Assignments for this course are in three major categories: (1) Field/clincial experiences, (2) Reflective learning--thinking about thinking, and (3) Action assignments--in terms of technology action. Sample long-term assignments are to include building a philosophy, using social constructions, and developing power learning in connection with use of technology, and related to your field experience. The following are assignments for CGS 4160:
- Assignment F (20 pts.): Field/clinical experiences
will be simultaneously through EDE 4907r which will focus around your
facilitating students taking control of the computer for
developing their own creativity/thinking processes. Such
experiences in Leon
County Schools should
include the following:
- Assignment #F1: An examination of how students are using
technology and reacting to it in the school where you are
working.
- Assignment #F2: Your facilitating students to develop a
stack/WWW Page that carries out a central idea or theme,
involving several content areas--including animation, and uses
the students' own creativity/thinking processes (also, hopefully,
including language experiences and art).
- Assignment #F3: Your facilitating students to develop WWW skills, such as navigating, communicating, researching, and publishing as identified by the Leon County Internet Outcomes Study Group.
- Assignment #F1: An examination of how students are using
technology and reacting to it in the school where you are
working.
- Assignment R (20 pts overall): Reflective Learning--Thinking
about
Thinking--A reflection of weekly reflections including reflections on your
experiences in learning as well as working with
children/adolescents --due by the last class period These
should compare and contrast the ideas in the three sources
listed below with your field experiences and your concept of
how to develop education for the 21st Century. (Note: weekly
reflections should be e-mailed to instructor on a weekly basis)
- Assignment #R1: Identify 5 ideas in Pathways to
School
Improvement, particularly in the areas of learning and
assessment that that are different from the school experiences
you have had.
- Assignment #R2: Identify 5 ideas in Reinventing
Schools, particularly in the area of learning that that is
different
from the school experiences you have had.
- Assignment #R3: Identify 5 ideas in Children's Machines (see sample quotes and
review) or The Connected
Family.
- Assignment #R4: Identify 5 ideas consistent with the three sources above and relate to what you are seeing in the schools.
- Assignment #R1: Identify 5 ideas in Pathways to
School
Improvement, particularly in the areas of learning and
assessment that that are different from the school experiences
you have had.
- Assignment A: (20 pts overall) An Electronic Portfolio/Home
Page illustrating your understanding of effective ways to use
technology yourself as well as with children/adolescents for
developing problem solving, power learning, creativity and
integrated learning--tentatively due by Week 15, that also
should serve as an electronic portfolio to continue up-dating
throughout your program in the spirit of building life-long
learning Your Home Page should include the following (and
each of you should express your own creativity by making your
site different from everyone else:
- Your email address in a point and click form (Note: do not include your home address or home telephone for security)
- A
branch to personal information, including pictures, about
yourself (think carefully about what information you want to
include here.)
- A branch to what you have learned about learning (including your vision of teaching/learning, what you have learned about your learning, and what you have learned about children)
- A branch to a team effort project
- A branch to links you have found that are grouped into related clusters.
- A branch related to your field experiences, which might
include links you have found for your students and perhaps
links to work your students have done.
- With short term assignments, as follows::
- Assignment A#1 (4 pts): WWW assignments: (a) Identifying at
least 15 World Wide Web locations visited, and (b) With at
least 5 such sites that fit into a central theme--tentatively
due by Week 3
- Assignment A#2 (4 pts): Build an initial stack/WWW Page integrating buttons or links, graphics, and text
- Assignment #A3: (4 pts) Build a stack/WWW Page that includes
animation and sound due by Week 7
- Assignment #A4 (14 pts): HyperStudio/WWW project centered around a central theme and including buttons, animation, scanned graphics, text, sound and demonstrating your ability to build connections between thinking processes and creativity to carrying out a central theme
- Assignment #A5 (4 pts): At least 3 software reviews of
software not used in class --tentatively due by Week 11.
Factors to consider in evaluating software:
- Allows for experimental learning, including explorations, investigations, and building hunches
- Is conceptually based
- Contains underlying structure of the content to be explored
- Allows major cognitive restructuring and the facility for students to construct meaningful knowledge
- Allows students to generate feedback from which they can judge the efficacy of their methods of thinking
- Is intrinsically interesting enough for students to want to discuss alternative strategies with other students about explorations, hence allowing social constructions
- Facilitates reflective abstractions
- Is easy to get started.
- Assignment A#1 (4 pts): WWW assignments: (a) Identifying at
least 15 World Wide Web locations visited, and (b) With at
least 5 such sites that fit into a central theme--tentatively
due by Week 3
- Overall (10 pts): Completion of assignments in a timely manner, weekly reflections, class attendance, participation in cooperative groups, and class participation.
