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Colleagues Committed To Redesign (C2R) Application Guidelines Table of Contents
Program Methodology: How C2R Will Work
The Program: Colleagues Committed to Redesign (C2R) Colleagues Committed to Redesign (C2R) is a three-year program conducted by the National Center for Academic Transformation (NCAT) with support from the Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE.) The purpose of the program is to support the efforts of colleges and universities to redesign their instructional approaches using technology to achieve improvements in student learning while reducing instructional costs. It is important to remember what NCAT means by course redesign. Course redesign is the process of redesigning whole courses (rather than individual classes or sections) to achieve better learning outcomes at a lower cost by taking advantage of the capabilities of information technology. Course redesign is not just about putting courses online. It is about rethinking the way we deliver instruction, especially large-enrollment core courses, in light of the possibilities that new technology offers. In order to have maximum impact, redesign efforts supported by the program will focus on large introductory courses with high enrollments. Studies have shown that undergraduate enrollments are concentrated in relatively few academic areas. At the community college level, about 50 percent of student enrollment is concentrated in just 25 courses. Those same 25 courses generate about 35 percent of enrollment at the baccalaureate level. Courses selected to be redesigned should be among the institution's 25 highest enrolled. NCAT will bring four-person teams from 60 institutions together with NCAT staff and 16 Redesign Scholars at a series of disciplinary institutes. The institutes will introduce the teams to the NCAT redesign methodology, share strategies and techniques for successful course redesign, and help them develop plans for course redesigns on their home campuses. Following each institute, NCAT will support collaboration and consultation among NCAT staff, Redesign Scholars and institutional teams to help teams apply what was learned at the institutes on campus and replicate prior successes. American colleges and universities are discovering exciting new ways of using information technology (IT) to enhance the process of teaching and learning and to extend access to students. For most institutions, however, new technologies represent a black hole of additional expense. Most campuses have simply bolted new technologies onto a fixed plant, a fixed faculty, and a fixed notion of classroom instruction. Under these circumstances, IT becomes part of the problem of rising costs rather than part of the solution. In addition, comparative research shows that most technology-based courses produce learning outcomes that are “as good as” their traditional counterparts—what is called the “no significant difference” phenomenon. By and large, colleges and universities have not yet begun to realize the promise of IT to improve the quality of student learning, increase retention, and reduce the costs of instruction. In contrast, NCAT has collaborated with more than 60 institutions to demonstrate how IT can be used to achieve both quality enhancements and cost savings. From 1998 - 2003, NCAT managed the Program in Course Redesign (PCR) supported by a four-year, $8.8 million grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts. NCAT conducted a national competition to select 30 institutions from hundreds of applicants to each receive a grant of $200,000, awarded in three rounds of 10 per year. Each institution redesigned one large-enrollment, introductory course. Each of the 30 institutions conducted a rigorous evaluation focused on learning outcomes as measured by student performance and achievement. Results showed improved student learning in 25 of the 30 projects, with the remaining 5 showing learning equivalent to traditional formats. All 30 institutions reduced their costs by 37% on average (from 15% to 77%) and realized a collective annual savings of $3 million. The 30 courses impact more than 50,000 students nationwide each year. Other outcomes achieved include increased course completion, better student attitudes toward the subject matter, and increased student satisfaction with the mode of instruction. In contrast to the contention that only certain kinds of institutions can accomplish these redesign goals, and in only one way, the PCR demonstrated that many approaches can achieve positive results. And to counter the belief that only courses in a restricted subset of disciplines—like science or math—can be effectively redesigned, the 30 projects provide successful examples in many disciplines including the humanities (6), math and statistics (13), social sciences (6), and natural sciences (5). Subsequent grants have supported the idea that the redesign methodology developed in the PCR can be successfully applied in other settings. Supported by a 2003 - 2006 FIPSE grant, NCAT recently concluded a second redesign program for 20 institutions, the Roadmap to Redesign (R2R.) Its purpose was to demonstrate how large-scale course redesign can be accomplished without an external grant by partnering new institutions with experienced two- and four-year institutions. As part of R2R, NCAT developed and implemented a streamlined redesign process based on refining what was learned in the PCR. R2R results show learning gains and cost savings similar to those achieved in the PCR. Supported by a grant from Lumina Foundation for Education, NCAT conducted an in-depth, year-long study to identify and document effective course redesign techniques that improve student learning and increase retention for