Extended Abstract (172K)4.9
An Environmental Science Course at the University of Phoenix: One Class Delivered Three Ways at More Than 100 Campuses
Patrick M. Hayes, University of Phoenix, Phoenix, AZ
The University of Phoenix is an accredited university that offers degree programs at the bachelor's, master's and doctoral level. Students have the opportunity to take courses using three different methods of delivery: conventional classroom, online, and UOP's FlexNet(r) method, which is a combination of classroom and online. UOP is the nation's largest private university, with more than 100 campuses and learning centers in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada and via the Internet. UOP's 125,000 students can complete their degree no matter where they live, what hours they work, or how often they travel or relocate.
The curriculum for UOP classroom and online courses is divided into two parts; the part presented by the faculty in the classroom, and the part that is self-discovered by the students in weekly meetings of their "learning team." UOP students are strongly encouraged to develop and exercise leadership and followership skills during the learning team portion of the course. This unique and innovative part of the UOP curriculum teaches the same skills needed for UOP graduates to be successful in most of today's workplace environments. Feedback from industry, government, and academic leaders confirms that teamwork skills emphasized at UOP are a critical component of successful employees.
Every course at UOP begins life as a UOP standard course "template." The curriculum development team uses the template to maintain a consistent level of course quality across a spectrum of teaching skills in UOP's 17,000 instructors. Components of the template include: Course Description, Topics and Objectives, Workshop Contents, Learning Activities, Discussion and Integrating Questions, and Workshop and Learning Team Assignments.
Curriculum development at UOP is an exercise in small team collaboration. The author recently participated in course development for UOP's SCI 256, Environmental Science, and SCI 362, Environmental Ethics, courses. The SCI 256 team was composed of an environmental scientist, a curriculum developer, a science educator, an instructional designer, and the dean of the college of education. The team's task was to write the two "modules" for SCI 256. One module has all the information needed by the instructor to facilitate the course, and the other module has all the background information needed by the student. These two modules would be used to teach and learn SCI 256 at all of UOP's campuses and online. The team completed the lion's share of the task in less than three days.
The development of the course modules began with writing a description and general topic areas for the course, followed by writing supporting objectives under each general topic area. For example, two of the general topics, and some of their supporting objectives, for the SCI 256 course were:
1. Scientific Method - Describe scientific method - Interpret the use of scientific method in an environmental science issue. - Discussion question: What problem in your daily life could be solved by applying the Scientific Method?
2. Natural Ecosystems - Describe structure and function of ecosystems - Explain ecosystem balance and imbalance - Identify natural cycles of progression within ecosystems. - Discussion question: What are three different ecosystems and their functions?
Notice that there is at least one "discussion question" for each general topic area and supporting objectives - this question is an aid for the faculty to help focus class discussion and to help assess whether the objectives for that topic area are achieved.
After development of the topic areas and supporting objectives, the team wrote sets of weekly assignments and activities that supported each of the objectives. The assignments were divided between "individual" and "team" assignments. The team assignments were constructed so a learning team could easily collaborate on the accomplishment and presentation of the team assignments. And, because the course would be taught using three modes of delivery, the developers wrote two or three different sets of assignments that could be completed by classroom, online, and directed-study students.
The next part of the course development was the creation of an outline to be used by faculty to present the weekly instruction. One purpose for creating an outline of the course content is to help ensure that a given UOP course taught in one location, say, Seattle, has close to the same content as the same course taught in another location, say, Fort Lauderdale. This helps guarantee that all UOP courses, no matter where or by what method they are taught, satisfy prerequisite and other degree plan requirements.
The final part of developing the faculty module is to add the "administrative notes." These are reminders for faculty to accomplish classroom tasks such as: answer any content or logistical questions resulting from the previous week, check on the progress of Learning Team projects, preview the learning objectives and content for this week, at the end of the class or week, preview the next context of the next week, and be sure that you have received all assignments that are due.
One might get the impression that this process of specifying course content down to the detail of administrative tasks would leave little or no academic flexibility to the faculty. In practice, the opposite is true. UOP encourages faculty to tailor the details and delivery of the course so that the needs of the local student community are satisfied. Most faculty who've taught a course more than once modify certain details of the course content, taking care to preserve the course's core topics and objectives. When preparing to teach the course, an instructor is required to write and distribute a personalized course syllabus. The methods for achieving objectives and covering main topic areas, the assignments, grading scheme, and examinations are noted in the instructor's syllabus. The students are responsible for following the requirements of the instructor's syllabus.
The curriculum of each of UOP's courses is scheduled to be reviewed every two to three years, ensuring that the latest developments in the state of the subject are incorporated into the curriculum. These helps ensure that UOP provides a fresh, relevant, and useful educational experience to their student community.
Session 4, University Educational Initiatives (Room 615/616)
Tuesday, 13 January 2004, 1:30 PM-5:15 PM, Room 615/616
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