Information
Due Date: 01/11/2012
Description: Introductions
Topics:We use the first event in the course to introduce ourselves to one another and to learn about one another's interests and goals.There are three things for you to do.First, contribute to the discussion about introductions that already is posted. Access this from "Discussion" in your "MAIN MENU."Second, consider adding to the personal data section. Under the "MAIN MENU" there is an option, "Personal Data." Anything you enter there will be available to anyone having access to the course "Roster" (from your "MAIN MENU" list). This includes everyone registered in the course or participating in the course. Therefore, you should consider what is posted. Your name and e-mail are posted. The only way to access the course is using a password, but there are no controls over sharing access. That is, someone with access may grant access to someone for whom access is not intended.Third, there is a system of assignment responding that you access under "Assignment" on your "MAIN MENU." Only I see this. Be sure that you are able to submit assignments. The way I work the course is that all of the information about a topic including the readings and questions are posted for a data on which they are due. So, the first date on which this are due for this course is in a week. By then you should have engaged in the introductory discussion and responded to the introductory question.
There is no 'My Take' audio for this event (yet).
Readings:Your reading assignment appears on the date on which it is to have been completed. Since this is the first class, there is no reading due. To see what reading is due next week, see the "Readings" list for next week.During this next week (up to 8/31/11) you will be submitting information about yourself, sharing with classmates, and learning how to use the software.
TOP
Due Date: 01/18/2012
Description: Introductions-2 Due, Current Definitions
Topics:My objective for the first week is to learn a bit about you and to get you used to the software system.This is the week when introductions are due on the discussion.You were asked to submit personal data for sharing, and any data that has been submitted should now be available on the "Roster." Check out the roster to see what's there.I want to use this week to have you "stake out" the positions you now hold. We'll do this by responding to a series of questions (1, 2, & 3).
Question 2.1(<= 3000 char) A word we use often is motivation. Briefly and concisely, explain what you mean when you use the term motivation as it applies to learners in classrooms. Assume you are writing for a very literate person who has limited technical vocabulary.
Question 2.2(<= 3000 char) A word we use often is learning. Briefly and concisely, explain what you mean when you use the term learning as it applies to learners in classrooms. Assume you are writing for a very literate person who has limited technical vocabulary.
Question 2.3(<= 3000 char) A word we use often is ability. Briefly and concisely, explain what you mean when you use the term ability as it applies to learners in classrooms. Assume you are writing for a very literate person who has limited technical vocabulary.
Readings:Readings appear on the date at which they should have ben completed. So, by 1 PM, you should have completed the reading from THIS event and submitted any and all questions due. (There are THREE questions due.)Due right away: read the course syllabus and information (on line). Ask questions via e-mail as needed.
Due Date: 01/25/2012
Description: This Course Content
Topics:Taking an education course from a person who has been trained as a scientist poses challenges for learners. Scientists always ask "What data supports that claim?" You'll hear that more than once.There is widespread belief that people have learning styles, for example. Dozens of controlled experiments have shown, however, that styles are not something inborn but, if they do exist (and they may not), they are learned. This flies in the face of what many education professors teach.
Question 3.1(<= 3000 char) Have you changed your thinking about expertise? If you have changed, what made you change? If you have not changed, a) What is your current thinking and b) What kind of data would make you change?
Question 3.2(<= 3000 char) The Rohrer-Pashler paper summarizes thre rules about learning that are often violated in teaching. In your own teaching, discuss how you do or do not violate these rules. (If you are not a teacher, discuss whether or not these practices were following in a) the best courses you have taken, and b) the worst courses you have taken. Remember, best and worse are your judgments, and the best may have used what is considered poor practice, and vice versa.)
Question 3.3(<= 3000 char) The hardest thing to do is to change something that is strongly ingrained. Look ahead and see what is to be covered. What will be the hardest thing for you to change in this course? (If there is nothing to change, explain why you are taking the course.)
Readings:Read:The Expert Mind (5.5 Mb, from Scientific American)__________View this video (47 min):My Brilliant Brain. (I urge you NOT to place too much faith on what is said about gender differences in this video.)"Susan Polgar is the world's first female chess grandmaster. But she wasn't born with her brilliant brain – it was created by the unique experiment that dominated her childhood. From the age of four her father trained her for up to six hours a day at chess alone.Growing up in the early 1970s, no woman had ever held the title of chess grandmaster. It was widely believed that female brains weren't wired with adequate spatial awareness for the game. Nowadays, memory and pattern recognition are recognised as they key areas used by experts in all fields – everyone from waiters to fire-fighters. Neither of these however, has the trained memory of a chess grandmaster. Able to recreate a chess game glimpsed only on the side of a passing van, Susan's true genius is revealed when she plays an entire chess match over a mobile phone. Her opponent can see the board but she can't, instead using her memory to imagine the game."Read: Rohrer, D., & Pashler, H. (2010). Recent Research on Human Learning Challenges Conventional Instructional Strategies. Educational Researcher, 39(5), 406-411. This is a recent review of best practices.
Due Date: 02/01/2012
Description: Cognitive Science Summary
Topics:I want to introduce some "easy" reading to get you thinking about learning and cognitive science. Willingham wrote a textbook and then was asked to write an "everyone's" book -- which I think is a good summary of what is known about cognitive science before the ULM unified heretofore disparate areas.Read the Willingham book. pp. 1 to 165. I suggest that you start by reading the Table on p. 163, and then go back and read through the entire book.
Question 4.1 (<=3500 char) Surely there was something you believed about learning but didn't understand or at least understand well before you read the Willingham book. Identify one such notion, describe how you thought it worked, and indicate specifically how Willingham helped change your mind or sharpen your understanding of this notion.
Question 4.2 (<=3500 char) Surely there was something Willingham said about learning that you don't believe or that needs more substantiation. Identify one such idea, state that, indicate what is missing, and indicate what data might change your mind about your thinking on that topic.
Question 4.3 (<=3500 char) Would you recommend reading the Willingham book to other graduate students? Explain and/or discuss your response to this question.
Readings:Willingham, D. T. (2009). Why Don't Students Like School? A cognitive scientist answers questions about how the mind works annd what it means for the classroom. San Francisco: Jossey Bass (Wiley).Buy from Amazon.Buy from Barnes & Noble.
Due Date: 02/08/2012
Description: Unified Learning Model (ULM), Chapters 1-3
Topics:The Unified Learning Model is a book with Springer. It is expensive. The entire book is available here on-line through the section marked "Study Guide." The good news is that it costs nothing (beyond your tuition). The bad news is that you'll need to read about 170 screens to read it all.For this week, read the first THREE chapters of the ULM.This Web site has, in addition to the book's text, abstracts of cited references when available, new citations added after the book went to press, and comments.The ULM unifies notions about learning that are, for the most part, well established. Chapter 2 summarizes how neurons work, and the changes that result in what we call learning.Chapter 3 is a modern view of the concept of working memory, and idea that had roots in a famous paper by Miller in 1956 [Miller, G. A. (1956). The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for processing information. Psych. Rev., 63, 81-97.], and was established in a 1974 book chapter by Baddeley and Hitch [Baddeley, A. D., & Hitch, G. J. (1974). Working memory. In G. Bower (Ed.), The Psychology of Learning and Motivation. (Vol. VIII, pp. 47-90). New York: Academic Press].
