Session EXCITE: ENABLING X--CAMPUS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION W. Richards Adrion1, Wayne Burleson2, Wendy Cooper3, William L. Israel4, James Kurose5, and Kenneth Watts6 Abstract - A partnership of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, other University campuses, and state and community colleges has launched a new kind of undergraduate program in information technology (IT). Project EXCITE (Enabling X-Commonwealth Information Technology Education) is creating a flexible, integrative and innovative curriculum that crosses traditional academic boundaries to provide (1) fluency and motivation for students to employ IT effectively for broad social benefit; (2) syllabi and content suited to adaptation and reuse; and (3) new instructional technologies and delivery modes. This report describes efforts to organize the curriculum, encourage new pedagogy, develop multimedia modules, and incorporate assessment throughout the IT program. Index Terms - Information Technology Curricula, Multimedia Learning Technologies, Pedagogy, Assessment.
INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW Information technology is affecting every aspect of life and work, posing challenges nowhere greater than in higher education. To equip students to thrive in an Information Society, colleges and universities must ensure that all students have the opportunity to become “literate” in Information Technology; that those students in traditional IT disciplines are “competent” in core IT skills; and, importantly, that students in many disciplines are “IT fluent” [1]. Providing that range of IT education across the curriculum is one of the great challenges in undergraduate education today. One of the more ambitious efforts to integrate IT across college curricula is underway in Massachusetts. The Commonwealth Information Technology Initiative (CITI), a statewide program funded by the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education (BHE), has brought together faculty, senior administrators and industry representatives to expand computer science and information technology programs and
address IT workforce needs. The most ambitious of CITI’s goals is to graduate students from any discipline with the skills and capacities to innovate in their fields, using IT. The CITI program positions Massachusetts' public higher education system as a leader in IT education and a key in the national economy through four primary areas of focus: • Information Technology Across the Curriculum -integrating IT education into traditionally non-technical disciplines by creating IT minors or concentrations. • Regional Cooperation -- creating geographical alliances among schools and industry to leverage faculty, courses and other resources for IT education. • Curriculum Enhancement -- updating curricula in computer science, management information systems, and computer engineering. • Faculty Development -- ensuring that faculty in technical disciplines continue to teach courses at industry’s leading edge. Initially a three-year, $7 million program, CITI was launched by the Board of Higher Education in December 2000. A state budget deficit has slowed CITI investments, but a substantial foundation has been built at most of the 29 institutions of the Massachusetts System of Higher Education. CITI is an essential first step in creating partnerships and bringing public and government attention to the need for innovation and change in IT education. Project EXCITE (Enabling X-Commonwealth Information Technology Education) shares the four CITI goals -- but seeks to accelerate and extend CITI, via regional consortia, to private and public institutions. Despite current economic uncertainties, demand for graduates skilled in IT remains high, while resources to educate them are limited. The limits are clear, not only in faculty head count, but faculty expertise in areas in which the knowledge base is rapidly changing. Another limit is a conflict between the structure of American higher education, on the one hand, and opposing
1 W. Richards Adrion, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Computer Science, 310 Computer Science Building, 140 Governors Drive, Amherst MA 01003,
[email protected] 2 Wayne Burleson, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, 309C Knowles Building, Amherst MA 01003,
[email protected] 3 Wendy Cooper, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Computer Science, 312 Computer Science Building, 140 Governors Drive, Amherst MA 01003,
[email protected] 4 William L. Israel, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Journalism, 108 Bartlett Hall, Amherst MA 01003,
[email protected] 5 James Kurose, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Computer Science, 376 Computer Science Building, 140 Governors Drive, Amherst MA 01003,
[email protected] 6 Kenneth Watts, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Computer Science, 314 Computer Science Building, 140 Governors Drive, Amherst MA 01003,
[email protected]
0-7803-7444-4/03/$17.00 © 2003 IEEE November 5-8, 2003, Boulder, CO 33rd ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference 1
Session directions in society and its increasing dependence on applications of IT, on the other. Higher education is structured to advance knowledge by refining disciplinary specialties -- in effect, by creating specialists educated, vetted, and rewarded by other disciplinary specialists. In contrast, a central need in IT education is to provide skills to meet human needs less through improving on disciplinary specialties than by bridging them. The challenge could not be clearer. American academics over the past two to three generations have sought, with varying degrees of success, to advance the cause of interdisciplinarity. Successful or not, it now appears that human needs and the availability of technology to address them across the spectrum are forcing a new academic interdisciplinarity, ready, or not. Taken together, these challenges are formidable. At minimum, they demand an interdisciplinary approach and new pedagogy to achieve it. Resource limitations and interdisiplinarity both call for leveraging existing teaching resources through innovative uses of technology. At the least, we must be willing to move away from mainly instructivist teaching -- “sage on the stage” -- and adopt a more constructivist approach -- "guide on the side." Project EXCITE seeks to meet these challenges by moving along four coordinated fronts: curricula and pedagogy; instructional technology development; assessment; and leveraging partnerships.
