Technology Program Administrator

FRIT 7739 - Practicum in Instructional Technology LaQuata Sumter

Table of Contents
Executive Summary ........................................................................................................ 3 Organizational Chart ..................................................................................................... 5 Methods .......................................................................................................................... 6 Center Context and Goals .............................................................................................. 6 Center Activities ............................................................................................................. 8 Evaluations ..................................................................................................................... 9 Appendix: ...................................................................................................................... 11 Bibliography ................................................................................................................. 15

Executive Summary
It is expected now at Higher Education Institutions that technology should help enhance students thought process and improve their learning. This paper presents the findings of a qualitative evaluation, which includes formative components. The formative evaluation is intended to provide the feedback need to see the effectiveness of students usage of the laboratories on campus. The purpose of this study was to explore the usage of the different laboratories on campus and to explore the setups of the laboratories verifying that the laboratories are beneficial to students enrolled in the Institution. Specifically, this report: Focuses on the impact of the students utilizing the laboratories for educational purposes such as completing assigned labs or as a resource for information and extra support in completing assignments. Provides useful information and specific recommendations about evaluating the campus laboratories (Introduction to Computer, Electronics, Internet Specialist Web Design & Graphic Design and Media) as they are used and setup on campus. As technology has expanded to one of the primary usages for completion of assignments and various resources, it is vital that the laboratories be some of the state of the art facilities on campus. Technology serves as at least three distinct purposes on campus: To teach and practice using various tools provide by the use of a computer. To provide real world experiences for students to develop cognitive thinking and to help increase the hands on experience of technical students.

As a productivity tool employing application software such as spreadsheets, databases, and word processors to manage information, solve problems, and produce sophisticated products (Fouts).

Throughout this report is an examination of the usage and setup of the laboratories on campus, along with recommendations for improvements to enhance the students experience in the laboratories. In evaluating research showed a number of results: The use of laboratories and instructional lectures play a vital role in students performance increasing throughout the semester. Students have a greater retention rate with the use of hands on labs, which require the use of computers. Laboratory attendance increases throughout the semester as students work load increase. The Laboratories can benefit from using the LabStats software that allows students to check the availability of computers in various labs on campus. Virtual Computing Lab (VCL) would provide maximum availability and flexibility to students, allowing them to virtual access to classroom software that is usually only available only while on campus.

Organizational Chart

Methods
The mixture of methods used to complete this evaluation included existing public information, unstructured and structured/quantitative observations, along with interviews. This approach allowed various forms of data to collected and evaluated. The existing public information along with interviewing the Director of Information Technology provided the goals and mission of the particular laboratories. Interviewing the Instructors, Lab Assistants and Students provided the information to evaluate the usage of the life. This information help determine if the laboratories usage is aligned with the mission and the goals of the laboratories, as well as if the supplies in the laboratories are beneficial to the students. In addition to the summative evaluation of Maintaining the Technology Systems, Digital Citizenship, Technology for Learning & Collaboration, Technology for Information use, Technology for Problem-Solving and Decision-Making. a limited evaluation of the class process was obtained through three questions asked of the students usage at checklist. The process questions asked the instructors about assigning activities in the course that required the students to use the labs.

Center Context and Goals

The Introduction to Computers laboratories provides instructional and tutorial sessions for students enroll in the Introduction to Computers course. The goal of the laboratory is to educate students on proper usage of computers, basic computer concepts, word processing tools, presentation tools, and database tools. Students use the lab for regular class sessions on a daily bases; some students may use the lab to complete other course work. This lab is staffed with a

