Educational Technology Resources

 

EDU 5103 Studyguide

 

Course Philosophy and Web Resources

 

Philosophy of Education 5103

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have a place in education, they are being used in significant ways more and more everyday. For the Integration of Instructional Design and Information Technology course, the appropriate and timely use of computer software will be the focus. 

Often the best teaching technique, pedagogically-speaking, is direct teaching. The teacher at the front of the room disseminating information for the student to think about and respond to is sometimes the best way to bring about student learning. Modern approaches to classroom instruction also include teaching based on Constructivist learning principles where students learn to how to build their own knowledge based on their prior learning.

Other situations may warrant the integration or incorporation of computers within this teaching structure. It is the job of the informed teacher to decide when and how the computer should or should not be used.

This course will develop a teacher’s abilities to perform this task. The means to developing the skill of knowing how and when software should be used will be facilitated by investigating the theory associated with computers in education and by looking at others’ effective practice of using computer software.

By the end of this course, students will be comfortable with the concepts involved in Instructional Design and Instructional Design models and be able to employ them in educational context.

Distance education courses should not be held in isolation. This one has not been. However, more emphasis should be put on posting responses to particular questions. These posted answers should then be discussed further by other students. I believe that significant and lasting learning outcomes develop when people take the time to respond to others’ responses. The goal here being to foster a supportive online community that can pool resources, trouble shoot, philosophize, analyze and share our wealth of individual experiences. 

In order to facilitate our on-line, asynchronous discussion, a number of articles are linked in the various weekly assignments. This will be the basis for discussions. In an inter-dependant fashion, students who will complete this course will be able to choose and appropriately use software in the classroom.

General Resources

Software Selection & Review pages

 Lesson Plans

Online Journals

A Few Articles

Educational Technology Sites

 University IT Pages

Online Courses and Tutorials

Inspirational Talks from TED