underserved students: students of color, low-income students and adults. This analysis has determined how redesigning introductory courses using active learning techniques can contribute to the success of these students and do so cost effectively. NCAT is also working with states and higher education systems to create local programs building on the two national programs in order to impact greater numbers of students, faculty members and institutions and achieve significant educational change. As a result of NCAT’s efforts, large-scale course redesigns are numerous throughout the U.S. More than 60 campuses have implemented course redesigns based on NCAT’s methodology, and the vast majority of them have become embedded in the institution. NCAT has supported their development through a constellation of programmatic activities, technical advice, web-based and print resources, one-to-one consultations, site visits to campuses, workshops, publications and speaking engagements. In the process, NCAT has emerged as a national clearinghouse on course redesign and implementation. NCAT’s goal is now the widespread adoption of these new methods of redesign throughout the broader higher education community. NCAT seeks to build on its successful experience thus far to create a number of vehicles that will build and extend an organized network of people and institutions that will support and sustain ongoing connections among those committed to course redesign. It is important to remember what NCAT means by course redesign. Course redesign is the process of redesigning whole courses (rather than individual classes or sections) to achieve better learning outcomes at a lower cost by taking advantage of the capabilities of information technology. Course redesign is not just about putting courses online. It is about rethinking the way we deliver instruction, especially large-enrollment core courses, in light of the possibilities that new technology offers. NCAT plans to establish ways for individual campuses to become involved in course redesign and places for institutions that have not yet embarked upon course redesign to learn from those that have done so successfully, building on those successes rather than reinventing the wheel. To accomplish this goal, NCAT has a three-fold strategy.
Through this series of networking activities, NCAT will build, extend and sustain community among those engaged in individual course redesigns. Many of the C2R institutions will join the Redesign Alliance and continue to participate in its programs. Thus, we will create a national resource for the higher education community that will enable and support new learning and stimulate new initiatives leading to the transformation of educational practice nationally. NCAT’s Redesign Planning Resources Based on our experience with and analysis of more than 60 course redesign projects, we know that some pedagogical techniques used in the redesigns consistently led to better student learning whereas others had no impact on student learning and that some redesign techniques consistently led to reduced instructional cost with no loss of quality whereas others that were used had no impact on cost reduction. NCAT has identified five successful course redesign models and five ways of assessing student learning; assembled descriptive lists of techniques and strategies with examples from the successful course redesign projects along with good ideas that cross disciplinary boundaries; and produced explanations of why an institution might choose one versus another or how it might mix and match among them. Rather than starting their redesigns from scratch, new institutions will be able to choose from among these redesign planning resources to construct their redesign plans. Sixteen Redesign Scholars Redesigned courses are thriving across the U.S. because colleagues have been able to provide both formal and informal consultations in the campus context in which redesigned courses are being developed. Each participating C2R institution will have resources made possible by the FIPSE grant to invite one or more consultants drawn from among the Redesign Scholars to their campus for follow-up consultations and workshops. Each campus will be able to spend up to $1000 toward honoraria (@ $500 each) and up to $1000 in travel support for such visits. Campuses may bring a consultant to campus at additional times at their own expense. Site visits will focus on issues of curriculum and pedagogy, administrative matters, assessment and evaluation efforts, and implementation progress. A Network of Experienced Institutions: The Redesign Alliance The Redesign Alliance, a national organization of institutions of higher education and companies who work with them, will serve as an important resource for participating institutions. Member institutions that have completed a large-scale course redesign want to find ways to continually improve their redesigns and to scale their successes throughout their institutions. Institutions that have not yet embarked upon a large-scale course redesign will be able to learn from the experiences of those that have done so and to collaborate with knowledgeable faculty and staff to accelerate the redesign process. Program Methodology: How C2R Will Work During the period of the grant ( October 1, 2006 – September 30, 2009 ), NCAT will conduct three rounds of course redesign projects. Each new institution that is accepted to participate in C2R will redesign a course in one of the four target disciplinary clusters: humanities; mathematics, statistics, computer science; natural sciences; and, social sciences. In each round, 20 institutional teams will be selected to participate via a competition open to the higher education community. NCAT’s goal is to select five per