AN INTERDISCIPLINARY INSTITUTIONAL APPOACH TO ALN

							      AN INTERDISCIPLINARY
INSTITUTIONAL APPROACH TO ALN:
           METU-Online


             N.Yalabık, Z.Onay

             Informatics Institute
       Middle East Technical University
               Ankara, Turkey

             www.ii.metu.edu.tr

            Fifth Int. Conference on ALN
                Yalabık, Onay, METU
Outline

•METU Informatics Institute
•METU-Online as an Institutional ALN
•METU-Online: Administrative Issues
•METU-Online as a Tool
•Outcomes
•Unresolved Issues
•Conclusions




                        Fifth Int. Conference on ALN
                            Yalabık, Onay, METU
METU Informatics Institute


•METU: Internationally known university
       • Many national / international projects
       • ABET accredited departments
       • Education in English
       • 5 faculties and 35 departments
       • 20,000 students, 1,000 faculty




                        Fifth Int. Conference on ALN
                            Yalabık, Onay, METU
METU Informatics Institute


•Informatics Institute:
     –Graduate School
     –Founded in 1996 with a special law with objectives:
         •Interdisciplinary graduate education / research
         •Spreading informatics education all over Turkey
         •Forming better ties with industry




                         Fifth Int. Conference on ALN
                             Yalabık, Onay, METU
 METU-Online as an Institutional ALN


•A 3-year project with a budget of~500,000 $
•Started May’98
     –software development
     –course preparation
•First implementation: Fall 1998-99
     –9 graduate and undergraduate courses to 1000 in/out campus students




                           Fifth Int. Conference on ALN
                               Yalabık, Onay, METU
METU-Online as an Institutional ALN

•Spring 1998-99
    –9 undergraduate and graduate courses to 900 students
    –Informatics Certificate Program
         •50 faculty from different universities
         •6 courses, 8 months, 240 hours

    Total number of courses: 15+6
    Total number of students: 2000+50




                           Fifth Int. Conference on ALN
                               Yalabık, Onay, METU
 METU-Online as an Institutional ALN

•Institutional Approach
     –Planning
     –Funding
     –Course preparation and delivery
•Aspects
    –Technical (developing an intelligent and interactive software)
    –Educational (trying different learning methods)
    –Management (changes in the university systems)




                            Fifth Int. Conference on ALN
                                Yalabık, Onay, METU
METU-Online as an Institutional ALN

•The realization of the system involves disciplines
     –Computer Science
     –Telecommunications
     –Education
     –Management
•Interdisciplinary teams formed: more than 50 people working
•Lecture Notes development: courses from many disciplines; the contribution
of people with different backgrounds: about 2,000 web pages prepared




                           Fifth Int. Conference on ALN
                               Yalabık, Onay, METU
 METU-Online: Administrative Issues

•Standards for course design
•Clarification of copyright issues
•Instructor incentive/compensation scheme
•Accreditation procedure
•Online registration procedure
•Assignment of responsibilities for infrastructure upgrade and maintenance




                             Fifth Int. Conference on ALN
                                 Yalabık, Onay, METU
METU-Online: Administrative Issues


•Technical support for instructors and students
•Custom software tool decision
•Procedure for inter-university course exchange
•University Senate approval of new procedures
•Establishment of an Accreditation Committee




                           Fifth Int. Conference on ALN
                               Yalabık, Onay, METU
 METU-Online As a Tool


•Student Tool: lecture notes, forum, links, assignments and announcements,
gradebook
•Instructor Tool: gradebook, quiz preparation and automatic evaluation,
student follow up
•System: security, communication management, database etc
•New feature: AI methods used in student follow-up
     –Concept maps
     –The system warns the student on what to study
     –Pretest etc




                           Fifth Int. Conference on ALN
                               Yalabık, Onay, METU
Outcomes

•Resistance to change by Departmental and Faculty Boards
•Instructor and student evaluations
     –Effective for large class sizes
     –Effective in virtual labs
     –Increase in student-instructor interaction through proper tools
     –Very effective for adult education




                             Fifth Int. Conference on ALN
                                 Yalabık, Onay, METU
Outcomes

• Increase in student motivation
   – higher class attendance
   – more demand for follow-up electives
   – academic performance (grades) at least equal and often better



            A good teacher is good on-line
             A bad teacher is bad on-line


                         Fifth Int. Conference on ALN
                             Yalabık, Onay, METU
Unresolved Issues


•Copyright
•Faculty incentive/compensation
•Continuity in funding
•Accreditation procedure for updating and revising courses




                           Fifth Int. Conference on ALN
                               Yalabık, Onay, METU
Conclusions


•New paradigm (administrative, instructional)
•Substantial investment
•Substantial support needed for instructor and student
•Access to larger and diverse audiences
•Will be an integral part of university education




                           Fifth Int. Conference on ALN
                               Yalabık, Onay, METU
Fifth Int. Conference on ALN
    Yalabık, Onay, METU
Fifth Int. Conference on ALN
    Yalabık, Onay, METU
Fifth Int. Conference on ALN
    Yalabık, Onay, METU
Fifth Int. Conference on ALN
    Yalabık, Onay, METU
Fifth Int. Conference on ALN
    Yalabık, Onay, METU
Fifth Int. Conference on ALN
    Yalabık, Onay, METU
Fifth Int. Conference on ALN
    Yalabık, Onay, METU
Fifth Int. Conference on ALN
    Yalabık, Onay, METU
Fifth Int. Conference on ALN
    Yalabık, Onay, METU