Draft Syllabus

Online Learning in Grades 5-12
In this course educators will learn the theory and practice of establishing meaningful online learning environments for elementary through high school classrooms. Participants will design OLE's to be used with their students.

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

Anticipated Content:

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

Online Learning: characteristics of online learners, adapting to asynchronous interaction

Hardware, Software, Everyware: blogs, forums, wikis, chats, video-conferencing,

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: Experience online learning

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

Day 2 AM: Web 2.0 technologies

Day 2 PM: Adapting tasks & Engaging questions

Online session #2: Technology trends

Day 3 AM: Selecting online learning platforms, libraries, and resources

Day 3 PM: Structuring course sites

Online session #3: Evaluating online resources

Day 4 AM: Create a course site

Day 4 PM: Create a course site

Online session #4: Digital Natives

Day 5 AM:

Day 5 PM: Sharing

Online session #5: Social, Legal, Ethical Issues

Projects:

Online Learning Environment: The focus of the course will be the creation of an online learning environment that is appropriate for a defined content area and grade level. Several common online learning platforms will be supported, participants will create their OLE on one of these platforms. (30 points)

OLE Administrator Guide: Participants will create a resource to allow each to independently edit and manager his or her OLE. (30 points)

OLE User Guide: Participants will create a resource to support students who are using his or her OLE. (30 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.