Interactive Web-Based Module Creation to Improve the Social Work Evaluation Course

Grant:

Faculty Development Fund (FDF)

Academic Year:

2014 - 2015 (June 1, 2014 through May 31, 2015)

Funding Requested:

$8,115.00

Project Dates:

Tue, 04/01/2014 - Mon, 08/31/2015

Applicant(s):

jlray

mokasins

Overview of the Project:

The project lead by three LEO Lecturers called Interactive Web-based Module Creation to Improve the Social Work Evaluation Course will create six interactive educational web-based modules that increase in difficulty so that even with no prior knowledge of evaluation, students will have the scaffolding supports to practice the skills needed until they can demonstrate mastery of the competency area. Project will benefit 668 graduate students and cost $8115. An additional $3547 will be leverage as matched funds by the School of Social Work. The cost per student would be $12.15. The module topics correspond with the course objectives and Council on Social Work Education Commission on Accreditation are: choosing evaluation design, developing a hypothesis/evaluation question, determining degree of rigor, data collection methods/sampling, instrumentation and type of variables, and selecting the appropriate statistical test. This is an improvement since it adds a progressive level of difficulty for students, as well as, a different learning style method. Using web-based software with personal feedback from classroom professors responds to new generation learning medium, through the internet, handheld devices and mobile tablets. Our Evaluation in Social Work course will intentionally include discussions of privilege/oppression and real world relevant case studies based on the interest of the students.

Final Report Fields

Project Objectives:

There would be 6 modules created and the students would have a 25% higher satisfaction and self-rating of competency skill using the innovative teaching modules compared with classes that did not use the modules.

Project Achievements:

There were many accomplishments in developing the self-paced modules process. First, the development process among the six faculty increased the collaboration and teaching of these evaluation course faculty because of the exchange amongst the faculty. Secondly, the modules were developed with additional features such as audios and a certification of competency mastery. Thirdly, the use of a curriculum specialist brought latest teaching methods to the process that enhanced the instructors’ view of the course material. Fourthly, the students shared through a focus group and course evaluations that the modules were in fact useful while learning difficult course material since the modules format started with concept terms, real life examples, practice of competency skills and the pride of having a mastery of skills certificate. Students also shared that they were more prepared for class by completing the self-paced modules. Fifthly, after a presentation to the School of Social Work faculty, seven other instructors expressed interest in using the module for their course or would like to learn how to develop similar modules for other courses. Finally, during the Michigan Association of Evaluation statewide annual conference, the module was presented. The state wide association is interested in exploring how to use the modules to have their membership demonstrate competency skills and provide accreditation in the evaluation services. There is a national movement to have a competency demonstration on the national level.

Continuation:

This project will continue since the evaluation instructors will use the modules in future classes. These same instructors are collaborating to develop a new project during the School of Social Work all school conference. The project lead, Janet Ray, will continue to offer these modules at the state wide level for the Michigan Association for Evaluation membership accreditation. In addition, several other universities would like to use the modules in their research and evaluation courses.

Dissemination:

The team of six faculty presented the modules to the full social work faculty during a regular monthly meeting. The modules project was also discussed at the Michigan Association for Evaluator annual conference. A formal presentation and demonstration workshop will be attempted at the 2016 annual conference.

Advice to your Colleagues:

One factor that facilitated the project’s success was to have two outside consultants who were experienced on curriculum development and the Captivate software. These two individuals were essential for programming the software. A lesson learned was that it took three times longer to develop the software than to develop the module content. This time challenge was over come through the use of a non-faculty member (recent social work graduate) who could dedicate the time to programming, debugging and audio recording the modules. Another lesson learned was the natural learning process when faculty collaborate. Much more was accomplished, learned and ideas exchanged because the evaluation faculty worked as a team.

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