EDTC 6341 Student-Centered Learning

EDTC 6341 Student-Centered Learning
Please note: The first synchronous online meeting is January 26 2010 at 8:00 PM Central time. This
meeting will be held in Elluminate, so please be sure that you have "set up" Elluminate to run on
your computer before the first scheduled meeting. You can find out how to do this in the Course
Orientation - found by clicking on Course Orientation in the sidebar to your left.
After the initial meeting, class will meet both synchronously and asynchronously (through wiki
discussions and listservs). Meeting time for synchronous meetings are:
Tuesdays at 8:00 PM (Central time)
Instructor Information
Janice Wilson Butler, Ed. D.
Office Address: 80 Fort Brown
EDBC 1.310
Brownsville, TX 78520
Contact:
Ph. 956.882.6713
Fax 956.882.8929
E-mail: [email protected]
Course Description
EDTC 6341 – Student Centered Learning Using Technology (UT Brownsville): This course
provides the Master Technology Teacher (MTT) with the skills and conceptual knowledge for
instructional design and development of student-centered learning activities in the K—12 classroom.
The course also addresses critical issues in this instructional design and development process,
including effective modifications of instruction that uses advanced technologies for special needs
students, and mentoring other faculty members and administrators in the effective use of technology.
In addition, this course is intended to further knowledge about using technology skills in meaningful
contexts as well as showing other teachers how to integrate technology into their curriculum. As you
go through the various projects, it is important that you consider both how you can use the tools in
your job AND how you can mentor other teachers in the effective use of the tools.
A major focus of the MTT program is the mentoring of faculty, administrators, and parents in
effectively using technology. We begin in this second course by looking at effective ways to build
curriculum that focuses on student-centered learning, rather than teacher- centered learning, which is
quite prevalent in classrooms today.
Objectives
Upon completion of this course, the learner will be:
proficient in develop student-centered instruction using the FACTS instructional design model.
proficient in developing instruction that includes technology integration.
proficient in using Elluminate for a variety of instructional tasks.
adept at synthesizing the knowledge and skills required to perform the multifaceted role of the
Master Technology Teacher in an applied context.
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Technical Support and Student Services
MyUTBTSC is a fully online system that allows you to access it with a username and password and
grants you access to your course materials. These materials include anything an instructor would
normally hand out, assign or lecture. The only difference is that now you have access to that material
24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
You can access the materials and submit your own work at any time (within due dates). The system
also provides an environment where you can interact with both the instructor and fellow students in a
way similar to what you experience in the classroom.
More specific help and resources can be found by clicking on the Student Support button on the left
sidebar menu. Due to the username/password synchronization you will sign on to MyUTBTSC with
the username and password that you have established. For questions please contact the Help Desk or
Info Shop at [email protected] or (956) 882-4357.
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Course Supplies and Resources
Consult THE CALENDAR for important due dates, available resources, etc.
Textbook: Norton, P., & Wiburg, K. M. (2003). Teaching with technology: Designing opportunities to learn.
(2nd. ed.) Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning (ISBN: 0-534-60309-2).
Purchase the above textbook the first week of class. If you have not already done so, you may
purchase the text from any online bookstore.
Other Materials/Texts:
All the materials below are PDF files and can be printed out; you do not have to purchase the
materials.
Horizon Report - This eye-opening report, a collaboration between the New Media Consortium and
the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI), describes six areas of emerging technology that will
impact higher education within three adoption horizons over the next one to five years. It is updated
each year. Please download the latest copy.
Long-Range Technology Plan, 2006-2020 - Presented to TEA in December, 2006
Software: You will be using a variety of Web 2.0 tools as well as other software in this class.
Because we know that you work in an environment that has limited funding (K-12 education), we
encourage the use of free, freeware and open source software, when possible. This will allow your
expenses to be low and offers you the ability to rather rapidly add value at your workplace because
you will also be able to encourage the use of free software and provide access to the software, also.
Some suggestions for available software can be found in under the Resources link. Other suggestions
for free software will be made throughout the semester. We encourage you to share any resources
that you may be familiar with.
Email Account: Very important course information is communicated to you via email. It is crucial
that you check your email at least once per day. Please see important information below regarding
email communication.
Hardware: You are advised to closely read the information listed at the TeleCampus regarding
hadrware recommendations.
and act accordingly. In this class you need to connect your computer to Elluminate Live Classroom.
To do so, you need (a) a headset with a microphone and (b) a wired Internet connection, preferably
broadband. Additionally, please allow time to install necessary (free) plug-ins before you are first
scheduled to use Elluminate. For a tutorial on connecting to Elluminate for the first time please go to
the Technology Orientation.
