Class Assignments and Expectations
T560
Spring, 2008
1) Class participation
All students are expected to become members of a community of practice around the issues of Universal Design for Learning. In that vein, all of us are expected to raise the overall level of knowledge in the class by participating and contributing to one or more of the media formats for the exchanges of ideas. Here are the choices:
1) You may use your Blogs for the rest of the semester to chart your progress through the course, save and exchange resources with other students, collect information, links and ideas from outside sources, and post ideas or questions that you may wish to communicate to others. You should also contribute to other course Blogs with your comments, questions, or resources.
2) You may choose to consistently attend live discussion groups during which you should be prepared to contribute ideas, questions and resources as part of the discussions. You could also contribute to discussions in lectures and labs.
3) Some students come into the course with very strong backgrounds in neuroscience, media design, or curriculum design. Those with such strong backgrounds are encouraged to teach a laboratory for your peers and provide a discussion forum that will provide follow-up and continued mentoring as needed. The topics must be approved by teaching staff.
4) You may choose to contribute to more than one of the above if you wish but only one medium is required. .
At the end of the term you will briefly summarize the means of your contributions to the overall knowledge sharing in the class so that they can be reviewed and evaluated adequately. .
2) Mini-Media Workshops
What are they?
Every other week (roughly) there will be short media exercises that will help you think about your final project or learn some basic skills that you may find useful later. Think about these workshops as replacements for traditional readings, a way to interact with course content that is a bit more “hands-on.”
These Mini-Media Workshops typically will involve experimenting with new media to create scaffolds for learning. The range of tools and scaffolds available will be chosen so that the workshops are accessible to individuals who are novices in creating digital media. Those students who enter the course with strong media skills are encouraged to explore other options as they wish. .
Four media exercises will be assigned. You are required to submit only three, and the choice of which ones is totally up to you. You may submit all four if you wish and we will count only the top three towards the final grade.
Here’s the good news. Creating a useable Blog is the first workshop, so you are already well on your way. But, we are asking that you specifically include several different media in your Blog, just so that you know how to do it. We suggest that you add some text, some images, and a video to your Blog. You may add sound instead, or in addition, if you wish. Many of you have already done this, so you are already finished with your first Mini-Media Workshop. You may certainly revise or add more if you wish. Others may need to make some additions to complete this part of the assignment.
How will you get help if you need it?
Certainly you can get help from your colleagues in the class – some are already experts in this kind of new media - and from people at the Learning Technology Center. But this is also a reason to come to sections or office hours. Course TF’s will help you there. Please take advantage of these opportunities.
What are the topics for the Mini-Media Workshops?
The workshops are related in time and content to topics covered in the course syllabus and lectures. You should find that the course lectures are relevant to your designs. For that reason, they are due at the end of the relevant two-week lecture combinations. Specifically, and remember to do at least 3 of the 4.
Mini-Media Workshop 1 Using Blogs
Create a personal Blog, demonstrating the use of text, image and video to introduce yourself (or your pet, or your interests, or your lack of interests.). Many of you have already completed this in your course Blog.
Due Feb. 25
Mini-Media Workshop 2 – Using Supported Sound.
Create and record a very, very, short lecture (2-4 minutes) with 5 PowerPoint slides or images as needed (think YouTube). The choice of topic is completely up to you, and need not be very serious. But, you should teach the audience how to do something – like how to hail a cab or make a nuclear submarine.
Due March 7
Mini-Media Workshop 3 Using Supported Text
Create a digital book on the Web, with built-in supports for reading. For this assignment you will be able to use a web-based application developed by CAST called, puzzlingly, “Book Builder.” It will help you build reading supports into text. The topic of the book is not important and it should be very short. You can use text from anywhere or create your own. You can also use images and sound.
Due March 21
Mini-Media Workshop 4 Using Supported Images
This workshop is all about using images and graphics to convey information. The focus, however, will be on how to make images that are more universally designed, including how to describe images effectively. You will create one or more images that teach something, and may include them in your books made in workshop 3.
Due April 11
3) Final Projects
The Final Project consists of the development of a prototype lesson or learning environment (e.g. a museum exhibit, a game or simulation) that could be included in a larger curriculum of your choosing. The lesson should demonstrate your knowledge of the principles and techniques of Universal Design for Learning and should be accompanied by a description and justification of your choices in goals, media, teaching techniques, and means of assessment. Additionally, the project should include a description (or implementation) of the ways in which students with diverse backgrounds and abilities will be included successfully.