CURRICULA AND PEDAGOGY We seek: (1) to increase the capacity of each institution in the Project EXCITE partnership (and the regional consortia) to offer a range of IT curricula; and (2) to provide students the opportunity, motivation, and skills to achieve IT competency (majors), fluency (IT across the curriculum) or literacy (general education). To do so, we are developing a flexible, integrative and innovative curriculum that rapidly incorporates new research, and leverages innovations in educational technology, teaching, and student learning with our unique partnership. As a result of CITI grants, at least 65 courses in over 25 disciplines are offered by Project EXCITE partners: the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Worcester State College, Cape Cod Community College, Mount Wachusett Community College, North Essex Community College, and Springfield Technical Community College (see Table 1). These courses are highly subscribed; at the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus, the IT minor program has been at authorized capacity since its first formal offering. Our Assessment Team is evaluating IT curricula and assessing current offerings to learn what has been effective, and where course revisions are required. A modular curriculum structure (see below) and technology to support it make many new learning opportunities available to both teacher and student. Within each course, topics are taught as (1) live lectures; (2) partly as live lectures and partly with modules assigned to be
COURSE Interactive Multimedia Production Internet Business Design Internet Certification Internet Marketing Intro. to Computing in Fine Arts Intro. to Prob.Solving w/ Comp. Introduction to Bus. Info. Sys Introduction to ECE II Introduction to Spatial IT IT Apps in Public Policy Analysis IT in Biology Education IT in Finance IT in Social and Hist. Perspective JavaScript for Web Designers Managing eBusiness MIDI Studio Techniques Tech. and Political Elections Multimedia Systems Net. and Data Communication Neurobiology Problem Solving with the Internet Programming with Data Struct. Programming with Visual Basic Rep., Storing, and Retrieving Info. Social Impact of IT Systems Analysis and Design Ethics of Mktng. on the Internet Travel Writing and Photojournal. Web Site Design & Development Writing and Emerging Techn. Writing, Diff., Comp. & Class
Campus-Dept UMA-CS UMA-MGMT STCC-CIS UMA-MGMT UMA-ART UMA-CS UMA-MGMT UMA-ECE UMA-NATRES UMA-PUBPOL UMA-BIO UMA-MGMT UMA-JOURN MWCC-CIS WSC-MGMT UMA-MUSIC MWCC-CJ UMA-ECE WSC-CS UMA-BIO UMA-CS UMA-CS UMA-MGMT UMA-CS UMA-COMM UMA-MGMT MWCC-MGMT UMA-JOURN CCC-CIS UMA-ENGL UMA-ENGL
COURSE Interactive Multimedia Production Internet Business Design Internet Certification Internet Marketing Intro. to Computing in Fine Arts Intro. to Prob.Solving w/ Comp. Introduction to Bus. Info. Sys Introduction to ECE II Introduction to Spatial IT IT Apps in Public Policy Analysis IT in Biology Education IT in Finance IT in Social and Hist. Perspective JavaScript for Web Designers Managing eBusiness MIDI Studio Techniques Tech. and Political Elections Multimedia Systems Net. and Data Communication Neurobiology Problem Solving with the Internet Programming with Data Struct. Programming with Visual Basic Rep., Storing, and Retrieving Info. Social Impact of IT Systems Analysis and Design Ethics of Mktng. on the Internet Travel Writing and Photojournal. Web Site Design & Development Writing and Emerging Techn. Writing, Diff., Comp. & Class
Campus-Dept UMA-CS UMA-MGMT STCC-CIS UMA-MGMT UMA-ART UMA-CS UMA-MGMT UMA-ECE UMA-NATRES UMA-PUBPOL UMA-BIO UMA-MGMT UMA-JOURN MWCC-CIS WSC-MGMT UMA-MUSIC MWCC-CJ UMA-ECE WSC-CS UMA-BIO UMA-CS UMA-CS UMA-MGMT UMA-CS UMA-COMM UMA-MGMT MWCC-MGMT UMA-JOURN CCC-CIS UMA-ENGL UMA-ENGL
TABLE 1 CURRENT/RECENT PROJECT EXCITE COURSES viewed/used/accessed in advance; (3) partly with modules replayed in the classroom with instructor present; or (4) entirely using technology. We have developed inexpensive technology to capture live lectures for modules, for replay later as review or for off-campus students. Similarly, review material often is incorporated into live lectures, provided by modules replayed in the classroom, or provided by modules viewed, used, or accessed in advance of a lecture.
INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY
Modules have been co-developed by faculty from across the six partner institutions. Assessment is a part of the process at all levels and drives the evolution of the modules and the curriculum. We leverage on-going research in intelligent tutoring and multimedia systems to develop and deploy stored, interactive on-line and CDROM/DVD-based “courseware” modules in support of these courses. A key goal of Project EXCITE is to enable faculty and instructors to easily incorporate appropriate IT elements in a variety of disciplines. Realizing the campus and system-wide limits on faculty resources and expertise to provide the foundational core technology courses, a second important goal is to enable “asynchronous learning” by making instructorprovided multimedia e.g., lecture-like synchronized audio, video, text, and animations of class material, available to students. Intelligent tutoring helps students navigate this material. Interactivity between the student and the courseware is of crucial importance. Eventually, embedded assessment will drive student models within modular courseware that can be adapted to various learning styles and desired outcomes. We have extensive experience with a variety of technologies including simple Web-based lecture notes, simple tutors authored with commercial tools, broadcast and interactive video, Web-based streamed audio/video multimedia presentations, Web-based question-answering systems, advanced animations and simulations, and 0-7803-7444-4/03/$17.00 © 2003 IEEE November 5-8, 2003, Boulder, CO 33rd ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference 2
Session intelligent tutors. We are carrying out leading-edge research on these tools as well as actively deploying them in our courses. We also have extensive experience with broadcast video in live telecast and videotape. The Professional Education in Engineering and Applied Science Program (PEEAS) has offered computer science and computer engineering courses for over 15 years through their own distribution channels and through the National Technical University (NTU). The RIPPLES Group
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version of the MANIC engine that can run from a CDROM. The audio and HTML source files are the same as on the web, but are accessed by a special browser, included on the disc, that handles the audio synchronization and visual display, and which can provide feedback and student tracking information to the instructor [15]. RIPPLES will migrate to DVDROM delivery as standards converge and become more widely adopted. DB-MANIC (0.9) DB-MANIC is an open-source, cross-platform system to create and deliver courses over the WWW. DB-MANIC allows instructors to create courses and deliver them to students as HTML slides shown in synchrony with the voice of the instructor in an audio stream. Courses are organized as modular units to teach individual topics; students can drive their learning experience by browsing the material freely and controlling the pace of the presentations. DB-MANIC provides an on-line authoring tool that does not require knowledge of HTML and that makes it easy to create, maintain, reuse, and share courseware.
The Research in Presentation Production for Learning Electronically (RIPPLES) Group (http://ripples.cs.umass.edu/) is investigating how to most effectively use the World Wide Web and CD/DVD-ROM to deliver lectures and course materials inside and outside of the classroom. Our primary focus is on asynchronous learning environments in which students proceed at their own pace and are not assumed to be accessing the same material at the same time. Students can access lectures as digital audio or video, synchronized with slides, overheads or other materials. The RIPPLES Group enables authoring of courseware using several related technologies. Several are directly or The RIPPLES group provides a number of key indirectly based on the Multimedia Asynchronous technologies and approaches to Project EXCITE: Networked Individualized Courseware (MANIC) • Knowledge-Unit (KU)-based curricula. Our emphasis is methodology [2]. These typically employ PERL or PHP and on developing composable multi-level "knowledge and MySQL on the server side, a separate Real server for the topic” units [3] that can be employed to tailor course digital media, a front end interface written in HTML and content and depth to fit the needs of a diverse student JavaScript, and audio/video browser plug-ins in standard population. We have developed "live" and on-line browsers on the client side. Others are based on the course material and taught courses using this material. WebDVD technologies. RIPPLES Technologies include: Formative evaluation indicates that student satisfaction • WebDVD (www.ecs.umass.edu/ece/dvd) The WebDVD is high and that available measures of success, e.g., technology allows the use of high quality video formats student performance, have improved markedly. that are not currently available over the web for most • Low-Cost Video Production Environments. We have users [14]. A variety of formats and tools for presenting experimented with a low-cost multimedia production multimedia educational materials have been developed, environment that incorporates web-based material, but each included: at least VHS-quality video; slides, video and audio. The required hardware and inexpensive authoring (faculty and assistants spending software can be purchased for less than $5000. A digital no more than 10 hours to produce one hour of content, video camera captures the image of the instructor facing and students can view the lecture without interruption or a PC displaying a web browser