University Of Maryland University College Research Articles

E-Resources Troubleshooting and User Support at a Primarily Distance Learning/Online Higher Education Institution: Current Practice and Future Considerations

Resolving user access issues is inherent in managing electronic resources in libraries. The University of Maryland University College (UMUC) Library, situated within a predominantly distance learning-centered institution, has developed a series of web-based technical help pages to facilitate resolution of typical issues reported by its approximately 80,000 students located worldwide. The author details the types of support resources the library makes available to its users and discusses new technologies that may improve authentication, identity management, and communication with users.

University of South Africa staff’s learning experiences in online coursework master’s of education

This study explored the experiences of University of South Africa (UNISA) staff who did an Open and Distance Learning (ODL) based Master’s of Education (MEd) programme between the years 2012 and 2015. This is an online programme that was initiated jointly by UNISA and University of Maryland University College (UMUC). Only academics who UNISA employs were targeted in this study due to UNISA’s rationale for engaging in this dual university initiative. A cohort of these academics had already qualified with doctoral and professional master’s degrees in various focus areas. We were interested in these academics’ varied experiences with respect to their views, understandings and needs in this online programme. What are the staff’s experiences of learning online in the UNISA-UMUC MEd programme? This question triggered research into the experiences of the academics concerned. This qualitative phenomenographic study was framed in the variation theory. Seven purposively selected staff members were interviewed using semi-structured interview guide. Three main themes emerged from the data namely, experiences of staff pertaining to learning online, subject matter and student learning, and the learning tools related to social media. The study’s findings revealed that participants varied in their experiences of online learning in the dual university initiative. The findings were important for this dual university initiative in so far as improvements that may be necessitated by the findings are concerned.

THE MASTER OF DISTANCE EDUCATION PROGRAM: A COLLABORATION BETWEEN THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND UNIVERSITY COLLEGE AND OLDENBURG UNIVERSITY

On November 15, 2003, The Master of Distance Education (MDE) program at the University of Maryland University College (UMUC) received the 2003 Sloan-C award for Most Outstanding Online Teaching and Learning Program. This award was given to the MDE “for an asynchronous, student-centered online graduate program that responds to the worldwide need for qualified managers of distance education programs in industry and academe.” This paper provides information about the program, the partnership and the curriculum.

Reflections of an ERM Librarian

ABSTRACTThe evolvement of a long career of an electronic resources management (ERM) librarian at the University of Maryland University College (UMUC) is described in this column. The need to streamline and organize ERM was necessary, since there was a small staff to manage ERM at UMUC, which is a large nontraditional, online university. The librarian used various tools over time, to manage effective innovation and change for ERM with her colleagues at UMUC and the University System of Maryland and Affiliated Institutions (USMAI).

ERM Ideas & Innovations

ABSTRACTBetween 2013 and 2016, the University of Maryland University College (UMUC) undertook a major project to replace traditional textbooks with online open educational resources (OERs), which changed electronic resources management (ERM) at the university. The curation and selection of electronic resources at UMUC is now primarily curriculum based, including ERM in the Library. UMUC librarians in all functional areas (reference and instruction, access, and ERM) are working much more closely with faculty, subject matter experts, and instructional designers to ensure that high-quality licensed Library electronic resources are available to complement OERs and meet course objectives.

Building an Online Curriculum Based on OERs: The Library's Role

ABSTRACTOpen Educational Resources (OERs) are online classroom content that can be reused, modified, and shared freely. The University of Maryland University College (UMUC) undertook a project to redesign its undergraduate curriculum using OERs in place of traditional textbooks. UMUC librarians have played a critical role in this project, helping to find and maintain not only OERs but also library database content to be used as learning materials in the online classroom. This article describes how UMUC librarians worked on teams with other university departments in a structured process to search for, select, and curate OERs and library resources. We also discuss the issues that inevitably arose in such a complicated undertaking (issues such as copyright, licensing, and accessibility) and how librarians worked with academic department chairs, instructional designers, and others to overcome those hurdles.

