Draft Syllabus

Classroom 2.0: Digital Learning in the 21st Century
This course introduces educators to the teaching and learning opportunities made possible by digital technologies as well as the changing expectations of educators in the 21st century. Participants will gain experience using commonly available hardware and software to design meaningful experiences for learners.

Dates & Time:

summer 2009, five six-hour sessions plus dive three-hour online sessions for 45 contact hours

Location:

TBD

Resources:

Ackerman's book & electronic & print resources

Course Objectives:

TBD, drawing esp. from teacher competencies on VT DOE web site

Overview:

The course will have several easy-to-recognize components. First, there will be opportunity to build awareness of modern digital technologies, through hands-on experiences. Participants will learn how to manipulate new hardware (none prices more than $150) and software (all available for free). Second, there will be opportunity to prepare activities for use in classrooms. Third, there will be opportunity to

Anticipated Content:

Theory: 21^st Century Skills, National Educational Technology Standards for Students, ethics, (AAA/DESSPM)

Hardware: web cams, palm-size video, digital cameras

Software: Google Earth, Google Sketch-up, desktop recording, desktop video

Everyware: blogs, wikis, chat, rss, social networks, (Shelfari, bookmarking), online libraries, media sites

Outline of Sessions (each session = 3 hours)

Day 1 AM: Establish baseline skills; set up accounts on course web site & review the site

Day 1 PM: Set up accounts on social network sites & video conferencing systems

Online session #1: 21^st Century Skills, National Educational Technology Standards

Day 2 AM: Digital Video: videoconferencing, media sites, desktop video editing

Day 2 PM: Modern Software: Google Earth, Sketch-up, online applications

Online session #2: Technology trends

Day 3 AM: Publishing on the web (blogs, wikis, chat)

Day 3 PM: Modern web resources (social networks, rss feeds, podcasts)

Online session #3: Evaluating online resources

Day 4 AM:

Day 4 PM:

Online session #4: Digital Natives

Day 5 AM:

Day 5 PM: Sharing

Online session #5: Social, Legal, Ethical Issues

Projects:

10 Tech Briefs: One-page “user guides” to the ideas or tools we study, these are designed to enable participants to use the hardware, software, and everyware independently (10 X 5 = 50 points)

5 Classroom Activities: Resources that are ready-to-use for the participant's classroom; these may include lesson plans, presentations, media, or other resources appropriate for the participant's situation (5 x 8 = 40 points)

Blogging & Discussions: Throughout the course, participants will post information online (up to 10 points)

Grading:

For each Tech Brief and Classroom Activity, students will earn either 0 points for full credit (5 point for Tech Briefs, 8 points for Classroom Activities); for the Blogging & Discussion project points will be awarded depending on the completeness and quality of postings. The points will determine each student's grade according to the scale used by the college.