Technology Tools in Higher Education
Why this Course?
This course
is designed to help anyone who is interested in using technology that is found
in classroom and other teaching environments learn more about how different
pieces of equipment can be used and provide a better experience to their
students. They will also be using a number of collaborative tools, such as
wikis, in order to help them meet the course objectives.
Why have
this course? Obviously, other universities and corporations are using technology
in their classrooms as well as in other settings. Some of the most successful
and world-renown names in higher education and industry are well-known because
of their implementation of different tools that teachers or workers can use and
leverage (MIT, Indiana University, Google, Microsoft). Having a course that
teaches others how to use these tools would provide a great advantage to the
school.
Target
Population
This course is aimed at individuals who are interested in
learning more about emerging technology in classroom environments and how to
implement these tools in their own setting as well as being able to teach other
educators. Students should be motivated by their desire to provide a better
learning experience to individuals that they will be teaching in the future
through the use of collaborative and innovative technology resources.
Course
Delivery and Materials Required
This course would be taught in a combination of both online
and in a classroom that has been outfitted with different types of technology
that is commonly used to teach a wide variety of students. There will also be
some flexibility built into the room so that instructors and IT staff can bring
in new pieces of equipment as they are released into the market. This will help
the person teaching the course to be able to show new innovations and how they
can be used to teach students in the future. Tours of different classrooms and
facilities around campus will also be incorporated into the course.
Another aspect of the course will be held in an online
setting. Students will be required to do research on other universities and
schools to see how they incorporate different types of equipment into their
classrooms. This information will be researched by teams and then be presented
to the rest of the class in the form of a wiki that can be used as a point of
reference and learning tool. Each team will also evaluate other group’s wikis
and provide them with suggestions and feedback.
***One of the common use cases for wikis in coursework is to
present case studies. This helps the students with building research and
analysis skills and the overall process itself of starting with a framework
that is eventually fleshed out through collaboration with others (West &
West, 2009).***
Time-frame
The suggested time-frame for this course will be to meet once
a week for three to four hours over 8 weeks. During these times, there will be
a portion of class time devoted to different lecture topics and instruction.
The rest of the time will be hands-on learning and experimenting with all of
the different classroom equipment as well as touring of other rooms on campus
in order to see the various layouts and environments and how they can be
utilized for different courses.
Outside the classroom, teams will be created and assigned
with the research and creation of their wiki. This part of the class will be
divided into parts with specific goals/checkpoints where each site is then
evaluated by another group so that the final product that each team creates
will have been a full collaboration of the entire class.
In the end, by doing this, each student should be able to
accomplish the following course objectives.
Course
Objectives
- Be able to list different types of equipment that is used in classrooms.
- Classify the various technology tools that are used and understand their function; know what type works best in what situations or settings.
- Demonstrate the ability to research new technologies and strategies that can be used in the classroom.
- Understand the importance of the different layouts of a classroom and how they can be used in specific ways to teach students.
- Be able to use classroom tools in new and innovative ways.
Course Objectives Rubric
|
Objectives
|
Unsatisfactory
- 0
|
Acceptable
- 1
|
Exemplary
- 2
|
Score
|
|
Be able to list different types of equipment that is used
in classrooms.
|
Student can only list 1-3 types of classroom equipment.
|
Student can list 3-5 different types of classroom
equipment.
|
Student can list 6 or more different types of equipment
used in classrooms.
|
|
|
Classify the various technology tools that are used and
understand their function; know what type works best in what situations or
settings.
|
Student possesses a very basic understanding of technology
and its use; does not show the ability to know what equipment works best in
specific situations.
|
Student possesses a general overall understanding of
technology and its use and can make decisions on what equipment works best in
specific situations.
|
Student has a complete and expanded knowledge of how
technology can be used in classrooms and knows what types work best in many
different circumstances.
|
|
|
Demonstrate the ability to research new technologies and
strategies that can be used in the classroom.
|
Student does not possess the skills to research different
technologies or list where they might be able to find information on
classroom strategies.
|
Student can demonstrate their ability to research
technology and gather information on how it can be used in different
classroom environments. Student can also cite various online resources on
innovative products.
|
Student has shown that they are completely capable of
finding out about new technologies and strategies and is able to list and
cite from a large number of different resources including online, and other
venues.
|
|
|
Understand the importance of the different layouts of a
classroom and how they can be used in specific ways to teach students.
