1. SCAFFOLDING

In the Georgia Tech undergraduate class, "Educational Technology: Design and Evaluation," students design and evaluate a piece of educational technology. When asked to explain the pedagogy behind their design, the majority of the students reply with one word: "scaffolding." Many of the students don't really understand what scaffolding is--the buzzword is misused to try to justify every possible kind of design. Discuss the educational theory behind "software-realized scaffolding" as an approach to the design of educational technology. First, present the ideal model for what software-realized scaffolding is supposed to be. Next, discuss limitations of making this work in practice. What limitations are technical in nature and potentially solvable with better intelligent systems technology? What limitations of "scaffolding" as an approach are theoretical in nature, reflecting our incomplete understanding of underlying learning phenomena?

2. LBD, KNOWLEDGE BUILDING, and KIE/WISE

In a recent talk at AERA, Marlene Scardamalia presented her idea of how to revolutionize education. Her proposal was to put knowledge building (and Knowledge Forum (previously CSILE)) in the center of everything. With such an approach, the purpose of all activities in the classroom would be knowledge building; all other activities would be carried out on its behalf. LBD takes a different approach — it makes knowledge building a goal, but it puts the design challenge in the center to encourage knowledge building. KIE/WISE is another approach altogether -- students read about a topic for a while, and they use software to make arguments, with a big focus on using evidence to justify. Later they work on projects that apply what they've learned. Compare and contrast the three approaches to science learning. How different are they really? When might each be applicable?

3. BRICOLEURS AND PLANNERS

In the paper with the tongue-twister title, "Epistemological Pluralisms," Sherry Turkle and Seymour Papert argue that there is more than one way to come to knowledge. They point out that most educational interventions are aimed at the planners, trying to get students to construct in a planful way, to use the scientific method to test their assumptions. However, other approaches are viable, such as the bricoleur approach, where artifacts (and knowledge) are constructed in bits and pieces, and direction is chosen based on reflection on what is already gathered. Consider at least two different innovations that you have read about that you think are aimed at "planners." How would you change these interventions to support the learning of "bricoleurs"? In general, what do you think is needed to support bricoleur learning?

4. REAL-TIME COLLABORATION FOR CLASSROOMS

You are talking to a junior colleague who wants to use real-time collaboration to teach writing, in a classroom setting. The idea is that pairs of students will trade paper drafts online, and then meet in real time chat to give each other comments. The plan is to create a tool that makes it easy to refer to parts of the draft with a shared highlighting tool--each student can highlight what appears on the other student's screen. Describe the strengths of this idea, from both practical and pedagogical perspectives. Now critique its weaknesses, also from both practical and pedagogical perspectives. Pay special attention to the real-time features of the environment. Remember to cite the readings in your analysis.

5. CASES IN ANOTHER SETTING

You read about STABLE, where case libraries were used pretty successfully in an undergraduate Sophomore design course. In LBD, cases are used to support a successful program of science learning. Can you draw some common themes out of these experiences? Let's imagine that you think that case libraries might be used in another setting: An undergraduate Freshman intro course, either Calc I, CS1, or Bio 1 (please pick one). What kinds of cases would you use? How would you use them? What learning objectives do you think this use of cases would help you achieve?

6. INTEGRATING HAND-HELDS INTO THE CLASSROOM

Several leaders in the learning sciences community are arguing that we will be better able to create educational revolution by integrating hand-helds into the classroom than we've been able to do using computers. Some arguments are pragmatic -- e.g., one hand-held per student costs a lot less than 7 or 8 computers in each classroom. Other arguments are cognitive -- e.g., students' time on task will be far greater if they carry the hand-helds around with them and take them home at night. Others are social -- e.g., students will be more engaged if they own and can carry around their tools and if they decide which software they need at different times. On the other hand, there are reports that suggest possible drawbacks to using hand-helds, e.g., students tend to have many short sessions with hand-helds rather than longer ones, and students tend not to compose paragraphs of text with hand-helds. Given these positives and strengths, discuss the opportunities and challenges in designing the roles for hand-helds in the classroom. What would they be good for? What wouldn't they be good for?

7. EVALUATION FOR NON-TRADITIONAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

In the paper "Pianos Not Stereos," Resnick et al discuss challenges of designing good construction kits aimed at fostering learning. What further challenges exist in evaluating whether your construction kit is successful? Pick a constructionist tool (StarLogo, Hypergami, MOOSE Crossing, or CoWebs), and discuss how you would evaluate it. Highlight controversial issues in evaluation of such environments, making sure to note how Seymour Papert, Roy Pea, and Derek Walker might disagree about aspects of your plan.