College of Education

University of Washington

 

EDC&I 510

History of Educational Technology

 

 

Instructor:  Prof. Stephen T. Kerr

Office:  206H Miller Hall  Box 353600

Course meets: 164 Savery Hall

Telephone:  (206) 685-7562

Wednesday, 4:30 - 6:50 p.m.

E-mail:  stkerr@u.washington.edu

Office hours:  by appointment (typically Weds. pm and Thurs. am); send me e-mail.

URL:  http://faculty.washington.edu/stkerr

 

Session

Date

Assignment for Session

Topic in Class

1

9/30/09

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Introductions

Asking critical questions about technology in education

2

10/7

Comenius, 1658GU; Hartley, 2004E; Horn, 2001E; Carr, 2008E; Information Aesthetics; Thinking with Type

Text: The primary technology in education (or is it…?)

Demo of oral presentation

Definition of project topics

3

10/14

Hoban & Van Ormer, 1951H; May & Lumsdaine, 1958H; Salomon & Clark, 1977H; Schmidt & Vandewater, 2008J

Film:  Adding visual content and motion; "realism"?

Oral presentations

4

10/21

Glaser, 1965H; Mager, 1975H; Suppes, 1968E; McDonald et al., 2005 GU

Programmed instruction: Behaviorism, the Skinnerian legacy, and the emergence of design

Oral presentations

5

10/28

Chu, 1968H; Clark, 1983J; Clark, 1994H; Clark, 2001H; McLuhan, 2007E; Salomon & Perkins, 2005H

Television and multimedia:  Bumping up complexity or 'edutainment'?

Project check-in

6

11/4

Papert, 1980H; Papert, 1987J; Pea, 1987J;  Collins & Halverson, 2009H

Review of literature due

Computers:  Pushing control to the classroom level, and visualizations to the fore

Discuss review of literature

7

11/11

Work on projects

[UW Holiday – NO CLASS MEETING]

8

11/18

Dorn, 1974J; Bernard et al., 2004J; Bernard et al., 2009E; Means et al., 2009E

Distance learning from TV to online:  Moving the instructor backstage

Oral presentations

9

11/25

Mielke, 1990H; Sawyer, 2006E; Design Based, 2003J; Cobb et al., 2003J; Barab et al., 2007J

Instructional design to learning sciences: Trying to bring order out of the pedagogical "buzzing, blooming confusion"

Oral presentations

10

12/2

Leonard, 1968H; KnowledgeWorks, 2006E; Partnership for 21st C. Skills, 2007E; Turkle, 2009H

Visiting Day, 2040:  Future visions – mobile learning, CSCL, Web 2.0 and 3.0, knowledge management and education, technology and activity theory, etc.

Project check-in

11

12/9

Final project due

Final presentations; discussion; conclusions

E  UW Libraries e-journal or other on-line source; see list at end of syllabus.

H   Handout to be distributed in class the previous week (no e-version available).

J  Article available via UW Libraries JSTOR database; see course web site for access information.

GU  Material available via Google Books, or UW Libraries E-book.

 

 

 

1.  Course Rationale and Goals

            This course is designed to help you think about how technology connects with the processes and institutions of education.  The course is intended primarily for those working towards a masters or doctoral degree in Educational Technology, Learning Sciences, or a related field.  The goal is to examine what significant intellectual and empirical questions motivated the field at various times during its development, rather than to consider in detail the development of particular devices or their use.

 

            The field of educational technology is diverse, bringing together such different perspectives as biophysics, cognitive psychology, graphic design, classroom teaching, and organizational theory, and settings from elementary schools to industrial sites.  It is a topic of considerable perceived importance now, as policy makers try to decide how better to mesh the work of educational systems with a society made increasingly complex and interconnected by technology.

 

            We might approach the intellectual development (history) of the field of educational technology in several ways.  We might think about changes in the psychological notion of "learning" over time, or about shifts over the years in ideas about appropriate types of pupil activity to foster learning, or we might focus on development of new images of the teacher's role vis a vis students.  Instead, I've chosen a structure that is based roughly on how communication devices and approaches emerged chronologically, how they came to be used in education, how their use and their effects were perceived and interpreted at that time, what research studies were done, and how the legacy of those studies has (or has not) affected current thinking.  That chronological approach allows us to ask how the results obtained from earlier studies would stand up today, and what different questions we might ask now.