|
Student is unable to describe any of the different styles
of classroom layouts and does not understand the specific benefits for any of
them.
|
Student can describe all of the different types of
classroom layouts and is able to decide which ones are more conducive to
particular types of teaching and learning.
|
Student is fully capable of listing all of the different
layouts and understands how and why each one is used differently. Student can
also take existing layouts and apply them in a more innovative manner of
teaching.
|
|
|
Be able to use classroom tools in new and innovative ways.
|
Student does not possess the basic skills of using
classroom tools and is not able to create any new ways of using them to teach
students.
|
Student can demonstrate how different and new technologies
can be used in innovative ways to better teach their students.
|
Student can utilize all types of classroom technology and
is able to develop new methods and strategies with both existing and new
tools in order to teach students in ways that might not have been done
before.
|
|
*** The
other main goal of this course deals with the basic acquisition of knowledge and
learning/remembering about all of the different technologies that are available
for instructors to use in the classroom. West & West cover this aspect in
our readings this week as well when referring to Bloom’s Taxonomy and the idea
of Knowledge Construction (2009).***
West, J. A. &
West, M. L. (2009) Using wikis for online
collaboration: the power of the read-write web. San Francisco, CA:
Jossey-Bass.
Your post provided detailed information to set the stage for your use of wiki in this 8-week class, which is very good. Also, your plan of letting wiki groups evaluate each other's wiki projects was interesting. I could tell you have truly built the concept of collaborative learning into this lesson plan!
ReplyDeleteIs this wiki project going to be done completely outside of the classroom by students themselves? Your instruction wasn't clear on this. What if someone doesn't want to be fully engaged in this wiki project? What would you do to prevent it if this project were to be done completely outside of the classroom?
I'm sure it will be a very interesting 8-week class. The activities you included seem to touch on most of the learning styles including kinesthetic learning (i.e., tours)!
Kang
Thanks for the input. I think that in this course, I would have the instructor provide some initial guidance on the wiki project itself to answer any questions that the students may have, but I would like for the wiki project itself to be driven by them overall so that the end result is a whole collaborative project.
DeleteAfter I read your post, I would like to take the course for myself if it is available! Two elements of the course are appealing; sufficient hands-on practice that is employing experiential learning, and putting the learners in a position of peer evaluators and teachers’ role. Knowing one thing and teaching others are two different entities. Teaching requires mastery of knowledge and skill integration. When a course is offered for train-the-trainer, the level of engagement and motivation are usually favorable to learning. After all, learning by doing and teaching others in mind will promote the transfer of training.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment. I definitely agree that the combination of hands-on and lecture/research are necessary to the learning process in order to gain a sufficient grasp of how things work.
DeleteRyan
ReplyDeleteI want to enroll in this course and wish that we would offer something like this at my institution. What a great way for instructors to incorporate and get a look at all the new technology that is out there! Tours! Great idea and I like that you are just not explaining how learners could implement this type of technology in the classroom but actually showing the emerging technology and the uses. I agree with Dr. Kang’s comment above that this course has a good incorporation of the different learning styles.
I like your idea of using research and analysis skills in the development of the wiki group project. I also think this would be a great way to build a community of users that will help to keep the wiki active beyond the course.
West and West (2009) discuss the importance of reflection. They discuss that it helps brings the project to an end along with reflecting on what each learner gained from the experience. I think along with the evaluation of other group’s wikis pages (which is a great idea and very beneficial) I think you should add a individual reflection so each learner can reflect on the process. You can also have them reflect on questions like: Would I use this in my teaching?, Can I build an assignment for my course around creating a Wiki page?.
If the wiki page is left open for the community instructors can come back and report their own use of a Wiki project in their own teaching or a Tips/Tricks/Idea type wiki page for professional collaboration.
I really enjoyed reading about your course and I think it would be very beneficial to any instructor wanting to incorporate different type of technology into their courses.
Melinda
West, J. A., & West, M. L. (2009). Using wikis for online collaboration. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Hi Melinda,
DeleteThank you for the comments. I am glad that you agree with the need for multiple teaching methods to help students with their learning process. I feel that this is totally necessary when working with new technologies and ideas, especially for people who might not have prior experience. And yes, giving them the opportunity to provide feedback is a great way to adjust the path of the course to meet their learning objectives overall.
Ryan