Course Textbooks and Learning Resources
EDUC 411/611: Introduction to Educational Technology
You will be happy to discover that you do not necessarily need to purchase any textbooks for use in this course, because your course instructor has selected resources that are available online.
How People Learn
The book How People Learn, for example, can be read online, or you can purchase a printed copy that ships within 24 hours. Created by the National Research Council, the book How People Learn establishes the research base for making decisions about how technology should be used. After reviewing this research in Chapters 1-8, read especially Chapter 9, which deals specifically with educational technology.
National Education Technology Plan
The United States vision for using technology to improve education is articulated in the National Education Technology Plan. Study the plan and come to class prepared to discuss its pros and cons.
Education Technology: An Evidence-Based Review
Escueta, Maya; Quan, Vincent; Nickow, Andre Joshua; and Oreopoulos, Philip. (2017) Education Technology: An Evidence-Based Review. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research. Available from http://www.nber.org/papers/w23744. Reviews the results of randomized experiments in the realm of (1) providing access to computers, (2) computer assisted learning, (3) behavioral interventions, and (4) online courses. Contains tables listing applications from which students could choose the products they want to look into based on the findings reported here, such as effective uses of text messaging reported in the behavioral interventions section.
AECT Knowledge Base
For several decades, the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) has been publishing a handbook of research that serves practitioners as a knowledge base of researched best practices in the field of educational technology. If you decide to study the AECT knowledge base, however, it requires a subscription. There is a substantial student discount as described at aect.org. University of Delaware students, however, can freely access the knowledge base by following this link to its online copy at Delcat Discovery. The bibliographic refence is: Spector, J. M. (Ed.) (2014) Handbook of research on educational communications and technology. 4th edition. New York: Springer.
LinkedIn Learning
Beyond books, all UD students, faculty and staff have access to LinkedIn Learning, as described at the following link:
Computers
To complete the hands-on computer assignments, each student will need access to a multimedia computer (Windows PC or Macintosh) that is connected to the Internet via the latest version of either Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Microsoft Edge.
Computer Accounts
Every University of Delaware student automatically receives an e-mail account. You should visit www.udel.edu/network to manage your password, username, and quotas.
Computer Sites
All students registered in this class have the option of using the multimedia PCs and Macs in the campus computing sites. Use www.it.udel.edu/computingsites to link to the general access site schedule. Please note that the use of the campus computing sites is totally optional in this course. If you have your own computer and Internet connection, you may never need to use the campus computing sites.
E-mail Addresses
Every student in this class must have an e-mail address on the Internet and read e-mail regularly. If you're enrolled in a University of Delaware course, and you do not have an e-mail account yet, go to the help center and follow the e-mail link for detailed instructions on how to activate your e-mail account. If you do not read your UD mail regularly, you should go to www.udel.edu/network and follow the instructions to forward your e-mail to your preferred e-mail address.
