The Role of Technology in Learning in the 21st Century
Course Number: 05-438 (undergraduate) and 05-838 (graduate)
Day/Time:
Tuesdays and Thursdays 12pm to 1:20pm (Spring 2010)
Location: GHC 4301
Units:
12
Books: See below
Instructor:
Prof.
Matthew Kam (Human-Computer Interaction Institute)
Newell Simon Hall, Room 3525
Office Hours: TBD and by appointment
Prerequisites:
This course targets juniors, seniors and graduate students in computer science,
psychology and other disciplines interested in improving education using
technology. Undergraduates who have not reached junior standing may enroll with
the instructor's permission.
Course Summary
Computing is increasingly harnessed to address pressing educational challenges of the 21st century: under-performing inner-city schools, integrating immigrants into the school system, irregular school attendance in rural developing regions, and women empowerment in the developing world. For educational technology solutions to be effective, however, their designs will in turn have to be informed by theories and prior research on how people learn. In this course, we will cover theory and practical applications of the Learning Sciences, Educational Technology and Human-Computer Interaction. These concepts will be framed around the above authentic problems, so as to help students fully appreciate the real-world relevance of the major theories behind how people learn.
This course is open to all undergrads and grad students, with technical or non-technical backgrounds. It aims to prepare students to become leaders who can effectively spearhead innovations on classroom, workplace and/or lifelong learning in their future careers. By the end of the course, students will (i) have acquired a broad overview of the major learning theories, (ii) learn how to apply these theories to design and evaluate systems that target pressing educational challenges in today's world, and (iii) be sufficiently informed about how state-of-the-art educational technologies are impacting learning in the 21st century.
Deliverables and Grading
The course will not be graded on a curve. Each undergraduate (or graduate) student will be graded on the extent to which his or her deliverables meet the expectations of good quality work for an undergraduate (or graduate) course.
Class attendance and participation is important. Learning theories are often abstract for students to grasp. We will therefore use class time to make these theories more concrete for students through demos. Interactive classroom activities will provide the instructor with more feedback on how well students are understanding the material, and the opportunity to give students more real-time coaching. Since class time is a scarce resource that should be used to help students better understand key concepts, students are expected to show up in class having already completed the assigned readings.
As part of class participation, students are required to engage in online discussions related to the readings on the course's Blackboard website. The instructor will provide discussion questions that draw student attention to more relevant sections in the readings. The online discussions not only give students an opportunity to reflect on the readings and to discuss their thoughts with classmates, but also provide the instructor with invaluable feedback on critical gaps to address in class. To provide the instructor with adequate time to prepare for the latter, online discussions for each class session will conclude by midnight prior to the class.
Students will work in teams on semester-length design projects to tackle educational problems of their choice, on platforms such as cellphones, interactive videos or gaming (Nintendo’s Wii/DS/$10 TV-Computer). Students will apply some of the learning theories covered in class to their projects. The instructor will provide technical support for students who wish to prototype for the cellphone platform. Students who are interested in prototyping on other platforms should be reasonably confident about acquiring the necessary technical skills, and will be expected to acquire these skills on their own. Students are required to present project milestones in class and a public demo session at the end of the semester.
For the Spring 2010 semester, students working on mobile learning projects may wish to submit their projects to Nokia's $1 million competition for improving the lives of people living on $5 or less per day. More details on the competition website: http://www.callingallinnovators.com/. In particular, Nokia has teamed up with Sesame Workshop, the producers behind Sesame Street, to encourage submissions that teach early literacy to communities around the world. The instructor has research collaborations with both Nokia and Sesame Workshop, and will be happy to facilitate student projects as appropriate.
Students will also work on short individual assignments that prepare them for the team project. Students will apply concepts from the course to examine existing solutions such as Sesame Street’s The Electric Company, Leapfrog’s literacy gadgets and the $100 laptop. They will also apply these concepts to provide other project teams with constructive feedback on their projects. Finally, for the purpose of scoping out their team projects, students will carry out background research on problem domains that they are interested in. Due to the tight timeline for individual assignments as building blocks for the team project, late assignments cannot be accepted.
The breakdown of the final grade is as follows:
20% Class attendance and participation
35% Individual assignments
45% Team project
Textbooks
Efficient Learning for the Poor: Insights From the Frontier of Cognitive Neuroscience. Helen Abadzi. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank, Directions in Development Series, 2006. E-Text available for free on Google Books.
How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School. John D. Bransford, Ann L. Brown, and Rodney R. Cocking (Eds.). Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1999. E-Text available for free on National Academies Press.
