ACTWAN - Aligning Collaboration Tools With Academic Needs

Methodology

Student Survey

A 12-question survey was sent to 1200 students, of which 192 responded (see results). The student sample included 45 Freshmen, 198 Sophomores, 127 Juniors, 326 Seniors, 270 Graduate, 86 Professional and 58 Special.

The survey questions were developed after review of literature and other campus instructional technology surveys and results (see Review of Literature, Other Surveys and Reports below). Students received an email invitation with a link to the online survey just before spring break and a second email on their return. Entry into drawing for an iPod Nano or one of three iTunes gift cards was an incentive for completing the survey. On the advice of Mary Evenson, DoIT Communications, we kept the survey short and used multiple-choice questions for easier analysis, with one open-ended question at the end.

The survey also included an invitation to participate in a focus group. Due to the timing with the end of the semester, we received only one volunteer to participate in the focus group. Because of this low response, we decided conducting the student focus groups would not be feasible. We did feel that the focus groups would have given us some valuable insight into the ways students are using various tools and how they viewed collaboration.

Faculty Survey

Following the student survey, we sent a 12-question survey to 1500 faculty and teaching staff, of which 56 responded(see results). As in the student survey, we sent an email with a link to an online survey, and a reminder email followed a week later. The faculty survey asked many of the same questions as the student survey but was not designed to be identical. Timing was an issue; the semester was close to an end and faculty were extremely busy.

Survey Analysis

Hans Klar analysed the data of the surveys and summarized his findings in presentations to the group. He compared student and faculty results where possible and ran additional cross tabulations at our request.

Review of Literature, Other Surveys and Reports

Throughout the project team members shared articles and web sites related to tools, collaboration, Web 2.0 and social networking via the project wiki. Becoming aware of national trends and technology developments was part of the group activities.

Part of the team focused on reviewing recent DoIT and other technology surveys for ideas and to determine what information was already available. Surveys included:

• University of Michigan IT Student Survey, by Carl Berger
• 2006 UW-Madison Student Computing Survey
• 2007 UW-Madison Student Computing Survey
• ECAR Students and Information Technology in Higher Education 2006 Survey Instrument
• 2006 Academic Technology Survey Results
• ECAR Students and Information Technology in Higher Education 2007 Student Survey Instrument - Released in March, these are just the questions that were used in the survey.
• UW-Madison Faculty Staff Computing Survey

Tool Demonstrations and Use

Team members took turns demonstrating tools and explaining how they might be used in teaching and learning. Presentations included an overview of Web 2.0, the e-portfolio and networking tool Elgg, the Web-conferencing tool V-Room, social networking tool Facebook, and content management tool Drupal.
Team members got first-hand experience with various tools to complete project activities. Team members used a project wiki (Confluence) to post relevant articles, reports and minutes. The wiki was also used to edit survey questions and aspects of the final report. E-mail and WiscCal facilitated communication and keeping the project on track. Face-to-face sessions also made use of technology for discussion, including audio-conferencing, which allowed traveling team members to participate.

Guest Presentations

Several guests joined our weekly meetings to help us with various aspects of the project.

• Mary Evenson, DoIT Communications: Survey design and implementation.
• Hans Klar, Academic Technology: Statistical analysis and cross tabulations.
• Dirk Herr-Hoyman, e-Learning Roadmap: Project implementation and direction.
• Cathy O'Bryan, Students Information Technology Initiative (SITI): Financial support and guidance on research of student perspectives.
• Judy Caruso, Policy Research and Planning and EDUCAUSE: Shared findings from the 2006 ECAR survey that relates to collaborative technologies.