 

This course is not primarily concerned with hardware, production, or how to use technology in the classroom.  It is instead an introduction to the conceptual foundations of the field, to its history, to the types of intellectual concerns and empirical questions that have been intriguing at different times and in different contexts.  The intent is to provide a strong foundation for further course work, study, and empirical research.  To the extent that you can do so, you are encouraged to use the course not only to develop understanding, but also to push development of your own academic program within the College and the University.

 

 

Reading and other lists.  List of suggested readings, journals, and relevant professional associations will be posted on the course web site early in the quarter.  The faculty in the College of Education assume that graduate students will read widely in their field, in ways that go well beyond the specific requirements of individual courses.  Accordingly, you should take very opportunity to read widely and deeply about topics that interest you!

 

A special invitation.  In a course with subject matter as varied as this, and with a good many potential links to current developments in education, technology, and society, it's quite likely that you'll come across examples, news items, or online materials that may be relevant and/or provocative.  I encourage you to share these in class, and I'll try to set aside some time for this during each class session.  There's a Delicious site where you can link to things that you find online, and a course Catalyst GoPost bulletin board for comments and discussion.

 

Delicious:  edci510au09

Password:  saVERY164

 

Catalyst GoPost:  https://catalysttools.washington.edu/gopost/manage/stkerr/13011

 

 

2.  Requirements

There are four separate requirements for this course:

 

a.  Readings and class discussion.  The course presupposes your careful reading and analysis of a variety of materials.   Read thoughtfully, think critically about the topics covered, and come to class ready to discuss. 

 

Due: Throughout the quarter; 10% of grade.

 

b.  Review of Literature.  Prepare a brief report in which you identify several key research-based references for one of the topics we will consider in the course (film, computers, design, etc.)  The point here is to become familiar with relevant journals and on-line resources, to compare the merits of different authors' perspectives and research methods, and to begin to become a "connoisseur" of these kinds of materials.

 

Choose a subject area or topic that is of interest to you.  Examples:  Computer-based animations for grade eight social studies; on-line learning for college math; virtual reality for pilot training.  The review may be related to the intended topic of your Course project (see below) or not, at your discretion.  In previous quarters, many students have found that it makes sense to combine efforts and focus on one topic for both literature review and project, but a significant minority have found that there is a benefit to exploring more than one topic during the course.  You choose!

 

i.                     Do a search of the literature that describes research-based studies and projects in which your chosen technology has been used.  Use the many databases and tools available to you via the UW Libraries:  ERIC, PsycINFO, and many other specialized resources in particular sub-fields.  Also, search more widely in other databases accessible through the Web.

 

ii.                   Select 5 those reports that you believe present the best evidence.  Summarize them briefly and then draw conclusions about the value of technology in that particular setting.  Do this in no more than 6 double-spaced pages.  In your report, use about ½ page to set up the question and how you went about your search, and about ½ page to summarize which studies you found to be most valuable.  That leaves you about 1 page per study to summarize findings.  Be sure to include for each study the full citation (APA format is preferred).  We'll discuss in class what you found.  Post your document to the course ShareSpaces site.

 

Due: November 4, 20% of grade.

 

c.  Oral presentation on readings.  You will make an oral presentation on the readings for one course session (we'll choose dates at the first course meeting).  The point of the presentation is to address these questions:

 

                                 i.      What do the results and perspectives in the studies we read say about how these research questions were perceived at the time the study was written/conducted?

 

                               ii.      How might contemporary researchers approach the same research questions differently?

 

                              iii.      What important questions, not addressed in the work we read, might be of special interest to researchers today?

 

                             iv.      Identify and describe one specific research question that you might want to pursue around this general topic.  How would you design the research study?  If all went well, what would you hope to find?

 

The oral presentation should be prepared to take about 10 minutes, with time following for questions from the class.  You should bring with you to class hard copies (1 per class member) of a one-page handout that describes your ideas and proposals.

 

Due: Dates indicated on calendar; 20% of grade.