disciplinary cluster, but more may be selected in one cluster versus another based on applicant interest and demand. The application process will require prospective participants to assess their readiness to participate in the program. Institutions that are accepted will develop a plan for piloting a large-scale course redesign during the fall term following their acceptance. Participants will be supported as they develop and implement their redesign plans through a series of disciplinary institutes that will teach participants how to use NCAT’s redesign planning resources and through individualized consultations with Redesign Scholars and NCAT staff. Step 1: Establish Campus Readiness to Participate Any institution interested in participating in C2R should first identify the course that it wishes to redesign and identify one of the four disciplinary institutes in which they want to participate. Campuses must then assess and demonstrate their readiness to participate in the program. NCAT has established a set of readiness criteria that will be used to qualify prospective participants. To be considered, send a brief narrative addressing each of the readiness criteria listed below, focusing on evidence that demonstrates the way in which the campus meets each criterion. Twenty institutions will be selected from those that submit responses to the readiness criteria and will be invited to participate in an April disciplinary institute. Campuses may submit an application to join more than one disciplinary cluster. Deadlines for submission of responses to readiness criteria:
Step 2: Create Institutional Teams Campuses chosen to participate will establish a course redesign leadership team. Institutional teams should be made up of multiple players from each institution: faculty (key to creating high-quality content and sound pedagogy), IT staff (key to creating the technological infrastructure to support redesign), assessment experts (key to establishing reliable and valid measures of student learning), and academic administrators (key to making it possible for redesigns to be implemented and sustained.) Campuses will identify a subset of this group, a four-person Institute Team, who will attend a disciplinary institute. Institute Teams will consist of the chief academic officer (or designee), the chief technology officer (or designee) and two lead faculty members. Campuses will also establish a lead contact person to be the liaison between the C2R Project Coordinator and the Institute Team. Step 3: Establish Baseline Assessments The leadership team will undertake a self-assessment process in which they analyze the course they plan to redesign. They will assemble baseline data on student learning, course completion rates and the cost of offering the course in its traditional format in order to document their starting point in the project prior to the course redesign. Deadline for submission of baseline assessments:
Step 4: Participate in Planning the Disciplinary Institutes This documentation will be sent to the C2R Project Coordinator, who will work with the lead contact person from each team to develop a sense of its course redesign ideas, resources, needs and issues. NCAT staff and the Redesign Scholars will design each institute in response to specific needs and questions articulated by the participating campus teams and the particularities of the discipline. Step 5: Participate in a Disciplinary Institute Four-person teams from each institution will participate with four redesign scholars and NCAT staff in a disciplinary institute. The institutes will teach participants how to redesign large-enrollment courses using NCAT’s methodology. The institutes will also give participants an opportunity to share ideas and experiences and to obtain feedback from NCAT staff and from the Redesign Scholars. The FIPSE grant will support the travel and lodging expenses of two of the four-person teams; the institutions must support the travel and lodging expenses of the other two team members. The FIPSE grant will support the workshop expenses of all team participants. Dates of disciplinary institutes:
Step 6: Develop a Final Redesign Plan Following the disciplinary institutes, each campus team will develop a final redesign plan. NCAT staff and the Redesign Scholars will provide individualized consultation and assistance as new institutional participants prepare their redesign plans. Institutions will be encouraged to submit drafts of their plans for review and feedback before the final submission. Redesign plans will describe the goals of the redesign, the choices made from among NCAT’s menu of redesign planning resources, how those choices will enable the institution to meet its redesign goals, how the institution intends to take advantage of the Redesign Scholars and how the institution will evaluate the outcomes of the redesign. Deadline for submission of redesign plans:
Step 7: Take Advantage of Redesign Scholar Consultations Following each institute, each participating campus will have resources made possible by the FIPSE grant to invite one or more consultants drawn from among the Redesign Scholars to their campus for follow-up consultations and workshops. Each campus will be able to spend up to $1000 toward honoraria (@ $500 each) and up to $1000 in travel support for such visits. Campuses may bring a consultant to campus at additional times at their own expense. Site visits will focus on issues of curriculum and pedagogy, administrative matters, assessment and evaluation efforts, and implementation progress. Step 8: Pilot a Redesign Participants must plan to conduct a pilot implementation during the fall term (or earlier) and collect data on comparative student learning outcomes between traditional sections and redesigned sections. Pilot implementations should involve a substantial percentage of students enrolled in the course in order to test the efficacy of the redesign. Pilots do not have to involve all students and sections but should be designed such that they can scale to all sections if they are successful. Pilot implementation dates:
