 361° initiatives, in a well-designed assessment process that supports continual fine-tuning of the program elements. The multi-pronged assessment efforts bring clear evidence that technology is enhancing and transforming faculty work, and participation rates continue to climb among both students and faculty. Full information about these initiatives is available at http://www.depauw.edu/it/361.

University of Colorado at Boulder

ATLAS Institute

The Alliance for Technology, Learning and Society (ATLAS) is an innovative campus-wide institute at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Established in 1997, ATLAS provides interdisciplinary educational and research programs in digital media, educational technology, and societal impacts that are designed to make information technology relevant and accessible to all people and communities. Special programs include activities on gender and IT, K-12 outreach, and partnerships with two historically black institutions, Tuskegee University and Dillard University. The Dillard partnership is supported by the Carnegie Corporation as a model for shared development of curricula, and for faculty and student exchanges.

Based on the philosophy that technology should be considered an essential component of curriculum content, the program includes two certificate programs—Technology, Arts, and Media (TAM), and Multidisciplinary Applied Technologies (MAT)—both of which provide IT skills as well as studies in the societal and technical implications of the networked information age. The pedagogy of the TAM program, currently the second largest certificate program at CU-Boulder with over 200 students enrolled, is unique. Student-centered instruction and active learning are the twin foci of instructional design, and laboratory space allows students to cluster in groups as they work. Both programs attract high-achieving students who take their IT skills with them on diverse post-graduation paths. Students participating come from a cross-section of disciplines, including arts and sciences, journalism, business, engineering, and environmental design.

All of the major ATLAS programs include significant internal and/or external assessment activities. The ATLAS Evaluation and Research Group, provides the assessment component for many educational technology grants across campus. It was specifically designed to evaluate the effective use of technology in education, and to undertake programmatic assessment of technology education curricula and practices with regard to the participation of women and under-represented groups in IT fields and education.

ATLAS has engaged hundreds of faculty and students, from every school and college, in its research and curriculum programs, and has been successful in raising millions of dollars in external funding from government, industry, foundations and individuals to support its programs. The high degree of institutional commitment to the program is evidenced by the fact that ATLAS was granted institute status by the University of Colorado's governing board in May 2003.