Starting this semester’s seminar on education and technology
This week my new education and technology seminar began. It’s in Georgetown University’s Learning, Design, and Technology program, and called LDES-702: Studies in Educational Technology. I first taught it in 2019.
Here I wanted to introduce the class, starting with my plans for it, then the tentative reading and assignment schedule.
The general idea is for students to work through a different tech or tech-related practice each week. They’ll read and engage with scholarship about the stuff, both asynchronously (online) and synchronously (in person or via video). They will also get some hands-on work with the tech, like recording audio, creating a class in an LMS, creating an information literacy guide, etc.
Woven across those weeks are a whole series of themes and critical approaches. From the syllabus:
social justice, technology, and education; access and equity; the relationship between pedagogy and technology; asynchronous and synchronous technologies; globalization versus the local; assessment; campus support structures and sustainability; student agency.
I want to frame these with as much historical context as the class can hold. Meanwhile, I’m eager to see which themes the students generate and develop.
That’s because I am continuing my democratic pedagogical practice. I want the class to be a place where each student’s experience and thinking are crucial, and where students are empowered to shape the class. We already started discussing which technologies to use for asynchronous conversation — right now, it looks like we’ll begin with Canvas, then explore others in response to the tech we investigate. We also created a set of rules for working together. And the syllabus has several open spaces for the students to collectively choose themes, readings, and exercises. I also left open some readings so that I can better pick ones as I get to know the students and their interests.
More on pedagogy: since this is a graduate seminar most of the class time will consist of discussion and some hands-on experimentation. As usual I’ll try to shun lectures, but will be ready to do mini-presentations for key topics on the fly (only) as needed. My official statement:
Pedagogically this class combines project-based learning, discussion, constructivism, and educational technology. You will each play a key role in creating and sharing meaning — collaboratively — as we explore this subject together. The class is yours, and so you have a say in how it goes and is shaped.
And now, the schedule. Note that some of the readings aren’t specifically about that week’s technology, but advance themes we explore throughout the semester.
January 15 Introductions
- What is ed tech?
- What technology do you use?
- How should we organize this class together?
January 22 LMS and the Web
Technology exercises:
- develop a strategy for tracking ed tech digitally
- explore Hypothesis
January 29 Digital and information literacy
Technology exercise: create your own digital literacy guide
February 5 Learning spaces
Technology exercise: redesign the classroom
February 12 Open
Technology exercise: post two CC-licensed content items to the Web
February 19 Audio
Technology exercise: create an audio file with at least two tracks. Upload to Soundcloud. Share with class digitally and in synchronous session.
February 26 Video
Technology exercise: assemble a video with images, video, and soundtrack; share with class.
February 28 — MID TERM PROJECT DUE
March 4 Mobile
Technology exercise: TBD
[March 11 — no classes; spring break]
March 18 Universal design, accessibility
Technology exercise: pick an educational web page or other digital content; plan a redesign for accessibility
March 25 Gaming
- Reading TBD
- Student-selected reading TBD
Technology exercise: produce an interactive lesson in Twine or alternative tool
April 1 VR
- Reading TBD
- Student-selected reading TBD
Technology exercise: TBD
April 8 student choice: future trends
Technology exercise: TBD
April 15 student choice
Technology exercise: TBD
April 22 student presentations
LAST DAY OF CLASSES
May 1 FINAL PROJECT DUE
…..
The mid-term project is an annotated bibliography aimed at each student’s final project. Final project: “This will take the form of either an instance of a learning technology, a detailed course plan, a research paper (as a first step towards publication), or another digital object, following the instructor’s approval.”
Onward! And good luck to my students, as this will be a wild ride.
Originally published at https://bryanalexander.org on January 17, 2020.
