We didn't start out planning to transform teaching at the university. Instead, in 2004 we began a modest, one-year project to redesign a few general education courses, and we did so largely because of a collective guilty conscience.
"I learn better having someone explain something to me rather than figuring it out on my own." One of the 25 percent of students who prefer the traditional approach
"I liked being able to get involved as opposed to reading out of a textbook." One of the 75 percent of students who prefer the NGen approach
"I don't want to take the 'me' out of teaching." Reaction of an instructor at the prospect of not spending all of the class time lecturing to a 200-student class
"The biggest thing that I have learned is that students will be as responsible for their learning as you let them." NGen senior faculty fellow
The university had invested considerable resources in creating a technologicai and human-resources infrastructure to support online instruction, and it had succeeded beyond its wildest expectations. It had tapped new student populations throughout Texas and in all fifty states, and online programs had begun to account for the majority of the institution's enrollment growth. By 2004. the University of North Texas had emerged as the largest provider of online learning of any public university in Texas and one of the largest in the country. We could proudly point out that we were leaders in the technological revolution in higher education.
But we realized in 2004 that this revolution had almost completely bypassed the freshmen and sophomores at UNT. The University of North Texas was teaching undergraduates in ways that would make a time traveler from the nineteenth century feel comfortable. It is true that whiteboards had replaced blackboards, and these had been replaced in turn by screens for computer-projected displays. But the vast majority of college and university instruction involved the aural transmission of content from faculty members' heads to the hands of students.
So we began a course-redesign project to blend some emerging technologies with traditional instruction. Five years later the project continues with substantially more ambitious goals, because the need to transform teaching and learning in general education courses is stronger than ever.
Instructional Advancement Center
Information Technology
University of Miami, FL
bill.vilberg@miami.edu
786-250-2255
The Office of the Provost and UM Faculty Learning Community
cordially invite you to a lunch presentation by
Dr. Philip Turner
Professor Emeritus, College of Information, University of North Texas
The Next Generation Course Redesign Project
Wednesday, April 4th, 2012
12:00-2:00PM
Hurricane 100 Room at the Bank United Center
University of Miami
The Next Generation Course Redesign Project at the University of North Texas aims to redesign undergraduate classes to enhance student learning outcomes. At the heart of the Next Gen Project are interdisciplinary faculty learning communities in which faculty nurture, mentor, and encourage each other. NextGen courses are a blend of lecture, online, and experiential learning and are designed on a foundation of Student Learning Outcomes.
Dr. Phil Turner has been a classroom teacher, a librarian, a college professor, and the owner of an information company. He served simultaneously as an academic dean and the lead administrator for distance and distributed learning for fifteen years at two institutions: The University of Alabama and the University of North Texas. Dr. Turner is currently serving as Professor Emeritus in the College of Information at the University of North Texas, and serves as a consultant to UNT's Next Generation Course Redesign™ Project.
He has written extensively on the subject of the application of technology to the teaching and learning process, especially in the area of planning and policy. In 1994, he was the second academic to receive the Annual Award for Achievement in Managing Information Technology sponsored by Carnegie Mellon University and American Management System.
Please RSVP by March 28 to e.johnson5@miami.edu or 305.284.3356
