Abstract:

The Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) at a small, private university in the midwest United States has the mission to “provide resources and opportunities for faculty, staff and students to become better teachers and learners.” When used appropriately, instructional technology can be such a resource. Thus, CETL established an initiative to improve and broaden the use of instructional technology, using a problem-solving framework employed by the Toyota Production System. Named for the standard paper size used to report the work, the A3 process provided the key questions that helped clarify the initiative and organize the action items. An early part to the process included a survey and town hall meeting to measure the perceptions of key instructional technologies among students and faculty. This survey provided information on the current state, and hinted at directions for improvement. The A3 approach brought clarity to the interpretation of survey results, and served as a framework for the faculty team to plan for greater effectiveness in the use of technology for learning by both faculty and students. After a brief introduction to the framework, this case study will illustrate how it is being used to guide program development.