The College Classroom:
Effective Teaching with
Technology
Spring 2010
Date/Time: TBD
Instructors: Steve Cramer, Civil & Environmental Engineering
Location: TBD
Course Description: Develop new approaches to effective use of instructional technology in your teaching practice. You will learn how technological choices can affect the learning of today’s diverse student populations. You will complete a research project to study how technology can affect student learning in your discipline. This course is designed for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and faculty in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields who desire to develop new approaches to the effective use of instructional technology in their teaching practice. The goals of the class are:
- To provide participants with a foundation for choosing appropriate technological tools based on learning needs,
- To give participants hands-on experience, through class sessions and an independent project, in the effective use of learning technologies such as interactive web applications, video/audio lectures, "clickers", and course management tools, and
- To promote the importance and scholarship of the evaluation of instructional technology efficacy.
Credits: 2-3
Timetable listings: EPD 690, INTER-LS 701, INTER-AG 875
CLICK HERE to start the registration process.
Course format
During each session of the course, a different aspect of teaching with technology will be investigated. Experts will be present to facilitate discussion and provide insight. In addition to the seminar portion of the course, participants will also have opportunities to experiment with several instructional technologies throughout the semester. Participants will see how the teaching-as-research philosophy applies to effectively teaching with technology, as well as how their technological choices can affect (both positively and negatively) their diverse student population. The culmination of the course will be a design project in which the participants identify, investigate, and propose solutions to a learning environment where technology could be implemented.
To view the Fall 2007 Syllabus, click here.
Student comments
"A great idea and a very valuable addition to the skill-set of any future professors/instructors. I see great things in future courses. "
"The variety of issues and technologies covered helped give a broad perspective on use of technology in teaching. The first part of the class [on teaching principles] was also essential to the introduction of technology into best practices. Also, team-teach approach allowed for lots of expertise and variety of activities. Also, discovering links to various web resources was great."
Evidence that the students have begun to see the classroom as a research environment and view teaching as a multidimensional activity:
"Along with the teaching methods I have learned, the readings have helped me realize that the role I was envisioning for myself as a professor was an uninformed fantasy. I thought I would be another great orator, 'covering' lots of material throughout a semester, with my students stopping by office hours to ask more in-depth questions about my lectures or their readings. Now that I'm thinking more critically about teaching & learning, I know that my role will be more of a mentor/coach/guide to lead (not feed) students to learning. In this role, however, I will encounter diversity more than I would have as a lecturer in the front of the lecture hall. In becoming more interactive with the students, I will need to be more aware and sensitive of their diverse learning styles, prior knowledge, attitudes to the subject, as well as a host of other diversity issues, such as gender, race, religion, and socioeconomic status. " (Biology student, 1st response paper)
Evidence that the students have begun to contemplate both the affordances and constraints of implementing technology into their teaching practices and learning environments:
"Teaching as research is a useful paradigm for teaching with technology. Because implementation of technology can be controversial for a number of reasons (see above), careful evaluation of the results it produces can lead to better use. It is important to compare various techniques to each other as well as to proven or traditional methods. Other aspects of teaching and learning can also be probed, including the effectiveness of technology equipment, student attitudes to technologies, and effectiveness of technology usage by instructors. "(Biology student, 2nd reflection paper)
An exemplary paper
"Converting CEE 370 to a Technology-Based Course." EPD 690 Project Narrative.
By Tim Gates & Chanyoung Lee (PDF)
