VOLUME XVII, NUMBER 20

8 INNOVATION ABSTRACTS

PUBLISHED BY THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR STAFF AND ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (NISOD), COLLEGE OF EDUCATION, THE

 

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN * WITH SUPPORT FROM THE W. K. KELLOGG FOUNDATION AND THE SID W. RICHARDSON FOUNDATION

Using E-Mail as an Evaluation Tool

An interdisciplinary studies course lends itself very
well to group projects and discussions about diverse
topics. When I first began to teach Human Thought
and Learning, students would give me feedback about
what they learned, about how well I presented the
material, and how well they mastered the objective for
the day. Until this semester, that feedback usually took
the form of “one-minute essays.”

Since we have a computer network at our fingertips
and access to a world of information from our desk-
tops, I decided to try something different. With the help
of our campus MIS director, I set up an electronic
bulletin board for my 60 students and assigned them
the task of responding to my assessment questions.
Early on, I had questions about potential problems:

(1) How can I give access to the largest number of
students using the smallest number of new user
accounts?

(2) Will students respond to the new system as well as
they did to the “in class” version since they must
go to the terminals on their own time to respond?

(3) Will students benefit from learning how to use the
computer as a communication tool?

(4) Because they have to go through the Internet menu
to find my questions, will students begin accessing
the Internet more often?

(5) Will students benefit from being able to read one
another’s responses to the on-line bulletin board?

The answers to these questions are encouraging:

¢ In order to give access to the greatest number of
students while opening the fewest computer
accounts, our MIS director decided to create one
student account, called INTER_STU, and have all
students log onto that account to use the bulletin
board. This worked fairly well. The only com-
plaint came from one of our newborn computer
fans who wanted to receive e-mail. The campus
computer experts are now working on providing
access for all of our 2,500 students. [Question 1]

¢ Not only have my students responded consis-
tently, they now remind me to put something on
the bulletin board every day before I leave class.

Since this is coming from a group of students
known generally as “non-writers,” with little
computer experience, I consider this a real accom-
plishment. [Questions 2 and 3]

e Once students see the Internet menu, they can’t
wait to explore. One of my goals for the next year
is to get them to use Internet resources to com-
plete other assignments. [Question 4]

¢ Students seem to benefit from reading one
another’s responses to the questions. Several of
them mentioned in class discussions that they had
never looked at a certain issue from a point of
view other than their own; reading their class-
mates’ responses appeared to broaden their
experience. Another benefit came in the form of
improved writing skills. Knowing that others
were going to read their work made the students
pay more attention to the quality of what they
wrote. Since some of them were “non-writers,” I
encouraged them to work in pairs. Members of
each of the pairs showed remarkable improve-
ment on other written assignments. [Question 5]

Computers can be used to enhance instruction, but
what I hadn’t considered before was using the com-
puter for instructional assessment. My students not
only mastered the objectives, but they accomplished
some other less obvious learning objectives—e.g.,
improved communications skills, greater tolerance for
different ideas, and a higher level of computer literacy.
The experience has been good for all of us.

Mary Gene Ryan, Dean, Arts and Sciences
For further information, contact the author at Aiken

Technical College, P. O. Drawer 696, Aiken, SC 29802-
0696.

 

 

 

 

THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR STAFF AND ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (NISOD)
Community College Leadership Program, Department of Educational Administration
College of Education, The University of Texas at Austin, SZB 348, Austin, Texas 78712-1293