 

d.  Final Project.  Your project for the course should be related to your interests, your intended future course of study,  and (possibly) to a real project on which you are currently working.  The project can take any of a number of different forms:  A research design, a proposal for funding, a plan for development of a technology-based approach within an educational institution, an evaluation of an on-going technology program, a full-scale review of research, or an extension of some existing work in which you are already engaged.

 

We will spend some time in class on two occasions checking in on your projects; see the calendar for specific dates.  At these times, be prepared to describe briefly where you are in your work, what problems you've encountered to date, how your thinking has changed, and what challenges you anticipate as you proceed.

 

Format:  Written paper, other document, material, site, etc., as appropriate to project.  Suggested length: 15 pages or equivalent expenditure of effort.

 

Due:  December 9.  50% of grade.

 

 

3.  Additional Course Expectations

 

Yes, Virginia, there are more of them.  After all, this is an introduction to a professional field in which you expect to spend years of your life, right?  So why shouldn't we expect a lot of you!?

 

As part of your work for this course, you should:

¨       Make yourself familiar with the UW Library system and specifically with the kinds of resources (print and electronic) that are available through the libraries.  Orientations, help sessions, and tours are organized by the staff in Suzzallo.  (See "Free Walk-in Workshops" on the UW Libraries site.)

 

¨       Make yourself familiar with the computing facilities and services offered by the University, the College of Education, the Catalyst WebTools, and the Center for Social Science Computing and Research (CSSCR), as well as with other centers that may be relevant to your own interests.

 

¨       Attend one or more local professional gatherings in the region related to educational technology.  Some examples:  SIG CHI Puget Sound; ASTDps (Puget Sound Chapter of the American Society for Training and Development); ESDs or school district special interest groups; etc.

 

¨       Consider joining one of the professional associations for people in our field.

 

¨       Make it a habit to read the journals in our field regularly.

 

¨       Consider attending (and presenting at) national professional meetings.

 

¨       Begin to assemble a portfolio of your work (for masters students, this will also give you an advantage when you come to the end of the program, since you have to both attend and present at a "portfolio workshop"; for doctoral students, think of it as beginning to create your professional "calling card."

 

¨       Become familiar with Web based resources that are useful, interesting (and, yes, they can also be entertaining!) 

 

¨       Share findings with your fellow students.

¨

4.  Grading

 

The various requirements for the course will be weighted as follows when computing grades:

 

            Participation in class discussions             10%

            Review of Literature                                         20

            Oral Presentation on Readings                           20

            Project                                                              50

 

A word on the oral presentations and discussions.  It is important to learn how to present ideas clearly and briefly, and how to critique others' presentations incisively and positively.  It is easy to criticize someone else's work; it is more difficult (and more important) to do so in a way that preserves that person's self-image and dignity.  The most respected scholars are those who manage to combine clear and helpful suggestions for how things might be done differently with a tone that is constructive and collegial.  You should strive to attain this kind of approach in scholarly criticism both in your work here and in your further professional activity!

 

 

 

5.  Necessary Notices:

 

DUE DATES:  Having assignments ready by the date due is an essential requirement and a basic expectation of graduate study.  Failure to observe this requirement can have dire consequences!  Grades of "incomplete" will be given only for certifiable medical reasons or in other extraordinary circumstances.

 

DISABILITY ACCOMODATIONS:  To request academic accommodations due to a disability, please contact Disability Resources for Students, 448 Schmitz, 206-543-8924/V, 206-543-8925/TTY, or at http://www.washington.edu/students/drs/.  If you have a letter from Disability Resources for Students indicating you have a disability which requires academic accommodations, please present the letter to me so we can discuss the accommodations you might need in this class.

 

If you have questions or concerns about disability accommodation do not hesitate to contact me or DRS directly.

 

PLAGIARISM:  Plagiarism, submitting someone else's words or ideas as your own work, is a serious academic offense.  Cases of suspected plagiarism will be referred to the Associate Dean for Academic Programs for adjudication.  Possible penalties range from disciplinary warnings to dismissal from the university.  All students are expected to demonstrate academic integrity at all times, and to learn what constitutes plagiarism.  A useful definition of plagiarism can be found at:

 

http://depts.washington.edu/grading/issue1/honesty.htm#plagiarism

 

 

6. Full List of Course Readings (both electronic and handouts):

(NB:  For those currently mastering the arcana of the APA citation format, please note that I am not hewing entirely to form in what follows.  For example, I've retained first names (rather than initials) because I think it's important for you to become familiar with who the various authors are.  Some of them are names you'll come across again and it will be good to be able to recognize them!

