Learning and technology syllabus2012

Course: Learning and Technology (EDUC 578)

Professor: Jeffery Heil

Office hours: Before class or arranged

Email: jheil@sandiego.edu

Cell Phone: 619-944-7599

Course Website: http://educ578fall12.blogspot.com/

Semester: Fall 2012

Schedule: Monday: 7:00 pm – 9:50 pm

Location: Mother Rosalie Hill Hall 147

Course Description:

Learning and Technology (EDUC 578). Technology is quickly becoming an educational panacea, often with great costs incurred by schools. As with any new medium of instruction, technology and its relationship to learning should be closely investigated, especially as it relates to specific tools or programs. In this course, you will examine learning in a technology rich context, as well as critically analyzes the true impact of technology to promote student learning.

A large part of the course examines the process and environments in which technology can promote individual learning. As a point of interest, students will reflect on their learning and how technology and community can foster the learning process at a personal and school level. An examination of contemporary theories of learning will be of particular focus.

The following questions are explored throughout the course.

How do I learn?
How can technology promote learning at the individual and group level?
How can technology be leveraged in today’s classroom?

Students will (ACE):

Academic Excellence, Critical Inquiry, and Reflection

Learn to critically analyze technology and the environment in which it promotes learning.

Community and Service

Integrate both theoretical and empirical research through research projects.

Ethics, Values, and Diversity

Learn from readings and discussion about the relationship between theoretical and empirical research and technology.

Activities:

Class participation (20% of grade): Students are responsible for completing the assigned readings before class. Most class reading will be assigned weekly on the class blog. Additionally, students are expected to actively engage in critical dialogue in each class session.

Reflective blog post: Each student will reflect on the weekly reading in a blog post of at least 350 words. The reflection should connect you as a learner to the course questions a meaningful way.

Each reflective post will end with two thoughtful questions for the class to consider.
Each student will comment on at least three peers’ blog post in an attempt to add quality to the thoughtful questions posed.

Video (may or may not be used weekly): One student is responsible for finding and sharing a video that is related to learning and/or technology (e.g., TED talk, etc.) -- students will watch the video in class.

Provide the class with thought provoking questions regarding the video.

Notes: One student is responsible for keeping class notes each week on a collaborative Google document.

School/classroom visit (10% of grade): Students will visit a learning institution that integrates technology into the curriculum and write a blog post (250+ words) reflecting on the experience (due within one week of the visit) . . .

How was technology integrated into the curriculum? Do you feel that it promoted student learning?
Is there anything you saw that makes this classroom/school unique?
What did you learn and how does it relate to the class questions?

Personal Learning Network (PLN) (40% of grade): Each student will create a personal learning network, or PLN, to investigate an area of education that aligns with his/her passion. Participation in the network will be continuous throughout the course. The following digital tools, and some other tools discussed/discovered by the class, will be the medium of the PLN: Twitter, Diigo/bookmarking/archiving tool, personal blog, digital discussion forums, and content curation sites. Part if this process is to find your professional voice in a digital environment. This will entail not only blogging and participating in online educational chats, but commenting on other blogs/posts from educators around the globe. Consider the thematic course questions:

How do I learn?
How can technology promote learning at the individual and group level?
How can technology be leveraged in today’s classroom?

Twenty-Percent Project (20% of grade): Google has a policy of allowing its employees to dedicate 20 percent of their time to personal projects that they hope will eventually equate to new products/services. The idea is that if you allow your employees to follow their passions, good things will happen. As such, you will dedicate 20% of your time in this class to learn something using technology. It can be following Photoshop tutorials online, learning to play the guitar on YouTube, or anything else that you have always wanted to learn. The results will be shared on your blog in the form of a post with some documentation of your results (video, pictures, etc.)

Digital Reflection Project (10% of grade): At the end of the semester you will produce a digital project reflecting their learning in the course and how you see yourself applying what you have learned. It will be a video/screencast that uniquely represents a culmination of your learning experience. The projects will be presented on the last day of class and embedded on your blog.

Grades:

Grades are composed of five parts: class participation (20%), school/classroom visit (10%), personal learning network (40%), twenty percent project (20%), and a digital reflection project (10%). The standard University grade scale is utilized.

Course Standards:

Be Engaged.
Be Authentic & always assume positive intentions.
Prompt and regular attendance is expected.
Use electronic communication devices responsibly.
Laptops or digital device (iPad, netbook) are strongly encouraged.
Please review the University’s student handbook and policies regarding, student discipline, academic integrity, attendance, etc.
Please check the course blog at least once a day and email twice a week.
All material should conform to APA standards.

Turnitin:

The University subscribes to a service called Turnitin.com. Turnitin.com is an online application that compares the content of submitted papers to the Turnitin.com database, and checks for textual similarities. All assignments for this course may be subject to submission to Turnitin.com for textual similarity review and to verify originality. All assignments will be included as source documents in the Turnitin.com reference database solely for the purpose of detecting textual similarities and verifying originality. Students may request in writing that their assignments not be submitted to Turnitin.com. However, if a student chooses this option, the student may be required to provide documentation in a form required by the faculty member to substantiate that the papers are the student’s original work.

Academic Dishonesty:

Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated. Students are expected to adhere to all of the University policies, procedures, guidelines, and recommendations. Any form of academic dishonesty will result in:

automatic failure of the course
notification sent to the department head, the dean, and University authorities
other actions could involve, but are not limited to -- expulsion from the University, legal action, etc.

Disabilities:

Students with disabilities should contact the instructor and the office of disability services within the first two weeks of the semesters.

Reasonable accommodations in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act will be made for course participants with disabilities who require specific instructional and testing modifications. Students with such requirements must identify themselves to the University of San Diego Disability Services Office (619.260.4655) before the beginning of the course. Every effort will be made to accommodate students’ needs, however, performance standards for the course will not be modified in considering specific accommodations.

Incompletes:

The grade of Incomplete (“I”) may be recorded to indicate (1) that the requirements of a course have been substantially completed but, for a legitimate reason, a small fraction of the work remains to be completed, and, (2) that the record of the student in the course justifies the expectation that he or she will complete the work and obtain the passing grade by the deadline. It is the student’s responsibility to explain to the instructor the reasons for non-completion of work and to request an incomplete grade prior to the posting of final grades. Students who receive a grade of incomplete must submit all missing work no later than the end of the tenth week of the next regular semester otherwise the “I” grade will become a permanent “F.”

Note:

The instructor reserves the right to modify the policies, procedures, syllabus, or schedule as he deems necessary. Any changes made to the policies, procedures, syllabus, or schedule contained within the course will be announced either in class, email, or on the course website. By taking this course, students have agreed to follow all of the policies, procedures, guidelines, and recommendations of the University.

Required Reading: (I recommend purchasing books from: http://www.abebooks.com/ , http://www.amazon.com or http://www.half.ebay.com/ or getting the Kindle, Droid, or iBook versions)

Christensen, C. M., Horn, M. B., & Johnson, C. W. (2008). Disrupting Class: How disruptive innovation will change the way the world learns. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Pink, D. H., (2005). A Whole New Mind: Why right-brainers will rule the future. New York, NY: Penguin.

Godin, S. (2008). Tribe: we need you to lead us. New York, NY: PenguinGroup. (you are going to listen to this as an audiobook)

(we will also access a free version of Seth Godin’s Stop Stealing Dreams)