Ed 668 - Summer 2002

Managing Technology in School Settings

Rev 1.0

Gary S. Stager

Pepperdine University GSEP - OMAET

 

Email: gstager@pepperdine.edu

Fax: (413) 812-4767

Emergency phone number: (310) 874-8236

Newsgroup: pep.gsep.ed668.blue

Website: http://www.stager.org/omaet2002/

 

Required Software:

QuickTime Pro 5.x - The player version is free, but you need to pay $29.99 for the key to unlock the Pro features. Purchasing the QuickTime book below includes the software key for QuickTime Pro.

Either one of the two following books:

• The Clock of the Long Now: Time and Responsibility: The Ideas Behind the World's Slowest Computer - Stewart Brand
• The Pattern on the Stone : The Simple Ideas That Make Computers Work (Science Masters Series) - Daniel Hillis

Recommended (optional)

QuickTime for the Web: For Windows and Macintosh (With CD-ROM) -- Steven W. Gulie, Apple Computer; paperback (comes with $29.99 QuickTime Pro license on tools CD) This is a fantastic and thorough book on digital media.

iMovie 2 - The Missing Manual -- David Pogue

The Little Digital Video Book -- Michael Rubin

(Either) The Mac is Not a Typewriter or The PC is Not a Typewriter -- RobinWilliams

 Mac OS X: The Missing Manual - David Pogue

COURSE GOALS:

 This course has the following goals:

1. To prepare students for leadership in managing information technology in school settings
2. To enhance the technological fluency of students
3. To explore a variety of instructional and non-instructional technology
4. To improve online communication
5. To learn where to find appropriate assistance and resources
6. To improve student understanding and application of constructionism
7. To solve problems and make prudent decisions about educational IT infrastructure, hardware and software
8. To think about the future of computational technology.
   

This class requires active participation through collaboration, discussion, design, research and development. All of the required reading, personal reflection, research and technical fluency will culminate in an exciting collaborative project designed by the students.

All students are required to share ideas and skills with their classmates and to expand their own personal knowledge in ways beneficial to their classmates. Simply put, you need to learn whatever is necessary to support the learning and growth of your peers.

IMPORTANT! Student work should be easily accessible via the student's web space on the hale.pepperdine.edu server or another server. This means that students should have an INDEX page from which to navigate to clearly labeled individual assignments. Student email links should be available on major project pages so I (and other users) may provide feedback. Be sure to put a mailto: link on each page so comments may be returned to you.

Please feel free to share with your classmates any materials or articles that you believe may be of interest. We will all profit from tyour extra effort.

Assigned texts, articles, newsgroup discussions and synchronous sessions will be used to shape our own learning environment. Active participation in all appropriate media is expected. The nature of the course requires all students to check their email and class newsgroup daily.

The role of technology in learning (even the role of schools in learning) is far from decided or agreed upon. This class is designed for risk-taking and no educational tradition should be safe from scrutiny, revision or elimination. Some of the books were selected to provoke reflection and discussion. Feel free to share your beliefs, opinions and expertise with the class via classroom discussion and the class newsgroup. This class is highly collaborative. Your educational success is inextricably connected to the learning of your peers.

Getting Started (Very Important!)

In facilitate my ability to communicate with each of you, please send an email to blues@stager.org from your preferred email account. My email client will automatically enter you in my address book and store all correspondence from you in one folder.

Course Details

Macintosh users should strongly consider upgrading to OS 9 or OS X and using Apple's new iTools for collaboration.

Course Requirements
This course is designed to awake you "inner geek."A substantial amount of tinkering and experimentation is expected. We will however balance the development of technical knowledge with a framework for thinking about the implication of technology in learning.

This course's requirements include active online participation, timely completion of assignments, reading of assigned articles, a collaborative projects and a demonstration of technical fluency. Creative thinking, problem solving, risk taking, humor and joyful exploration will be valued highly.