The role of partnerships in academic capacity building in open and online distance education

In many parts of the world online education is still taking shape and faces many obstacles, including insufficient numbers of professionals prepared to teach using new technologies. This paper is a case study of academic capacity building to determine how a partnership between the University of South Africa (Unisa) and the University of Maryland University College (UMUC) in the United States influenced teaching and learning. The study sample comprised 50 faculty members enrolled in a master’s degree. The study included an online questionnaire with open and closed-ended questions. The findings show that despite a number of difficulties, the international experience provided a unique opportunity for faculty members to gain knowledge and skills, while concurrently putting these into practice. The difficulties highlighted by participants serve as rich input to improve the support services, most prominently those that enhance learners’ readiness and autonomy.

Συνέντευξη με τον Don Olcott

Dr. Don Olcott, Jr., FRSA: President, HJ Global Associates Professor of Leadership and ODL (Adjunct) University of Maryland University College (UMUC)

Book Review: Death of a Suburban Dream: Race and Schools in Compton, California

Book Review| November 01 2014 Book Review: Death of a Suburban Dream: Race and Schools in Compton, California Death of a Suburban Dream: Race and Schools in Compton, California. By Emily E. Straus. (: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014. 328 pp. $55.00 paper.). Ryan Reft Ryan Reft Ryan Reft is an urban historian (PhD, UCSD, 2014) with interests in urban planning, economic development, militarization, and housing and education policy. He is a columnist for KCET Departures, Co-Editor of the blog Tropics of Meta, and teaches U.S. History at the University of Colorado Denver (UCD) and the University of Maryland University College (UMUC). Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Southern California Quarterly (2014) 96 (4): 476–479. https://doi.org/10.1525/scq.2014.96.4.476 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Ryan Reft; Book Review: Death of a Suburban Dream: Race and Schools in Compton, California. Southern California Quarterly 1 November 2014; 96 (4): 476–479. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/scq.2014.96.4.476 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentSouthern California Quarterly Search This content is only available via PDF. © 2014 by The Historical Society of Southern California2014 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Virtual Lab for Online Cyber Security Education

INTRODUCTION There has been a rapid expansion of using practical laboratory exercises to instruct information security courses using online technology in both academic and commercial settings. WebCT, Blackboard, and UMUC's internally developed WebTycho, are just some examples of learning management systems (LMS), that have been used in support of online higher education degree programs. The primary advantages of these LMS are to facilitate student learning by incorporating a variety of online technologies including web mail, chat rooms, group collaboration and discussion boards along with serving as central repository for course content. However, when it comes to instructing technology based courses, including information security courses, online educational offerings have something in common with traditional face to face instructional methods (e.g., lectures, literature review, reading assignment, etc.) in that while being essential they are not sufficient in themselves. To supplement their online degree programs, several educational institutions have implemented hands-on labs (often called virtual labs) using virtualization technology (Burd, 2009; Fuertes et al., 2009; Li et al., 2009, 2011; Rajendran et al., 2010; Tao et al., 2010; Willems & Meinel, 2008, 2012; Yen, 2010; Zenebe & Anyiwo, 2010). The use of hands on labs, in support of learning outcomes, is strongly supported by educational theory as a productive and effective pedagogical practice. Major theories that support the use of this technology include Bloom's Taxonomy and Gardener's theory of Multiple Intelligences. It is a commonly held belief that students learn more efficiently when engaged in higher order thinking. Hands-on lab exercises provide the means to challenge students with these higher order tasks. The use of virtual lab technology is focused in the analysis, synthesis, and evaluation areas of the taxonomy. This is evidenced by the use of the technology in the classroom. As the students are using the virtual lab, they are constantly forced to make very quick connections between what they know and what they are experiencing. In addition, the real-time environment provides an excellent opportunity for the students to make predictions regarding network intrusion and hacker behavior and to test assumptions without damaging an existing network infrastructure. This type of learning and experimenting is an essential element of an effective information security curriculum. In addition, a virtual lab infrastructure can provide a flexible and cost-effective platform that allow for running multiple operating systems and for sharing computing resources. University of Maryland University College (UMUC) founded in 1947, has been offering online courses since 1985. As cyber attacks are being waged all over the world the demand for cyber security professionals has never been greater, UMUC began offering its graduate level online cyber security degree program in Fall 2010 that included launching a computing laboratory based on virtualization technology. The virtual lab requirements included the following objectives: R1. Accessible, secure and seamless access must be provided to the remote virtual lab. This means students will not have to reserve a time to use a virtual resource and that online lab service must be available around the clock, 365 days a year. R2. The remote virtual server must reliably serve a significant number of concurrent users with limited resources. No significant delay should be observed with a large number of concurrent users. R3. The virtual machine (VM) must be configured with the appropriate operating system(s) and include the required security tools for each lab exercise. In order to minimize requirements for students (e.g., configuring or installing software on their own machines), a pool of virtual machines (VM)s and a cloud based network are necessary. R4. Students must have privileged access rights on the virtual machines to execute security or network tools. …

