Today we’re going to talk about the technologies we will be using in the course as well as about why the course has been designed the way it has. Finally we will finish setting up our blogs, create a blog post, and then submit the web address of the blog post to a Brightspace assignment.

Topic 2 Learning Objectives

  • Describe both sides of the debate about the effectiveness of educational technology
  • Describe the course design for 336 and the rationale behind the course design choices
  • Describe use cases for each of the software tools in the course toolset, and describe how each tool can help you successfully complete the course
  • Identify major positives and negative experiences learners sometimes have when using educational technologies
  • Finish setting up your personal blog where you will reflect on the usefulness of the technologies and teaching methods we will cover each day

Class Time

Course Design

In my opinion, “Learning is Not a Spectator Sport!” That said, my goal is to devote the majority of our daily class time will be devoted to Active Learning tasks/projects. Unfortunately today, only about 1/2 of our class time will be hands-on, but that should shift to about 70% hands-on and 30% instruction in the days to come.HyFlex Instruction Infographic

IED 336 has been designed in a HyFlex format so that we can engage with the course, face-to-face in the classroom, face-to-face via Zoom, or self-paced online via the course website depending on our group and individual needs. I have done this so that:

  • If you are not well on any given day, please let me know and I’ll share the upcoming day’s materials with you so that you can work through them when you’re feeling well enough to do so.
  • If any of you are feeling sick or unwell, please let me know so that I can work with you to make sure that you successfully complete the course.
  • If you have any family emergencies, please take care of it, and please let me know so that I can share the day’s materials with you to work through when the emergency has passed.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns about this. Here is an infographic I created for a conference presentation on HyFlex if you’re not familiar with the term (also embedded on the right).

IED 336 has been consciously designed to model open learning, and Personal Learning Networks using the following tools:

  • Open course website – No LMS, persistent access and evolving only licensed content
  • Learner-owned portfolios – to develop open and network literacy, celebrate student work, ensure portability, and maintain ownership
  • Networked portfolios – to aggregate new posts across the network of student portfolios and encourage community and peer review
  • Promote community through discussion – Blogs and messaging platform
  • Invitations to join social media networks and communities

Here are three websites from previous course participants to give you a sense of what a learner website can look like at the end of the course:

Course Activities in a Nutshell

  • Daily instruction and related hands-on activities
  • Daily meeting with your Learning Pod to discuss course topics
  • Daily updates on your WordPress portfolio curating topics from the day (Assignment 1)
  • Develop a lesson plan & lesson materials (Assignment 2a & 2b)
  • Present the lesson you created (Assignment 3)
  • Exploration of social media tools for learning & developing your personal learning network

Review Course Outline expectations, especially the assignments requirements:

Hands-on Lab Time

Get your WordPress blog setup (40 min)

  1. Review past EDCI 336 blogs, for inspiration:
  2. Create your own portfolio website for the class (which if you like you are free to use in the months and years in the future):
  3. Write a short blog post using one or more of the following blog prompts:
    • the process of setting up a blog
    • potential uses of blogs at the grade level & subject areas where you hope to teach
    • sketchnoting as a teaching method
  4. Submit your blog post to the class BrightSpace website using the Topic 2 assignment page.
  5. Customize your blog (See WordPress Tutorial)