PENN STATE

Instructional Systems - INSYS 400 (section 301)

Introduction to Instructional Technology for Educators

Instructor: Dr. Roy B. Clariana

Abington Campus -- 306 & 307 Sutherland (lab)

Phone: 610.648.3253 (o) 610.648.3284 (sec)

E-mail:

Office Hours: by appointment

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Course Goals

This course is designed to allow you to develop and demonstrate competency in, and to engage in discourse about, using technology to support learning. You will begin to develop the knowledge and skills to engage in:

  • meaningful, critical discourse and practice of current and possible future trends in the use of educational technology,
  • the basics of planning lessons to incorporate technology into the classroom,
  • your role as teacher and educator and how technology impacts this role,
  • the basics of using computers to develop presentations, spreadsheets, databases, multimedia lessons, and WWW (HTML) lessons, and
  • the issues surrounding the classroom use of Internet resources including evaluation.

You will work alone and in pairs to produce lesson plans and projects utilizing instructional software, presentation software, spreadsheets and databases, multimedia software, and WWW (HTML) related software. (note: Additional class meeting objectives will be provided at each class meeting.)

Course Texts and Support Materials

A. Lamb (1999). Building Treehouses for Learning (2nd). Emporia Kansas: Vision to Action.

Treehouse web-based activities:

Pennsylvania’s Link to Learn CD-ROM and web site:

Articles and papers from journals and conferences.

Course Structure and Expectations

Overview - There are 14 class sessions in this course over eight weeks. The course is based on adult learning theory. Any session may include lectures, discussions, group activities, demonstrations, hands-on guided practice, and lots of hands-on independent work. You will be provided with the optimal amount of in-class work time possible and with direct assistance and written guidance from the instructor in order to finish all exercises and projects. However, you will be expected to spend out-of-class time preparing for classes and working on your final project. For teachers learning about educational technology, the most precious commodity is time to use the software, take advantage of in-class and out-of-class time to get as much as you can. If you have a lap-top, bring it to class.

Collaboration – You will discover numerous resources and develop many new skills, competencies, and concepts throughout our time together. Establish the habit of sharing these with others in the class to expand and deepen all of our experiences.

Participation - A good class requires both an effective teacher and prepared students. Read the assignments. You should attend every class meeting. If you are unable to attend, contact me (I prefer email) or the department secretary as soon as possible, and establish a plan to make-up missed work. Excessive absence will impact your final course grade. Specifically, missing more than 2 classes will lower your grade to no more than a B. You are encouraged to talk to me at any time about anything. I will try to return all assignments by the next class period. For class cancellation due to inclement weather or other emergency, listen to local news media and/or call the Abington Campus at 215-881-7600 or WWW at

Academic Integrity - “Academic integrity is the pursuit of scholarly activity free from fraud and deception and is an educational objective of this institution. Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, cheating, plagiarizing, fabricating of information or citations, facilitating acts of academic dishonesty by others, having unauthorized possession of examinations, submitting work of another person or work previously used without informing the instructor, or tampering with the academic work of other students. At the beginning of each course it is the responsibility of the instructor to provide a statement clarifying the application of academic integrity to that course.” (from 1989-1990 Policies and Rules for Students, p.25). Violation will likely result in a failing grade for the assignment or course. Even though academic dishonesty, plagiarism, or any form of cheating is not tolerated, cooperation and sharing information among students is recommended and encouraged.

Special Services - Special services are available to students with disabilities. The Pennsylvania State University encourages qualified persons with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation or have questions about the physical access provided, please contact Ann Prior (215-881-7538).