Question 5.1(<=2000 char) Use your own words to summarize the three principles and five learning rules in the ULM.
Question 5.2(<= 5000 char). Using Google Scholar, find a paper that interests you published since January 2007 with "working memory" in the title. Give the Web reference fore the paper so I can access it. Why did you select this paper? Briefly summarize the paper. Briefly compare and contrast the notion of working memory expressed in this paper with that found in the ULM.
Question 5.3(<= 3000 char). Of the five rules presented for the ULM, which one are you least willing to believe? What data would help you to consider changing your mind? Report on a search using Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.com) in which you attempt to find such data. (Data; not opinion.)
Readings:Read Chapters 1-3 of the ULM available from the Study Guide menu choice. You also can buy the book if you wish. ULM from Amazon.ULM from Barnes & Noble.
Due Date: 02/15/2012
Description: ULM, Chapters 4-5
Topics:Knowledge is everything we know or can do that is stored in the neurons in our long-term memory. That's probably not the way you think of knowledge in your everyday thoughts, but viewing knowledge in this light gives us a chance to understand how learning works.We all have autobiographical knowledge. This comes easily and automatically. It doesn't stick, and is easily manipulated (modified) by us, by others, or just by the passage of time. Life is about autobiographical knowledge -- how we live and love. Even though we may not be accurate, we think we know when we learned something autobiographical. We call this knowledge episodic knowledge. What about things like 2 + 2? That's surely not autobiograhical. You know it, but you probably cannot remember at all when you first learned it. That's an example of semantic knowledge. School is about semantic knowledge. We repeat things over and over. Each time, the repeated thing comes in as something autobiographcial; you live it. But, it comes in one time in one way and another time in another way so that, in the end, only one portion of it -- the 2 + 2 portion -- is repeated over and over. It comes in ultimately no longer connected to anything autobiographical. The repetition requires effort, and the knowledge ends up standing alone -- as semantic knowledge. I'll talk more about this later.This effort used to be called (and still is called) paying attention. As it happens, there is still debate about how best to look at working memory. We've come a long way since Baddelely and Hitch in 1974, but we still speak of a special spot in working memory -- the focus of attention. The bottom line is this: you can only attend to one thing at a time! So, what does motivation amount to? Well, the most efficient way to think about motivation is that it determines what you will attend to. Suppose you're in a classroom and you suddently hear three or four loud sounds that seem like gunshots; your attention immediately turns to the sound. A new mother does not hear two cats fighting loudly at night, but awakens to the mild cries of her baby. The teacher asks you to pay attention, and you focus on the whiteboard. But you are distracted by something a student sitting in front of you does with a laptop. You're talking on your phone while driving, and the person at the other end says something that is really important. Fifteen seconds later, you're in an accident.You might have guessed -- we're not going to be talking about motivation in the terms you probably have become used to education courses. Motivation means the capture of attention.School is about paying atention; students must pay attention to learn. Motivation is about getting students to pay attention. That doesn't make motivating students easier; it does specify the desired outcome of motivation in school.
Question 6.1(<= 2500 char) Compare and contrast the terms episodic memory and semantic memory (semantic knowledge). We argue that life is about episodic memory, but that school and expertise are about semantic memory. In what ways do you accept that argument? In what ways do you reject that argument?
Question 6.2(<= 3500 char) We assume that the descriptions given in the ULM about motivation are new to you. In what ways do you agree with the ULM view of motivation? I what ways do you challenge or oppose those views?
Question 6.3(<= 3500 char) Most students in this course are old enough to have had an experience like this. You get into a debate with someone close (parent, spouse, significant other, child) where you are sure you are right about something only to find some compelling evidence that you were wrong -- and what you remembered was in error. Describe such an incident. (Don't get too personal; this is not meant as an invasion of privacy.) What do you think went wrong? How did you handle it when you found out?
Readings:Read chapters 4 & 5 of the ULM.
Due Date: 02/22/2012
Description: Cognitive Load Theory
Topics:The Unified Learning Model did not come about as the result a random stroke of intuition. Much empirical work preceded it. John Sweller (followed by many others) was among the first to apply the notion of limited working memory to instruction. A description of the early work in cognitive load is available from the Cooper Web paper, UNSW. I first learned about this concept through the work of science educator, Alex Johnstone. There are probably two hundred quantitative research papers in the literature involving studies of what is now called cognitive load. When you really don't know anything, where do you start to learn? What examples work? How do we design materials for the true novice? Cognitive load theory gives us some means of addressing these issues. Read the Paas & van Gog paper. Perhaps one reason why cognitive load theory has not been embraced widely is that, prior to 2000, only two types of load (intrinsic and extrinsic) were recognized. The introduction of the notion of germane load makes the theory more palatable. Our take is that this amounts to "saving room for thinking." It may be fair to say that the appreciation for cognitive load theory would be greater today had the notion of germane load emerged earlier than it did. What it boils down to is this: "thinking" imposes cognitive load; learning "how to think" imposes even greater cognitive load.
Question 7.1(<= 3500 char) Summarize the principal features of cognitive load theory as developed by Sweller and as expressed in the overview article by Cooper. Discuss examples of the features as demonstrated in your own experience.
Question 7.2(<= 3500 char) Briefly summarize the notion of germane load. Compare and contrast the terms intrinsic load and germane load.
Question 7.3(<= 3500 char) Use Google Scholar to search on the term "cognitive load" in the title of a data-based paper since 2008 (i.e., published in 2008 or later). Select and report on one of the papers that interests you. Does the data fit or not fit with the ULM? Discuss the fit. (I got >1400 hits on 8/9/11.)
Readings:Research into Cognitive Load Theory and Instructional Design at UNSW, Cooper (P) F. Paas & T. v Gog, 2006, "Optimising worked example instruction: Different ways to increase germane cognitive load," Learning and Instruction, 16, 87-91.
