Education 245-01 and 02

Computers in Education

Spring 2014
Tuesday 4:30-7:00 or
Wednesday 2:30-5:00

Instructor: Dr. Matt Maurer
Phone - 940-9207
email: mmaurer@butler.edu
Office hours (JH 180H)- Monday and Tuesday 2:30-4:00 and Wednesday 1:00-2:00
Class material on Moodle: http://moodle.butler.edu and http://blogs.butler.edu/mmaurer

Course Description: An introduction to the use of the technology in education. Students will
learn both the use of the technology by teachers for management of instruction, as well as for
instructional purposes. The class will include significant hands-on exercises in class, as well
weekly homework assignments requiring students to apply what has been learned to the teaching
and learning process. A variety of software ("tool" software and educational software) will be
used in conjunction with a variety of web resources.

Goal: Prepare students to turn "easily and naturally" to technology as powerful resource to
support and enhance teaching and learning.

INTASC Standards addressed and COE Core Values:
2. Student Development
3. Diverse Learners
4. Multiple Instructional Strategies
5. Motivation and Management
6. Communication and Technology

This course involves all the COE core values as well as all the ISTE NETS-t
standards.

Statement on Disabilities:

It is the policy and practice of Butler University to make reasonable accommodations for students with
properly documented disabilities. Written notification from Student Disability Services is required. If you
are eligible to receive an accommodation and would like to request it for this course, please discuss it
with me and allow one week advance notice. Otherwise, it is not guaranteed that the accommodation can
be received on a timely basis. Students who have questions about Student Disability Services or who
have, or think they may have, a disability (psychiatric, attentional, learning, vision, hearing, physical,
medical, etc.) are invited to contact Student Disability Services for a confidential discussion in Jordan Hall
136 or by phone at extension 9308.

Objectives: Students will:

1. Develop an informed perspective of modern media literacy (audio, video,
images, social media, etc.) to support instruction and/or personal life-long
learning
2. Understand and be able to apply appropriate tools to support literacy and
numeracy development
3. Use modern technology to find/develop instructional content as well as support
the development of critical thinking skills and reflective practice.
4. Demonstrate consideration of pedagogical and learning environment design.
5. Engage in rudimentary lesson planning including student academic and
professional teaching standards with consideration of student assessment and
self-assessment
6. Develop and practice moral/digital citizenship (e.g., copyright/fair use, sharing
ideas, plagiarism, creative commons, exploration of cultural diversity)
7. Model principles of universal design in the learning environment

Requirements:

1. Attendance - the class will be highly experiential. Therefore attendance is required.
2. Reading material - assigned or distributed in class.
3. Assignments (including online discussions) - will constitute 100% of your grade.
Schedule


Date

Activities
Assignments
(To complete after
class for next time)
Assigned material
(Read/view before class)

1/14
Or
1/15
Introductions and class
expectations
Using Moodle discussions
Introduction to ISTE NETS-t
standards
NETS-s standards
Student content standards
Common core standards
Introduce the 2 final projects
Complete assignments
1 the first Moodle
discussion on what you
want to learn and 2
standards worksheet


1/21
Or
1/22
Follow-up on discussion what
we need to learn and what
we want to learn
Schema and technology
Technology supporting non-
linear learning
Planning tools e.g., bubbl.us
Your philosophy of education
Digital Citizenship what does
it mean to me
Copyright issues
Global, regional and individual
equity
The positive side of digital
citizenship -- Sharing
information and resources
Complete Assignment
3, your philosophy of
education. and 4
Moodle discussion 2
on digital citizenship
ISTE Nets-t document
http://www.iste.org/docs/pdfs/
nets-t-standards.pdf?sfvrsn=2
1/28
Or
1/29
Supporting writing with
technology
Learning from blogging
Project based learning and the
connection to technology
Using library data bases to find
support information
APA style citation
Review the final two projects
Complete assignment
5, project based
learning paper.

2/4
Or
2/5
Your two projects groups and
topic decisions
Publishing on the web with
WordPress
Rubrics
Create grading rubrics
Complete assignment
6, WordPress Web
Blog.

2/11 Screen design for presentation Complete assignment
Or
2/12
material and on-line material
Creating Podcasts
A look at IMovie on the Mac
7, Moodle discussion 3
on book chapters 1 and
2.
2/18
Or
2/19
Student presentation 1
IMovie on the IPad
Digital storytelling
Complete assignment
8, digital storytelling
and homework from
student presentation 1

2/25
Or
2/26
Student presentation 2
IPad Apps for learning

Complete assignment
9, Moodle discussion 4
on book chapters 3 and
4, assignment 10, IPad
app worksheet, and
homework from
student presentation 2

3/4
Or
3/5
Student presentation 3
Supporting numeracy
development with
spreadsheets
Complete assignment
11, Math lesson plan
using a spreadsheet,
and homework from
student presentation 3