Grading - Final letter grades will follow the usual convention:

A 92 - 100% / A- 90 - 91%
B+ 88 - 89% / B 82 - 87% / B- 80 - 81%
C+ 78 - 79% / C 70 - 77%
D 60 - 69%
F 0 - 59%

Task Descriptions

Activities/projects (40%) / A number of mostly in-class activities and discussions (see below) that you should compile into a journal/portfolio.
Participation (20%) / Reading - Each week, read assignments and apply a generative process to the reading.
Responding - Participate in discussions, class lectures, contribute meaningfully, bring in new ideas, come ready to learn and ready to teach, etc.
Presentation (5%) / Dyads will make a 10-minute oral presentation to the class on a topic pertinent to the course. The presentation should be based on two or three articles (or book chapters or web articles). The only grading criteria is whether the presentation adds to the class knowledge about instructional technology. A brief outline and bibliography should be provided to the class. (Dates will be set during the third class meeting.)
CBT study (5%) / Your participation consists of: (1) taking one of the two CBT lessons during class time, (2) participation in a class discussion on how data from a study is transformed into a research finding, and (3) then extrapolating on educational research generally. A research paper on this topic may substitute for participation in the study.
Final Exam (30%) / Two sections: Open book and in-class. The open-book portion is a group activity to describe the technology using school including hardware, software, professional development, etc. Include floor plans, figures, etc. The in-class portion includes short answer, matching, and multiple-choice questions cover all topics of the course. The exam is important so make it a priority to schedule time and study.

Course Schedule (tentative)

Date / Scheme / Readings
1 / 10/22/98 / Course Overview, Class Introductions, Personal Goals (L&D) Local Network, Browsers, WWW class Hot List - (gL)
2 / 10/27/98 / No class
3 / 10/29/98 / Hardware and infrastructure: Present & future (Big Business! !) (L&D) Search engines, send President Clinton an email (gL & demo ); do Interpersonal Exchanges.doc
What is email? ( connectedness, collaboration, the global village, dangers) brainstorm emaillesson activities (L&D) / Chapter 2 & 3
4 / 11/03/98 / WWW & Instruction overview (L&D)
How can word processors be used for instruction? (L&D, demo)
MS Word (clip art, make tables, hyperlinks, save as HTML) (gL)
Open lab - continue work on Hotlist, practice w/MS Word / Chapter 4
(Internet Impact)
5 / 11/05/98 / Using computer-based instruction (add ILS) (L&D)
Finding and Evaluating instructional software (gL)
How to load (& unload) software (gL); some Open lab / Chapter 5
6 / 11/10/98 / Spread sheet and database tools (L&D)
Use Excel to make a gradebook & a bar chart class handout (gL)
Open lab - Hotlist, Word, load and review software / (Mindtools)
7 / 11/12/98 / Load and use Encarta'98 and 3D Atlas (gL)
Using information in databases for instruction: Brainstorm lesson ideas, discuss veracity of information WWW vs. Encarta, explain it to a 3rd grader (L&D)
Smart databases - Simulate neural net database,
demo -look up one PA standard using VITAL Tools, discuss implications of infoglut and smart data bases (L&D) / Page 21
(Info-literacy and the Internet)
8 / 11/17/98 / Buy a book at Amazon, plan a trip at Travelocity , purchase a digital camera (gL)
Using WWV/ commerce sites instructionally (L&D) - brainstorm lesson ideas using these and other web commerce sites
Web-based testing demo of Realtesting (gL) and Open Lab / (Linking students to the Infosphere)
9 / 11/19/98 / Multimedia
MS Powerpoint (gL)
Open lab / Chapter 11
10 / 11/24/98 / WWW for instruction, brainstorm ways WWW can be used for instruction (L&D)
Visuals (gL) flat bed scanners, digital cameras, .jpg and .gif
Open lab / Chapter 12
(Creating successful Internet projects)
11/26/98 / Thanksgiving Break
11 / 12/01/98 / Web authoring basics (HTML) (L&D)
Teams make an information page for the web
Open lab / (HTML guides)
12 / 12/03/98 / Putting it all together, describe the Ultimate Classroom (p.539), write
final exam questions together
Teams put information page up on Geocities
Open lab / Chapter 13
13 / 12/08/98 / Open lab, Study groups, catch up
14 / 12/10/98 / FINAL

(Note: L&D -lecture and discussion; gL - guided-discovery lab; (Handouts) in parenthesis)
Course Instructor

Roy Clariana has been an Assistant Professor at Penn State Great Valley since 1997. Besides his duties for Penn State, Roy consults in training design and evaluation, and technology support in schools.

