NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract Main Menu Session 3129 Course Management Systems: Expectations and Outcomes Debra T. Burhans1, Carl Alphonce2, Helene Kershner3, Barbara Sherman 4, Deborah Walters5 1 Canisius College/ 2,3,4,5University at Buffalo (SUNY) In the 1999-2000 academic year, an ambitious overhaul of a large, introductory computer literacy course at the University at Buffalo (SUNY) was initiated with the help of a grant from the Pew Learning and Technology Program1. This course enrolls approximately 1200 students per year, divided into lecture sections of 200 and laboratory sections of 20-40 students. With the help of on-line and LAN-based technologies for teaching, testing, and course management, we transformed the course from a traditional lecture format with short, unstructured laboratory meetings to a more student-centered model with fewer lectures and more structured laboratory experiences. While this course is not specifically targeted towards science and engineering students, the issues addressed herein are of interest to all educators who use or are considering using a course management system. Faculty for the course are technology-savvy computer scientists whose familiarity with computing technology influences their expectations regarding content and performance of off-the-shelf educational technology products. Specifically, expectations with regard to the course included the following: · A course management system (CMS) would decrease time spent on course administration. · Grading time would be reduced by shifting to on-line and web-based training and assessment tools. The CMS would facilitate on-line grade maintenance. · Lecture time would decrease due to the use of interactive, on-line tutorials for topics that have proven difficult to cover in lecture. These interactive materials would be integrated into the CMS. · As a result of the above-mentioned technologies, there would be a cost savings in faculty time and lab assistant expenses that could be recouped by the department (dollars) and by the faculty members involved in the course (more time for research). There were positive outcomes related to the incorporation of technology materials into the course, including a measurable increase in student learning and satisfaction as well as cost savings for the department. However, there were also a number of negative outcomes. Administrative time spent on the course increased considerably, and grading time did not decrease. In addition, troubleshooting computer-related glitches, including problems such as network bottlenecks, software performance, and inability of different pieces of software to communicate with one another, required much more faculty time than anticipated. The expectation that the CMS would allow for coordination and integration of different on-line resources was not realized. While there have been a number of studies of the impact of technology on student learning and outcomes, our focus is on the faculty perspective of teaching with technology. Our experiences using on-line materials including a CMS in a large undergraduate course have led to the identification of a number of factors that influence the effectiveness of computer-based educational technologies. These findings should prove valuable Proceedings of the 2002 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright Ó 2002, American Society for Engineering Education Main Menu

† Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University at Buffalo, SUNY ‡ Department of Computer Science, Canisius College Abstract  Educators wishing to use e-learning materials must choose between homegrown solutions and off-the-shelf materials. Each choice has distinct benefits and drawbacks. Handcrafted materials are often expensive to develop and maintain, yet their content will likely better meet an educator's requirements than a commercial product, and carries with it the potential to become marketable in the future. While the expense associated with commercial products is borne by their developers and the students who purchase the products, the content of such products is less likely to match educator requirements or expectations.

The deployment of technology has had a profound impact on the quality of work life of individuals in organizations. Consider, for example, that computer-based applications are expected to empower workers in both a functional and democratic sense. In other words, systems are intended to aid workers in the completion of tasks, as support devices to complete organizational transactions (functional empowerment) and as devices which both support and give rise to new forms of organizational communication, interaction and, subsequently, new forms of organizational structure (democratic empowerment). The specific technical and social contexts in which computer systems are deployed significantly influence the characteristics of the systems and their implications for the workers. In particular, the tradition of socio-technical research in information systems considers these issues important.

This paper presents the results of a redesign of a large enrollment computer fluency course for non computer science majors. The goals of the redesign were to increase learning and to decrease costs using technology. The paper discusses the motivations and the components of the course redesign. The results show that costs did decrease and that learning did increase in the redesigned course.

The use of off-the-shelf on-line materials presents several challenges. In this session panelists report on their experiences in evaluating, installing and using such materials. Both positive and negative aspects of such use are discussed. The aim of the session is to provide useful information to those considering using (and those already using) on-line materials in their teaching. The session presents information in three mini-presentations, followed by a general discussion session.