Due Date: 02/29/2012
Description: ULM, Chapter 6
Topics:Essentially everyone in a graduate course in education comes in with "prior knowledge" based upon a veritable stew of ideas and many biases -- ones perhaps not based in the more established literature. Read Chapter 6 of the ULM.This chapter deals with the prior demons we are likely to have had. Some very popular ideas -- such as learning styles and multiple intelligences -- enjoy essentially no empirical support in spite of being written about often. All of us learn using the same biomolecular mechanisms. Whether change in synapses is the primary event, or increased myelination is the primary event, we all learn the same way. Both of these mechanisms are involved in learning. Given a "normal" person with typical rather than unusual brain development (i.e., most people), the cerebral cortex is designed to remember and, when activated, generate outputs (signals; patterns of neuronal firing) that reflect that earlier memorization (learning). [As an asde, we can argue that brains are desgined to help us move. Most organisms that move and are large enough to have differentiated organs also have brains. Trees don't have brains but they don't move. Seq Squirts have brains when mobile but "eat" those brains once they attach to a rock and become immobile. Ultimately, to show the you know something, you speak or write or do something that involves moving a muscle. All of this school stuff and writing and reading and problem solving is really bootlegging from a system that was engineered to excel at something quite different -- moving us around to survive in an ecosystem.] We all learn one thing at a time, and we all may end up learning some things much better than others. This leads to differences in ability that reflect experience rather than innate biology. In other words, we are more intelligent (i.e., more able) with respect to the things we already have learned, and because we can learn more in these areas more easily, we give the impression that we have what might well be described as a learning style. According to the ULM, learning styles are learned. Nearly all of us can learn nearly any style. For a variety of reasons, especially the wisdom of "jack of all trades, master of none" notion, we most often choose to emphasize one style or learning mode over another.Chapter 6 addresses ideas likely to be a part of the prior learning of anyone who has formally studied in education.
Question 8.1(<= 4000 char) Briefly summarize the notions of Piaget with respect to: stages of development and disequilibrium. Suppose you were in an environment that stressed "hands-on." How would you justify that instructional strategy choice using Piagetian terminology. How would you justify that choice using only ULM terminology? From the viewpoint of the ULM only, imagine yourself to be a consultant in each the following two situations. First an environment deficient in hands on where you thought more hands-on would help. Second, in an environment where hands-on was provided in all situations and you thought that was excessive. Write a one-paragraph report using only ULM terminology in which you advocate those positions. Finally, compare the two paragraphs. Could you have used one and the same text for most of each paragraph?
Question 8.2(<= 2500 char) A teacher takes great pride in advocating that, in her/his classroom, "Ah, ha" moments are frequent occurrences. If you were an administrator evaluating this teacher, what might you examine to help decide whether these events were positive or negative with respect to overall student learning and "progress."
Question 8.3(<= 2000 char) This chapter implies that heredity is relatvely unimportant in becoming expert. Do you believe that? [Later (event 10) we'll discuss expertise and try to support our position with data. For now, let your biases hang out. I used to think genetics determined most of what we can learn. Most Americans believe this.]
Question 8.4(<= 2000 char) What topic do you wish had been discussed in Chapter 6 but was not there?
Readings:Chapter 6 of ULM Study Guide.
Due Date: 03/07/2012
Description: Chapters 7-8; Motivation
Topics:Motivation is the hardest nut to crack. Most of our thinking about motivation centers on just a few notions. One is that we are motivated by drives -- and that much of what helps us determine what we do is based upon the "hungry" or "horny" issues of life.I recommend that you read The Social Animal by David Brooks (no relation). The basis of the ULM is that learning is entirely within individuals. Further, we don't seem to have some poorly understood collective intelligence as some animals (like ants) do. Yes, learning is self-contained, but nearly everything we learn is for or about others. We are, indeed, very social animals. I suspect that much of what we casually label with the word motivation really involves an understanding of our roles as social animals. So, out attention is socially driven,It's easy to understand hungry or horny; we've all experienced these feeling and had them drive our attention.As humans we are very much in tune with our episodic memories.Schoolwork is largely removed from these feelings. Most of school is aimed at developing semantic memory, and that requires effort. That is, you must pay attention.The practical side of motivation as it applies in schools involves three big issues: goals, success beliefs, and interests. Everyone attends school as part of a goal: perhaps to achieve something; perhaps to satisfy a parent; perhaps to satisfy a court order and stay out of jail; and so forth. Within each moment in school, there probably also is a goal: to solve a problem; to attract (or avoid) attention; to learn something; to satisfy a teacher by doing something; and so forth. Teachers often set short terms goals -- like "today we will solve the problems on p. 12" or "today we will start writing a paper on XYZ." While a teacher may have some influence on long term goals (like helping a student decide to pursue a career or interests in medicine or music or mathematics), that is less likely to occur.The second aspect of motivation concerns success beliefs. Most of us choose to do things at which we will be deemed successful or at least consider ourselves to be successful. If we believe that success depends upon luck, then we hope for luck. If we believe that success depends upon ability, than we hope to have the ability to achieve our goals. One truism is that success depends upon effort, but students don't necessarily believe that to be true. The third aspect is interest. Interest often is ephemeral and transient. Curiosity based upon novelty often creates interest. Once acquired, however, interests can become all consuming -- even pathological. Also, interest is often based on episodic memory. That is, novelty implies that you don't already have something in your knowledge base about what your senses are perceiving. As it happens, teachers most often try to generate interest. While there are a few things that most students will find interesting, there is essentially nothing that all students will assuredly find interesting. Further, some interests are acquired tastes. So, a person who has some knowledge is far more like to be interested than someone with no knowledge of the same subject. In spite of these issues, teachers tend to focus on interest to generate motivation. Motivation, remember, involves allocating working memory resources. That is, motivation involves getting a student to pay attention.
Question 9.1(<= 2500 char) Using the terminology of the Schraw paper, discuss the similarities and differences between situational and personal interest. Based on this reading, either justify how you now generate student interest or explain how you plan to change your approach.
Question 9.2(<= 2500 char) Dweck has demonstrated through repeated intervention studies that systematic instruction about learner beliefs can lead to changes in those beliefs that translate into improved learning performance. Why are these strategies not more widely employed? How you you employ them in your classroom?
Question 9.3(<= 3500 char) The Cohen et al. paper point out two things. One concerns the factors that impact performance. The other concerns how a really small intervention sometimes can have a big effect. Discuss this statement: You can't teach self-efficacy; you can help students change their beliefs about their self-efficacy. Can you think of circumstances where something like this intervention would have helped either you or some student or students in your class? If so, discuss.
Readings:Read chapters 7 abd 8 of the ULM.Read these three papers:Schraw, G., & Lehman, S. (2001). Situational Interest: A Review of the Literature and Directions for Future Research. Educational Psychology Review, 13(1), 23-52.Blackwell, L. S., Trzesniewski, K. H., & Dweck, C. S. (2007). Implicit Theories of Intelligence Predict Achievement Across an Adolescent Transition: A Longitudinal Study and an Intervention. Child Development, 78(1), 246-263.Cohen, G. L., Garcia, J., Purdie-Vaughns, V., Apfel, N., & Brzustoski, P.“Recursive Processes in Self-Affirmation: Intervening to Close the Minority Achievement Gap” Science, 2009, 324(5925), 400-403.Additonal Reading:Pressley, M., Kersey, S. E. D., Bogaert, L. R., Mohan, L., Roehrig, A. D., & Warzon, K. B. (2003). Motivating primary-grade students. New York: Guilford Press.Miyake, A., Kost-Smith, L. E., Finkelstein, N. D., Pollock, S. J., Cohen, G. L., & Ito, T. A. (2010). Reducing the Gender Achievement Gap in College Science: A Classroom Study of Values Affirmation. Science, 330(6008), 1234-1237.Walton, G. M., & Cohen, G. L. (2011). A Brief Social-Belonging Intervention Improves Academic and Health Outcomes of Minority Students. Science, 331(6023), 1447-1451.
