Educational Technology | Syllabus

Welcome to the Computer Applications in Education course! Your instructor sincerely hopes that this course will be useful to you in your present occupation, as a student and/or as a career professional. The complete details about this course will be negotiated between the students and the instructor.  There are, however, several course requirements that are not negotiable.

To download the syllabus CLICK HERE.

To download the Computer Attitude Survey CLICK HERE.

For more information regarding accommodations for students with disabilities, contact:

Lynn DeMartin

Director of the Santa Fe Center of NMHU

6401 Richards Avenue, Suite 311D

Santa Fe, NM 87505

505-428-1742

 

Harris, R. (2000). A Guidebook to the Web. Guildford, Connecticut: Dushkin/McGraw-Hill. ISBN: 0-07-228217-7

Hirschbuhl, J. J. & Bishop, D. (Eds.) (2000). Computers in Education 00/01, Ninth Edition. Guildford, Connecticut: Dushkin/McGraw-Hill. ISBN: 0-07-039398-2

Texts are in the community college bookstore.

Additionally, you must obtain a manual, book, or acceptable source of information for learning about various computer software, especially word processing, databases/spreadsheets, presentation software, and other software that will be covered in this course. The instructor is sensitive to your budget for this course, so you may use free resources available on the world wide web if you do not have manuals or software licenses.

The conceptual framework within which this course resides is known as the STURDY model because it is Student-centered Teaching for Understanding, with Reflection and Diversity for Youth. It is the YOUR responsibility to develop your knowledge, skills, and abilities in order to better meet the needs of your future students.

Students, as part of their initial professional and pedagogical teacher preparation, will apply relevant aspects of business application (productivity) software (MS Word, MS Excel, and MS Power Point) and categorize, analyze, and evaluate educational software/courseware within simulated K-12 learning environments.

Students will accommodate the rich diversity of learners (cognitively, developmentally, culturally, linguistically, motivationally, and educationally) as they employ and apply educational software and psychological theories and research in curriculum and instruction to their preparation of lesson plans and unit plans.

Students will apply theories, research, and current practices pertaining to computer applications in curriculum and instruction to the teaching enterprise, to student characteristics, to learning and instruction, to creating a positive learning environment, and to the assessment of students.

Educational outcomes one (1) through four (4) become operationally defined in the following manner. Students will analyze, synthesize, and evaluate the course content and their hypothetical students. Students will apply the results in developing and teaching an integrated thematic unit. The unit will be made up of at least five behavioral objectives. Each objective will specify the Audience, Behavior, Condition, Degree, and Evaluation. Each objective will exemplify and apply at least ten educational psychology principles (with text references). Each objective will be classified according to Bloom's Taxonomy. Each objective will integrate instructionally relevant and meaningful educational software.

The "STURDY" Model stands for "Student centered Teaching for Understanding, with Reflection and Diversity for Youth." This model is the foundation for the "Conceptual Framework" of the NMHU School of Education.

Teaching for Understanding

Teaching for understanding means taking students as they arrive in our classroom, building on knowledge, skills, and experience to reach the desired understanding. Teaching for understanding has been expanded to include the notion of "backwards curriculum development." It is necessary to identify the desired outcomes before developing a curriculum (and, in our case, syllabus for a course). We ask ourselves, "What evidence would demonstrate that the student has achieved the desired outcome?" Given that information, the instructor develops a series of lessons, activities, and learning experiences to reach those goals. A student who has achieved true understanding can explain, predict, apply or adapt, justify, critique, judge, make connections, and avoid common misconceptions.

Teaching for Reflection

Reflective teaching assumes an active role for the instructor--that of a reflective practitioner. The reflective teacher focuses not only on content, but on the interaction of the learner with that content, on the teaching environment and classroom culture, the teacher’s own behavior and the student’s reactions to it, and on the class in the larger context of the school, community, etc. The ultimate goal is continual renewal of the teaching practice.

Teaching for Diversity

The faculty of the Teacher Preparation Program at NMHU recognizes that in order to prepare pre-service teachers for successful and effective instruction in our nation’s public schools, the issue of equity in education should be addressed. A well-prepared teacher should be able to deliver quality instruction in any diverse setting. Preparation for quality instruction begins with culturally responsive teaching through a comprehensive approach, rather than a particular method to be added to other techniques. The faculty also extends the traditional definition of "culture" to a broader scope so as to include a great number of characteristics in an individual that may result in bias from others. Such characteristics include, but are not limited to, race, ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic status, educational level, sexual orientation, age, area of origin, varying ability, gender, or language. The ultimate goal of education for diversity is to provide equity among students through the practice of presenting and giving voice to diverse perspectives in the classroom.

Introduction

• History

• Ethics

• Current Conditions and Future Trends

Equipment and Systems

• Hardware

• Operating Systems

• Networks

• Languages

Business Application Software

• Word

• Excel

• Power Point

• Databases

• Statistical Analyses

• Desktop Publishing or Graphics Software

The World Wide Web

• Overview and History

• Browsing Sites

• Searching the Web

• Evaluating Sites

• Citations

Educational and Instructional Integration and Applications

• Technology Integration

• Software Evaluation, Integration, and Evaluation

• Teacher Training

• Multimedia

• Special Issues

This course will use a variety of instructional strategies and techniques.  You will also give presentations in this course and should use a variety of appropriate instructional methods.  Table 1 presents an overview of various instructional methods for you to consider.

1. As soon as possible, do the following:

2. Get a "Patron Card" from the community college library

3. To use the Zimmerman Library at UNM, you will need a "Passport" from the Donnelly Library at NMHU-LV. We will gather names of students who desire Passports so that they can be faxed to Donnelly all at once.

4. You may access the subscriber databases, including ProQuest and FirstSearch, at the community college. The databases are accessible from home. You will need to visit the NMHU Santa Fe office (Suite 311D) to get proper authorization.

5. Get an email address. Students may get email accounts at: http://orion.nmhu.edu/email

Routine Assignments

• Read assigned materials before the due date.

• Write very brief summary of assigned material before due date.

• Actively present information to class and participate in discussions and simulations on a daily basis.

• Develop and teach a thematic unit emphasizing the educational software/courseware and general business application software studied in this course.

Special Assignments

• Design a small project to be posted on the course website.

Graduate Student Assignments

• All previous assignment items.

• Conduct a research study (or proposal) related to one of the major topics of the course.

• Publish a synopsis of the study (or research proposal) on the course website or on a website of your choosing.

• Other?

Extra Credit Possibilities

• Lead your school or organization in the development of a technology integration plan using skills and knowledge developed during this course.

• Write a technology-related proposal for funding using skills and knowledge developed during this course.

• Provide a technology training workshop or conference presentation for your school or district, or other education professionals, using skills and knowledge developed during this course.

• Other?

• You must receive permission from the instructor for extra-credit projects before the third week of the semester.

The evaluations utilized in this course directly follow from, and are deducible from, the Educational Outcomes presented above.  Specific evaluation elements include the following:

Table 7. Assessment Matrix for Undergraduate Students

Table 8. Assessment Matrix for Graduate Students

This syllabus was adapted from the Spring 2000 syllabus of the same course at New Mexico Highlands University (Las Vegas), by Dr. Douglas R. Knox.  The NMHU accrediting body, North Central Association (NCA) requires that off-site courses parallel course taught on the main campus.

Other advice for the design of this course provided by the Dean of Education, Dr. James Abreu, and Dr. Nicolas Sanchez at NMHU-Las Vegas.