 

 

Oct. 7

Comenius, Johannes.  (1658)  Orbis sensualium pictus (The visible world).  On-line.  Excerpts of your choice.  Look in Google Books for the 1887 edition, with introduction and front matter by Charles Poole and others.  Read some of the front matter to get a sense of the context.

Hartley, James.  (2004).  Designing instructional and informational text.  In Jonassen, D. (Ed.) Handbook of Research for Educational Communication and technology.  Second ed.  Mahwah, NJ: L. Erlbaum Associates.

            http://www.aect.org/edtech/34.pdf

Horn, Robert E.  (2001).  Visual language and converging technologies in the next 10-15 years (and beyond).  Paper prepared for the National Science Foundation Conference on Converging Technologies (Nano-Bio-Info-Cogno) for Improving Human Performance Dec. 3-4, 2001

            http://www.stanford.edu/~rhorn/a/topic/vl&id/artclNSFVisualLangv.pdf

Carr, Nicholas.  (2008).  Is Google making us stupid?  The Atlantic.  July-August.

            http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google

Information Aesthetics

            A site devoted to information visualization and visual communication

Thinking with Type  (Ellen Lupton, Princeton Architectural Press, 2004)

            A well-regarded recent book and companion site that explores typography in fresh ways

 

Oct. 14

Hoban, Charles Francis, & van Ormer; Edward B.  (1950).  Instructional film research, 1918-1950 (Rapid mass learning). State College, PA: Instructional Film Research Program. Technical report, no. SDC269-7-19.  Excerpts.  [handout]

May, Mark Arthur, & Lumsdaine, Arthur A.  (1958).  Learning from films.  New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.  Excerpts.  [handout]

Salomon, Gavriel, and Clark, Richard E.  (1977).  Reexamining the methodology of research on media and technology in education.  Review of Educational Research, 47(1); pp. 99-120.

Available from JSTOR via UW Library.  Go to UW Libraries website→ Articles and Research Databases → In the box ("Enter database name"), enter "JSTOR" → JSTOR search → Citation Locator.  Scroll down to journal name ("Review of Educational Research"), then enter "Volume" [47], "Issue" [1], and "Start Page" [99].  That should take you there!  You can print from JSTOR if you want a hard copy.

Schmidt, M. E., & Vandewater, E. A.  (2008).  Media and attention, cognition, and school achievement.  The Future of Children, 18(1), pp. 63-85  [jstor via uw library]

 

Oct. 21

Glaser, Robert.  (1965).  Teaching machines and programmed learning.  Washington, DC: NEA, Dept. of Audiovisual Instruction.  Excerpts.  [handout]

Mager, Robert F.  Preparing instructional objectives.  2d ed.  Belmont, CA: Fearon.  Excerpts.  [handout]

Suppes, Patrick.  (1968).  Computer technology and the future of education.  Phi Delta Kappan, April, 1968.

            http://suppes-corpus.stanford.edu/articles/comped/85-6.pdf

McDonald, Jason K., Yanchar, Stephen C., & Osguthorpe, Russell T.  (2005).  Learning from programmed instruction: Examining implications for modern instructional technology.  Educational Technology: Research and Development, 53 (2), 84-98.  [uw library e-journal]

 

Oct. 28

Chu, Godwin C.; Schramm; Wilbur.  (1968).  Learning from television: What the research says.  Washington, DC: National Association of Educational Broadcasters.  Excerpts.  [handout]

Clark; Richard E.  (1983).  Reconsidering research on learning from media.  Review of Educational Research; 53(4); pp. 445-459.  [jstor via uw library]

Clark, Richard Å.  (1994).  Media will never influence learning.  Educational Technology: Research and Development, 42(2), pp. 21-29.  [handout]

Clark, Richard Å.  (2001).  New directions: Cognitive and motivational research issues.  In R. E. Clark (Ed.), Learning from media (pp. 263-298).  Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.  [handout]

McLuhan, Marshall.  Gutenberg Galaxy and Understanding Media.  [Read about them in the Marshall McLuhan article in Wikipedia.  What would McLuhan have made of Wikipedia?]

