Bowling Green State University Abstract

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Bowling Green State University

Course Title: The Curriculum
Redesign Coordinator: Savilla Banister

Status: This project originated as part of a collaborative program between NCAT and the Ohio Learning Network, 2004 – 2006. NCAT’s role was to introduce the course redesign methodology to Ohio institutions and assist them in developing a project plan. NCAT was not involved in project implementation; consequently, the project’s status is unknown. For more information, contact George Steele at gsteele@oln.org or the project contact listed above. The project plan serves as a good example of how to think about redesigning a large-enrollment course.

Project Plan:
Bowling Green State University (BGSU) will redesign a graduate course in the School of Education , The Curriculum, which is required for most Masters Degrees in Education. In 2004, 293 students enrolled in the course in 16 sections throughout the year. In the traditional format, this course is offered in multiple sections both on and off-campus, resulting in an over-extension of faculty and dependence on part-time instructors. In addition, the eight summer sections offered during the summer off-campus across the state of Ohio are particularly small.

Using the online model, BGSU will improve course delivery by creating Web-based sections of the course and by developing interactive, multimedia modules that can be used to supplement existing face-to-face sections of the course. Online delivery will allow students from various off-campus cohorts to take the course together, increasing section enrollments and saving faculty from traveling to remote locations to take the course. In so doing, the number of sections will be reduced, and enrollment can be increased, allowing more students across the state to complete the course and transfer the credit to their Masters Degrees.

Since this is a graduate-level course, assessment of students relies heavily on student performance tasks. BGSU’s evaluation plan will focus on the final research paper to obtain data on student learning from the traditional and redesigned course sections. A common grading rubric will be developed and used for traditional sections of the course during spring 2005, allowing faculty to practice applying the criteria and aligning their standards. Inter-rater reliability will be determined at this time. During the pilot phase, data from the final research paper will be collected from traditional and redesigned sections running in parallel.

BGSU’s plan to achieve cost savings involves reducing the number of sections offered and accommodating more students, allowing students from various parts of the state to study together. The cost-per-student is projected to decline from $281 to $104, once the entire course is moved online.

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