Agenda: Class 1

ET 690 Educational Technology Seminar

"All students have probably heard the classic adolescent opinion of what schools are for: 'Schools teach kids that it ain't no fun to learn things that ain't worth learnning.' As educators you will hear this opinion uttered countless times with countless variations. You will even hear it on occasion from frustrated teachers. Beneath this rebellious opinion lies perhaps the most serious educational question of all. What are schools for?" --Jeffrey Smolla

• Schedule Notes
  • No class July 4
  • July 9 is reserved for debate group meetings. We will not meet here, but you will meet in groups at some time(s) between July 3 and July 11.
  • July 11 is the final class debate(s).
    
• Introduction
  • Who Am I? Dr. David Marcovitz
  • Who Are You? Student Survey (fill out electronically by the end of tonight)
  • Syllabus
  • Assignments
  • Due to the condensed nature of the summer, each person may choose to hand in one paper (either Paper 2, Paper 3, or the Final Paper) up to two weeks late.
  • Class Participation
  • Food
  • Moodle
  • Always available via https://inside.loyola.edu/
  • Should be available via https://moodle.loyola.edu/
  • Might be availabe via http://loyola.mrooms.net/
    
• Glossary Wiki for Erneling book
• Find it in Moodle: The Erneling book contains many terms that are difficult to understand, but it is important that you understand the terms to help you understand the concepts (and so you can use the terms correctly to both participate in the discussion and write the paper). This wiki will serve as a place to jointly create a glossary of difficult terms. If you come across a difficult term, add it to the glossary and take a shot at defining it. Then, edit, change, and add to the definitions you find here to make them clearer.
  
• Safe Environment
• This class should be a safe environment to share your ideas
• What people say here is confidential
  
• Everyone share one thing about school and/or technology in school or society that you think many others disagree with
  
• The Purpose of School
  • Sir Ken Robinson TED Talk
    
  • http://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_bring_on_the_revolution.html
    
  • Talk of the Nation Discussion Between Howard Gardner and E.D. Hirsch (listen on your own if you wish)
  • Discussion: What is the Purpose of School
• Sign Up for Leading Discussions
  • Discussion leadership exempts you from one paper (see details at the Assignments handout).
  • Up to one discussion from the Turkle and Erneling books will be online (more may be forced online if we have unanticipated cancellations).
    
  • Send me email (marco@loyola.edu) by Sunday, June 1 with your choices for discussion leadership.
  • Be specific about what you would like to lead, and let me know alternatives.
  • For example, you might say "I would like to lead the second discussion of Turkle, but I would be willing to lead any of the Turkle discussions."
  • Also, let me know if you have a preference for leading an online or face-to-face discussion (face-to-face discussion might have to move online due to weather).
    
  • If you would like to lead a discussion with a partner, BOTH people must send me an email by the deadline with the same set of chapters and the names of both partners. Note that partnerships are not guaranteed and if need be, partners might be assigned to lead individually.
  • When partners choose to work together, both partners must be substantially involved in preparation and leadership.
  • Discussion leadership involves significant preparation and preferably creative ideas for interacting with the material.
  • I will do my best to be fair if multiple people choose the same chapter (this will not be first-come first-served; everyone who responds by the deadline will be treated equally).
  • I will announce assignments of discussion leaders next class.
  • Note: All discussion leadership slots will be filled. If no one signs up for a slot, the slot will be filled by random selection of those eligible.
• Assignments
  • Read Postman, Preface and Chapters 1 - 4
  • Be sure you can get Winner, "Do Artifacts Have Politics" in Moodle (due class 3)
  • Sign up to be a discussion leader via email by Sunday, June 1

This page was prepared by Dr. David M. Marcovitz.

Last Updated: May 21, 2013