Arizona State University
Course Title: Emergent Literacy
Contact: Nancy Perry
Arizona State University (ASU) plans to redesign Emergent Literacy, a required course for state certification in early childhood education. Currently offered once a year at each of three ASU campuses ( Tempe, Polytechnic and West), the course is taught by full-time faculty in face-to-face sections of ~30 students, enrolling about 100 students annually. Because of new state certification requirements, enrollment is projected to grow to 300-500 students.
The current structure of this course requires a significant time commitment by the faculty. The face-to-face nature of the traditional course limits the number of students who can enroll at each of the three campuses. Providing access for practitioners who live and work in rural areas of the state is difficult. ASU needs to find a new way to enable large numbers of students to take this required course in order to gain early childhood certification.
The redesigned course will combine all sections of the course into one large section, regardless of the campus where the students are enrolled, and will be offered in a fully online format. One full-time faculty member, responsible for content and oversight of the graduate teaching assistants (GTAs), will lead the course. Students will be placed in small learning teams of ten to twelve students to engage in collaborative learning activities directed by GTAs and adjunct faculty. A tiered student assistance model will help students with both technical and content problems. Student interns and the University Technology Office will provide technical assistance. GTAs and adjunct faculty will monitor student participation and assignment completion and be available to help with content issues. An online “Student Tutorials and Resources” area will also provide step-by-step instructions on how to use the technical tools.
The student-centered, active-learning environment created by the redesign will enhance the quality of the course. It will diversify the types of activities and assignments to accommodate a wider range of learning styles and provide students a more cohesive understanding and application of the content. Students will receive individualized assistance for both content and technology issues as well as ongoing assessment and immediate feedback through automated comprehension checks, peer feedback and written and oral comments from the instructor. Duplication of effort and inconsistencies across campuses will be eliminated.
Student learning will be assessed by comparing student performance on a common final exam in traditional and redesigned sections. Samples of student work on a number of assignments will also be compared using common rubrics. Both overall and subgroup performance differences will be examined.
The redesigned course will decrease instructional costs by reducing three sections of ~30 students each across three campuses to a single university-wide section. When the redesign is fully implemented, total enrollment will increase from ~100 to ~300–500 students. The number of full-time faculty involved in the course will be reduced from three to one. The result of these actions will be to decrease the cost-per-student from $556 to $145, a 74% reduction.
Quick Links:
