Thomas C. Reeves
Professor Thomas C. Reeves from the The University of Georgia discussed, "What Undergraduates Really Need to Learn: Technology and the Conative Domain."
Abstract
Although most faculty members teaching undergraduates aspire to teach to higher-order cognitive, affective, and psychomotor outcomes as well as to specific objectives derived from the content of their disciplines, they tend to focus their assessments on a narrow range of lower-level cognitive outcomes. At the same time, academics have almost completely ignored critical conative outcomes such as will, drive, level of effort, mental energy, and intention when it comes to both teaching and assessment. The forgotten conative domain is especially important in the 21st Century when there is ample evidence that traditional instructional methods and outmoded technologies are failing to engage the new generation of learners entering our colleges and universities. In this presentation, I will describe the as yet unrealized potential of technology to support engaged learning and authentic assessment in ways heretofore unimagined. Admittedly, much of what I propose will be highly speculative, even controversial, but hopefully it will inspire a new line of design-based research that addresses a fuller and higher range of cognitive, conative, affective, and psychomotor outcomes in undergraduate higher education.
Biography
Dr. Thomas C. Reeves is a professor of instructional technology at The University of Georgia where he teaches program evaluation, multimedia design, and research courses. Since receiving his Ph.D. at Syracuse University, he has developed and evaluated numerous interactive multimedia programs for both education and training. In addition to numerous presentations and workshops in the USA, he has been an invited speaker in other countries including Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, England, Finland, Italy, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, and Tunisia. He is a past president of the Association for the Development of Computer-based Instructional Systems (ADCIS) and a former Fulbright Lecturer. In 1995, he was selected as one of the "Top 100" people in multimedia by Multimedia Producer magazine, and from 1997–2000, he was the editor of the Journal of Interactive Learning Research. In 2003, he was the first person to receive the AACE Fellowship Award from the Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education. His Interactive Learning Systems Evaluation book (co-authored with John Hedberg) was also published in 2003.
Dr. Reeves' research interests include:
- evaluation of instructional technology for education and training,
- socially responsible research goals and methods in education,
- mental models and cognitive tools,
- authentic tasks for online and blended learning, and
- applications of instructional technology in developing countries.
Current projects include:
- evaluation of the impact of digital libraries on teaching and learning (NSF),
- development of mini-module design guidelines (CDC),
- development of interactive videos to reduce obesity among urban school children (USDA),
- development of evaluation procedures for online pharmaceutical training (Pfizer), and
- investigation of authentic web-based learning environments in higher education (ARC).
Previous projects include:
- evaluated a ubiquitous computing environment in a k-12 school for Bertelsmann Foundation,
- evaluated web-based meteorology learning environment for the National Science Foundation,
- served as a member of the Scientific Panel on Interactive Consumer Health Information for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
- evaluated networked digital multimedia developed by Interactive Media Laboratory at Dartmouth,
- developed an EPSS for training developers for NCR Corporation (awarded U.S. Patent).
- developed a Web-based learning environment for undergraduate environmental literacy (NSF project),
- co-founded the Learning and Performance Support Laboratory (LPSL) at The University of Georgia, and
- evaluated "Telematics in Rural Education Program" for the Ministry of Education in Western Australia.
For more information, see Professor Thomas C. Reeves' Web site.