Schedule
January 12, 2010 - Global Survey of Educational Technology
Optional readings:
Transforming Schools with Technology: How Smart Use of Digital Tools Help Achieve Six Key Educational Goals. Andrew A. Zucker. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard Education Press, 2008.
Metasurvey on the Use of Technologies in Education in Asia and the Pacific. Glen Farrell and Cedric Wachholz (Editors). Bangkok, Thailand: UNESCO Bangkok, 2003.
Chapter from Part II: An Overview of Developments and Trends in the Application of Information and Communication Technologies in Education
Chapter from Part II: Gender-Based Issues and Trends in ICT Applications in Education in Asia and the Pacific
National Focus Group on Educational Technology.
Position paper. New Delhi, India: National Council of Educational Research and Training,
2006.
Class activity: speed-dating; questionnaire and discussion of personal learning goals
January 14, 2010 - Primary Schooling for the Poor in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa
Readings:
The Beautiful Tree: A Personal Journey Into How the World's Poorest People are Educating Themselves. James Tooley. Washington, D.C.: Cato Institute, 2009.
Chapter 1: A Discovery in India ...
Chapter 2: ... That Was No Discovery After All
Chapter 4: The Shifting Goalposts, Ghana
Optional readings:
The Beautiful Tree: A Personal Journey Into How the World's Poorest People are Educating Themselves. James Tooley. Washington, D.C.: Cato Institute, 2009.
Chapter 6: A Kenyan Conundrum -- and Its Solution
Chapter 7: Poor Ignoramuses
Class activity: persona development
January 19, 2010 - Higher Education in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa (tentatively with guest lecturer Melissa Ho, Ph.D. candidate at the University of California, Berkeley)
Readings:
Improving Tertiary Education in Sub-Saharan Africa: Things That Work. Burton Bollag. Africa Region Human Development Working Paper Series. The World Bank, 2004.
A Better India, A Better World. N.R. Narayana Murthy. New Delhi, India: Penguin Books, 2009.
Chapter from Part IV (Education): A Framework for Reforms in Higher Education in India
Handout: assignment I - research an educational context for class project
January 21, 2010 - Beyond Formal Schooling: Adult Education and Informal Learning (with guest lecturer Ayan Kishore, CMU MHCI alumnus '09)
Readings:
Information and Communication Technologies for Employability in India. Ayan Kishore. Term paper for graduate-level HCI4D seminar class, Spring 2009.
Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology: The Digital Revolution and Schooling in America. Allan Collins and Richard Halverson. New York: Teachers College Press, 2009.
Chapter 5: The Seeds of a New System of Education
The Psychology of Literacy. Sylvia Scribner and Michael Cole. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1981.
Chapter 6: Literacy and Its Characteristics
Optional readings:
Vocational Skills Training for Underprivileged Youth: Current Scenario and the Way Forward. India: Quest Alliance, 2009.
Chapter 4: Technology
Chapter 5: Retail Industry and Skill Development Training
Chapter 6: Youth - The Primary Beneficiaries
Class activity: problem identification
January 26, 2010 - Student Roundtable on Interested Project Topics
Due: assignment I
January 28, 2010 - Educational Technology in US Communities (Q&A with Dr. Linda Roberts, Former Director, Office of Educational Technology, U.S. Department of Education)
Readings:
Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology: The Digital Revolution and Schooling in America. Allan Collins and Richard Halverson. New York: Teachers College Press, 2009.
Chapter 7: What May Be Lost and What May Be Gained
Chapter 10: Rethinking Education in a Technological World
Optional readings:
TV Guidance: Educators Should Embrace—Not Castigate—Video Games and TV. James Paul Gee and Michael Levine. Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, Issue 12, Spring 2009.
Class activity: scenario development
February 2, 2010 - Overview of Learning Theories I
Readings:
Efficient Learning for the Poor: Insights From the Frontier of Cognitive Neuroscience. Helen Abadzi. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank, Directions in Development Series, 2006.
Overview
Chapter 1: The Pedagogy of Poverty
How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School. John D. Bransford, Ann L. Brown, and Rodney R. Cocking (Eds.). Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1999.
Chapter 1: Learning: From Speculation to Science
Chapter 2: How Experts Differ from Novices
Handout: assignment II - learning analysis of an educational technology solution
February 4, 2010 - Overview of Learning Theories II
Readings:
How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School. John D. Bransford, Ann L. Brown, and Rodney R. Cocking (Eds.). Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1999.
Chapter 10: Conclusions
Optional readings:
How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School. John D. Bransford, Ann L. Brown, and Rodney R. Cocking (Eds.). Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1999.
Chapter 9: Technology to Support Learning
February 9, 2010 - Class cancelled due to snowstorm
February 11, 2010 - Memory and Learning
Readings:
Efficient Learning for the Poor: Insights From the Frontier of Cognitive Neuroscience. Helen Abadzi. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank, Directions in Development Series, 2006.