We are lucky to be "pioneers" in online education during this time of rapidly evolving
technology. At the same time, we sometimes have to be patient as technology does not behave
quite the way it was "advertised." Expect some minor frustrations as we work our way through
using a system that is not quite up to holodeck standards. (Those Trekkies out there know what I am
talking about.) We are on the beginning voyage into this emerging technology field. But, we will go
through it together - and in my experience have a great deal of fun learning how to make an
imperfect system work well for us. Be patient and look forward to this as a time to grow and use a
technology tool that very few people even realize exist and even fewer online programs utilize.
Digital Library: You will need to access the Digital Library at various times during your Ed Tech
courses. We encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity to access scholarly journals for use
during your program. In addition, you will be required to review and critique tutorials that are
available at the Digital Library.
SMARTHINKING: SMARTHINKING is your source for 24 X 7 online tutoring. While they
cannot help you with your technology projects, we HIGHLY recommend that you use the services
for any writing assignments you may have to submit. You will generally get results from a a certified
tutor within 24 hours of submission. You may submit questions in addition to submitting essays to
the SMARTHINKING tutors. To access SMARTHINKING services go to MyUTBTSC Online
Portal (http://myutbtsc.blackboard.com) and login with your UTB/TSC credentials. For more
information Contact UTB/TSC Distance Education and Instructional Technologies at (956)882-6696
or [email protected]. We will discuss this in Elluminate before you begin submitting papers.
Safe Assign: This provider will allow you to submit your papers to ensure that you are not
plagiarizing anything in your document. Once you submit the assignment, you will have to email the
instructor to send you the information regarding your paper. We will discuss this in Elluminate
before you begin submitting papers.
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Course Policies
Assignment Due Dates (Read the CALENDAR!)
In order to be prepared for course discussions, you should have completed the week's assignments
before we meet for class. Projects which are turned in after Midnight on the Official Due Date
without a documented reason will be assessed a 10% deduction. A project will not be accepted
two weeks after its due date, and none will be accepted after the last day of class.
All projects are due Sunday at Midnight on the week indicated on the calendar.
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Modes of Communication
Overview: Throughout this graduate-level course you will communicate with your instructor and
your peers in a variety of ways:
Phone conferences
Online discussions in Elluminate Live Classroom
Email correspondences
Course wiki and group wiki
Face-to-face meetings (certainly not mandatory, but when possible)
Phone Conferences: Call the instructor at if you wish. If the instructor is not
available, please leave a short message with your return number. Please enunciate
your callback number slowly.
Online Discussions: The class is scheduled to meet in Elluminate Live Classroom
approximately once per week. Other modes of communication may also be used as they
become available. Each tool will be introduced with a tutorial provided ahead of time when
needed and practice will be planned.
Email Correspondence: Very important course information is communicated to you via
email. It is crucial that you check your email on a daily basis. You may also contact your
instructor via email. While we make every effort to respond within 24-hours (and usually
much sooner), sometimes glitches cause the email to go awry. Please do not assume we are
ignoring you if you do not hear from us. Please re-send your email with Second Attempt in
the subject line so that we may respond to you.
IMPORTANT Please note: It is critical that you go through the Course Orientation activity
to ensure that you can receive emails from the course listserv.
Formatting for all class Emails: To enable everyone in the class to easily organize
emails, please include the course number, your name, and then the subject of your email in
the subject line: 6341 Janice - Your topic here. If you do not include the course number
and your name, it may be inadvertently overlooked and thus take a longer time to receive a
response, espcially since many students are in more than one class with me this semester.
Course wiki: You will be posting your your projects in the course wiki under the
appropriate section or your individual page(s). The wiki can be accessed at
http://butleratutb.pbwiki.com. The link for this semester's course pages are in the top left
column on the home page of the wiki. More information about accessing and using the wiki
is provided in the Course Orientation.
Face-to-Face Meetings: While not mandatory, we would be happy to meet anyone faceto-face if needed or wanted. Please contact the instructor by email or phone to set up a
time to meet.
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Student FTP Web Publishing:
If you do not have access to a server that houses all your projects and materials online,
server space is provided to students through the University of Texas at Brownsville. The
Technology Orientation will provide more information about this.
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Evaluation
You will notice that we do not have any quizzes or exams. In our experience, quizzes have
not had much impact on learning in an online environment, but become simply a "hunt for
the answer" exercise that quickly gets old. Therefore, we expect you to apply the knowledge
in the chapters that you read.
This means that projects and activities that apply the knowledge you have gained are
weighted heavily in this course. Most of the activities are to be completed online and are
designed to assist you it better understanding the materials in the chapters. You will be
evaluated as follows:
Course Orientation (worth 40 pts.):
This brief exercise will familiarize you with the expectations of the course. It is very
important that you complete this quickly so that you may begin working on the rest of the
course.
Chapter Exercises (worth 60 pts.):
In addition, you will be developing a student-centered lesson. These activities are very
important and comprise a large percentage of your grade for the course. Directions for
completing the activities and due dates are included in the course outline and can be found
within each module.