The lesson or learning environment that you develop may be one that you design from the outset or an adaptation of a previous lesson and may address any content area or skill from early childhood through adulthood. The project may be composed in any medium (or multiple media) but it must be posted on the web for review by instructors and peers.
How will you get help in doing this project?
For some of you, the technical aspects of the final project may seem most difficult. For that purpose the Mini-Media Workshops and sections will provide all the basic skills with which you will be able to complete the technical aspects of the project. For others of you, the hard part will be in the pedagogy – making a lesson. For that purpose, we will provide some example lessons that you can use or modify. And we will be talking a lot in class about lessons and pedagogy so that will help. For others, the hard part will be in the universal design and understanding individual differences in learning. For that purpose, we will devote considerable amount of lectures to understanding universal design. More important we will be passing out guidelines that you can use.
Lastly, we will have some sections and office hours where you can come and get help with the final projects.
How will the final project be evaluated?
The primary focus of evaluation will be on the quality of the UDL as implemented or described in your project. To be more specific, the lesson itself is not the main focus for evaluation (which is why you are encouraged to use a lesson already developed) but what you do with the lesson to illustrate your knowledge of UDL principles and practices. To guide you more carefully, we will distribute the rubric that we will use for evaluation in mid-March.
Do you have to use technology in the final project?
Well, yes. That is to say, for example, that both paper and pencils are themselves technologies. Even if you use only those two tools you will be using technology.
A more important question is whether you have to use any specific technology. The only specific technology you will be required to use is the technology with which you will post your project. You could handwrite and draw on paper, and then post that on the web if you really wanted to. Other than that, you are at liberty to use whatever technologies suit your pedagogical purpose. It is important, however, to consider that your choice of technologies is part of how you make knowledgeable decisions – have you chosen a technology appropriate to your pedagogy?
Finally, you do not have to use a particular technology in order to implement your pedagogy. It is usually better to show than to tell, but if you are not facile with a technology you wish to use, you can describe or illustrate how you would use the technology.
Where can I find some models of projects to help me get started?
We will show some models in class and post some good models on the website for you to explore. We will do that in the next few weeks.
When is the final project due?
Monday, May 12.
T560
Spring, 2008
1) Class participation
All students are expected to become members of a community of practice around the issues of Universal Design for Learning. In that vein, all of us are expected to raise the overall level of knowledge in the class by participating and contributing to one or more of the media formats for the exchanges of ideas. Here are the choices:
1) You may use your Blogs for the rest of the semester to chart your progress through the course, save and exchange resources with other students, collect information, links and ideas from outside sources, and post ideas or questions that you may wish to communicate to others. You should also contribute to other course Blogs with your comments, questions, or resources.
2) You may choose to consistently attend live discussion groups during which you should be prepared to contribute ideas, questions and resources as part of the discussions. You could also contribute to discussions in lectures and labs.
3) Some students come into the course with very strong backgrounds in neuroscience, media design, or curriculum design. Those with such strong backgrounds are encouraged to teach a laboratory for your peers and provide a discussion forum that will provide follow-up and continued mentoring as needed. The topics must be approved by teaching staff.
4) You may choose to contribute to more than one of the above if you wish but only one medium is required. .
At the end of the term you will briefly summarize the means of your contributions to the overall knowledge sharing in the class so that they can be reviewed and evaluated adequately. .
2) Mini-Media Workshops
What are they?
Every other week (roughly) there will be short media exercises that will help you think about your final project or learn some basic skills that you may find useful later. Think about these workshops as replacements for traditional readings, a way to interact with course content that is a bit more “hands-on.”
These Mini-Media Workshops typically will involve experimenting with new media to create scaffolds for learning. The range of tools and scaffolds available will be chosen so that the workshops are accessible to individuals who are novices in creating digital media. Those students who enter the course with strong media skills are encouraged to explore other options as they wish. .
Four media exercises will be assigned. You are required to submit only three, and the choice of which ones is totally up to you. You may submit all four if you wish and we will count only the top three towards the final grade.
Here’s the good news. Creating a useable Blog is the first workshop, so you are already well on your way. But, we are asking that you specifically include several different media in your Blog, just so that you know how to do it. We suggest that you add some text, some images, and a video to your Blog. You may add sound instead, or in addition, if you wish. Many of you have already done this, so you are already finished with your first Mini-Media Workshop. You may certainly revise or add more if you wish. Others may need to make some additions to complete this part of the assignment.