This course is designed to provoke thinking, reflection and perhaps even argument. Feel free to share your views. This is expected. However, your personal opinions are much more valuable when supported by evidence or citations from the work of others.

Think of the newsgroup as a book club in which you are expected to share thoughts, questions and topics of discussion inspired by the assigned books and articles. You do not need the professor to initiate such discussions.

You are expected to share your ideas and be able to defend them.

Class participation & homework assignments
This includes attendance, in newsgroups and synchronous (Tapped-In) participation, homework and assigned readings. Students are strongly advised to read educational journals, books, computing magazines, and any trade publications that would enhance their understanding of education and educational computing. Such information makes a welcome contribution to classroom and online dialogue.

The instructor reserves the right to announce assignments throughout the course. In fact, assignments will be made on a regular basis.

A variety of online technologies and publishing tools will be used for learning, communication, collaboration and expressing one's knowledge. Students who believe they need additional assistance are expected to ask for it.

Grading

All work should be of such a caliber that it could be published in a professional setting. If it's not your best work, do not submit it.

The standard rubric is that you should use your knowledge, experience, intellect, creativity and technological fluency to create work better than you thought you were capable of generating.

100% Class participation, discussion & homework assignments This includes posting, online class participation, homework, readings and reflective practice. Students are strongly advised to read educational journals, books, computing magazines, and any trade publications that would enhance their understanding of education, educational computing and school design. Such information makes a welcome contribution to the learning environment and student projects.

Students are expected to not only complete all individual and collaborative tasks, as well as be active discussants. I highly value students who "have a go" and endeavor to get the most out of the educational experience.

Students should keep notes on the assigned readings and any other materials that may contribute to personal understanding or the learning of the cadre. Each week, students are expected to post their thoughts and/or questions about the assigned reading and respond to at least one other student’s published comments. Online dialogue is a critical aspect of this course.

You must post and speak in Tapped-In in order to produce evidence of your understanding.

A notable improvement in technological fluency is also expected as part of the participation grade.

I expect students to ask questions, follow their curiosity and use all of the learning resources - human, digital and tactile - available to them.

Share your views. Tell us what you think and be able to support your arguments in a thoughtful colleagial fashion. It is expected that students will share their experties.

Each week, hypothetical scenarios concerning educational IT and planning will be presented for discussion and debate.

Students will work on developing or improving knowledge/skills in the following domains:

• web publishing
• streaming media and editing
• simple networking
• identifying free and low-cost web & communication tools
• online databases (Filemaker Pro)
• technology planning

The video(s) created for Dr. Talley's class may be used to satisfy this course's editing and publishing (streaming) requirements.

Students will discuss articles about educational computing and explore the powerful ideas of Seymour Papert. They will also ponder and discuss the implications of future technology.

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Course Calendar

In the tradition of learner centered education, this calendar will respect the needs of the students and teacher by remaining flexible. Topics may be introduced at different times than they appear below as I strive to “seize the teachable moment” and provide meaningful contexts for learning. Additional readings will be assigned in order to supplement class discussions and stimulate thinking. The syllabus will be updated constantly.

Most of the course schedule will be determined by the needs and interests of the class. The sequence of reading from the assigned texts may be changed to meet the needs of the students.

Technical issues associated with computer use will be addressed as necessary.

This syllabus is a framework for this course. Changes will be made. Teachers know all too well the perils of planning too far in advance. I hope my crystal ball and optimism don’t fail me. We WILL seize teachable moments.

Guest speakers may be arranged based on availability.

Discussions of the assigned reading is due in the class newsgroup by Midnight Monday of each week!

Additional reading assignments and video viewing will be announced in the class newsgroup.

Reading and Assignment Schedule
You are expected to post your thoughts, questions and comments regarding the assigned reading to the class newsgroup prior to the time of the class in which it is due. Assigned readings may be shuffled, deleted or supplemented as necessary.

Reading assignments will be posted each week in the class newsgroup. We will begin with the Papert book.

