Goals: The goal of this course is to prepare Vermont educators to meet state and national educational technology standards as follows:

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1 Course Syllabus EDCI 321 Learning Theory, Instructional Design & Technology Credits: 3 Instructor: Maureen Neumann Meeting Location and Dates: Online in Blackboard, January 14 - May 6, 2013 Course Description: This online course explores learning-theory research and its applications for technologyenriched, standards-based units of study. Students will study theories of constructivism, multiple intelligences, and research related to how people learn. Participants will learn how technology applications can be used to create learning environments that strengthen 21 st century problem-solving skills, and encourage communication, collaboration, and reflection. Using instructional design strategies explored in this course, participants will develop a standards-based unit of study that strategically integrates technology and meets 21 st century skills along with national and state educational technology standards and assessments. Goals: The goal of this course is to prepare Vermont educators to meet state and national educational technology standards as follows: Vermont State Criteria for Educational Technologist Specialist Endorsement: Knowledge Standards: Demonstrates knowledge of topics, concepts, and skills essential to the effective integration of technology in the teaching and learning process, as delineated in current national professional standards * including: Ways technology can be used to support high-quality, standards-based curriculum, instruction, and assessment in all content areas, including instructional design principles that rely upon research-based learning theories to guide the use of computers and other technologies in education. Proficiency in current technologies. Performance Standards: Supports the effective integration of technology throughout all areas of the school s curriculum as delineated in Vermont s Framework of Standards and Learning Opportunities. Specifically, the educator: Identifies, helps design, implements, and evaluates authoring, programming, and problem-solving environments for use in the classroom. Designs and implements, and collaborates with classroom teachers to design and implement, tasks or projects that incorporate various technologies as tools to facilitate and enhance students research, critical thinking, problem solving, analysis, collaboration, communication, and presentation skills. Assists classroom teachers and other staff to develop effective means of assessing students learning of technology concepts and skills across the curriculum, and to assess technology s impact on the enhancement of student learning. Adapts to new technologies and helps teachers to integrate them into the educational process, as appropriate.

2 National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (2000, International Society for Technology in Education) Essential Questions: How can learning theory research be applied with educational technology to improve student learning environments and opportunities? How can we increase student understanding of content knowledge with purposeful instructional design practices that integrate educational technology? Understanding: Students will understand Pedagogy that supports the integration of technology in the curriculum Research that improves one s ability to teach students well and improve teacher practice Educational technology ideas to support the complex and diverse ways that people learn Instructional design that is essential to crafting learning environments that support deeper understanding of content Learning Outcomes: Students will know Learning theory research for 21 st century learners (constructivism, multiple intelligences and learning styles, social cognition, problem-based learning, activating prior knowledge, etc. as based on the works of John Bransford, Howard Gardner, and others) Educational technology resources and tools that support diverse learners across the curriculum. Vermont and National Educational Technology Standards for Students (NETS-S) Vermont Grade Expectations in Information Technology. Understanding by Design (UbD) concepts (Wiggins and McTighe) Web tools, apps, blogs, videos, podcasts, etc. that support social construction of knowledge. Students will be able to Create a standards-based unit of study using UbD concepts and processes that integrates technology to support learning goals and objectives. Create formative and summative assessments that align with state and national educational technology standards to assess student learning in content areas as well as in educational technology. Integrate educational technology applications in classroom instruction to support enduring understanding. Apply learning theory research to guide the use of computers and other technologies in education. Use graphic organizers, multimedia software, and collaboration tools to communicate and socially construct knowledge. Evaluate and select educational technology resources to serve diverse learning styles and intelligences. Use Web tools, apps, blogs, videos, podcasts, etc. to increase productivity, collaboration, and communication with colleagues.

3 Course Policies/Expectations: The following are necessary for successful completion of this course: Active participation in online class discussions of readings and literature Completion of readings Completion of assignments Typically, students should expect to devote hours per week in reviewing online lessons and resources, reading required texts and articles offline, creating and completing assignments, and participating in discussions. Discussion postings should reflect a student s understanding and transfer of concepts contained in lessons and readings. Attendance Expectations: Online participation in Blackboard each week to complete assignments and post discussion messages is required. Students are expected to visit the Blackboard site multiple per week and actively participate in class discussions of readings and literature. The official policy for excused absences for religious holidays: Students have the right to practice the religion of their choice. Each semester students should submit in writing to their instructors by the end of the second full week of classes their documented religious holiday schedule for the semester. Faculty must permit students who miss work for the purpose of religious observance to make up this work. Contributions in Class: Participants are expected to review all links in the Blackboard lessons posted. Participants should also take an active role in class discussions around new information from assigned readings and classroom applications. Participation in discussion board topics must be timely (within each week s assignments) with multiple postings per week anticipated that respond to colleagues postings. Students should expect to log in to the Blackboard course site multiple times per week. Academic Honesty & Professionalism: All students are required to be familiar with and adhere to the Academic Honesty Policy Procedures delineated in the most recent edition of The Cat s Tale. ( Accommodations: Accommodations will be provided to eligible students with disabilities. Please obtain an accommodation letter from the ACCESS office and see one of the instructors early in the course to discuss what accommodations will be necessary. If you are unfamiliar with ACCESS, visit their website at to learn more about the services they provide. ACESS: A-170 Living Learning Center, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT PH: , TTY: call 711 (relay), Fax: , access@uvm.edu, Instant Messenger: UVMaccess. General office hours: 8:30am 4:30pm Monday through Friday. Call to make an appointment.

