Readings and Activities for Week Four

This week we looked at readings that explored learning design theory and practice. In class we had a chance to distill the myriad of concepts and theories discussed in these readings, and reflect on how these might impact the way we ourselves design for learning. Some of these concepts include mediated learning, zone of proximal development, activity theory, affordances, personal learning plans or inquiry based learning, connectivism, sharable representations of lesson plans, visualizations of learning, planning versus design, how we come to teach the way we do, learning styles, technological determinism, and opportunities for the peer review of teaching.

Resources to Review for Week Four

This week, I am hoping you will be happy to review the film Most Likely to Succeed (instead of doing more reading of the literature). This documentary film explores the growing shortcomings of conventional education methods in today’s rapidly changing world. The film explores compelling new approaches that aim to revolutionize education as we know it, inspiring school communities to reimagine what students and teachers are capable of doing.

I also have one reading that explores learning design frameworks. Some of these may be familiar to you, so read with a critical eye. As always, feel free to bring in different perspectives or resources you have found useful, either by exploring the works cited in these papers, or in doing your own independent research. If you go this route please do share the resources you find on Mattermost and explain why folks should consider reading them.

You will need to enter the password provided in the syllabus to access them, as these are not open access. These readings are just for EDCI 565 learners. The resources for week four can be found by clicking this link.

For this week, please add at least two annotations to the text or film. You can not annotate sections of the film, so please feel free to reply to my annotation on the title with your thoughts for discussion. You might annotate something that you would like to discuss more thoroughly, have questions about, or something you strongly agree or disagree with.

As well, I have updated the assignments page to include more information on the tasks for this course. Please review each assignment and post questions for discussion in Mattermost or simply .

Each week, I appreciate you completing these tasks by the Monday before our next class.

If you are having trouble or have questions about annotating with Hypothes.is, please reach out to me directly, I am here to help!

Resources to Bring to Week Four

Can you capture a learning activity you currently do, or would like to try, in a diagram or visualization? Here are a few examples for inspiration, but feel free to choose whatever visual approach works best for you, could be a table, document, flow chart, hierarchy, sequence, Prezi, slidedeck, drawing, etc. Be creative here, there is no wrong approach. I am trying to get you to explicitly show a learning design in a brief snapshot. This should not be laborious so try to keep it to one page. You will have a chance to go deeper with this visual approach in the final project. We will have a chance to share these next week.

The simplest possible tool to complete this task is using PowerPoint or Google Slides, no kidding. You can save anything selected on a Powerpoint slide as a graphic with a right click or save the entire slide or set of slides as an image using ‘save as’ then selecting jpg or png (download as in the case of Google Slides). See the video below for a demo. Make sure you know how to do this, and consider how you might design creative activities with learners using these widely accessible and familiar tools.