Due Date: 03/14/2012
Description: Chapters 9-17
Topics:Efficient instruction boils down to knowing where the student is at so that you can access what Vygotsky called the student's zone of proximal development (ZPD). Feedback and assessment are sufficiently important that we will return to these topics later.Thinking and encouraging self-regulation also are sufficiently important that they will be developed further.Classroom management includes "discipline." This often presents huge problems for teachers, especially new teachers and substitute teachers. For all teachers, we point out that learning about how one should conduct oneself in a classroom is not really that different from learning about arithmetic. Sure, the information is unlikely to be stored in the same region of the cerebral cortex. Sure, what is learned and acceptable at "home" will impact greatly the classroom issues. Remember rule 5, however, that learning is learning -- and we've never spent time on which particular tissue masses in the brain store which kinds of information. Remember also that having a parent say "I was never good a math either" is just as bad for math learning as poor treatment of one another at home is for deportment in the classroom. Yes, they are different, but they also are the same: attention, repetition, connection, etc.Pressley authored a book describing successful primary classroom teachers. In each successful case, the image one takes away is that of a very highly structured environment in which the students have "bought into" certain types of roles and behaviors aimed at improving their own learning.The amount of training that goes into training a surgeon is enormously greater than that going into training a teacher. An obstetrician is likely to have delivered as many as 50 babies per month during some extended phase of their training. A teacher of high school calculus is unlikely to have 50 complete experiences in a professional lifetime. In the first event of this course we read about expertise. As a teacher, you need to finds ways to engage in deliberate practice. As with management in whcih we try to change learners, we will changes teachers in the same way: attention, repetition, connections, etc. Sometimes school policies don't fit with the ULM. That is, policies are in place that detract from rather than enhance the learning environment.
Question 10.1(<= 2500 char) If you were charged with ensuring that your students became as effective regulators as possible for their age and circumstance, what sort of classroom and school strategies would you employ?
Question 10.2(<=3000 char) Identify the most serious management problem you have in your classroom. Search the Web for recommended interventions to address this problem (postings of year 2000 or later). Cite your source and describe the intervention. Then analyze the ways in which the intervention comports with or does not comport with the ULM.
Question 10.3(<= 2500 char) Provide a brief discussion of the Kitsantas paper describing how you can implement one or a few of its suggestions in your classroom.
Question 10.4(<= 4000 char) Included among Chapters 9-17 are topics including: (developing) instruction; feedback & assessment; "thinking"; self-regulation; classroom management; and policy. Pick the one of these topics that made the LEAST sense or that you found most wanting or objectionable. Explain why this was the case. Explain how your future practice will diverge (perhaps continue to diverge) from the recommendations found in the book.
Question 10.5(<= 3000 char) Suppose (whether so or not) that you have decided to embark on ways to apply systematically the notions of the ULM in your teaching. Design a professional development plan for yourself consistent with the ULM that will lead to this outcome (i.e, your systematic ULM application).
Readings:Read Chapters 9-17 of the ULMDeveloping Self-Regulated Learners: Goal Setting, Self-Evaluation, and Organizational Signals During Acquisition of Procedural Skills. Kitsantas, Reiser, Doster. 2004 Journal of Experimental Education, 72 (4), 269-287
Due Date: 03/28/2012
Description: Mastery; Expertise; Deliberate Practice
Topics:Note the this assignment asks to to re-read 5 sections of the ULM, watch one video, and download and read three papers. There are several recent books on expertise, ALL of which are good reads. There is an almost lost book by Bloom that should be required reading for all who go on to teach and who take more than one course about learning.We live in a society in the United States the believes in gifts of birth and downplays effort. Overall, the data are quite convincing. What really matters is not so much gifts of birth but effort. Experts work hard to become experts. Elite performers work extremely hard. Genius? Read the Scientific American paper on the expert mind, and then watch the video about Susan Polgar (Laszlo Polgar's daughter). (By the way, Susan's sister Judit is consideredto be " ... by far the strongest female chess player in history." So, the person you see in the video is no better than number two!)To become an expert, you need interest. That interest needs nurturing, especially when the going gets tough. You need access to learning materials like a library. You need mentoring. Ndamukong Suh, Nebraska's highly touted defensive football player, attributes much of his success to coaching. His coaches have taught him what the placements and motions of his opponents are most likely to mean. He has studied this enough so that, like Susan Polgar, he doesn't need to think about what he sees.I advocate mastery for several reasons. Perhaps most important among them is that it makes the learning goals clear so each learner knows what has to be attained.I've worked very hard to develop my own expertise. Some speak of such behavior as driven, and often call people who work this way "workaholics." I can tell you that, once you've achieved expertise, it becomes a pleasure. The most fun comes when you learn something that has eluded you for years (sometimes decades). If you want to impress people at cocktail parties with your knowledge of expertise, read Outliers. This is a pleasant, easy read, and you learn just how much difference luck can make -- like where Bill Gates happened to live when he was a teenager.Don't confuse ordinary practice with deliberate practice. From Colvin, p. 4, describing clarinet practice by thirteen-year-old Clarissa (pseudonym): "... This is not ordinary practice. This is something else called a highly targeted, error focus process. Something is growing, being built. The song begins to emerge, and with it, a new quality within Clarissa. ..."Finally, based on our recent discussion, look at the paper by Beal, S., & Crockett, L. (2010). Adolescents' occupational and educational aspirations and expectations: Links to high school activities and adult educational attainment. Developmental Psychology, 46(1), 258.
Question 11.1(<= 3000 char) Read The Expert Mind. Briefly and concisely indicate the ideas you agree with and those you disagree with in this article. Focus on the ideas you disagree with. For them, what would it take to change your mind about those issues?
Question 11.2(<= 3500 char) Of the data provided, identify the part of the Ericsson—Krampe—Tesch-Römer paper that most surprised you; what did you least expect? Are people more likely to become experts while on the job or while taking classes? What contexts of a "job" inhibit deliberate practice? Can systems be changed to encourage development of experts?