Chapter Presentation (worth 100 pts.):
For each chapter, a pair of students will be sharing the content of the chapter to the rest of
the class in an entertaining and informative presentation. (Worth 100 points - 50%
content/50% presentation)
Chapter Support (worth 100 pts.):
For the chapter in which you are responsible, you will be expected to serve as the chapter
expert and provide support to those you may have questions about your section of the
materials.
Final lesson intro presentation (worth 40 points):
You will prepare an introduction for your lesson and present it to the class.
Final lesson structure/delivery(worth 220 points):
You will be expected to devellop a "finished" lesson and present it to the class as a team.
Each team member must present.
Whyvillle and Games Tours (40 points): Each person will present a tour on Whyville.
Games Assessment and Games Design (200 points): Each person will assess games and design
games as a pertion of the class. Requirements and rubrics will be provided.
Wiki Development (100 points): We will be develooping a games wiki as a resource for you and
others interested in gaming in education. The more you contribute, the more powerful the wiki will
become.
Class Participation (worth 100 pts.):
Class meetings are scheduled on a semi-weekly basis. In some cases, we join several other
classes for meeting a guest speaker. You will be notified about such meetings. At least once
during the semester, you will be required to present online. It is mandatory that you be at
the session in which you are scheduled to present. Please contact the instructor for options
if you are unable to attend the synchronous meetings weekly.
IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT PRESENTATIONS: In an effort to reinforce the importance of
effective PowerPoint presentations, you will be developing three different presentations and
presenting two of them to the class via Elluminate. Thus, it is important that you look at the
examples that I have provided and at a minimum use the "Rules for Effective PowerPoint
Designs." While they are old school, they nevertheless need to be followed as a minimum.
More details will be provided with the directions for the projects.
Late Projects: One letter grade will be deducted from any project submitted AFTER the due
date (at midnight) as posted on the calendar. If your project is two weeks late or it is
submitted after the last day of the class (whichever comes first), you will receive zero credit
for that particular project.
Evaluation:
Grades for the semester will be derived as follows:
Points
Grading Criteria for Course by Project
Course Orientation
Course Orientation
Chapter Exercises/Lesson Chapter
Chapter
Chapter
Chapter
Chapter
Chapter
Chapter
Chapter Presentation
Chapter Support
40
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
10
10
10
10
10
5
5
Chapter Presentation (Content
50%/
Presentation 50%)
100
100
Chapter Support
Final Project Intro
Final Project Lesson
Lesson Presentation
Intro for students
Final Draft of lesson
Presentation
40
120
100
Whyville Presentation
Tour
Presentation
Games Assessments
Rubric development
100
Games Design
Game Devlopment
100
Wiki Development
Wiki Support
100
Contribution to class
Participation
100
40
Total Points
Grade Distribution by points:
900-1000 points
=
A
800-899 points
=
B
700-799 points
=
C
Below 600 points
=
F
1000
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Academic Dishonesty Statement:
Students are expected to be above reproach in all scholastic activities. Students who
engage in scholastic dishonesty are subject to disciplinary penalties, including the possibility
of failure in the course and dismissal from the university. "Scholastic dishonesty includes
but is not limited to cheating, plagiarism, collusion, the submission for credit of any work or
materials that are attributable in whole or in part to another person, taking an examination
for another person, any act designed to give unfair advantage to a student or the attempt to
commit such acts. Regents' Rules and Regulations, Series 50101, Section 2.2.
Since scholastic dishonesty harms the individual, all students, and the integrity of the
university, policies on scholastic dishonesty will be strictly enforced (refer to Student
Handbook for more information).
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Disabilities Statement:
Students with disabilities, including learning disabilities, who wish to request academic
adjustments in this class, should notify the Disability Services Office in the semester so that
the appropriate accommodations may be made. In accordance with federal law, a student
requesting academic adjustments must provide documentation of his/her disability to the
Disability Services Counselor. For more information, call or visit the Counseling Center
Cardenas North 103, (956) 882-8292 or email [email protected].
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Emergency Statement:
This UTB graduate distance education class is facilitated via UTB BlackBoard. This allows
faculty members and students to continue their teaching and learning, whether or not the
university shuts down as a result of a hurricane or any other natural disaster.
Should any disaster occurs, announcements will be made within Blackboard and from your
instructor in the case of Elluminate meetings continuing. The final decision to continue or
drop Elluminate session will be determined by your instructor. To facilitate the completion of
classes, most or all of the communication between students and the institution, the
instructor, and fellow classmates will take place using Blackboard.
To receive credit for a course, it is the student’s responsibility to complete all the
requirements for that course. Failure to access course materials once reasonably possible
can result in a reduction of your overall grade in the class.