T561 Emerging Educational Technologies

Date, Time and Location

Mondays 10:00 - 12:00 Longfellow 320 (Lecture/Discussion)

Mondays 2:00-3:30 Gutman G05 (Section)

Instructor

Office Hours: By appointment, face-to-face or virtual.

Teaching Fellows

Objectives

As a result of this course, participants will be able to:

• describe a broad spectrum of current leading-edge design-based research on new types of tools, applications, media, and environments in education, and the theories of learning that underlie these studies
• depict how the "affordances" of information technology (e.g., distributed cognition, situated learning, sophisticated pattern recognition, multisensory immersion, modeling, visualization) aid the educational process
• delineate the likely evolution of students' media-based learning styles and of information technology in education over the next decade
• discuss how innovations such as multi-user virtual environments, wireless mobile devices, digital teaching platforms for customizing learning, and augmented realities can support improved teaching and learning
• describe how the technologies discussed in this course, integrated into a 21st century educational model, can disruptively transform K-20 industrial era schooling
• articulate ways to overcome barriers in integrating sophisticated learning technologies, given the current context of education practice and policy
• portray the challenges to educational equity and diversity posed by emerging technologies and strategies for overcoming these problems

Resources

Online readings will be provided by instructors. These reading assignments will be periodically updated on the course website.

Requirements

• Students who do not attend the first class will not be allowed to add the course
• Attendance and participation in class sessions, labs, and sections -- whether face-to-face or virtual -- is mandatory, as discussions and shared experiences are important parts of the course. The class schedule may change as the course progresses; changes will be posted on the course website.
• Each student is expected to complete all readings and class exercises, as well as a project assignment and two reflections.
• To enable individualization of the course to the needs of each student, special arrangements on requirements and assignments may be negotiated in writing with the instructor. Negotiated assignments typically involve direct, extensive involvement in some project engaged in the design, development, evaluation, or implementation of an emerging technology.
• Students missing the due date for an assignment must make immediate arrangements with the instructor to fulfill that requirement.
• If you have a documented disability and wish to discuss academic accommodations, please contact the instructor immediately.
• Undergraduates must obtain the instructor's permission before enrolling.

Instructional Design

This course will utilize a combination of briefings, media, mini-cases, guest speakers, discussions, hands-on experiences,   and projects to help participants understand leading-edge design-based research and transformative applications of emerging educational technologies.

Some sessions of this class may be filmed for use of the course participants; only T561 students and teaching staff will have access to these recordings. You may choose not to be filmed and may still participate in the class. If you do not wish to appear in the video recording, you must sit in the designated “no film” section. The “no film” section is the only area of the classroom or other course location that will not be filmed. If at any time you choose to sit or move through a section that is being filmed, you are agreeing that your participation in the class may be filmed. If you have any questions or concerns about this class’s recordings, please contact the course instructor, Professor Chris Dede.

Assignments

Each student is expected to complete an-assignment chosen from the menu of possibilities below, or an alternative assignment can be negotiated in writing with the instructor. The assignment grade constitutes 66% of the final grade in the course.. In addition, another 34% of the final grade is based on two individual reflections (due at week 5 and week 9 of the semester) on 1) what you have learned from the course so far and 2) what types of learning you would like to attain before the course ends.

All assignments are due on dates specified in the syllabus and are to be submitted via the appropriate Canvas Dropbox under the Assignments tab, using the instructions posted on the online syllabus. For assignments done by teams of students, a proportionately larger level of accomplishment is expected, and all students will receive the same grade.

While not a formal assignment that is part of grading, in order to build a virtual learning community, students are urged to make frequent, thoughtful contributions to the Google Community discussions and course Twitter Chats.

 Propose one of the assignments below.

 A. Preparing a Research Synthesis

This assignment involves selecting an emerging educational technology for detailed analysis; scanning the research literature and related materials for studies about this technology; experiencing hands-on usage of a typical application (if feasible); and preparing a scholarly paper synthesizing its merits, barriers to implementation, and likely impact and evolution. This Download This

Here is a template Download template

Research Project Assignments

B. Aiding with Virtual World and Augmented Reality Experiences for Learning Ecosystems Science (EcoXPT, EcoMOBILE, EcoMOD).