Readings:ULM, Chapter 6, AbilityULM, Chapter 6, HeredityULM, Chapter 8, Learning GoalsULM, Chapter 15, District, State: Organize Based Upon KnowledgeULM, Chapter 11, Experts Practice DeliberatelyThe Expert Mind (5.5 Mb, from Scientific American)__________View this video (47 min):My Brilliant Brain. (I urge you NOT to place too much faith on what is said about gender differences in this video.)"Susan Polgar is the world's first female chess grandmaster. But she wasn't born with her brilliant brain – it was created by the unique experiment that dominated her childhood. From the age of four her father trained her for up to six hours a day at chess alone.Growing up in the early 1970s, no woman had ever held the title of chess grandmaster. It was widely believed that female brains weren't wired with adequate spatial awareness for the game. Nowadays, memory and pattern recognition are recognised as they key areas used by experts in all fields – everyone from waiters to fire-fighters. Neither of these however, has the trained memory of a chess grandmaster. Able to recreate a chess game glimpsed only on the side of a passing van, Susan's true genius is revealed when she plays an entire chess match over a mobile phone. Her opponent can see the board but she can't, instead using her memory to imagine the game."__________Ericsson, K. A., Krampe, R. T., & Tesch-Römer, C. The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance (Psych. Rev., 100, 363-406, 1993)Ericsson, K., Prietula, M., & Cokely, E. (2007). The making of an expert. Harvard Busisness Rev., 85(7-8), 114-121.__________All of the following are good reads but NOT assigned. The first is a scholarly book, one largely overlooked for two decades in spite of Bloom's prominence. Gladwell also wrote Tipping Point and Blink.Bloom, B., & Sosniak, L. (1985). Developing Talent in Young People Ballantine Books. (All college faculty should read this book.)Gladwell, M. (2008). Outliers: The story of success. New York: Little, Brown, and Company.Daniel Coyle, (2009) The Talent Code: Greatness Isn't Born. It's Grown. Here's How., New York: Random House.Colvin, G. (2008). Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else. New York: Penguin Group.
Due Date: 04/04/2012
Description: The Hope of Technology; Hypermedia Pitfalls
Topics:Can media enhance learning? Many people think so. Those who develop games are convinced that developing games is a worthy approach. If you tie into the ULM, then whatever you have the learner do, it must involve them attending to it, repeating it, and connecting it to the other knowledge they already have. Games usually don't accomplish that. When two media are used in a controlled way in side-by-side experiments (treatment, control) to study media, the effects of media usually are very small. Usually, students rate most highly the medium from which they learn the least.With the advent of computers, there was a resurgence of the viewpoint that media mattered. A main researcher in this area is Richard Clark. While there are scores of his papers to choose from, I chose one that was written in rebuttal to something he wrote for a special series of articles just a few years ago. Clark. [(1995). Media and Method. Educational Technology Research and Development, 42(3), 7-10.] has repeatedly advocated that the instructional design is what matters, not the media employed. Most school learning will require effort. That is, the learner must choose to attend to whatever it is that they are trying to learn. Schools are about semantic knowledge, not episodic knowledge. Information obtained from learners regarding how they 'liked' a learning activity and how much they 'think' they have learned most often does not correlate with measures of what they learned!In fact, there are areas in which computers have proven to improve learning (Kulik). When these areas are studied in detail, they essentially always involve all top three of the five ULM rules: attention, repetition, and connection. While similar results can be obtained using tutors, the computers tend to be both more available and more patient. Please don't mistake what I'm saying. I was an early CAI developer and one of the first to make use of videodiscs for instruction. Also, I authored the first book that was ever written about teaching on the WWW (Web-Teaching: A Guide to Designing Interactive Teaching for the World Wide Web, Brooks, D. W., Plenum Press, New York, 1997, 214 pp., ISBN 0-306-45552-8). I continue to believe that the writing assignments submitted in my Web courses exceed in quality those that came in during F2F courses. I also believe that the 24/7 access from nearly anywhere matters. Also, there is a recent report of "The Google Effect":
... The results of four studies suggest that when faced with difficult questions, people are primed to think about computers and that when people expect to have future access to information, they have lower rates of recall of the information itself and enhanced recall instead for where to access it. ...
Question 12.1(<= 2000 char) Extensively hyperlinked learning materials tend to benefit top students but hinder those at the bottom. Analyze this outcome in terms of the ULM. (See Dillon & Gabbard.)
Question 12.2(<= 2000 char) To learn you must pay attention. To pay attention you must be motivated. Nearly all of us play games because we think they are fun. If you can connect learning to a game, the motivation problem is largely solved. BUT, unless the game is very much a simulation, you may depend upon incidental learning to achieve school-based goals, and this always is problematic for several reasons. Discuss learning games from the perspective of the ULM.
Question 12.3(<= 2000 char) Read the Kulik report. What take away messages do you get from this report? Discuss.
Readings:Clark. [(1995). Media and Method. Educational Technology Research and Development, 42(3), 7-10.]Dillon and Gabbard report on hypermedia as an educational tool.(P) [(1998). Hypermedia as an Educational Technology: A Review of the Quantitative Research Literature on Learner Comprehension, Control, and Style Review of Educational Research, 68(3), 322-349.]Kulik, J. A. (2003). Effects of Using Instructional Technology in Elementary and Secondary Schools: What Controlled Evaluation Studies Say (No. SRI Project Number P10446.001). Arlington, VA: SRI International.Sparrow, B., Liu, J., & Wegner, D. M. (2011). Google Effects on Memory: Cognitive Consequences of Having Information at Our Fingertips. Science.
Due Date: 04/11/2012
Description: Moreno & Mayer; A Terminology Framework
Topics:After attending Roxana Moreno's seminar at UNL on 11/02/09, I realized that, by shifting to the ULM, the core readings of the course had shifted dramatically. For that reason, I decided to focus on design principles elaborated by Moreno and Mayer in their 2007 review paper. Through this paper I will try to bring the ULM better in touch with the technology goals of the course.
Question 13.1(<= 2000 char) The Moreno and Mayer paper describes five types of "interactivity": dialoguing, controlling, manipulating, searching, and navigating. Describe each of these interactivity types, and illustrate with an example of each.
Question 13.2(<= 5000 char) Consider Table 3 of the Moreno and Mayer paper. Discuss how each of the design principles they formulate (guided activity, reflection, feedback, pacing, and pretraining) would be explained and/or accounted for in terms of the ULM.
Readings:Moreno, R., & Mayer, R., (2007), Interactive Multimodal Learning Environments, Educ. Psychol. Rev., 19, 309-326.