for html format text and they can pause often and zoom in on graphics, work graphics and the video of the instructor. HyperCam problems, link to external sites, view glossaries, take software captures in real time all the contents of this notes or post messages to the instructors and fellow screen including the mouse movements and highlighting students. and records this data. The resulting capture is then • MANIC 2.0 This version of MANIC replaces the Javacompressed to an MPEG format. Such low-cost based MANIC 1.5, which had problems with stability information technology can instead be used at a and use across platforms and browsers. Event markers grassroots level to allow widespread generation of embedded in the audio stream trigger the delivery of materials with rapid updates reflecting the ongoing HTML pages at the appropriate times. Subtopics and list changes in this field. items within the pages highlight as the lecture • Linked Printed Texts and Multimedia Presentations. progresses, and the student can stop, start and jump The CD MANIC screenshot in Figure 1 shows an from point to point within the lecture. experiment linking the indexing and search mechanisms • CD-MANIC It is not always convenient or feasible to within the MANIC courseware with Jim Kurose’s deliver streaming media over the Web. The RIPPLES networking text [4]. A student can link directly from a team provides technology that is adaptable and as passage in the text to the associated lecture and vice universally applicable as possible. Thus, we developed a versa. Indexes are interlinked so that students can search 0-7803-7444-4/03/$17.00 © 2003 IEEE November 5-8, 2003, Boulder, CO 33rd ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference 3
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FIGURE 1 CD-MANIC
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the text or the MANIC presentation or use either the text or MANIC index to reach linked points in the text and associated lecture. Authoring and Reuse. DB MANIC includes a webbased authoring tool [5] that allows instructors to easily create instructional material. An instructor creates a slide by filling out forms in a web browser. The authoring tool provides facilities to re-arrange the course structure by changing the order of the slides, moving slides from one topic to another, and moving topics from a knowledge unit to another. Elements in every level of the course tree inherit their parent's properties. The modular structure and the attribute inheritance mechanism make it easy to reuse and share existing material. For example, an instructor creating a UNIX Socket Programming course could reuse the TCP/IP Protocol knowledge unit from a Computer Networks course. Reusing that material is as easy as selecting the entire knowledge unit in the context of the old course and copying it to the new one. Furthermore, the newly added slides inherit the properties defined for the new course. Interactive Simulations as “Virtual Laboratories”. We have implemented network and video coding algorithm design simulators [8] that support collaborative, interactive learning. In the former, students enter parameters and observe the impact on network behavior and performance statistics. In the latter, students set parameters for an MPEG encoding algorithm and are shown the statistics (run-time, compression ratio, file sizes, etc.) as well as the actual test video. This simulation was used in an IT Program core course
(Multimedia Systems). Each student explored a different portion of the video encoding parameter space, tabulated their data, and made subjective observations about the video quality degradation; and the results were combined. The students not only learned the technical details of video coding, but also how to perform experiments and collaborate as a team to address a large-scale experiment. Collaboration Tools. The Multimedia Online Collaboration Architecture (MOCA) implements enterprise-level communications and information sharing methods tailored to the requirements of engineering education [16]. MOCA modules consist of a set of collaboration tools, a surveying component, and a multimedia presentation component. We have implemented shared whiteboard, text-based chat, and shared document-editing modules. The collaboration tools use a channel-based model where users can create new channels or join a pre-existing channel. Within each channel, users can create multiple instances of each tool type; a full history across user sessions is kept so that users may view all events that occurred while they were not online. Assessment and Testing. Initially [6], we developed empirical and analytic characterizations of observed user behavior (both session-level behavior and interactive behavior) in MANIC based on data collected for student sessions on the server. CD-MANIC includes a tool called the “Learner Logger” [7] that is embedded within the CD-MANIC browser. Data are collected continuously and uploaded to the RIPPLES server in the “background” (with permission from the student) when the CD-MANIC client checks for content upgrades on the server. We also have developed several multimedia homework and quizzing systems that provide parameterized testing controlled by student input, instructor input and/or built-in student models with immediate feedback to the learner. For example, a student might request 3 intermediate-level questions or she might request 2 questions drawn from the last 10 minutes or the last 20 “slides” of the presentation. The system provides immediate feedback, including the student’s overall score, correct response for each question, accumulated score for all sessions, and comparisons to the average scores and time spent for all students. Related Work in Learning Technologies