Step 9: Report the Pilot Results at the Redesign Alliance National Conference NCAT will hold an annual national conference on course redesign. While 60 campuses will be the primary beneficiaries of C2R, it will be critically important to share their experiences and lessons with a larger audience. The work of the C2R institutions will be prominently featured as case studies in course redesign. These reflective histories will assess those factors that contributed to the success of these programs, or the lack of success. The conference will be designed to illuminate progress and problems and to generate next steps in this reform work. The FIPSE grant will support the travel and lodging expenses of two team members; the institutions must support the travel and lodging expenses of others who wish to participate. All participants will pay the conference registration fees at member or non-member rates as appropriate. Application Procedure Institutions that wish to participate in C2R must assess and demonstrate their readiness to do so. NCAT has established a set of readiness criteria that will be used to accept participants. To be considered, the campus chief academic officer must send a brief narrative (about one page each) addressing each of the seven readiness criteria listed below, focusing on evidence that demonstrates the way in which the institution meets each criterion. The application must include a completed cover page and the narrative response to the C2R Readiness Criteria. Please send one electronic copy of your completed application to Pat Bartscherer, NCAT Program Manager, patb@theNCAT.org. Deadlines for submission of applications:
Readiness Criteria NCAT uses a set of readiness criteria in all of its course redesign programs to provide an assessment of how prepared each institution is to engage in a large-scale redesign as part of the application process. Completing the readiness criteria also enables each institution to assess collectively its strengths and weaknesses, gaining an understanding of what it needs to do to address gaps in its preparation early in the process. No institution perfectly meets all of the readiness criteria; every institution will discover things it needs to work on in order to carry out a successful course redesign. The readiness criteria are designed to help you select the course with the highest chance of success. Answering each as honestly as possible—and providing data to support your answers—will lead to the most positive outcome for your institution and for C2R. As noted above, this program will require you to establish a redesign team because of the multiple dimensions involved in large-scale course redesign. The first activity of the team should be to complete the responses to the following readiness criteria. In some cases, you will be asked to read an article, discuss the reading as a team and make a tentative decision, which may change as you learn more about the redesign process. 1. Course Choice Choosing the right course is the first step in a successful course redesign project. Courses that face academic or resource problems or both are the best targets. What impact will redesigning the course have on the curriculum, on students and on the institution—i.e., why do you want to redesign this course? Please be specific—i.e., provide data on pass rates, enrollment numbers, and so on. Is there an academic problem in this course such as a high failure rate? Does the course face a resource problem such as how to meet increased enrollment demand with no commensurate increase in resources? Is the redesign linked to some larger institutional goal—e.g., a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), campus strategic plan, a re-accreditation process? 2. Redesign Model When you develop your redesign plan, you will be asked to select a redesign model. Please read “Improving Learning and Reducing Costs: New Models for Online Learning,” available at http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0352.pdf, which describes five possible models. At this point in the planning process, which redesign model do you think would be most appropriate for your redesign? Why? When you look at the models chosen by successful redesign projects, you will notice that certain disciplines select particular models—e.g., math uses the emporium model, foreign languages use the replacement model, and so on. What aspects of the model you are thinking about using fit your particular discipline and your particular students? Have other successful course redesign projects in your discipline used this model? 3. Assessment Plan When you develop your redesign plan, you will be asked to select an assessment model. Please read “Five Models for Assessing Student Learning,” available at http://www.thencat.org/PlanRes/R2R_ModAssess.htm, which describes five possible models. At this point in the planning process, which assessment model do you think would be most appropriate for your redesign? Why? Successful large-scale redesign efforts begin by identifying the intended learning outcomes and developing alternative methods other than lecture/presentation for achieving them. Have those responsible for the course identified the course’s expected/intended learning outcomes in detail? Do you have baseline data for the course in its traditional format? If so, please describe. If not, how do you plan to collect baseline data and compare it to student learning outcomes after you have redesigned the course? 