Class Syllabi

 

EDUC P500 - Games and Learning

Vygotsky argued that "the influence of play on a child's development is enormous… ."  It is through play that a child can take on identities and experiment with actions even before she appreciates the meanings associated with these actions. For philosopher Hans Gadamer, play is serious, structured, and involves the suspension of belief versus pretense, reality versus unreality. We play roles, not to step into the life of some imagined Other, but to stretch ourselves into another being (character) that can act with that Other. And, in the 21st Century one of the most dominant forms of play occurs through videogames. Read more...

EDUC R695 - ProSeminar in Learning Sciences

The rationale underlying the ProSeminar in Learning Science is that a central component of any graduate career is becoming a part of a community. While there are many different descriptions on what counts as community, in previous work I have described it as a persistent, sustained social network of individuals who share and develop an overlapping knowledge base, set of beliefs, values, history and experiences focused on a common practice and/or mutual enterprise. Read More...

EDUC P500 - Theory and Method in the Learning Sciences

The focus of this course is to help you develop a rich appreciation for the relationship between theoretical assumptions and practical convictions, especially as they relate to theories of learning and development. As an evolving discipline, there is no clear definition of what defines Learning Sciences. However, my current take is that Learning Sciences is an interdisciplinary field that draws on multiple theoretical perspectives and research paradigms from the human sciences. Read more...

EDUC R695 - Building Online Communities

This course will examine what we do and do not know about the processes and practices of designing communities to support learning. Some of the central questions to be addressed through this course include: What constitutes community? How do these electronic environments relate to more familiar place-based pedagogical ones? How well do the techniques and constructs that are used to understand the processes of learning and enculturation in traditional face-to-face community settings suffice for these new settings? What is the educational value of a community approach to learning? How do we capture and what are the relations among individual, group, and community trajectories? Read More...

EDUC P500 - Learning Sciences: Apprenticeship II

This course is designed to support you in getting as much as possible out of your apprenticeship. As such, the goal is not to assign arbitrary requirements, but to help you reflect on and ensure you have an educationally useful apprenticeship. Read more...

EDUC P251: Educational Psychology for Elementary Students

This course acknowledges that teaching and learning are, and always have been, an integral aspect of human interaction. All people teach, all people learn. Individually and in collaborative groups, you will investigate the application of educational psychology principles to teaching and learning. You will develop a foundation of knowledge and experiences that will help you in making sound decisions as a professional in the field. In this class, you will learn about the cognitive, social, emotional, developmental, motivational, and contextual factors that impact teaching and learning. Read more...

Computer Endorsement Cohort

The Computer Endorsement Cohort (CEC) is designed to prepare teachers at all grade levels to use the knowledge and skills of pedagogy and technology to enhance teaching and learning. It is grounded on the premise that in order to change the way teachers� teach, they must experience innovative ways to learn as part of their professional preparation. The program is highly personalized, heavily field-based, and intended to provide a supportive community through which pre-service teachers can become skillful in integrating technology to support learning and teaching. Students achieve a computer endorsement not by accumulating credits and grades, but by collecting evidence that they, indeed, can teach in the 23 ways described in CEC�s Program Expectations. Read more...

EDUC W310 - Computer-Based Teaching Methods

The goals of this course center around the improvement of Professional Development of educators by means of new technologies.� The vision is to create a learning community in which pre-service teachers and practicing teachers collaborate in the conduct of real-world tasks (as opposed to textbook exercises) with the aid of new technologies. This course has gone through multiple iterations with each course incorporating what was learned from the previous semester. Read more...

EDUC R695 - Development of Situated Learning Environments

This course is designed to review and analyze in detail theories and research on situated cognition. Situated Cognition is a recent term for a family of research efforts that explain cognition, including problem solving, sense making, understanding, transfer of learning, creativity, etc., in terms of the relationship between learners and the properties of specific environments (affordances). Read More...

EDUC W200 - Microcomputers in Education

This course is intended to establish an environment in which prospective teachers develop proficiency in computer applications and classroom software as it relates to being an effective classroom educator; and adopt a critical eye and ethical code regarding the role of technology for preparing their students to be successful in the 21st century.� Read more...