8/23/99: Go to http://xenex.cc.gatech.edu:8080/edtech99, our classroom discussion area (called a Swiki or Co-Web). We will be using the Co-Web throughout the quarter. The technology, built by Mark Guzdial, based on software developed at Apple, allows us to create and write web pages and organize them as we see fit. Your first assignment involves writing on those pages. If you want, visit http://sectry.cc.gatech.edu:8080/edt or http://xenex.cc.gatech.edu:8080/ed tech (discussion areas from last year and the year before) to see how we’ve used them in the past.

• Philosophies: What are the major schools of thought on how educational technology should be implemented and the roles it should play? What do each of them advise, and on what basis?

• Technologies: How can technology be used well for educational purposes (a sampling, including multimedia, collaboration technologies, case libraries, simulations, microworlds)? How are people using those technologies? What do we know about what makes a given technology effective?

• Learning: How does learning work? How can one facilitate learning?

• Designing educational environments: Given a learning situation, what roles might technology play? How can we decide that? What technologies? What dimensions should we take into account when designing technology? What things impact whether a given technology will work? What contexts allow effective use of technology for learning? What role does the teacher need to take to make it effective? What other players and materials, beyond the teacher and the technology, are needed to make it all come together? How can we make decisions about those things?

• Evaluation? What does it mean for an educational technology to be successful? How can we measure that? What variables should we use? What methods for evaluation should we use (e.g., classroom study, interviews, log files, design experiments)?

1. Identify the aims and values of the major schools of thought in educational technology, and be able to classify others' research in terms of these schools of thought.

2. Describe some educational technology initiatives in terms of their educational objectives, technologies chosen, and the reasons particular technologies were chosen and identify some of the most prominent leaders and groups in educational software design.

3. Identify dimensions of the educational setting that impact the success or failure of educational technology.

4. Describe the trade-offs of various evaluation and assessment goals and techniques.

5. Identify several variables impacting the success of educational software and methods for measuring or studying those variables.

6. Describe a technology solution to an education problem and the way that technology should be integrated into the learning environment, and identify the factors that will impact the success or failure of the technology.

• Readings: There will be a reading for almost every class meeting. Everyone is expected to read assigned articles.

• Participation in Discussion: Most class meetings will be a discussion of the assigned papers. Students are expected to participate in discussions.

• Homework papers: Individual papers are required on topics announced here.

• Group design project: Group projects (required minimum of two people) where students will design (on paper) an educational technology, justify their designs in terms of objectives and dimensions of the educational environment, and identify factors that will impact its success or failure.

• Remember a particularly good educational experience you've had. Describe it. What was it that made it good? What roles did the different participants play? What did you learn?

• Remember a particularly bad educational experience you've had, one where you went into it really excited but were turned off, or one where you simply never got turned on. Describe it. What was wrong with it? Can you identify how it could have been improved?

• In what situations do you learn best?

• What are your strengths? What are your goals for yourself in this class? What kind of educational technology project might you like to work on?

• Use Design Discussions to post the results of your experimentation and to comment on the experiments of others. Read and comment on at least six presentations.

• Use Design Discussions to post your ideas about designing your best parachute. Read and comment on the designs of at least six other groups.

• Use Design Discussions to post the results of trials with the parachute you designed. Read and comment on at least six others.

• Use Design Discussions to post your final design and results.

• Use StoryBoard Author to write about what you learned (as if you were a science student).

• On the Swiki, post a writeup of what you’ve learned about learning and the use of educational software.

• Describe the educational approach and the software and how it is used

• Which educational philosophies does this project follow?

• What technologies are they using, and how are they using technology?

• If Anderson, Papert, Schank, and Collins were examining this work, what would each of them say about it?

• Begin your own critique.

• the educational situation – who are the students and how are they interacting with each other (if they are) and the software

• the students – what do they already know, and what do you want them to learn? Do you know anything about what’s complex and what difficulties they might have?

• the educational philosophy you are taking

• how you want to use technology – what facilities will it provide? How will they interact with it?

• how do you think it will help? I.e., how might it fulfill the needs of your learners?

• what are you satisfied with? What issues might you have to confront to make this a reality?