4. Cost Savings Plan When you develop your redesign plan, you will be asked to select a cost reduction strategy. Please read “Cost Reduction Strategies,” available at http://www.thencat.org/PlanRes/R2R_CostRed.htm, which describes a number of strategies for producing cost savings. At this point in the planning process, which cost savings strategy do you think would be most appropriate for your redesign? Why? What does cost savings mean in practice? In the past, cost reduction in higher education has meant loss of jobs, but that’s not the NCAT approach. In every NCAT course redesign project, the cost savings achieved through the redesigned courses remained in the department that generated them, and the savings achieved were used for instructional purposes. By reducing the cost of offering the redesigned course, institutions have been able to reallocate and do what they would like to do if they had additional resources. 5. Learning Materials Successful course redesign that improves student learning while reducing instructional costs is heavily dependent upon high-quality, interactive learning materials. Are the participating faculty members able and willing to incorporate existing curricular materials in order to focus work on redesign issues rather than materials creation? What learning materials are you thinking about using in your redesign? Ideally, one wants the faculty to have a "head start" in the redesign process if possible. Is the discipline one with a comparatively large existing body of technology-based curricular materials and/or assessment instruments? Are the faculty willing to use these materials if they meet course objectives? Will they employ an appropriate blend of using these materials and created "home-grown" materials in a non-dogmatic fashion? Are they willing to partner with other content providers such as commercial software producers or other universities who have developed technology-based materials? 6. Active Learning Greater student engagement with course content and with one another, supported by information technology, is essential to achieving student success. Do the course faculty members have an understanding of and some experience with integrating elements of computer-based instruction into existing courses to support active learning? Sound pedagogy is the key to successful redesign projects. When sound pedagogy leads, technology becomes an enabler for good practice rather than the driver. Some faculty may have a great deal of enthusiasm for large-scale redesign but little prior experience in this area. It is difficult to complete a successful project by starting from scratch. Having some experience helps to prepare for large-scale redesign efforts. Have the faculty systematically thought about and investigated alternative methods for empowering students to learn? What evidence can you provide to demonstrate faculty experience with integrating computing into existing courses in order to support active learning? 7. Collective Commitment A collective commitment is a key factor for the success and the sustainability of redesign projects. As part of the planning process, you have been asked to form an institutional team. Please describe the members of your team, the skills they bring to the project and what their roles will be in both the planning and implementation phases of the project. Are the faculty ready to collaborate? Have they engaged in joint conversations about the need for change? Are decisions about the course made collectively--in other words, beyond the individual faculty member level? Substantive changes cannot rely on faculty initiative alone because they are systemic and involve changes in such areas as policy (class meeting times, contact-hour requirements, governance approvals); budgeting (planning and processes that support innovation); systems (registration systems, classroom assignments); and, infrastructure (equipment purchase and deployment.) What is the level of support for the project beyond the departmental level? Eligibility Criteria Institutions of higher education in the United States are eligible to apply. Companies are not eligible to apply, but institutions of higher education are encouraged to partner with companies--such as instructional software producers, publishers, course management system producers, and instructional technology outsourcers--where appropriate to their redesign projects. Institutions may join more than one disciplinary cluster if the proposals are competitive. Selection Criteria Applications will be judged on the basis of how well they meet NCAT’s readiness criteria. In addition, preference will be given to institutions that are members of the Redesign Alliance because they have already demonstrated a serious commitment to and willingness to work on large-scale course redesign. Summary Timeline Round I
Round II
Round III
Throughout the project, we will be alert for lessons learned, resources developed, promising ideas implemented, problems addressed. We will distribute ideas and examples to participating institutions and the higher education community through NCAT’s quarterly electronic newsletter, The Learning MarketSpace. We will also communicate with individual campuses to share specific ideas gathered from consultations (both formal site visits and informal consultations) with the participating institutions as a means of addressing continuing problems and strengthening practice. To have your name added to NCAT’s electronic mailing list, which ensures that you receive periodic updates and information about this new effort, subscribe to the NCAT newsletter at http://www.thencat.org/subscribe.htm. For more information, please call 518-695-5320 or email info@theNCAT.org.
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