How will you get help if you need it?
Certainly you can get help from your colleagues in the class – some are already experts in this kind of new media - and from people at the Learning Technology Center. But this is also a reason to come to sections or office hours. Course TF’s will help you there. Please take advantage of these opportunities.
What are the topics for the Mini-Media Workshops?
The workshops are related in time and content to topics covered in the course syllabus and lectures. You should find that the course lectures are relevant to your designs. For that reason, they are due at the end of the relevant two-week lecture combinations. Specifically, and remember to do at least 3 of the 4.
Mini-Media Workshop 1 Using Blogs
Create a personal Blog, demonstrating the use of text, image and video to introduce yourself (or your pet, or your interests, or your lack of interests.). Many of you have already completed this in your course Blog.
Due Feb. 25
Mini-Media Workshop 2 – Using Supported Sound.
Create and record a very, very, short lecture (2-4 minutes) with 5 PowerPoint slides or images as needed (think YouTube). The choice of topic is completely up to you, and need not be very serious. But, you should teach the audience how to do something – like how to hail a cab or make a nuclear submarine.
Due March 7
Mini-Media Workshop 3 Using Supported Text
Create a digital book on the Web, with built-in supports for reading. For this assignment you will be able to use a web-based application developed by CAST called, puzzlingly, “Book Builder.” It will help you build reading supports into text. The topic of the book is not important and it should be very short. You can use text from anywhere or create your own. You can also use images and sound.
Due March 21
Mini-Media Workshop 4 Using Supported Images
This workshop is all about using images and graphics to convey information. The focus, however, will be on how to make images that are more universally designed, including how to describe images effectively. You will create one or more images that teach something, and may include them in your books made in workshop 3.
Due April 11
3) Final Projects
The Final Project consists of the development of a prototype lesson or learning environment (e.g. a museum exhibit, a game or simulation) that could be included in a larger curriculum of your choosing. The lesson should demonstrate your knowledge of the principles and techniques of Universal Design for Learning and should be accompanied by a description and justification of your choices in goals, media, teaching techniques, and means of assessment. Additionally, the project should include a description (or implementation) of the ways in which students with diverse backgrounds and abilities will be included successfully.
The lesson or learning environment that you develop may be one that you design from the outset or an adaptation of a previous lesson and may address any content area or skill from early childhood through adulthood. The project may be composed in any medium (or multiple media) but it must be posted on the web for review by instructors and peers.
How will you get help in doing this project?
For some of you, the technical aspects of the final project may seem most difficult. For that purpose the Mini-Media Workshops and sections will provide all the basic skills with which you will be able to complete the technical aspects of the project. For others of you, the hard part will be in the pedagogy – making a lesson. For that purpose, we will provide some example lessons that you can use or modify. And we will be talking a lot in class about lessons and pedagogy so that will help. For others, the hard part will be in the universal design and understanding individual differences in learning. For that purpose, we will devote considerable amount of lectures to understanding universal design. More important we will be passing out guidelines that you can use.
Lastly, we will have some sections and office hours where you can come and get help with the final projects.
How will the final project be evaluated?
The primary focus of evaluation will be on the quality of the UDL as implemented or described in your project. To be more specific, the lesson itself is not the main focus for evaluation (which is why you are encouraged to use a lesson already developed) but what you do with the lesson to illustrate your knowledge of UDL principles and practices. To guide you more carefully, we will distribute the rubric that we will use for evaluation in mid-March.
Do you have to use technology in the final project?
Well, yes. That is to say, for example, that both paper and pencils are themselves technologies. Even if you use only those two tools you will be using technology.
A more important question is whether you have to use any specific technology. The only specific technology you will be required to use is the technology with which you will post your project. You could handwrite and draw on paper, and then post that on the web if you really wanted to. Other than that, you are at liberty to use whatever technologies suit your pedagogical purpose. It is important, however, to consider that your choice of technologies is part of how you make knowledgeable decisions – have you chosen a technology appropriate to your pedagogy?
Finally, you do not have to use a particular technology in order to implement your pedagogy. It is usually better to show than to tell, but if you are not facile with a technology you wish to use, you can describe or illustrate how you would use the technology.
Where can I find some models of projects to help me get started?
We will show some models in class and post some good models on the website for you to explore. We will do that in the next few weeks.
When is the final project due?
Monday, May 12.
