Information
Due Date: 08/26/2009
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. Remember, both Assignments and Discussions must be LOCKED before others can see them. No one except you can see them while they are being edited. {I can do this, but it is not easy for me; I have to be wearing my computer programing hat to do it.}Hear my take on this course.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.
Readings:Read the course syllabus and information. Ask questions via e-mail as needed.
TOP
Due Date: 09/02/2009
Description: Introductions Due
Topics:This is the week when introductions were due on the discussion as well as through the brief written assignment. My objective is to learn a bit about you and to get you used to the software system.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.
Question 2.1(<= 1500 char) Why did you take this course? What do you expect to learn? (Submit this in writing using the "Assignment" option on your "MAIN MENU" of the course Web software.)
Due Date: 09/09/2009
Description: Current Beliefs; Expertise
Topics: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. Also, I want to introduce some "easy" reading to get you thinking about learning. The first is a "lay person's" article from Scientific American. The second has become and often cited classic from the educational psychology literature.Please answer these "staking out" questions first, and then read the papers and respond to the questions about those papers. Hear my take on the work for this week.
Question 3.1(<= 3000 char) A word we use often is learning. Briefly and concisely, explain what you mean when you use the term learning.
Question 3.2(<= 3000 char) A word we use often is ability. Briefly and concisely, explain what you mean when you use the term ability.
Question 3.3(<= 3000 char) A word we use often is motivation. Briefly and concisely, explain what you mean when you use the term motivation.
Question 3.4(<= 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 3.5(<= 3500 char) Of the data provided, identify the part of the Ericsson 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:The Expert Mind (5.5 Mb, from Scientific American)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)
Due Date: 09/23/2009
Description: The Unified Learning Model
Topics:The Unified Learning Model is a book in press 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 five chapters of the ULM.
Question 4.1(<=2000 char) Use your own words to summarize the three principles and five learning rules in the ULM.
Question 4.2(<= 5000 char). Using Google Scholar, find a paper: — published since 2005 — with "working memory" in the title that interests you. 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 4.3(<= 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 buy that argument? In what ways do you reject that argument?
Question 4.4(<= 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?
Readings:Read Chapers 1-5 of the ULM available from the Study Guide menu choice.
Due Date: 09/30/2009
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 5.1(<= 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 5.2(<= 3500 char) Briefly summarize the notion of germane load. Compare and contrast the terms intrinsic load and germane load.
Question 5.3(<= 3500 char)Using Google Scholar, find two papers with the term "cognitive load" in the title of the paper. Give the Web reference fore each. Briefly summarize each. Briefly describe why you chose that particular paper. (There are over 100 entries!)
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: 10/07/2009
Description: Revisiting
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). 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 area over another.Chapter 6 addresses ideas likely to be a part of your (really, anyone who has studied in education) prior learning.
Question 6.1(<= 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 6.2(<=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 6.3(<= 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 6.4(<= 2000 char) What topic do you wish had been discussed in Chapter 6 by was not there?
Readings:Chapter 6 of ULM Study Guide.
Due Date: 10/21/2009
Description: ULM: Applications
Topics:We will read the remaining chapters of the ULM. Here we begin the process of developing applications of the ULM to real classroom situations.
Question 7.1(<= 6000 char) Included among the remaining chapters are topics including: motivation; (developing) instruction; feedback & assessment; "thinking"; self-regulation; classroom management; and policy. Pick the one of these topics that made the most sense or had the greatest impact on you. Explain why this was the case, and how your future practice is likely to change.
Question 7.2(<= 6000 char) Included among the remaining chapters are topics including: motivation; (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.
Readings:ULM, ALL remaining chapters.
Due Date: 10/28/2009
Description: Motivation
Topics:Motivation is the hardest nut to crack. Most of our thinking about motivation centers of 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.The other is based upon the differences between episodic and semantic memory. Keep in mind that most of school is aimed at developing semantic memory, and that this 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 the 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 interest 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 8.1(<= 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 8.2(<= 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 8.3(<= 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 8.4(<= 2500 char) You can't teach self-efficacy. You can help students change their beliefs about their self-efficacy. Use the 'self-affirmation' paper as a guide to suggest ways in which you might try to do this for some you your students.
Readings:Developing 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), 269-287Schraw, 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.
Due Date: 11/04/2009
Description: Management; Development
Topics:Motivation is a major issue, and we spent the last "event" dealing with motivation. Two other areas that often are of teacher concern are management and development.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 second area concerns development. 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.
Question 9.1(<=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 9.2(<= 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: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.
Due Date: 11/11/2009
Description: Compare Books
Topics:If the ULM is actually a solid model, then it ought to be able to account for most if not all of the established information about learning. With the exception of the Bloom book written in 1985, here are recent books. Choose a book, read it, and then respond to the question.