A number of universities are experimenting with multimedia courseware. These include Classroom2000 and eClass at Georgia Tech [9], the Berkeley Multimedia Research Center Lecture Browser [10], Cornell’s Project Zeno [11] and Old Dominion’s IRI-h [12]. Classroom2000 focuses on livecapture with minimal post-lecture-capture production. The BMRC Lecture Browser supports live and stored streaming
0-7803-7444-4/03/$17.00 © 2003 IEEE November 5-8, 2003, Boulder, CO 33rd ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference 4
Session media. Project Zeno has developed tools to automatically capture and synchronize video, “slides,” and other materials. IRI-h is for synchronous classroom applications with an asynchronous replay facility. This is far from an exhaustive list, and there are many other universities authoring courseware with commercial authoring systems. Our project focuses on the application of technology to teaching and learning. It is not our goal to compete with commercial projects, because we cannot, nor with other university projects. We employ technology to enhance teaching and learning. We use new techniques and technologies as they become available. We develop our own technologies because they provide facilities unavailable in commercial or university systems (embedded assessment, sophisticated indexing, virtual laboratory and on-line text linkages, student models) and because they offer flexibility in experimenting with various pedagogies. We do believe in post-lecture-capture-production, because we believe students are distracted if courseware and interfaces are not of high quality. We need embedded assessment (as well as external assessment) to drive the design of content and level of presentation. We believe that interactivity is important. Our experiments show that sophisticated indexing supports constructivist learning.
ASSESSMENT In Project EXCITE, we place substantial emphasis on assessment. We collect assessment data using pre- and posttests, questionnaires, interviews, certification, assessment of competencies, etc. in a diverse set of teaching and learning situations. Our experiences with a number of courses at the six partner institutions serve as prototypes for the organization of IT curriculum at each partner campus and as a basis for transferring the work to other institutions. We incorporate sophisticated embedded assessment within the courseware including, as described above, continuous logging of learning activities, interactive testing within the module, and linked web-based homework and quizzes. The logging tools provided by CD-MANIC to track a student interaction, have been powerful tools both for guiding instructional design and teaching pedagogy. Instructors can obtain standard and customized reports from a RIPPLES website. Figure 2 shows a plot for feature usage for a course offered last year. Used with standard assessments (questionnaires, interviews, testing), these log data help determine learning outcomes. The reports can be used to guide instructional design, for example, we found that students: • are much more likely to move forward through the material than backwards (e.g., using CD-MANIC's Fast Forward instead of Rewind). • use Fast Forward, Next and Down commands much more frequently than Rewind, Previous and Up • use automatic (rather than manual) mode most frequently
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watch continuous audio/video playout for relatively short periods of time (e.g., less than 10 minutes)
FIGURE 2 A SAMPLE AUTOMATIC REPORT FROM THE CD-MANIC LOGGER
We plan to incorporate learner models within the modules to control presentation style, level, feedback and assessment using the data capturing facilities of MANIC. We have experimented with a version of MANIC [13] that tailors presentation style based a model of the learner.
LEVERAGING PARTNERSHIPS
This project is a broad-based collaboration among higher education, industry and state government. Participants will include managers, human resource specialists, administrators, researchers, educators, specialists in educational pedagogy, experts in educational assessment, and organizations on campus and within the system that enable and/or deliver local and distance education. Six institutions which are partners in Project EXCITE enroll between 4000 and 30,000 students and serve a wide range of communities from the urban and industrial areas of Lawrence, Springfield, and Worcester to rural communities in north central and southeastern Massachusetts. Each partner enrolls a broad student population with differing levels of preparation, background, and educational objectives. Almost all of the institutions in the Project EXCITE partnership participate in active educational consortia (see Table 2). Thus, Project EXCITE will influence not only a representative subset of the 29-campus System of Higher Education, but through the partners’ consortia membership, a varied collection of private colleges. Among the partners and consortia are colleges serving student populations of great diversity: age, gender, ethnicity, economic situation, participation (part/full time) and access (on campus and remote). System-wide and statewide, there is increased pressure on the time of students (who are increasingly non0-7803-7444-4/03/$17.00 © 2003 IEEE November 5-8, 2003, Boulder, CO 33rd ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference 5
Session traditional students balancing education, a job, and a family) and faculty alike. As we extend the results of the University’s efforts to partner institutions and, later to the consortia, the challenges are greater.