Roy was a high school math teacher before joining Peace Corps as a biology teacher in Kenya. After 3 years of volunteer service, Roy trained teachers for Peace Corps service in East Africa and Nepal for two years. This experience required soup-to-nuts planning and implementation, and included such diverse tasks as hiring and training language instructors, technical trainers, and support staff, finding training sites and housing for the teachers, working with the training staff to develop comprehensive 12 to 14-week training experiences, interviewing witch doctors for cross-cultural sessions, taking tea with chiefs while arranging family visits, mixing cement for water projects, and repairing generators struck by lighting.

Roy returned to the US after five years abroad to work on a doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in Instructional Design and Technology at Memphis State University. While in grad school, he assisted the remedial reading center program and was the technology coordinator at a small elementary school.

Roy’s corporate experience includes two years with EG&G, Inc. and then five years with Jostens Learning Corporation (an instructional software company). His experiences at Jostens included in-service teacher training, presenting educational software applications to national audiences, integrating and evaluating JLC software into UK schools, developing curriculum software, and consulting with educators in technology integration and professional staff development. (Roy was lead developer for VITAL Tools, a WWW search engine that recently won a "Technology and Learning" software award. You will have a chance to use VITAL Tools in class.)

Roy and his wife Sarah, who is a professional doll maker with a Ph.D. in rhetoric and communication, live in Royersford. They spend as much time as they can at their cabin in Colorado hosting family and friends and enjoying cool summers and Christmas ski trips.

Activities

1. Instructional Technology?
(Chapter 4) /

WWW class hotlist - Establish & add to class URL database, start with URLs on page 159-161 (big picture: big money, infoappliances, hardware, your monthly cable/phone bill, bandwidth explosion)

2. Telecommunications
(Chapter 3) /

Introduce yourself - Use email to communicate; email lesson idea - develop an idea for an email based instructional activity for your class to share with this class (big picture: collaboration, connectedness, the global village, and its dangers)

3. Traditional CBT
(Chapter 5) / Load and evaluate several pieces of instructional software

Paths in the Forest, Freddie Fish 3: The case of the stolen conch shell, Orly’s Draw-a-story, Where in Time is Carmen San Diego, I can be an animal doctor, The Clue Finders 3rd grade adventures, and The Oregon Trail 3rd edition: Pioneer Adventures?

4. Spreadsheet (use as a tool) / Database/spreadsheet mini-projects - Excel (create a grade book, create a bar chart as a classroom handout) (big picture: Dave’s article)
5. Database (using the information in the database) / Database lesson idea – develop an idea for a classroom lesson that utilizes databases like Encarta 98, 3D Atlas, on-line Britannica to share with this class (big picture: how does the veracity of WWW information compare to Encarta information)
6. Smart databases
(page 21) /

Select PA Standards - Use VITAL Tools (a web-based standards search engine used in some PA schools) to select PA standards to complement instruction (big picture: issues regarding new software technology like neural nets that impact infoglut)

7. Web commerce and education /

Buy a book on Amazon.com, plan a trip with Travelocity, purchase a digital camera for the class. More WWW lesson ideas - Group brainstorm ways web commerce may be used in an instructional unit (big picture: is the WWW the biggest billboard on earth OR can you teach American History using Berma-Shave signs? Also, will many good sites eventually charge your school a subscription?)

8. Web-based testing / Create a web-based survey and/or test using administer it (aside issue: personal data on the internet)
9. Multimedia presentation
(Chapter 11) / Make a presentation – use Powerpoint ’97, HyperStudio (Mac or Win), other (big idea: students using KidPix, Draw a story, Powerpoint etc to present ideas; the new literacy)
10. Web press
(Chapter 12) / Create an information web page on Geocity (HTML, ftp, images, etc.)
11. Infrastructure
(Chapter 13) /

The ultimate classroom – complete the group activity on page 539.

12. Lesson Plan /

Lesson plan

Incorporate your ideas about instructional technology into a ‘useable’ lesson plan (use Chapter 1 as a reference)

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