part-time lab assistant Monday-Thursday of each week. Some of the lab assistants are students who have successfully completed the Introduction to Computers course. Some of the responsibilities of the lab assistants are to maintain order in the lab, as well as assist students as tutor for students enrolled in the course. The labs hardware and software are maintained by the Department of Information Technology. At the end of each semester the Technical Support staff completes an inventory of the lab, checking for dysfunctional machines. The Technical Support Staff sends a clean image of operating system and software to the machine to be prepared for the next semesters usage by students. The entire Introduction to Computers laboratories computers have the exact same operating system and software install on the systems. The Internet Specialist Web Design and Graphic Design and Media Laboratories are for those students who are majoring in Internet Specialist and Graphic Design and Media. It provides students daily class lecture and labs, along with access to various tools for designing and editing websites and graphics for their courses such as Web Development, Web Graphics, Advance Raster Images, Illustrator, InDesign, SQL and Java Programming. The Laboratories include 20 25 iMacs containing Microsoft Applications, Adobe Creative Suite, and various programming programs such as Netbeans and XAMMP Server. The Instructors of the courses are responsible for maintaining the laboratory, making sure that only students in the Internet Specialist and Graphic Design and Media program are utilizing the computers in the laboratories. The laboratories are actively open throughout the semester for students to use as long as the campus is open and there is an Instructor on campus around the lab. The Electronics laboratory is designed for students enrolled in the Electronics, Telecommunications and Civil Engineering programs. This goal of this lab is to have a location for students to complete their hands on labs as well as receive help on lab assignments they
7

maybe struggling with. The Electronics Laboratory has 20 stations; each equipped with a PC, and National Instruments ELVIS deployment stations linked by LabVIEW. This lab supports all Introduction Electronics courses analog and digital circuits and electronics with modern industry-standard equipment and software. Some of the advance-engineering students use the lab for assistants and the space to design their projects. The part-time lab assistant is responsible for the management of the lab; making sure the lab is clean, organized and supplied with the necessary supplies students need to complete lab assignments. There are weekly tutorial sessions given by the lab assistant to students who seek assistances outside of the classroom. The lab does give open lab access as long as the student is working on an Electronics, Telecommunications and Civil Engineering assignment.

Center Activities
The Introduction to Computers Laboratories provide classroom instruction for students weekly throughout the semester as well as tutorial and open computer access to various software. With the classroom instruction weekly students who are enrolled in the Introduction to Computers course receive lecture and Instructor help with the course material. This service is catered to the students enrolled in Introduction to Computers course. With the volume of online students the lab is an open access lab as well for those students to come and receive assistance for this course. There are many students who use and access the lab to complete other course work assigned by Non-Introduction to Computers courses. The Internet Specialist Web Design and Graphic Design and Media Laboratories weekly activities consist of weekly classroom sessions, with the Instructor providing the students with a lecture, guided hands on activity, and an independent programming exercise to complete.

Students in enrolled in the program offend spend time in the lab after the schedule class session to work independently on assignments. These on campus labs allow students access to the programs to complete their assignments if they do not have the programs on their computers. Programming exercises give student real life project experience to add to their portfolios to display and show to potential clients or employers. Electronics, Telecommunications and Civil Engineering instructors assign lab assignments to students on a regular base to align with the curriculum standards. Students come to the Electronics Laboratory to complete labs assigned by their instructors. Students offend pair in groups to help assist each other in completing lab assignments. Trained lab assistants are available to provide assistants to those students who are having issues completing labs or assigned coursework. Assigned labs are assigned to give students hands on, real life electronic experience. Lab assignments would consist of designing circuit boards or programming Arduino boards. The lab is an open lab through out the semester for all Electronics, Telecommunications and Civil Engineering program students on a daily base Monday through Thursday.

Evaluations
In completing the evaluation for the various laboratories all the laboratories in the evaluation daily activities are aligned with the mission and goals of the laboratories. The lab assistants explained that there are often issues with students who are not in the major categories for the lab who come in the labs to complete their course work and they have to ask them to visit another labs due to program students needing to use the equipment in the lab. There are only a few recommendations for each lab.

