Date Started: Jan 9, 2006
Status:In Progress

Project Description

During the 2006-07 academic year two CDI projects were launched; (1) Western Civilization and (2) Introductory Sociology. 

Western Civilization
The goal of this CDI was to provide multimedia resources and educational materials to assist in teaching the two introductory Western civilization courses (History 1201 and History 1202) that are part of the core curriculum. The faculty developed a complete outline of all topics in the course, and folders were created in an image gallery tool to allow faculty the opportunity to search for and contribute resources, such as images, PowerPoint lectures, syllabi, and other teaching materials for each topic taught in the course.

An addition to this project was the infusion of the Information Fluency proficiency into the Western Civilization course. During the Fall 2007 semester, the faculty collaborated with Marta Deyrup from the Seton Hall Library, who provided consultation on Information Fluency resources that can help students in the course (i.e., databases, search techniques for history, etc.)

A Blackboard course template for the Western Civilization sections was also developed that included sample syllabi, links to the image gallery, information fluency activities, and other relevant resources. While being a helpful resource, particularly for adjunct faculty, the course template still allows faculty flexibility in how they wish to teach the course.

Introductory Sociology
This was the third and final year of the Introductory Sociology (SOCI 1101) Redesign CDI project. The main objective was to redesign and transform this course from one in which instructors are solely responsible for their individual sections to a lecture-recitation format, in which the Sociology faculty have shared responsibility for instructional units that are delivered to all students enrolled in the course in a particular semester, as well as responsibility for discussion groups for smaller recitation sections.

A detailed assessment report on the effect of the redesign was prepared by Dr. Martin Sandler, Assistant Director of Assessment for the TLTC, and discussed with the faculty and instructional designers in November 2007. As a result of that meeting, a more advanced analysis including student exam and final course grades is now in progress. Results of that analysis are planned to be discussed at the end of Spring 2008 semester to finalize the project and determine how best to continue the implementation of the redesigned course.