Summary and Spring 2008 Objectives

The CUNY Online Baccalaureate Program, launched in Fall 2006, provides students who have previously earned at least 30 college credits an opportunity to complete their baccalaureate degrees in a totally online environment. Faculty who teach in the program are drawn from across the University.

Since its inception, the Online Baccalaureate Program has emphasized learning through collaborative discussions and projects, as well as conventional study of text and media materials. This project will allow us to more closely approximate the social learning environment to which we are already firmly committed. Using the capacity to provide digital materials through iTunes U, we aim to:

• Facilitate shared reflection on and reaction to representations of authentic problems;
• Provide opportunities for “just-in-time” learning of concepts and resources;
• Present models of expert strategies for problem analysis;
• Enable students to teach and learn from other students; and
• Share student products with others.

Specifically, we intend to capture these advantages in three distinct components of the Online Baccalaureate: General Education courses, content courses in the Communication and Culture concentration, and research courses. Design, pilot testing and full implementation of podcasts will occur during the Spring, Summer and Fall 2008 terms. Eight faculty members have been identified as the initial participants in the project, with the expectation that others will join later.

Spring 2008: Course-Podcast Components

• For General Education courses: One or more podcasts will be developed for each of the following courses: College Writing II (English), Computers, Society and Human Values (Philosophy), and Digital Information in the Modern World (Digital Competency). Faculty participants will be Prof. William Bernhardt (College of Staten Island). Prof. Phillip Pecorino (Queensborough Community College), and Prof. George Otte (CUNY Graduate Center and Online Baccalaureate Academic Director).

• For Content Courses in the Communication and Culture Concentration: One or more podcasts will be developed for Studies in Urbanization and Studies in Communication and Cultural Change. Faculty participants will be Prof. William Divale (York College) and Prof. Barbara Walters (Kingsborough Community College).

• For Research Courses: One or more podcasts will be produced for use in Research Methods 1 and Research Methods 2, by Prof. Ellen Smiley (City College).

Outline of Rich Media Products

• ENG 102 Writing II (Bernhardt)

This course helps students develop the ability to write longer expository essays and complete research project that involves searching in online databases as well as the use and documentation of source materials in a well-argued essay.

A series of brief podcasts will be developed to give introductions to key steps in the searching, writing and documentation stages of completing a reading-based research essay.

• PHI301 Computers, Society, and Human Values (Pecorino)

This course explores the impact of computers and information networks on

society. Topics include privacy and confidentiality, computer crime, harassment, identity, honesty, mechanization, secrecy, proprietary rights, and technological dependence. The course will help students identify and respond to moral issues and dilemmas related to information systems and communication networks.

A series of short videos introducing each module of the course. 14 total and each @ 5 minutes and a series of short videos introducing some key concepts (@4) related to ethical principles used in the course.Video created by Philip Pecorino. All students of the course will be required to view these items. They will be used to introduce course units (modules) and to introduce some key concepts.

• CC402 Research Methods 2 (Smiley)

This course aims to enhance and extend the methodological competencies developed in Research Methods 1, with an emphasis on experimentation, advanced issues in design and program evaluation.

A podcast will be developed, focused on the topic Controlling Variables in Research. This will include text slides, slides with still photographs and diagrams, along with a voice narration. The podcast will be used by students early in the semester and reused as students plan their own research projects.

• CC409 Studies in Communication & Cultural Change (Walters)

This course examines cultural change resulting from new technologies, scientific discoveries, demographic changes, political conflict, and changes in the environment. Special emphasis is given to how effective communication can help to resolve (and miscommunication can escalate) conflicts and stresses arising from such change.

As an introduction to a class research project, a series of slides (for the Huntington lecture) will be modified and an audio lecture recorded. The resulting podcast will help the students navigate through a very difficult article.

• COM 110 Digital Information (Otte)

This course answers the question, “What does it mean to learn – to inquire, to investigate, to collaborate, to research – online? ”

A podcast will be developed to give an introduction and overview to web-based (re)searching, to search (and metasearch) engines, databases, data feeds, and Boolean formulas. Screenshots with talkover will be designed to be useable in other courses as well as COM 110.

• Online Instruction (Student and Faculty Orientation) (Otte)

It is an enormous challenge to have students and faculty who are new to online teaching understand how interactive and intimate fully online instruction can be.

A podcast will be developed to give an overview of forms of interaction and functionality in the online courses of the Online Baccalaureate. The podcast will comprise screenshots and voice narration.