A low cost option of using computers to initiate large scale instructional innovation

ABSTRACT

College-level faculty are often among the most reluctant to become involved in systematic instructional design activities. Particularly in the liberal arts disciplines, there is a prevalent point of view that the effectiveness of instruction will be improved more by setting higher admissions standards and failing more students than by deliberately tailoring instruction to prespecified behavioral outcomes, and providing students with a means of identifying and remediating skill areas that impede subsequent instruction. In this presentation, a recently developed set of procedures are described which have shown to be effective in involving typically disinterested instructors in a meaningful instructional design process, These procedures use a testing center and computer management as the catalyst to the design process. This presentation provides an overview of how involvement of instructor is accomplished, and a summary of results obtained through ensuing instructional development activities.