Due Date: 04/18/2012
Description: Tutoring; ZPD; Feedback Revisited
Topics:Bloom noted that one-on-one tutoring gives an impact on learning that can be regarded as two standard deviations beyond that achieved by "traditional" instruction. Vygotsky is credited with introducing the concept, Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). This really amounts to saying that new learning depends upon prior learning, and that there is an optimal degree of difference between what know and that which is to be learned. The ZPD might be better expressed in terms of cognitive load. That is, learning is most successful when the cognitive load is optimized. (Like the fable: not to great, not too light; just right.)A recent paper (Schnotz & Kürschner) called for a re-examination of cognitive load theory. Actually, I see this as a problem with understanding working memory and the key role of prior knowledge. Intrinsic load is not a constant; it depends heavily on what you already know. The effectiveness of inquiry strategies, and especially open-ended inquiry strategies, has been questioned (Kirschner et al.). This controversial paper makes a point about cognitive load, and we can think of scaffolding as a means of reducing load during the early stages of learning so that knowledge chunks can be built up to enable deeper learning. It is essentially universally agreed that learners must be active participants in the learning process. It is nearly impossible to detect such participation is a universal way -- some learners, especially experts, can learn just by listening as in hearing a lecture. For must learners, however, watching them receive feedback based upon something they have done to demonstrate learning -- some performance -- is as good a test for active learning as we are likely to find (see Brooks et al.)Learners don't always want detailed feedback; sometimes just right or wrong is good enough (see Elder). The study by Aleven et al. shows that learners very often fail to take advantage of quality help materials even when the learners know their knowledge is not strong and know that the materials are proven to be helpful to other learners.
Question 14.1(<= 3000 char) In what ways can technology help to provide an environment in which learner's access materials better suited for their immediate learning needs?
Question 14.2(<=4000 char) Briefly describe the Vygotskian Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). Using only the terminology of the ULM, describe one or a few situations in which the ZPD might be used to describe the learning strategy issue involved.
Question 14.3(<= 3000 char) The Aleven paper points to serious problems with respect to learner use of help materials. Assuming this is a motivation problem (i.e., failure to allocate attention), how might you develop strategies to increase the likelihood that students will use quality help materials when they are available.
Question 14.4(<= 3000 char) The Kirschner paper suggests reasons why inquiry strategies might not be effective. Are there reasons to employ inquiry strategies? If your answer is 'yes', explain how you would decide what those situations are and how you would go about it. If your answer is 'no', use the ULM to explain why this is the case for your teaching circumstances.
Question 14.5(<= 3000 char) Read the Schnotz & Kürschner paper. Attempt to reinterpret this paper based upon the ULM.
Readings:An often-cited classic paper: The 2 Sigma Problem: The Search for Methods of Group Instruction as Effective as One-to-One Tutoring, B. Bloom [Educational Researcher, June/July 1984, pp. 4-16] Kirschner, P. A., Sweller, J., & Clark, R. E. (2006). Why Minimal Guidance During Instruction Does Not Work: An Analysis of the Failure of Constructivist, Discovery, Problem-Based, Experiential, and Inquiry-Based Teaching. Educational Psychologist, 41(2), 75-86.Aleven, V., Stahl, E., Schworm, S., Fischer, F., & Wallace, R. (2003). Help Seeking and Help Design in Interactive Learning Environments. Rev. Educ. Rsch., 73, 277-320.Schnotz, W., & Kürschner, C. (2007). A Reconsideration of Cognitive Load Theory. Educational Psychology Review, 19, 469-508.Other Papers (not required):Brooks, D. W., Schraw, G. P., & Crippen, K. J. (2005). Performance-related feedback: The hallmark of good instruction. Journal of Chemical Education, 82(4), 641-644.Simple Versus Elaborate Feedback in a Nursing Science Course," Elder. B. L. & Brooks, D. W. J. Sci. Educ. Technology, 2008, 17(4), 334-340.Both of the following books have been used as texts in TEAC 859:Clark, R. C., & Mayer, R. E. (2003). e-Learning and the Science of Instruction. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer.Clark, R. C., Nguyen, F., & Sweller, J. (2006). Efficiency in Learning: Evidence-Based Guidelines to Manage Cognitive Load. San Francisco: Pfeiffer.
Due Date: 04/25/2012
Description: The New Technologies
Topics:The Web provides no miracles for learners. Also, many Web-users fool themselves into thinking they know more than they really do because of the Web. The Web has revolutionized access to knowledge. It is much easier to "find out stuff" than it used to be. On the other hand, you almost always have to have some inkling about what to look for -- or you can be lead far, far astray. Think back to the 'Google Effect' mentioned earlier.I want to spend this event getting you to think about what learning is important. Consider a program like Mathematica. This program does math! The problem is that, while it does the math, the user has to know what math it needs to do. So, has Mathematica lowered the bar by taking away the drudgery and busywork, or raised the bar by requiring the you know (and understand) much more math than you used to have to know and understand to be a succesful professional.It is much harder to decide what Web information is valuable and what is trash than it was to use an old-fashioned print encyclopedia. Yes, encyclopedias had errors, but really nothing like the Web. Can machines think? I would say the answer is yes. Any machine that is trained to think about a topic usually beats me on that topic hands down. But, I can tell you about learning or about making bourbon or about deep sea fishing. You need three machines to do that, and then you need a fourth machine to tell which machine to turn on and pay attention. Humans still prevail.BUT, what is the knowledge that will stick with our students? Yes, the facts they need to know are very likely to change over their lives. If there is one thing we know about learning, it's that you need to start with some facts. The notion that "I can always look that up" is entiely misleading if not downright false.Worse yet, how do you deal with practical issues like avoiding identity theft or keeping junior high students away from Web pornography?This has been a course about learning. The problem of what to teach (and learn) is a very challenging problem.
Question 15.1(<= 10000 char) What things have you thought appropriate to learning about teaching with technology that were not covered in this course that you wish had been. Develop a lesson introduction, write questions, and provide a reading list to support this assertion.If everything was covered, pick one of the lessons and suggest how you would improve it by the same means (a written description, questions, and a reading list).
Due Date: 05/02/2012
Description: Summary
Topics:So, what has been learned? Let's compare what you said to what you say.Let's see if there is some policy you now think you should change (or may already have changed) based on this course.There always are gaps. Graduate students take courses for many reasons. One of them is -- simple -- to acquire enough credits to receive a degree or pass some milestone (like a 15- or 18-hour block for a salary increase). Another is to learn about things.What was missing in this course?
Question 16.1(<= 3000 char) A word we use often is learning. Briefly and concisely, explain what you mean when you use the term learning. Assume you are writing for a very literate person who has limited technical vocabulary.
Question 16.2(<= 3000 char) A word we use often is ability. Briefly and concisely, explain what you mean when you use the term ability. Assume you are writing for a very literate person who has limited technical vocabulary.
Question 16.3(<= 3000 char) A word we use often is motivation. Briefly and concisely, explain what you mean when you use the term motivation. Assume you are writing for a very literate person who has limited technical vocabulary.
Question 16.4(<= 3000 char) In your classroom, you have established policies. In your school, there are established policies. [In your job if your are not a teacher, there are established policies.] Choose one such policy that you have been rethinking. State the current policy. Based upon the ULM, how should this policy be changed [enhanced, modified, dropped]. Justify you answer in a way that demonstrates your knowledge of and ability to apply the three principles and five rules of the ULM.
Software Bugs
Once again, I've changed the software in this course drastically. Bugs are very likely. Sorry about that. Please persevere. No one will be penalized as the result of encountering a software problem.
