Faculty use and impressions of courseware management tools: A national survey

Journal of Engineering Education, Apr 2003 by St Clair, Sean, Baker, Nelson C

There are other areas of research that stem from this survey. This study only measured faculty impressions; a possible future study could measure both student and faculty perceptions and compare them. Another study could answer the causal question raised by the relationship between complexity, use, and effectiveness; a detailed study could determine whether tools are effective because they are easy to use, or if they are easy to use because they are effective. Perhaps the most important study stemming from this work, however, would be to perform an experimental assessment to determine whether or not these tools are actually effective as opposed to being perceived as effective. These studies would shed even greater light into how to use technology effectively in higher education.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors would like to thank the National Science Foundation and SUCCEED for funding this work through the Technology Based Curriculum Development Focus Group and grant UF-EIIS-9735001GT-1. The authors would like to acknowledge the assistance provided by Robert Bagley, Web Developer for Civil & Environmental Engineering, for creating the perl scripts necessary to administer the survey and to Joseph Ford, Ji-Yeon Kim, and Wongon Yu, students in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Georgia Tech who assisted with the survey distribution and portions of the literature survey. Finally, the authors wish to thank the reviewers and editors for their constructive remarks that helped shape this document.

REFERENCES

[1] Felder, R.M. et al. "Faculty Teaching Practices and Perceptions of Institutional Attitudes Toward Teaching at Eight Engineering Schools," Proceedings, 1998 Frontiers in Education Conference, Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, pp. 101-105.

[2] Nicoll, J., and N. Laudato. "Assessing the Impact on Students of Online Materials in University Courses," , accessed February 3, 2003.

[3] Signer, B., C. Hall, and J. Upton. "A Study of Faculty Concerns and Developmental Use of Web Based Course Tools," Proceedings, 2000 Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, American Educational Research Association.

[4] Marshall University Center for Instructional Technology, "Comparison of Online Course Delivery Software Products," , accessed February 3, 2003.

[5] Landon, B., R. Bruce, and A. Harby. "A Web Tool for Comparative Analysis," , accessed July 2, 2001.

[6] , accessed January 24, 2001.

[7] Rea, L.M., and R.A. Parker. Designing and Conducting Survey Research: A Comprehensive Guide, San Francisco: Josey-Bass, 1997.

[8] American Society of Engineering Education, "ASEE Profiles of Engineering and Engineering Technology Colleges," , accessed December 13, 2002.

[9] .

SEAN ST. CLAIR

School of Civil & Environmental Engineering

Georgia Institute of Technology

NELSON C. BAKER

School of Civil & Environmental Engineering

Georgia Institute of Technology

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHIES

Sean St.Clair is a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He has a M.S. in Civil Engineering from Georgia Tech and a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Utah State University. Mr. St. Clair's research is centered on engineering education and he has been involved in a number of different studies involving educational technology in the engineering classroom including the investigation of long-term effects of technology on student learning and retention.