Flora McMartin - Broad Based Knowledge Alan Wolf - University of Wisconsin - Madison

 What do faculty members do with the online digital resources they find at digital libraries, online collections of open educational resources and so forth.  Do faculty value online educational resources?  How do they use these resources for teaching purposes?  What are the barriers to their use of both resources and digital libraries/collections? BEN Scholars, 2008 Slide 2

 Survey sections and questions ◦ Designed to parallel themes from focus group ◦ Homage to surveys past  Survey recruitment and delivery ◦ Conducted 11 focus groups to ID and test survey questions ◦ Cold ed almost 3000 higher education institutions ◦ Approximately 250 responded, and 120 participated ◦ Local coordinators managed delivery BEN Scholars, 2008 Slide 3

 4,678 respondents (4439 who instruct) – 360 Bio  STEM and non-STEM faculty included BEN Scholars, 2008 Slide 4 Faculty Appointment Type of Institution Biologists were more heavily represented from 2 Year and Masters granting schools and fewer from 4 Year schools. Biologists: more heavily represented in tenure and tenure track positions fewer academic staff positions

 When we look at traditionally identified faculty populations, we see few differences. ◦ The type of institution where they serve ◦ The amount of time that they have been teaching ◦ Even discipline is less a factor than expected  As far as these traditional groups go, we have a homogenous population  We still believe that there are factors, but they are complex and require further research BEN Scholars, 2008 Slide 5

BEN Scholars, 2008 Slide 6 Represents the biology instructors responses% Bio Of great value to my instruction72 Of some value to my instruction27 Of no value to my instruction<1 I do not instruct students0 TOTAL100

 Digital Images, Visual Materials, Historical Documents ◦ Drawings, photographs, video, primary source materials, etc.  Simulations/animations ◦ Illustration or programs that present a process or concept that is interactive  Teaching or Learning Activities and Exercises ◦ Assignments, tutorials, labs, problem sets, etc.  Online Scholarly Resources ◦ Online journals, scholarly articles discussion groups, etc.  Data sets ◦ Online collections of data from local and external sources BEN Scholars, 2008 Slide 7 Rank in order of most to least used

BEN Scholars, 2008 Slide 8 Represents the biology instructors responses: Type of Resource % who selected very frequently Digital Images69 Online Scholarly Resources60 Teaching/learning Exercises25 Data Sets25 Animations/simulations23

1.Presented in Lecture 2.Posted on LMS or course website 3.Used in tests/quizzes 4.Student study aid, for reviews 5.Used in own scholarship 6.Professional development as teacher 7.Online class discussion 8.Student research or problem based learning BEN Scholars, 2008 Slide 9

BEN Scholars, 2008 Slide 10 Type of ResourceMost Popular Uses Online Scholarly Resources Prof. Dev. as Teacher Grants, Scholarship Digital Images Lecture Prof. Dev. as Teacher Study Aid Teaching/learning Exercises Student Study Aid/Review Lecture Data Sets Prof. Dev. as Teacher Student Research/PBL Animations/simulations Student Study Aid/Review Lecture

BEN Scholars, 2008 Slide 11 Scale: 1 = very infrequently, 4 = very Frequently Represents the biology instructors responses Mean User Created Mean Modified Other’s Mean Used Other’s As-is Digital Images Animations/Simulations Data Sets Teaching/Learning Exercises Online Scholarly Resources

BEN Scholars, 2008 Slide 12 Scale -2 very unlikely to +2 Very Likely Represents the biology instructors responses Likelihood of use to find Mean (SD) Collection of Digital Resources Mean (SD) Search Engine (Google, Yahoo) Information that provides students with context for a topic 2.90 (1.06)3.55 (0.77) Examples that get students excited about a topic 2.70 (1.06)3.54 (0.81) Current information for students 2.87 (1.11)3.64 (0.70) Something to illustrate a difficult concept for students 2.77 (1.01)3.39 (0.88) Something to provide non-technical background for students 2.31 (1.05)3.40 (0.97) Scale 1-4, Very infrequently to Very frequently

BEN Scholars, 2008 Slide 13 Percentage of respondents who ranked feature as most important Represents the biology instructors responses % CONTENT Peer reviewed & high quality50 Organized to find materials quickly40 PEDAGOGY Supplemented w/ materials to explain use in teaching 8 Supplemented w/ materials to use for professional development 2

BEN Scholars, 2008 Slide 14 Rank Order Motivation improve students’ learning stay abreast of professional developments helps me keep fresh helps students learn difficult concepts incorporating DR’s in class is fun saves me time help me better accommodate students w/ disabilities

BEN Scholars, 2008 Slide 15 Scale: -2 = strongly disagree, +2 = strongly agree (5 point scale) Represents the biology instructors responses Motivation Mean Improve students’ learning1.42 Stay abreast of professional developments1.25 Helps me keep fresh1.22 Helps students learn difficult concepts1.15 Incorporating DR’s in class is fun0.96 Saves me time0.96 Help me better accommodate students w/ disabilities-0.08

I would use technology more if….. BEN Scholars, 2008 Slide 16 Scale 1 = strongly disagree, 4 = strongly agree Represents the biology instructors responsesMean Had more time3.07 More Useful DR were available2.75 More/better training in use of DRS available2.68 My institution rewarded me for using them2.48 Technology was more dependable2.34 Had more access to technology2.33 Greater priority in my institution2.10

 “Time” doesn’t really describe the barrier  Decisions about spending time are made by performing a cost/benefit analysis  “I don’t have the time” = “In my list of priorities, this either doesn’t rank highly or is not worth the cost (or both)” BEN Scholars, 2008 Slide 17

 How did you learn about incorporating technology into your teaching?  More likely to use collections than search engines to learn about teaching/pedagogy BEN Scholars, 2008 Slide 18 Represents the biology instructors responses % self taught87 faculty development program41 another instructor38 other technology instruction/class19 TA or grad student7

 Tradition is another powerful driver (change is hard)  All work practices are different  Need activation energy to overcome barriers  Intrinsic motivation is a powerful force (but people do not have limitless reservoir)  Students are a powerful extrinsic motivator  Never underestimate the willingness of a motivated individual to do their own thing (and to ignore you) BEN Scholars, 2008 Slide 19 Confounding issues

 Based on what you’ve heard, what can you do as a BEN Scholar to encourage your colleagues to use BEN, NSDL and other digital libraries? ◦ Motivate faculty ◦ Overcome or by-pass barriers  What kinds of materials, resources would help you in your outreach efforts?  What would you ask of digital libraries in terms of resources and features that would help you ‘sell’ BEN, NSDL and others? BEN Scholars, 2008 Slide 20

 Colleagues: ◦ Josh Morrill, Morrill Solutions Research ◦ Glenda Morgan, George Mason University ◦ Ellen Iverson, Carleton College ◦ Cathy Manduca, Carleton College  For more details visit ◦  We wish to acknowledge the National Science Foundation for their support (DUE ). The findings presented here do not necessarily represent the views of the NSF. BEN Scholars, 2008 Slide 21