The Introduction to Computers Laboratories is provided with thin clients, which are virtual machines that help with the budget for the infrastructure of the Institution. The Instructors noted that often times the thin clients refresh in the middle of students working or classroom lecture, which may cause students to loose the work they are working on, as well as the lost of classroom lecture time. The recommend is to analyze the servers supporting the thin clients to assure the servers are properly configurator to support the number of thin clients on campus, also making sure that there is not a system refresh time set up during peak time in the laboratories. The only recommendations for the Internet Specialist and Graphic and Design Media Laboratories was to move the Promethean Board in the Internet Specialist lab to the front of the room and to place a permanent Promethean Board in the Graphic and Design Media lab. The possibility of a lab assistant for the lab many be beneficial to the students as they are completing their lab assignments throughout the semester. After evaluating the Electronics lab it was found that students grades tend to increase tremendously when they attend the lab on a regular daily base for assistants. The recommendations for the Electronics is to advise and encourage students to attend the lab sessions and tutorials, as well as propose a plan to move the lab to a bigger room on campus to house more students as the number of students grow in the programs.

10

Appendix:
TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY CHECKLIST LaQuata Sumter November 2013 This checklist is based on both field experience and relevant literature, provides a conceptual framework to help evaluators assess the use of current Technology Laboratories on Campus. The Technology Laboratories is defined as a place where individuals meet to use resources such as computers, printers and scanners to complete assigned coursed work. The checklist is grounded in the principle that in order for the Technology Laboratories on Campus is used for the appropriate use by students, faculty and staff. The check list is organized around five technology standards that are needed for Institutions and Students need to compete effectively around the world: (1) Maintaining the Technology Systems, (2) Digital Citizenship, (3) Technology for Learning & Collaboration, (4) Technology for Information use, (5) Technology for Problem-Solving and Decision-Making. We anticipate that this checklist will be useful to both school personnel and evaluators conducting needs assessment, program planning, and evaluation of school technology programs, especially where the emphasis is on the capacity of the school to use technology in educationally effective ways. (1) Maintaining the Technology Systems Laboratory Staff have achieved autonomy in handling common technical problems (e.g., Comfort with routine glitches frozen screen, jammed printer) in their own classrooms. Schedules are configured so that personnel with responsibility for technical support have Flexible time the flexibility to respond to problems when they happen without compromising their own Instructional responsibilities. Technical support is organized to provide Routinized policies, practices, preventative maintenance, not ad hoc and responsibilities solutions to crises. Standardized infrastructure within the Standardized configurations and Institution allows laboratory staff to work platforms together easily to solve technical problems. Investments in hardware and software are supported by adequate budgets for the Adequate supply budget replenish able supplies (e.g., paper, printer cartridges) needed to keep them operating. (2) Digital Citizenship Students are informed on the proper use of Digital etiquette letters and characters in writing an email or paper.

11

Users are taught proper usage of the technology in the laboratory before using the laboratory computers. Users are introduced to laws of cutting and pasting information from a website into an Digital law assignment, as well as downloading music and/or videos. (3) Technology for Learning & Collaboration (4) Technology for Information use (5) Technology for Problem-Solving and Decision-Making Faculty and Students has explicit expectations Student technology use standards and for student technology use woven into evaluation criteria curriculum standards. In addition to content-free productivity software (word processors, spreadsheets, etc.) Content-rich applications usage that can be adapted to instructional tasks, the institution invests in technology with built-in content directly linked to their curriculum. Students use internet resources for curriculum Internet Recourses assignments given by Faculty members Students select and justify their choice of appropriate digital tools, including online Develop a solution or complete a project collaborative tools, to plan and manage individual and group learning projects. Digital literacy

12

Students Usage Technology Lab Checklist

Question:
Which type of students participates in using this lab?

Comments:

Does the usage of this lab by students align with the mission and goals of the lab?

How offend do students use this lab?

Are Faculty members sending or assigning students to the lab to complete course work?

Are students who spend time in the lab grades change based on course assigned to the particular lab?

13

Does the lab attendance increase or decrease as the semester goes on?

14

Bibliography Fouts, J. T. (2000, February). Research on Computers and Education: Past, Present and Future. Seattle, WA: Seattle Pacific University.

15