4 Required readings: Donovan, M.S., Bransford, J.D., Pellegrino, J.W., (1999). How People Learn: Bridging Research and Practice, pp (Note -- This can be read online or you can download chapters if you create an account with NAP. We will only read up to p. 24 in this book.) Gardner, Howard (2010). Five Minds for the Future, in 21st Century Skills: Rethinking How Students Learn, edited by J. Bellanca & R. Brandt. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press, pp (This chapter will be available through UVM Bailey Howe Library Course Reserves.) Tomlinson, C. A. (2001). How to differentiate instruction in mixed-ability classrooms. Alexandria, VA: ASCD (These chapters will be available through UVM Bailey Howe Library Course Reserves.) Cohen, E. G. (1994). Designing Groupwork: Strategies for the heterogeneous classroom. New York: Teacher s College Press (These chapters will be available through UVM Bailey Howe Library Course Reserves.) Jacobs, H.H., (2010). Curriculum 21: Essential Education for a Changing World. Alexandra, Va. ASCD. (This book may be ordered online through amazon.com.) Wiggins, G., McTighe, J. (2011). The Understanding by Design Guide to Creating High- Quality Units. Alexandra, Va., ASCD. (This book may be ordered online through amazon.com.) Other readings as assigned through lessons Electronic Submissions/Internet Use: This course requires substantial Internet use given its online format. Online lessons include links to resources and readings associated with online lessons. Class discussion is conducted through an online discussion board in Blackboard. All course assignments are submitted electronically via Blackboard. Grading: Criteria for how grades are determined are described in the following sections. Course assessments are performance based and include written and multimedia performance products. Description of Class Assignments: The following performance tasks and activities will be used to evaluate/assess student performance in this course: 1. Active Participation and Thoughtful Discourse The success of an online course relies heavily on each person's active participation. Each student will be expected to post his/her thoughts about activities and class readings each week. In addition, students will be expected to respond to the postings of others, to ask in-depth questions, and to help all of us probe deeper. At times, I may ask students to work in small

5 groups or to post and facilitate discussion questions. I will also ask students to review the work of others in the class and provide thoughtful and constructive feedback. 2. Social Bookmarking and Annotated Bibliography Throughout the course, each student is expected to conduct individual research and maintain a social bookmarking site that contains links to useful resources and web sites accessed during the course. Students must share this social bookmarking site with the instructor. Students must tag the web resources they have selected and write a brief annotation about each entry to remind them why the resource was useful and/or meaningful. 3. Learning Essays During the course, each student will write two learning essays and post them in Blackboard s journal utility. Each journal entry should provide evidence that the student has completed the required lessons and readings and is able to synthesize, analyze, and reflect on this information. Learning essays also provide students the opportunity to ask specific questions or to voice any concerns as the course progresses. 4. Multimedia Presentation of Technology Proposal You will choose one of two scenarios (or if you want connect with an authentic situation that could possibly occur at your school with prior approval). You will create presentation for a proposal about purchasing new technology tools to enhance student learning/achievement. You will reveal your personal beliefs about the use and applications of educational technology in teaching. In your proposal, you will explain: how technology use enhances student learning substantiating it with current research; how the proposal meets state and local standards for technology; instructional strategies that support the use of laptops, ipads, apps, or other technology tools; and the professional development teachers will need to implement your proposal successfully. You will want to include at least one example that illustrates/demonstrates an effective model of technology integration. You will create a media presentation that supports the proposal that would hypothetically be presented to a superintendent, school board, colleagues in department, etc. 5. Standards-based Unit of Study Each student will create a standards-based unit using the UbD process. Students will be asked to complete this task in stages -- corresponding to the UdD process. In this process, students will write drafts of their units in a web-based resource utility, such as Google Sites or Weebly Percentage Contribution of Each Assignment: Performance Task Percentage of Grade Learning Essays (2) 10% Standards-based Unit in Google Sites 30% Multimedia Presentation and Technology Proposal 30% Social Bookmarking and Annotations 10% Discussion and Collaboration 20% Total 100%