Massachusetts it is hoped that its effect will eventually influence other Massachusetts’ institutions, both public and private, and the long-term competitiveness of the Massachusetts’ workforce.
TABLE 2 Partner WSC
NECC
STCC
UMA Amherst
Project EXCITE Regional Consortia Consortium Members Anna Maria College, Assumption College, Atlantic Union College, Becker College, Clark University, the College of the Holy Cross, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Nichols College, Quinsigamond Community College, Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, and WPI. Endicott College, Gordon College, Marian Court College, Merrimack College, Middlesex Community College, Montserrat College of Art, North Shore Community College, Salem State College, and the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. American International College, Bay Path College, Elms College, Holyoke Community College, Springfield College, Western New England College, and Westfield State College. Amherst College, Hampshire College, Smith College and Mt. Holyoke College
SUMMARY
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[7]
Burleson, W., Cooper, W., Kurose, J., Thampuran, S., and Watts, K., "An Empirical Study of Student Interaction with CD-based Multimedia Courseware," ASEE Conference and Exposition, 2002.
Even in the current financial climate, the global marketplace W., Kelley, S., and Thampuran, S., "A New Course in requires an information technology fluent workforce in [8] Burleson, Multimedia Systems for Non-Technical Majors," ASEE Conference almost all disciplines, as well as in traditionally technical IT and Exposition, 2002. fields. To meet this need, institutions of higher education [9] Abowd, G. D., “Classroom 2000: An Experiment with the must find creative ways of leveraging existing resources Instrumentation of a Living Educational Environment,” IBM Systems while ensuring that IT instruction crosses traditional Journal, Special issue on Pervasive Computing, Vol. 38, No. 4, October 1999, pp. 508-530. disciplinary boundaries. The Massachusetts Board of Higher Education-funded Commonwealth Information [10] Rowe, L.A., Harley, D., and Pletcher, P., “BIBS: A Lecture Technology Initiative is committed to fostering an IT fluent Webcasting System,” Berkeley Multimedia Research Center, TR 2001-160, June 2001. workforce. Project EXCITE accelerates and extends this effort within the project partnership and via regional [11] Mukhopadhyay, S., and Smith, B. C., “Passive Capture and Structuring of Lectures,” ACM Multimedia 1999, Orlando, FL, consortia of public and private institutions. To accomplish October 30 – November 4, 1999. this, our efforts are focused on: curricula and pedagogy, instructional technology development, assessment and [12] Maly, K., Abdel-Wahab, H., Wild, C., Overstreet, C. M., Gupta, A., Abdel Hamid, A., Ghanem, S., González, A., and Zhu, X., “IRI-H, A partnerships. More than 65 courses in over 25 disciplines Java-Based Distance Education System: Its Architecture and are offered by Project EXCITE partners; our goal is to share Performance,” ACM Journal of Educational Resources in Computing, and re-use this knowledge base by leveraging our expertise Vol. 1, No. 1, Spring 2001. and the substantial investment that is pre-existing in M. K., and Woolf, B. P., “Curriculum Sequencing in a Webinstructional technology research and development at the [13] Stern, Based Tutor,” Proceedings of Intelligent Tutoring Systems, 1998. University of Massachusetts Amherst. We do not develop these modules in a vacuum. Our development is influenced [14] Burleson, W., Ganz, A., and Harris, I., "Educational Innovations in Multimedia Systems", IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, 1999. by the robust assessment tools we have developed which, being web-based, are available to aid the instructor in self- [15] Thampuran, S., Watts, K., Burleson, and W., "CD-MANIC: Multimedia Distance Education without the Wait", IEEE Frontiers in critique as well as the researcher/developer. We have over Education Conference, 2001. two years experience offering CD-based courses to distance [16] Peden, J., Burleson, W., Leonardo, C., "The Multimedia Online education students and have logged a significant amount of Collaboration Architecture: Tools to Enable Distance Learning," data (500K records) that we are currently analyzing. In International Conference on Multimedia and Exposition, August bringing the efforts of Project EXCITE to a significant 2000. subset of the public higher education institutions in 0-7803-7444-4/03/$17.00 © 2003 IEEE November 5-8, 2003, Boulder, CO 33rd ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference 6
