Representative Educational Technology Challenge
An institution of higher learning that has traditionally focused on aeronautical engineering has discovered that while the overwhelming majority of incoming first-year students select aeronautical engineering as their major, by the time these students have completed the required two-semester sequence of aeronautical engineering they have changed their majors to something else. When asked why, students typically indicated that they simply found some other subject area more interesting. A preliminary analysis of the aeronautical sequence of instruction indicates that it has changed little in the last 20 years. It is taught as a lecture class with an associated laboratory section in which students work in small teams solving mathematical aspects of particular problems. The course uses a standard set of final exams that reflect little change in student performance in the last 20 years. Students who do complete the required sequence with good grades and manage to remain aeronautical engineering majors and graduate perform well in their after-college experiences, as demonstrated by follow-up interviews with alumni and their employers. However, the goal of having 75 percent of graduating seniors majoring in aeronautical engineering is not close to being met, as only about 15 percent of graduating seniors retain that major. As an expert instructional designer, you have been hired to diagnose this problematic situation and recommend what might be done to correct it.
TASK
1. Identify and describe the key factors that you would consider in framing your response to the problem situation stated above.
2. Identify and describe the key factors that are likely to be effective in communicating with parents.
3. Indicate and describe the relationships among all of the key factors that have been identified.
4. Indicate what kinds of additional support should be considered in order to make the best case for your solution approach.
5. Create an annotated concept map that reflects the things indicated in response to the previous four tasks.