Implementing discipline-specific searches in EBSCO Discovery Service

Purpose – This paper discusses how University of Maryland University College (UMUC) librarians customized EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS) to allow for searching across librarian-selected sets of discipline-specific databases. Discipline-specific searching results in a smaller and more relevant set of search results, which can make research more efficient and effective. Design/methodology/approach – This paper describes the collaboration between systems and reference and instruction librarians to develop, test, launch, promote, and assess discipline-specific searching in EDS in support of effective teaching and learning. Findings – Customization of a discovery tool to allow researchers to run searches across pre-selected sets of discipline-specific databases is beneficial to the researchers since it enables them to find a smaller and more relevant set of search results than they would otherwise receive if they searched across all databases available in the discovery tool. Originality/value – This paper provides detailed instructions regarding customization of EDS to allow for discipline-specific searching and discusses ways in which this enhancement can be brought to researchers' attention during reference and instruction interactions. This paper should be of interest to technical librarians as well as to reference and instruction librarians.

Library systems documentation: pulling it together with SharePoint

Purpose – This paper aims to discuss how the Library Systems Team at the University of Maryland University College (UMUC) implemented Microsoft SharePoint as a portal to organize and share their collective knowledge. Design/methodology/approach – This paper reports on why SharePoint was chosen, how it was implemented, and the results of the implementation. Findings – The general conclusion of this paper is that implementation was a success and the team is now in the habit of creating and maintaining documentation in SharePoint. Originality/value – This paper fills a gap in the literature on how systems librarians can document and share knowledge with colleagues and provides an example of how it was accomplished at UMUC.

Effectively Managing Copyright Clearance: Electronic Reserves in a Large Distance Education University

This paper describes the automated copyright clearance process for electronic reserves materials by the electronic reserves staff at the Information and Library Services (ILS), at the University of Maryland University College (UMUC). Besides the standard practice to handle and post required course readings in digital format for UMUC's distance education online classes, a large portion of the electronic reserves process is devoted to obtaining copyright permissions. This is to ensure that UMUC is in compliance with all laws that control the use of copyrighted materials. The ILS's small team of electronic reserves staff takes the lead in managing a high volume of copyright requests each semester for the three UMUC geographic divisions: United States, Europe and Asia. The experiences and practices of the in-house copyright request management system for the electronic reserves services will be featured, including related data and statistics.

Optimizing Your ERM: The Application of Business Process Management to Operations

Organization of electronic resources management (ERM) operations is critical. To build a more effective organizational structure, the ERM team at the University of Maryland University College (UMUC) studied business process management (BPM) principles and applications, including business process reengineering, Six Sigma, and Total Quality Management programs. Six Sigma was adapted to reorganize ERM workflows. The existing infrastructure was rebuilt using small, manageable projects, in order to optimize operations and end up with big results. Planning for the future, the ultimate goal is to attempt to use other BPM principles to coordinate diverse ERM functions throughout UMUC.

Accreditation Of Project Management Programs Through Global Accreditation Center Of PMI

In November 2009, the project management program at the Graduate School of the University of Maryland University College (UMUC) was accredited by the Global Accreditation Center (GAC) of the Project Management Institute. The accreditation process has had a substantially positive impact on both program quality and contents coverage of our program. It has also resulted in a continuous quality improvement process, which is now in place and is expected to bring about improved outcomes for years to come. This paper describes the accreditation process, requirements, and the strategy and approach adopted by the Graduate School of UMUC to respond to accreditation requirements.