Remember... You are always encouraged to share interesting ideas, thoughts, links and articles in the class newsgroup. Check your newsgroup and email often! Homework assignments not listed in the syllabus may be required when necessary.

Do not wait for the professor to start the discussion. When you encounter an interesting idea, share it with your classmates in the newsgroup!

A more complete reading calendar will be posted shortly in the newsgroup!

Immediately begin reading Don't Make Me Think! Share thoughts in the newsgroup

May 20 - Improve your web site in three ways advocated by the Don't Make Me Think! book. Include a web page containing before and after screenshots, a description of the improvements and a rationale for them.

May 27 - Read Radio: An Illustrated Guide and post a two-minute streaming radio station.

June 10 - Read Robin Williams Web Design Workshop and improve your site in three ways as above.

June 17 - Read Chapters 1-3 of The Children's Machine and discuss it in the newsgroup

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Course Values and Expectations

Gary’s Assessment Rubric
Ask yourself, "was I able to accomplish more than I thought was possible?"
 

The habit of...

• Perspective
  
• Analysis
  
• Imagination
  
• Empathy
  
• Communication
  
• Commitment
  
• Humility
  
• Joy (Humor too!)
  
  ...should be present in your projects and online communication.
  
  

Deborah Meier and the Central Park East Secondary School’s Intellectual Habits

1. Evidence - How do you know that?
   
2. Viewpoint - Who said that and why?
   
3. Cause and Effect - What led to it, what else happened?
   
4. Hypothesizing - What if...?
   

These habits should be in evidence in your work!

Feel free to ask yourself why what you are thinking, planning or doing is important. Relevance is a major component of learning.

Course values for students
(Additional items welcomed throughout the trimester)

1. We are all WiReD...
We all have an Internet e-mail account and will read our email/newsgroups regularly. Students are expected to share resources and raise topics for discussion as well.

2. We assume responsibility for our own learning...

• We will track our own progress and meet assignment deadlines
  
• We will welcome new ideas and suggestions
  
• We will take risks and try new things
  
• We will plan ahead
  

3. We are ethical and moral individuals...

• We do not plagiarize others work.
  
• We do not pirate software you have not paid for and do not own.
  

4. The best way to learn it is to live it...

Students will seek and indulge in relevant experiences. People who rely upon just passively sitting in class (or online) will shortchange their learning and grades.

5. Part of living it is reflecting about it with others...

• Don t expect to learn much alone.
  
• Experience teaches through accumulation of insights. Insights are acquired from reflection on experiences.
  
• You are expected to share resources and articles that may be of interest to others.
  

6. We will ask three before me (Gary). Students should ask questions of classmates, peers and use other resources before automatically asking the teacher for help.

7. We will read manuals and software menus for information.

8. We will not whine...
'Nuff said

9. No puppets

From The Pattern on the Stone: The Simple Ideas that Make Computers Work
by Daniel Hillis

The philosopher Gregory Bateson once defined information as “the difference that makes a difference.”... A lot of things are different in the world today, but the difference that has made the difference has been computers.

These days, computers are popularly thought of as multimedia devices, capable of incorporating and combining all previous forms of media - text, graphics, moving pictures, sound. I think this point of view leads to an underestimation of the computer’s potential. It is certainly true that a computer can incorporate and manipulate all other media, but the true power of the computer is that it is capable of manipulating not just the expression of ideas but also the ideas themselves. The amazing thing to me is not that a computer can hold the contents of all the books in a library but that it can notice relationships between the concepts described in the books - not that it can display a picture of a bird in flight or a galaxy spinning but that it can imagine and predict the consequences of the physical laws that create these wonders. The computer is not just an advanced calculator or camera or paintbrush; rather, it is a device that accelerates and extends our processes of thought. It is an imagination machine, which starts with the ideas we put into it and takes them farther than we ever could have taken them on our own.” (Daniel Hillis, 1998)

 

SEE THE CLASS NEWSGROUP AND THIS PAGE FOR WWW RESOURCES YOU MAY FIND USEFUL