Mid-South Instructional Technology Conference
Teaching, Learning, & Technology
The Connected Classroom
April 7-9, 2002
Development of a Computer Science Course for the Regents Online Degree Program
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By: Samuel Burke, Terry Countermine |
Abstract
Making the commitment to develop and teach a course for the Regents Online Degree Program is a major step. The necessary resources are not always evident and may be difficult to obtain. The presenters will discuss the evolution of such a course. Their discussion will detail the process from both the department chair and the instructor's prospective. Resources of time, budget, and faculty will be covered.
Description
The Tennessee Board of Regents established an Online Degree Program (RODP) in order to "bring education to the citizens." Courses were chosen and developed during academic year 2000-2001. This fall these courses were offered for the first time. For many departments this was their first venture into teaching a totally online course. The Computer and Information Sciences Department at East Tennessee State University made the commitment to develop and teach a course in Database Systems. The resulting course was for non-majors who enrolled in the ROPD. That is, it was not available to Computer Science majors. To develop such a course took a major time commitment from two faculty members. The resources to grant release time were not available. The process involved planning the course, selecting appropriate software development tools, learning new software, assessing evaluation methodologies, and testing the resulting course.
Establishing lines of communication was very important. The "players" were located in Nashville and Johnson City. At ETSU there needed to be communication and decision making at all levels - departmental, college, and university. The resulting "organization" was very complex. > Teaching an online course is much different than teaching a traditional course. The time commitment, communication with students, grading policies, problem solving, and use of technology all present unique problems. This lecture/discussion will trace the first 18 months of CSCI 3222 - from idea to delivery.