Library-Led Faculty Workshops: Helping Distance Educators Meet Information Literacy Goals in the Online Classroom

ABSTRACT At University of Maryland University College (UMUC), librarians have designed and led a number of multiday, asynchronous online workshops for faculty. The workshops teach faculty how to meet information literacy goals in the virtual classroom. Through hands-on activities and discussion among their colleagues, participants in the faculty workshops learn about the university's information literacy standards, library resources and services, free Web tools, and how best to design class assignments involving library research. Library-led faculty workshops at UMUC have increased library visibility and furthered collaboration between faculty and librarians. This article discusses 5 workshops, detailing workshop content and logistics and demonstrating how librarians can help distance faculty further information literacy goals for students.

A new strategy for the protection of intellectual property

When a class of undergraduate students at the University of Maryland University College (UMUC) was asked to describe their understanding of intellectual property (IP), they were eager to do so. Most of them, being members of Generation X or Y, were all too familiar with the music industry's quest for protecting music and other entertainment material from illegal downloads and/or sharing. However, they gave little or no thought of other forms of intellectual property.

Creating Effective Collaborative Learning Groups in an Online Environment

Collaborative learning in an online classroom can take the form of discussion among the whole class or within smaller groups. This paper addresses the latter, examining first whether assessment makes a difference to the level of learner participation and then considering other factors involved in creating effective collaborative learning groups. Data collected over a three year period (15 cohorts) from the Foundations course in the Master of Distance Education (MDE) program offered jointly by University of Maryland University College (UMUC) and the University of Oldenburg does not support the authors’ original hypothesis that assessment makes a significant difference to learner participation levels in small group learning projects and leads them to question how much emphasis should be placed on grading work completed in study groups to the exclusion of other strategies. Drawing on observations of two MDE courses, including the Foundations course, their extensive online teaching experience, and a review of the literature, the authors identify factors other than grading that contribute positively to the effectiveness of small collaborative learning groups in the online environment. In particular, the paper focuses on specific instructional strategies that facilitate learner participation in small group projects, which result in an enhanced sense of community, increased skill acquisition, and better learning outcomes.

Having Java in the Library Doesn't Necessarily Require a Coffee Cart: Using an Object-Oriented Programming Language to Streamline Circulation Services for a Distance Education University

SUMMARY The University of Maryland University College (UMUC) serves a dispersed patron base, and its library has developed, over time, a circulation system for distributing physical research materials to its patrons throughout the United States. This article discusses the development of this system and its associated interface/database management system which links the disparate databases necessary for the processing and shipping of materials. Using the Object Oriented Programming language (OOP) Java, Unified Modeling Language (UML) and interface design techniques, a project team redesigned workflows, created a federated interface that is easy to use and streamlined the distance education circulation process.

Science in the virtual learning environment as more than online conversation

The asynchronous computer conference still finds itself largely ignored as an effective vehicle for supporting student-centered, collaborative learning experiences. When it is employed the quality of the learning experience varies widely. The literature reports students either unengaged with the medium or overwhelmed by the discussion threads. The online discussion itself tends to take on the nature of an accumulation of independent facts and little peer-to-peer engagement. It is recognised that learning environments in introductory science courses play a crucial role in Higher Education, and dialogic inquiry is understood to play a vital role in the study and understanding of science. According to Biggs “constructively aligned” learning environments in which careful attention is given to the relationship between learning outcomes, learning activities and teaching practice and assessment strategy are supportive of inquiry. Based on a series of introductory online physical science modules, designed and taught by the author for the University of Maryland University College (UMUC), it is shown that an aligned virtual learning environment is feasible and supports deep learning. Key factors instrumental to the successful delivery include clear communication of tutor and student role, ample opportunities for social networking and a range of creative learning activities and meaningful assessment tasks. The asynchronous conference plays a central role in which ideas are not only shared but critically examined and improved. Interaction goes far beyond conversation, reaching a deeper level of collaborative inquiry and ultimately knowledge construction. Science educators are encouraged to incorporate asynchronous conferencing to undergraduate science courses with the aim of fostering collaborative inquiry and critical thinking skills. The case study demonstrates that if the above described features are realised in the online design, the asynchronous conference by default becomes the showplace for knowledge construction from the outset and increasingly the students’ major learning resource3.