Executive Summary of "Guidelines" Subcommittee Report
January 16, 2004
Wireless technology provides opportunities for new instructional techniques, well adapted to certain courses and student populations. The technology, while attractive to students and parents, is not an end in itself -- it must be used only when pedagogically appropriate. In order for instructors to have the option of using wireless instruction in a class:
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The University must provide a reliable, scalable, easy-to-use wireless service covering appropriate portions of the campus.
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Instructors must be trained in the new technology and the opportunities it presents. An instructor using wireless must be assisted in converting and maintaining course content, and supported in its delivery in classroom, lab, and other settings.
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Instructors should profit from the experience of others, digested as a series of "best practices". These practices range from practical advice on classroom technique and regulation of student behavior, to thoughtful discussions of students' learning styles, faculty members' motivations for course redesign, and techniques for evaluating the results.
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Students must acquire appropriate equipment, be trained in its use, and receive sustained support throughout their instruction.
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Support personnel at both the University level and within Colleges/departments must be trained and equipped to deal with the new demands of wireless instruction. "Anytime, anywhere" instruction requires "anytime, anywhere" support, responding promptly and effectively in ways that current support processes do not.
Neither OSU, nor any comparable institution, knows how to do all these things well. Many of our current courses, serving large populations in lecture or laboratory settings, do not seem well adapted to wireless technology. OSU's scale makes many problems difficult and costly to solve, and the great diversity of OSU's educational programs makes "one size fits all" unlikely. The subcommittee recommends thoughtful, measured progress, with two essential steps:
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Operational responsibility for OSU's campus-wide wireless deployment must be given to an active group of faculty, instructional support staff, technologists, students, and administrators. A single group must solve these problems, with all viewpoints at the table; separation of technology from pedagogy, or philosophical debate from implementation responsibility, will not work.
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Greater emphasis on instructional design is required, for all aspects of teaching with technology. Too few instructors have sufficient, up-to-date understanding of the learning process to effectively choose from a much-enlarged menu of educational techniques.
