UMUC:

• Pilots for online courses only (in her case)
• All pilots are determined up front from the "top down" as they relate to the strategic plan (i.e., What challenges do we need to address?).
• It's a very centralized process.Faculty can lend ideas but it has to go through chair and they need to get buy-in.
• Who participates depends on the pilot. For example adaptive technology they looked at:
• Students coming in that were new - so writing and other lower level undergraduate courses (gen ed); also looked at upper grade/major
• Once courses were identified in this manner, they would have 1/2 be in the pilot and 1/2 be in the traditional (control). Not necessarily taught by the same instructor. But, they were randomly selected.
• Ultimately the main thing they measure is student success and retention. The look at grade pt average of those that participated and also the drop out rate.
• they also do surveys, both a pre- and post survey for each 'treatment' or course involved in the pilot.
• They will typically run pilot fo 3 terms in a row - in there case approximately 8 weeks long (Online)
• A broader knowledge of pilots is downplayed only to not make students feel like guinea pigs but after the fact don't really have any mechanisms in place to disseminate findings, online to make decisions on whether or not to implement tech.
• They have a separate group that helps design and execute the evaluation. Sharon handles implementation of the pilot.
• Sharon was going to see if she could obtain Michelle Knots contact info. She oversees the Innovation Hub at University of Michigan. They solve problems not just technical and also have a blog about what they are doing.

Thoughts:

• We have a more 'decentralized' model of piloting. We do want to factor in the strategic plan but there isn't always a clear connect. So, part of the evaluation criteria we use must have an item related to ensuring the pilot's purpose is in support of the strategic plan
• Perhaps in relation to our 'decentralized' approach we somehow incorporate this into our definition of innovation.
• Being innovative may be trying new things to solve problems but they can not all be given the same level of detail. They are shorter term explorations.
• Using  a control and non-control group and having the opportunity (if at all) in getting quantitative data.
• Pre- and Post surveys in the pilot group
• Have a blog about what pilots or technology we are experimenting with.
• Maybe "exploration" is the innovation stuff