Question 10.1(<= 5000 char) If you think there is some important concept or fact in your reading that the ULM does not address, does not address completely, or is just plain wrong about, identify that concept or fact and justify this thinking.If, on the other hand, you find nothing to quibble with in the ULM versus this other book, pick EITHER one concept in the new book that is better handled/explained in the ULM; OR one concept in the ULM that is better handled in this other book. State the concept, and justify your thinking.
Readings:Bloom, B., & Sosniak, L. (1985). Developing Talent in Young People Ballantine Books.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.Medina, J. (2008). Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School. Seattle: Pear Press.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.Daniel T. Willingham (2009)Why Don't Students Like School?: A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How the Mind Works and What It Means for the Classroom, New York: John Wiley, 192pp.
Due Date: 11/18/2009
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. 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!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. In fact, there are areas in which computers have proven to improve learning. [Kulik] When these areas are studies 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 27/7 access from nearly anywhere matters. For example, I'll be in Scotland when this course begins -- and I expect to manage the course just as if I were in Lincoln and with only those problems introduced by a multi-hour time difference.On the other hand, 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.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 change this assignment and 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 11.1(<= 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 11.2(<= 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: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.]Moreno, R., & Mayer, R., (2007), Interactive Multimodal Learning Environments, Educ. Psychol. Rev., 19, 309-326.
Due Date: 12/02/2009
Description: ZPD; Feedback Revisited
Topics: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. 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 12.1(<= 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 12.2(<= 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 12.3(<= 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.
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.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.
Due Date: 12/09/2009
Description: Topic of Choice
Topics: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.
Question 13.1(<= 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: 12/16/2009
Description: Summary
Topics:So, what has been learned? Let's compare what you said to what you say.
Question 14.1(<= 3000 char) A word we use often is learning. Briefly and concisely, explain what you mean when you use the word learning.
Question 14.2(<= 3000 char) A word we use often is ability. Briefly and concisely, explain what you mean when you use the word ability.
Question 14.3(<= 3000 char) A word we use often is motivation. Briefly and concisely, explain what you mean when you use the word motivation.
Question 14.4(<= 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
I've changed the software in this course drastically. Bugs are likely. Sorry about that. Please persevere. No one wll be penalized as the result of encountering a software problem.
Course Content
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.This course has a heavy reading load. Frequent writing and participation are required.----------------------------------------------This was the introduction to TEAC859 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. I anticipate that, in the future, 859 will be dropped or taught in a different way and by someone else. A new course entitled The Unified Learning Model will be developed, and you are taking what amounts to the first rendition of that course. These courses may be cross-listed as EDPS courses. The name of my department, Teaching, Learning, & Teacher Education has not had a formal course in learning before; this is a first.We envision the course as being developed with multiple sections, with about 2/3rds of the course devoted to the ULM and the remainder being specific to a discipline or area. This section will be aimed at technology.
Access
You access all of the TEAC 859 materials provided starting from my Web site.http://dwb.on-rev.com/ULMNote that this is no longer a UNL-based Web site. Instead, it takes advantage of some of the most modern software available.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 TEAC859F09), your e-mail address, and a password. Your temporary password is the same 'name' that UNL BlackBoard uses for you, usually something like s-smith8. You may change this as explained later.A syllabus for the course is posted at: http://dwb.on-rev.com/ULM/ULMCourses/TEAC859F09/Syl.html Enrolled students may access forms for submitting assignments, active discussions, and archived discussions.
About Dave Brooks
I teach many of the technology courses at UNL. 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 to be published by Springer in December, 2009.
Prerequisites
There are no specific prerequisites for this course.
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 discussions 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.I will be away from Lincoln to attend a professional conference early in the semester, and will be traveling for a week in early October. Generally speaking, I evaluate student work on all weekdays, and likely will not miss a beat while I'm gone. 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 859, Fall 09).The direct access point is http://dwb.on-rev.com/ULM.
Discussion
Discussions are of key importance in the course. Your participation in electronic discussions is required for TEAC 859. 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 may 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 15 people should have at leas 16top-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.
Course Books
No books are required. The Unified Learning Model is required, but is not yet available in print. The book is available as the on-line student guide accessible from the main course page. Some assignments will require that you acquire one or two other books. You will be able to choose that book, however.
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 859, 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, 2/15/2010 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.
Late Penalties
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.
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.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 some of the course materials you will need an id and a password. I'll e-mail passwords when the time comes. Usually I use the string that UNL gives you for BlackBoard, something like s-smith8.
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 Teachers College 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.
Teacher Options
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