Salomon, Gavriel, & Perkins, D.  (2005).  Do technologies make us smarter? Intellectual amplification with, of and through technology.  In Sternberg, Robert J. & Preiss, David (Eds.)  Intelligence and technology: The impact of tools on the nature and development of human abilities (pp. 71-86).  Mahwah, N.J: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.  [handout]

 

Nov. 4

Papert, Seymour.  (1980).  Mindstorms: Children, computers, and powerful ideas.  New York, NY: Basic Books.  [handout]

Papert; Seymour.  (1987).  Computer criticism vs. technocentric thinking.  Educational Researcher; 16(1), pp. 22-30.  [jstor via uw library]

Pea, Roy D.  (1987).  The aims of software criticism: Reply to Professor Papert.  Educational Researcher, 16(5), pp. 4-8.  [jstor via uw library]

Collins, Allan, & Halverson, Richard.  (2009).  Rethinking education in the age of technology: The digital revolution and schooling in America.  New York, NY: Teachers College Press.  Excerpts.    [handout]

 

Nov. 18

Dorn, William S.  (1974).  Technology in education: A case study of the Open University.  International Review of Education / Internationale Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft / Revue Internationale de l'Education, 20(1), pp. 63-70.  [jstor via uw library]

Bernard, R.M., Abrami, P.C., Lou, Y., Borokhovski, E., Wade, A., Wozney, L., Wallet, P.A., Fiset, M. & Huang, B. (2004).  How does distance education compare to classroom instruction? A meta-analysis of the empirical literature.  Review of Educational Research, 74(3), 379-439.  [jstor via uw library]

Bernard, R.M., Abrami, P.C., Borokhovski, E., Wade, C. A., Tamim, R. M., Surkes, M. A., & Bethel, E. C.  (2009).  A meta-analysis of three types of interaction treatments in distance education.  Review of Educational Research, 79(3), 1243-1289.  [uw library e-journal]

Means, Barbara, Toyama, Yukie, Murphy, Robert, Bakia, Marianne, & Jones, Karla.  (2009).  Evaluation of evidence-based practices in online learning:  A meta-analysis and review of online learning studies.  SRI International, Center for Technology in Learning.  Washington, DC:  U.S. Department of Education, Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development.

http://www.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/tech/evidence-based-practices/finalreport.pdf

Nov. 25

Mielke, Keith W.  (1990).  Research and development at the Children's Television Workshop.  Educational Technology: Research and Development, 38(4), pp. 7-16.  [handout]

Design-Based Research Collective, The. (2003). Design-based research: An emerging paradigm for educational inquiry.  Educational Researcher (Theme issue: The role of design in educational research), 32(1), 5-8.  [jstor via uw library]

Cobb, Paul, Confrey, Jere, diSessa, Andrea, Lehrer, Richard & Schauble, Leona.  (2003). Design experiments in educational research.  Educational Researcher, 32 (1), 9-13.  [jstor via uw library]

Sawyer, R. Keith.  (2006).  Introduction: The new science of learning.  In Sawyer, R. Keith (Ed.) The Cambridge handbook of the learning sciences.

            http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521607773&ss=exc

Barab, S., Dodge, T., Thomas, M. K., Jackson, C., & Tuzun, H.  (2007).  Our designs and the social agendas they carry.  Journal of the Learning Sciences, 16(2), 263 – 305.  [uw library e-journal]

 

Dec. 2

Leonard, George B.  (1968).  Education and ecstasy.  New York, NY: Delacorte Press.  [handout]

KnowledgeWorks Foundation / The Institute for the Future.  (2006).  Map of future forces affecting education, 2006-2016.  [And watch for a new edition of the Map in 2009!]

Partnership for 21st Century Skills.  (2007).  Framework and Maximizing the Impact. 

Turkle, S.  (2009).  Simulation and its discontents.  Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.  Excerpts.  [handout]

 

STK

9/30/09