Course Content
Below is the introduction to TEAC859 used for a decade or more. As you read it, you will see my emphasis upon neurological changes in learners. In late 2008 and early 2009, this came to a head with the publication of a book on the Unified Learning Model. You are taking (in 856) what amounts to the third rendition of that course. The name of my department, Teaching, Learning, & Teacher Education has not had a formal course in learning before.I envision the course as ultimately being developed with multiple sections, with about 2/3rds of each section devoted to the ULM and the remainder being specific to a discipline or area. This course section is aimed loosely at technology.---------------------------------------------- Instruction -- activity (or activities) designed to bring about a specific change in knowledge or skills. The changes are the result of neurological changes in the learner. Message -- pattern of signs, words, pictures, gestures, sounds produced for modifying the behavior of one or more persons. Messages appeal to the senses; they interact with the learner's neurological gateways. Design -- deliberate process of analysis and synthesis. Taken together, the meanings of these terms embody the scope and purpose of this course. A principal focus will be on Web-based teaching.
Access
You access all of the TEAC 856 materials provided starting from my Web site.http://dwb.on-rev.comNote that this is no longer a UNL-based Web site. Instead, it takes advantage of some of the most modern software available.Enrolled students may access forms for submitting assignments, active discussions, and archived discussions.Access from the site permits anyone to view the study guide as a "Public User." For students to access the courses, you will need your UNL course name (such as TEAC856F11), your e-mail address, and a password. Your temporary password is '1234'. You should change this as explained later.A syllabus for the course is posted at: http://dwb.on-rev.com/TEAC/TEACCourses/TEAC856F11/Syl.html
Prerequisites
There are no specific prerequisites for this course. I urge you to read "The Social Animal" by David Brooks (no relation).
About Dave Brooks
I work in the area of technology, and especially with high school chemistry teachers. You can learn more about me at my Web site or from my biosketch.I post the doctoral dissertations of the recent doctoral students I have mentored.My most recent work has been in developing the Unified Learning Model, a book published by Springer in January, 2010.I'm currently involved with bringing a new chemistry course for teachers online (TEAC/CHEM 869Q) and also with teacher evaluation.
Course Management; WWW
This is a Web-only course. Electronic discussion is required. Assignments are submitted on the Web. Consider each date topic as if it were a target deadline. Your assignment MUST be posted by 1 PM Central Time of the target date. All due dates are Wednesdays. Usually there will be discussion topics posted within 24 hrs of the target time. I usually send a group e-mail to announce this posting.I maintain a rigid schedule with severe penalties for lateness; research suggests that students in Web courses perform better when the course schedule is rigid.Generally speaking, I evaluate student work on all weekdays, and likely will not miss a beat when traveling. I may have intermittent access, however. (I teach 13 1-h chemistry courses on-line, and have managed to grade these on a near daily basis 365 days per year.)The size limits on assignments are expressed in terms of number of characters (including spaces). While these are suggestions, keep the following in mind. Length is not rewarded; quality is rewarded. I can tolerate small overruns in length -- occasionally. Usually when you have written MUCH less than the suggested amount, you haven't written enough (or you are a VERY efficient writer).
Communication; E-mail
I communicate via e-mail. You must have access to an e-mail account and to the World Wide Web if you are in this course. No exceptions! You should check your e-mail at least once every 48 hours. All assignments are turned in using the Internet. You will be able to access the posting page from my Web site, http://dwb4.unl.edu, first under the "courses" entry, and then for this course (TEAC 856, Fall 11).The direct access point is http://dwb.on-rev.com.
Discussion
Discussions are of key importance in the course. Your participation in electronic discussions is required for TEAC 856. You must contribute to EACH discussion. A contribution is made based upon content analysis, not reports about the weather or your pet cat.Sample discussion entries are posted. I track ALL of your contributions; I determine whether you have accessed the contributions of others. Participation counts!This discussion system is a bit different from others. First, only the instructor (DWB) can initiate a discussion. IF you want a particular issue discussed, e-mail me with that suggestion.Also, there are nine levels of discussion with the first one being the statement of the discussion purpose or issue. Think about the level your items should be at. Are you responding, or are you really opening up something new? The level limit is arbitrarily set at nine -- but this level is based on analysis of typical classroom discussions. How many of you have used outlines to guide your development of a paper or document that had more than nine levels?? The level of the discussion is inferred from indentations in the tables from which you access the particular posting as well as in the message labeling system. The highest level you can contribute at would have a label something like 30000000 or A0000000. The lowest (deepest) level might be like 32114532. For this label, the main topic would have at least 3 branches, and the 3rd level would have at least two branches. When we introduce ourselves during the first week, a class of 10 people should have at least 11 top-level branches, including one for me as instructor.Finally, please note the information labeled "Conduct" described below.
Meetings
There are no face-to-face (F2F) class meetings. I am available for campus meetings with you, however. Also, I am available by telephone or using Web-based video or Skype. If something goes wrong in your life such that meeting a class target schedule becomes problematic, be certain to contact me as soon as possible. There is a saying attributed to Admiral Grace Hopper, "forgivenss is easier than permission." Believe me, in this course permission is easier than forgiveness.
Course Books
Two books are required. The Unified Learning Model is required. The book is available as the on-line student guide accessible from the main course page. It is expensive. If you do want to buy it, try: ULM from Amazon.ULM from Barnes & Noble. An early assignment requires that you read "Why Don't Students Like School."WDSLS from AmazonWDSLS from Barnes & Noble
Grades
The base grade in this course is A-. If everything is both timely and adequate, expect an A-.Your evaluation is based upon your discussion and the quality and timeliness of your written responses. Written responses are weighted roughly in proportion to the number of characters set as the upper limit. So, a 10,000 character limit is roughly 5 times more important than a 2,000 character limit. Writing counts for 80% and discussion 20%. In TEAC 856, silence is not golden -- it is costly, up to a grade and a half (i.e., A- → C )I try to use a modified mastery approach. Therefore, these percentages are more time weights than fractions. Missing any one piece of the course, however small, is devastating. Essentially, your grade is no higher than a 'C ' until all of your papers are of 'A-' quality! I expect all work that is not of 'A-' quality to be resubmitted -- in a timely fashion -- in order to receive an 'A-' evaluation. Let me be clear about this. A- is the minimum standard, but, if I have to 'beat it out of you' you're likely to get only a B- or B for that A- level or work.The grading is inherently subjective.Final letter grades are awarded as follows:An A will be awarded for those who complete all work and for whom the instructor feels that special creativity or ingenuity has been demonstrated.An A+ will be awarded to students who complete all work at a professional level (timely, good), and show some creativity as well. When your work does not meet "A-" standards, you will be notified by e-mail. When I do this, I expect to give you specific comments about what needs to be done to improve the work. Also, I will comment if your discussion work is not appropriate (i.e., A- level). As already noted, I hold a mastery learning philosophy. Rather than give a grade less than an A-, I expect to notify you about all less-than-A- work for revision and resubmission until it meets the A- standard. A grade of less than A- from me means either that you did not meet the standard, or that you often turned in less than standard work. (Once again let me say that if I feel that I'm frequently returning work, then I'll give a B or C . This is a graduate course. It's not my job to tell you over and over that your work is not up to the standard.)If you do not participate in discussions, your work will not be A- even though the assignments submitted may be at that level. A grade of W (Withdrawal) will be issued for those who withdraw in compliance with UNL guidelines.A grade of F will be issued for academic dishonesty, submitting plagiarized work, misuse of UNL computing facilities, or similar unacceptable behavior. Plagiarism means, among other things, submitting work that is not your own writing. When you submit work written by others, use quotation marks. I will use all of the other grades available in accord with my view of the appropriateness of the work submitted. However, work may be resubmitted until it receives a grade of A-. ALL resubmitted work must be in BEFORE 3 PM Monday, 2/13/2012 for reconsideration.
