SYMSYS 17SI Syllabus

Evaluating Education Technology:

Developing Frameworks to Make Sense of EdTech

Student Initiated Course, SYMSYS 17SI

Bldg 160-318, Mondays 1:30 - 3:20, Spring 2018

Credit/No Credit, 1-2 units

Instructors

Jacob Wolf

Junior, SymSys

jwolf@stanford.edu

Jenny Han

Junior, Symsys

jlhan@stanford.edu

Faculty Advisor

Jennifer Wolf

Director, UP@GSE

jlwolf@stanford.edu

Course description: This seminar assesses the impact of education technologies on learners, teachers, and education systems. Through weekly case studies of ed tech ventures, students will experience and evaluate popular education technologies such as VR, personalized learning, makerspaces, and MOOCs. Additionally, students will develop a toolkit of concepts including critical pedagogy, constructivism, behaviorism, and social reconstructionism which they can use to assess education technologies and their personal contributions to the field. This course will focus largely on ventures in the U.S., but the frameworks developed will be applicable to equity and access issues in education throughout the world.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

Critically evaluate education technology tools through a lens of equity and critical pedagogy.
Discuss the current state of education technology and envision the future impact of education technology in their lives.
Understand the opportunities and responsibilities to contribute to education technology in a positive way.

Course Expectations:

Attendance is required for full course credit. Absences should be communicated 24 hours before the class, and a make-up reflection will be assigned accordingly.
Participation during class discussions, as well as in the homework reflections, is a crucial part of the class. Please follow the discussion norms created by our class.
Readings are expected to be completed before every class session. They can be found in the Google Classroom and on this syllabus.
1 vs. 2 units: Students taking this course for 2 units are required to write a Medium reflection in addition to the 1 unit workload. These students should submit a link to this article via Google Classroom by Tuesday, June 12th.

Course Calendar

Wk	Case Study	Lesson Overview	Readings/ Assignments Due This Week
1	Laptops in the Classroom	Introductions What is Ed Tech? Tech as (Only) a Medium Debate: Laptops in Classrooms Activity: Labaree’s Goals of Schooling Overview of class syllabus
2	Non-transformational tech (Quizlet, Scantron, etc.)	History of Ed Tech	Memory Machines and Collective Memory: How We Remember the History of the Future of Technological Change [ Hack Edu] Why Technology Alone Can't Fix Schools by Kentaro Toyama [Atlantic]
3	Maker Spaces (Mission Science Workshop, Maker Faire)	Model of Knowledge: 21st Century Skills, Constructionism, Constructivism Assessing Accessibility Discussion: Who has access to the Maker movement?	Required trip to Mission Science Workshop, a community makerspace in the SF Mission District Video: Intro to Tech and 21C Skills Constructivist Learning Theory
4	MOOCs (Khan Academy)	Model of Learning: Critical Pedagogy vs. Behaviorism Discussion: Critically evaluate Khan Academy's role in addressing systemic educational equity Jennifer Wolf	Ch 2, Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire Ted Talk Salman Khan Video Udacity Official Declares MOOCs ‘Dead’ (Though the Company Still Offers Them) [Edsurge]
5	VR (Google Cardboard and Google Expeditions)	VR in Education Field trip using Google Cardboard and Google Expeditions Human-Computer Interaction Design activity: what does the ideal classroom look like in 10 years?	Human‐Computer Interaction and Education
6	Personalized Learning, Learning Analytics (Smart Primer, Teach FX)	Technoskepticism Discussion: AI Teachers in the next 10 years? Could we? Should we? Presentation from AI + Ed startup TeachFX Guest Lecture from Karin Forssell, Director of Learning Design and Technology MA Program	Read: How Big Data Transformed Applying to College [Slate] Explore: TeachFX
7	Google for Education	In practice: Ed Tech Funding Examine Google's impact and power in the edtech market Guest Lecture from Andy Russell, Google for Education Guest Lecture from Monica Yupa, STEP Student	The Business of "Ed-Tech Trends" [Hack Education] (Read from the “Venture Capital in 2017” section to the end) Optional: The Stories We Were Told about Education Technology (2017) [Hack Education] Topic for Final Presentation Due
8	Smarter Balanced Testing, AAA Lab Technologies	In Practice: Metrics of Success How can tech help revamp assessment? Guest Lecture from Dan Schwartz - Evaluating Educational Outcomes with Technology	How SAMR and Tech Can Help Teachers Truly Transform Assessment [EdSurge] Try out: AAA Lab SBAC Test
9		Memorial Day - No Class Education Movie Night (Date/Time TBD)
10		Final Presentations Case studies on education tech tool of your choice Final Reflection: Praxis What is your personal contribution/responsibility to edtech?	Final Presentation Due