EcoXPT is a federally funded project to design and study innovative curricula that use immersive technologies. This assignment involves:

• participating as part of a research team designing and implementing virtual world curricula for middle school students learning ecosystems science and complex causality. Opportunities are also available to work on our augmented reality curriculum, EcoMOBILE. For more information about the knowledge/skills needed, please see this overview Download overview
  . The people supervising this assignment are Drs. Shari Metcalf and Amy Kamarainen. EcoLearn powerpoint Download EcoLearn powerpoint
• Further, we have opportunities to work with EcoMOD Download EcoMOD
  , a prospective elementary school ecosystems science curriculum that involves computational modeling. The person supervising this assignment will be teaching fellow Joe Reilly.

• preparing a mid-semester update Download mid-semester update
  and a final report Download final report
  that present what you accomplished, what you learned, and any ways we could have improved the learning experience for you

To be considered as a candidate for this assignment, please submit the requested project application Download application

C. Participating in a Study of College Board Online Professional Development for Advanced Placement Courses in Science.

This assignment involves:

• Analyzing the College Board’s Advanced Placement Online Teacher Community: Join HGSE researchers in a longitudinal study of the College Board’s online community for Advanced Placement teachers of Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. Analyze quantitative and qualitative data sources to understand how participation in the online community contributes to increased teacher and student outcomes. Check out our blog post in Ed Week Links to an external site. for a brief overview.
  For more information about this project, please see this description Download this description

  . The person supervising this assignment is doctoral student Kim Frumin.

• preparing a mid-semester update Download mid-semester update
  and a final report Download final report
  that present what you accomplished, what you learned, and any ways we could have improved the learning experience for you.

To be considered as a candidate for this assignment, please submit the requested project application Download application

Design Project Assignments

D. Aiding Adult ESL learners with Initiatives in Improving Education via Social Media and Mobile Learning.
This assignment involves:

• Developing learning exercises for adult ESL students using their mobile devices. For more information about this project, please see this description Download this description
  . The person supervising this assignment is Heidi Larson at EDC.
• preparing a mid-semester update Download mid-semester update
  and a final report Download final report
  that present what you accomplished, what you learned, and any ways we could have improved the learning experience for you

To be considered as a candidate for this assignment, please submit the requested project application Download application

E. Helping to Develop StarLogo simulations for Elementary School Science

This assignment involves:

• Providing assistance in designing and building StarLogo Links to an external site. simulations of science concepts for grades 4 and 5, as part of a NSF-funded study about model-based reasoning. The person supervising this assignment is Daniel Wendel from Professor Eric Klopfer's Lab at MIT.
• preparing a mid-semester update Download mid-semester update
  and a final report Download final report
  that present what you accomplished, what you learned, and any ways we could have improved the learning experience for you

To be considered as a candidate for this assignment, please submit the requested project application Download application

F. Propose an Alternative Assignment.

Alternative assignments typically involve direct, extensive involvement in some project engaged in the design, development, evaluation, or implementation of an emerging technology.

Please submit the requested project application Download application

Grading

You may take the course for a letter grade or with a satisfactory/no credit designation. Grades are based on completion of course requirements and on the scope, quality, and creativity of the assignments. At mid-semester, as indicated on the syllabus, all students will submit a progress report on their assignment; ungraded feedback will be provided. The assignment grade constitutes 66% of the final grade in the course. In addition, another 34% of the final grade is based two individual reflections (due at week 5 and week 9 of the semester) on 1) what you have learned from the course so far and 2) what types of learning you would like to attain before the course ends.

The expectation for workload in this course is that students will spend approximately eight hours per week outside of class. Incompletes in the course are given only under unusual extenuating circumstances.

I strongly encourage you to be creative and provocative in your thinking and to experiment with ideas. However, it is important that you clearly distinguish your work and ideas from knowledge and information derived from sources (lectures, websites, journal articles, books, etc). Students are responsible for learning proper forms of citations. Harvard College Expository Writing Program published a great resource, Writing with Sources: A Guide for Harvard Students and Writing with Internet Sources. This publication is included in your registration packet. Information on Harvard's strict plagiarism policy and access to Harvard's writing resources can be found in your Student Handbook.

Syllabus (Subject to Change via Revisions on Course Website)