Features & News: Where are they now? First Adopter Updates

ONE YEAR AGO, 25 faculty from schools of education across the country met in Philadelphia to explore the ways in which Virtual U could be incorporated into their courses. These First Adopters—many of whom have been featured in Virtual Update—have found innovative ways to use the simulation to support student learning. Included below are the various strategies they have employed.
First Adopter/Institution	Course Title	Semester	Virtual U Use	Number of Students
David Breneman Curry School of Education University of Virginia	Financing Higher Education: The Emerging Policy Issues	Spring 2002	Breneman is using a budget-simulation exercise with VU and plans to use the simulation in his future finance courses.
Ada Demb Educational Policy The Ohio State University	Strategy and University Leadership: Focus on Technology	Spring 2002	Demb has used VU as an integral teaching tool to test management choices for achieving strategies	12 (6 PhD and 6 MA)
Joe Donaldson Educational Leadership University of Missouri-Columbia	Administration and Governance of Higher and Continuing Education	Fall 2002	Donaldson will use VU both modularly and comprehensively in this course. He is also exploring the use of VU in the University’s System for Leadership Training.	15 to 25 PhD and MA Candidates
Greg Dubrow Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Florida International University			Dubrow plans to introduce VU in his classes and is introducing department members to VU. He also held a VU demo for faculty in a number of higher-education divisions, including student affairs personnel who will be teaching master’s courses.
Elaine El-Khawas Educational Leadership George Washington University	Leadership in Higher Education	Fall 2002	El-Khawas organized this course into modules, with different faculty teaching elements of VU that relate to their expertise and course module.
Linda Hagedorn Rossier School of Education University of Southern California	Community College Administration Curriculum, Teaching and Learning in Higher Education	Spring 2002 Fall 2002
Joe Hankin Organization and Leadership Teachers College, Columbia University	Organization and Administration in Higher Education Community Colleges	Spring 2002 & 2003 Fall 2002	Hankin's use of VU was featured in Virtual Update in May 2002 (V1, N2). Hankin continues to promote VU, inlcuding contacting the Council for the Study of Community Colleges, a consortium of 60 faculty members who teach courses on the community college, informing them about VU.	25 Students
Matt Hartley Graduate School of Education University of Pennsylvania	Faculty and Academic Governance Organizational Change	Fall 2002 Spring 2003	Hartley uses VU as a team exercise in both courses.
Jim Hearn Vanderbilt University	Administration and Leadership Organizational Administration	Spring 2002 Spring 2003	Hearn uses VU in both classes. He may run a focused training session on VU for colleagues.	15 to 20 MA and PhD Candidates
Jim Honan Graduate School of Education Harvard University	Planning and Strategy Development in Colleges and Universities	Fall 2002	Honan received a $3,000 grant from the McCoy Technology Fund at Harvard GSE to support a teaching assistant (Jared Bleak) who is integrating VU into his course.	20 MA Candidates
Kevin Kinser Educational Administration & Policy Studies SUNY, University at Albany	Administration of Institutions of Higher Education	Fall 2003	In Spring 2002, Kinser worked with doctoral student Carla Mazzarelli to facilitate the use of VU in the classroom. Mazzarelli developed hints and tips for fitting VU into a course framework. Their approach was featured in the November/December 2002 edition of Virtual Update.
Thomas Nelson Laird Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education University of Michigan			Laird will assist Marvin Peterson in the integration of VU into his courses, and already has assisted colleagues Silvia Hurtado and Dick Alfred. He reported that at least two, but possibly as many as four faculty plan to use VU in their courses. He will work with all interested parties to help facilitate VU adoption.
Peter Magolda School of Education and Allied Professions Miami University	Student Culture in the University Environment	Fall 2002	Magolda is introducing VU to his colleagues for use in the program’s Supervised Practice Seminar. He is also exploring the possibility of designing a summer course (2003) devoted exclusively to the teaching of VU, inviting members of Student Affairs and Interactive Media Studies to participate.
Karen McClafferty Higher Education and Organizational Change University of California Los Angeles	Foundations of Higher Education College Access	2002-2003 2002-2003	McClafferty used VU not only for teaching but also to fuel conversations on assumptions and values. She delivered a short presentation on Virtual U to Educational Leadership Program Faculty. She also organized a three-hour, Virtual U seminar (March 15, 2002) for one of the student cohorts in the Educational Leadership division and created a game that helped the group discuss the systems model and the interconnectedness of the university system. The cohort plan to download the software for their own use.	8 Faculty Members 35 Students
Chris Morphew Teaching and Leadership The University of Kansas	Postsecondary Finance	Spring 2002	Morphew gave students an assignment to document what happens when prescribed changes are made in VU. He also developed a list of readings to supplement and facilitate the use of VU, which was featured in the November/December 2002 edition of Virtual Update.	12 PhD and 2 MA Candidates
James Penrod Information Systems The University of Memphis	Higher Education Administration Information Technology Trends and Issues	Fall 2002 Summer 2002	Penrod is using VU with his senior management team in his role as Vice President for Information Systems at the University. He demonstrated VU to the Provost’s Council and to the Higher Education Leadership Faculty and ran a two-day workshop for the faculty in May 2002, which was featured in the September/October 2002 edition of Virtual Update. He also ran another workshop (over two class periods) at the beginning of the Fall 2002 semester, inviting all students in the Higher Education Leadership Doctoral program, 15 of whom attended.
Laura Perna Educational Policy University of Maryland	Higher Education Finance	Fall 2002	Perna used VU as a teaching tool in her course.	6 PhD and 1 MA Candidates
Marvin Peterson School of Education (CSHPE) University of Michigan	Postsecondary Institutions as Complex Organizations Case Studies in Higher Education Management	Fall 2002 Fall 2002	In his courses, Peterson used VU as an exercise for strategic management. He also conducted a briefing seminar with 20 students and faculty members to acquaint them with Virtual U and held a two-day workshop in May 2002 to provide hands-on experience to students and faculty interested in using it or gaining more experience.	20 Students 20 Students
Joshua Powers Educational Leadership, Administration and Foundations Indiana State University	Resource Management in Higher Education Internship in Higher Education	Fall 2002 Fall 2002	Powers' students are engaging in a strategic analysis exercise and will be developing case studies for classroom use. Powers' pioneering work with the simulation was featured in the May 2002 edition of Virtual Update.
Dick Richardson Steinhardt School of Education New York University	Governance of Colleges and Universities Economics and Finance of Higher Education	Spring 2002 Spring 2003	Richardson used VU as a one-time teaching tool in his governance class. He built on this experience to design the first class with VU fully integrated into the curriculum. Students will participate in group VU simulations and report on their experiences and outcomes. His course design is featured in this edition of Virtual Update.	12 Students 12 Students
Jane Sjogren Educational Leadership Program Johnson & Wales University	Finance and Resource Management in Higher Education	Fall 2002	VU has become a major component of Sjogren's course. She is using Express Games to teach aspects of tuition policy and strategic planning.	5 Students
Myra Strober School of Education Stanford University	Economics of Higher Education		Strober used VU at the end of the quarter to help students review concepts they had discussed and prepared a two-part exercise to be used with the game, including a scavenger hunt. Her approach was featured in the May 2002 edition of Virtual Update.	15 Students