Course Description
EDUC 411/611: Introduction to Educational Technology
Comprehensive overview of the field of educational technology. Aligns the principles of how people learn with technological tools proven effective in achieving results across the disciplines. Includes techniques for influencing student interaction, content presentation and visualization, community building, and assessment. Identifies and compares national and international standards frameworks and introduces the knowledge base of educational technology. Surveys the field’s instructional design and development tools and gets the student started creating a Web portfolio containing the student’s plans for using technology to meet national standards, workplace needs, and/or professional development goals.
Course Modules
This course is organized into a series of modules that are presented to you via the Web. The modules are attached to a collabsible menu that organizes the modules in roughly the same order in which they will be discussed in class. You need not complete these modules in this prescribed order, however. Rather, you can work through the course at your own pace, skipping modules that do not interest you, and spending more time on those that do.
Assignments
Your grade in this course will be based on your performance on a series of assignments that appear on this online syllabus. At any time, you can view the assignments. This list of assignments provides you with a snapshot of what you need to do in this course. All the rest is optional. It is totally up to you how much of the other material you will want to complete. Your instructor will help guide you, depending on the topics you choose to pursue.
Grading
You will receive grades on three kinds of activities. First, there are communication assignments that involve you in online discussions with your fellow classmates and your instructor. Second, you will blog about your thoughts and experiences as you explore the educational technology resources presented in this course. Third, you will begin creating a Web portfolio containing your plans for using technology to meet national standards, workplace needs, and/or professional development goals. These three parts of the course each constitute a third of your final grade.
Authoring Tools
You have total freedom in deciding which tools you will use to create your Web portfolio. As you can see by scrolling down and exploring the Video Lessons section of the sidebar, this course provides instruction in authoring Webs with Notepad and Google Sites. Especially if you have never authored a Web, you may wish to consider beginning with Google Sites, which requires less technical prowess than other tools.