Written Assignments
A written assignment is due at 1 PM Central time on each event date (all Wednesdays).Sample assignment entries are posted. ALL of your written assignments must come in electronically on the Web; no exceptions. You submit assignments by first accessing the course menu page (as indicated above) and choose Assignment. Then, from the next page, choose the assignment you want to work on. These are done one-at-a-time.Any assignment may (should) be rewritten and resubmitted if the grade is lower than an A-. You have 7 days after notification about a written assignment to resubmit for a regrade for full credit. Do not expect explicit feedback on your assignment. This is a graduate course and most submitted work is ok. If the work is below standard, you'll receive an e-mail from me.
Audio files
I create audio files for many of the events. Because I don't 'can' these in advance (so as to be able to respond to what happens, especially in the discussion), my program 'detects' available audio files and puts them into the syllabus when available. So, this syllabus changes during the semester as the audios are made available.I make TWO audio files for each event, one in 'mp3' format and the other in 'ogg' format. If your browser deals with either of these (FireFox likes ogg; Safari likes mp3), all should be well. If there is a statement that your browser doesn't recognize the 'audio' element, you need a new browser. I could attach one of the files to an e-mail and send it to you -- if you ask.
Feedback
This course is based upon two key ideas among others. First, feedback is the gold standard of teaching. Second, self-regulation is a goal for all learners. I expect graduate students to be effective self-regulators and that, as such, they ought not require the same quantity of feedback that is appropriate for a freshman. In other words, if you do a routine graduate-level job on a routine assignment, don't expect feedback. Assume that the feedback, too, would be 'CEHS' routine (e.g., good job).My favorite comment for feedback is 'ok. ' This translates to 'A-.'
Technical Details
Spell check your documents before submitting.Examine your material in Web format. That is, submit your responses and then look them over. When you write on a word processor, and then paste that material into a Web form, expect problems. Quotation marks (often called smart quotes) and special symbols give trouble.I use FireFox as my principal browser. If you look at what you send in FireFox, you should see what I will see. (There are some platform differences. I use a Mac and not Windows.)
References; Face Validity
The references you submit for this course must come from EITHER from the WWW (submit a URL) OR via a pdf file attached to an e-mail to me (dbrooks1@unl.edu). You may NOT use references that require password access. On your URLs, indicate the date that YOU accessed the URL.If you do have restricted access, you probably still can save the file as a pdf. If you send this to me, I will discard it after reading. If I think the reference is valuable enough and I can't get it directly, I'll acquire a copy through UNL library loan for myself. If you have restricted access outside of UNL, assume that I cannot access that paper and that you need to send me a copy separately.In research, there is a concept called face validity: Does something make sense? The idea of time-on-task makes sense and is borne out by research. Some things that make sense are not borne out by research. For example, although Gardner's notions about multiple intelligence make sense, they are not supported by much research or writing -- other than by Gardner. While the notion of learning style seems to have face validity, it is not well supported by measurable and testable constructs. Knowing someone's Myers Briggs type, for example, does not really give one insights about how to improve that learner's learning. (In the Myers Briggs scheme of personality, I'm an INTJ. I'm borderline E/I, but essentially totally one-sided in NTJ. I've seen a report in which MB types were measured, and then correlated with grades in chemistry. Over half of the As went to INTJs, and not one person of the opposite type [ESFP] received an A. Indeed, many of them failed. INTJs are the kind of people that would include facts like this in a course syllabus.)One construct with face validity that I use often is pedagogical content knowledge -- what a teacher needs to know to be successful in teaching a particular course. This construct does not yet have good empirical support. Anytime you say something that is not well supported -- be that something I don't believe in like multiple intelligences or learning styles, or something I do believe in like pedagogical content knowledge -- expect to be challenged. This is not a course in faith; this is a course intended to increase your understandings of learning based upon the best available recent literature. To be influenced by face validity is to be human. Generally speaking, to make decisions based upon it is unwise -- and possibly stupid.
How This Course Works
This course is based upon writing and discussion. In order to participate effectively, you must read the readings. Sometimes you may be asked to work in groups to respond to particular problems or questions. Most weeks, however, we will engage in discussions.It's one thing to know what authors have said, and quite another about what is meant. You are expected to know what they have said! In other words, you are expected to read closely and not reinterpret authors' writings with your personal meanings.If you believe in something that I don't believe in -- like learning styles -- it's not my job to change your mind. It IS my job to make sure that you know the literature. I develop deep respect for those who change my mind about something that I've thought about for a while. Ways to do this include presenting new literature, or making more powerful arguments. While you are entitled to your own opinion, you are not entitled either to make up what the literature says, or to point to weak studies that fly in the face of strong studies.
Passwords
In order to access your records you need an e-mail address and a password. This password is set as '1234' and you should CHANGE it the first time you log on.In order to access some of the course materials (papers to read) you will need an id and a password. I'll e-mail passwords when the time comes.
Conduct
Civility during Web-based discussions is expected. I am the arbiter of civility. You are expected to conduct yourself in a manner that encourages the active participation of all persons in the class. The writing samples submitted in this course are to be original with the named author or authors. Submitting any string of 40 or more characters that are written by someone else but not attributed is considered plagiarism. To cite the work of others, use quotation marks and give a citation sufficient that I can readily determine the exact original source.
Scholar Practitioner Model
All instruction at the UNL College of Education and Human Sciences is based upon the scholar-practitioner model. This is especially true of my courses, since these essentially always include the latest research results and stress debunking of notions that do not enjoy strong research support.
Diversity
"The University of Nebraska is committed to a pluralistic campus community through Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity. We assure reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act."Students with disabilities are encouraged to contact me for a confidential discussion of their individual needs for academic accommodation. It is the policy of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to provide flexible and individualized accommodation to students with documented disabilities that may affect their ability to fully participate in course activities or to meet course requirements. To receive accommodation services, students must be registered with the Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) office, 132 Canfield Administration, 472-3787 voice or TTY.
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