3/11
3/12
Spring Break

Relax!
3/18
Or
3/19
Student Presentation 4
Using Excel and Word together
to create merge documents
Supporting assessment with
technology Student
Presentations 1, 2, and 3
Complete assignment
12, merge letter,
assignment 13, Moodle
discussion 5 on book
chapters 5, 6, and 7,
and homework from
student presentation 4

3/25
Or
3/26
Student Presentations 5 and 6
Considering Students with
special needs
Issues of universal design
Complete assignment
14, Sound and Fury
discussion and
homework from
student presentations 5
and 6

4/1
Or
4/2
Group work on consulting
activity

4/8
Or
4/9
Consulting activities
4/15
Or
4/16
Consulting activities
4/22
Or
4/23
Debrief Consulting Activity
Course feedback


Assignment Description

We will have several on-line discussions throughout the semester. Each will be
conducted over Moodle and each will be worth 5 points. You will get 3 points for a
thoughtful contribution that uses the resources required for each discussion. You
will get 2 points for a serious, substantive response to one of your classmates
posting. The required details for each discussion will be found on
moodle.butler.edu under the ED245 link.

1. Discussion 1 what you want to learn, drawing in the ISTE NETS-t standards as
a basis for making your decisions (see Moodle).
2. Review the Indiana Department of Education K-12 content standards for the
students you wish to teach. Think of a lesson you might want to teach (about an
hour of instruction). When you come up with a lesson, make sure that the
lesson uses technology of some kind as an integral part of the learning. Look
through the common core standards (math and language arts), or the content
standards (all other subject areas) to find the standards that you will address in
this lesson (between 3 and 5 standards). Then look through the ISTE NETS-s
standards to find technology standards that will be addressed in the lesson (at
least 2 technology standards). Fill in the form provided for this assignment (see
the class WordPress site on http://blogs.butler.edu/mmaurer). (10 points).
3. Use Bubble.us to create a diagram of your primary issues in the field of
education. From this document, write about 5 sentences that summarize your
philosophy of education. When creating your brief philosophy, keep in mind
that when I ask for something short like 5 sentences, I am not talking about the
first 5 sentences that come to mind, but the best 5 sentences that you are capable
of creating. Spend time making a few words say a lot about your beliefs about
the field.
4. Discussion 2 Digital citizenship (see Moodle).
5. Look at the material provided on project based learning (PBL) from the class
WordPress site. From this information and at least one additional source that
you find yourself, synthesize your beliefs about PBL and its connection to
technology. Include in this synthesis, a brief description of PBL, and your
beliefs about how PBL might be superior or inferior to other approaches to
learning. Also include how technology can support project based learning. This
synthesis should be no less than two pages and no more than 4 pages double
spaced. Cite your sources using APA style and include a reference list at the
end. Cite all the sources, the ones assigned in class as well as the one you find
yourself. (10 points)
6. Create a basic web page that could be used in a classroom to organize
instruction and facilitate learning. This will be started in class and more detail
on requirements will be given in class (10 points).
7. Discussion 3 Book chapters 1 and 2 (see Moodle).
8. Use the digital storytelling tools and techniques to create a short digital story
about yourself. This should serve as a getting to know you video for new
students and their parents. Upload the video to YouTube, making it public so
anyone can see it. Then add a link to that YouTube video on your WordPress
site along with an explanation of what it is and how it should be used (5 points).
9. Discussion 4 book chapters 3 and 4 (see Moodle).
10. Find at least one IPad app that you believe can enhance your teaching. Fill out
the worksheet on this app. Find the worksheet on the class WordPress site.
11. Use the class lesson plan template to create a lesson plan that uses a
spreadsheet. Post both the lesson plan and an example of the completed
spreadsheet to your WordPress blog. The spreadsheet must use the calculation
capacity of the tool (not just rows and columns). That means that you must do
calculations within the example. Add enough text to your web blog so a
student would know what the material is and what to do with it (10 points).
12. Create a simple merge letter that could be sent home to parents (2 point in-class
assignment).
13. Discussion 5 Book chapters 5, 6, and 7 (see Moodle).
14. Discussion 6 - Sound and Fury video discussion cochlear implants (see
Moodle).
15. Choose a topic that you wish to teach to the class. The lesson must include
some new technology as a central element of the lesson. The lesson must be
approximately 20-30 minutes long. More will be discussed about this in class
and a rubric will be developed by the class (20 points).
16. Choose a topic that you wish to share with teaching professionals. The topic
must include some new technology as a central element of the presentation.
Create materials to support a conference poster session. The posters will be
presented either at a professional conference or at a conference we create. This
will happen late in the semester and more details will be discussed in class. A
grading rubric will be provided (50 points).

** a note on assignments and group work as you work through your assigned work, I
encourage working together to support learning. I do not support working together to
avoid work or to avoid learning. When completing assignments, if you are working in
a group, you must do your own work. That means if two people hand in identical
work, neither will get credit for that work, unless group work is explicitly expected for
that work.