Chapter 3: Nervous System Linkages with School Performance
Chapter 4: Memory and Basic Skills Acquisition
Due: assignment II
February 16, 2010 - Constructivism
Readings:
How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School. John D. Bransford, Ann L. Brown, and Rodney R. Cocking (Eds.). Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1999.
Chapter 4: How Children Learn
Constructivist Learning Environments: Case Studies in Instructional Design. Brent. G. Wilson (Ed.). Edgewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Educational Technology Publications, 1996.
Chapter 1: What is a Constructivist Learning Environment?
Chapter 2: Seven Goals for the Design of Constructivist Learning Environments.
Optional readings:
Constructivism: A Psychological Theory of Learning. Catherine Twomey Fosnot and Randall Stewart Perry. In C. T. Fosnot (Ed.), Constructivism: Theory, Perspectives, and Practice. New York: Teachers College Press, 2005.
Handout: assignment III - learning analysis of an educational technology solution
Class activity: application of theory to design
February 18, 2010 - Guest lecture by Dr. Don Williams, Manager at Microsoft's Global Learning group
Readings:
TBA
February 23, 2010 - Learning and Transfer
Readings:
How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School. John D. Bransford, Ann L. Brown, and Rodney R. Cocking (Eds.). Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1999.
Chapter 3: Learning and Transfer
Class activity: application of theory to design
Due: project proposals (problem statement + persona + scenario + learning theory + expected technology platform)
February 25, 2010 - Instructional Design
Readings:
Efficient Learning for the Poor: Insights From the Frontier of Cognitive Neuroscience. Helen Abadzi. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank, Directions in Development Series, 2006.
Chapter 8: The Cognitive Effects of Classroom Events
Chapter 12: Improving Instructional Support
How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School. John D. Bransford, Ann L. Brown, and Rodney R. Cocking (Eds.). Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1999.
Chapter 6: The Design of Learning Environments
Optional readings:
Efficient Learning for the Poor: Insights From the Frontier of Cognitive Neuroscience. Helen Abadzi. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank, Directions in Development Series, 2006.
Chapter 10: Use and Wastage of Instructional Time
Chapter 11: A Textbook for Every Children to Take Home
March 2, 2010 - Student Mid-Semester Project Presentations I
Due: assignment III
March 4, 2010 - Student Mid-Semester Project Presentations II
March 9, 2010 - No class due to Spring Break
March 11, 2010 - No class due to Spring Break
March 16, 2010 - Scaffolding Design
Readings:
The Role of Tutoring in Problem-Solving. David Wood, Jerome Bruner, and Gail Ross. In Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, Vol. 17, 1975, pp. 89-100.
A Scaffolding Design Framework for Software to Support Science Inquiry. Chris Quintana et al. In Journal of the Learning Sciences, Vol. 13, No. 3, 2004, pp. 337-386.
Optional readings:
Scaffolding Complex Learning: The Mechanisms of Structuring and Problematizing Student Work. Brian J. Reiser. In Journal of the Learning Sciences, Vol. 13, No. 3, 2004, pp. 273-304.
Handout: assignment IV - learning analysis of an educational technology solution
March 17, 2010 - Tentative HCII Departmental Seminar by Dr. Helen Abadzi from The World Bank
March 18, 2010 - Dual Channel Theory and Multimedia Learning
Readings:
Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning. Richard Mayer. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Chapter 3: Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning.
The Cambridge Handbook of Visuospatial Thinking. Priti Shah and Akira Miyake (Editors). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Chapter 12: Multimedia Learning: Guiding Visuospatial Thinking with Instructional Animation.
March 23, 2010 - Literacy
Readings:
Efficient Learning for the Poor: Insights From the Frontier of Cognitive Neuroscience. Helen Abadzi. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank, Directions in Development Series, 2006.
Chapter 5: Literacy Acquisition and the Biology of Reading
More TBA
March 25, 2010 - Bilingualism
Readings:
Efficient Learning for the Poor: Insights From the Frontier of Cognitive Neuroscience. Helen Abadzi. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank, Directions in Development Series, 2006.
Chapter 6: Why Mother-Tongue Instruction Improves Achievement
More TBA
March 30, 2010 - Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)
Readings:
Efficient Learning for the Poor: Insights From the Frontier of Cognitive Neuroscience. Helen Abadzi. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank, Directions in Development Series, 2006.
Chapter 7: The Development and Teaching of Numeracy
How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School. John D. Bransford, Ann L. Brown, and Rodney R. Cocking (Eds.). Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1999.
Chapter 7: Effective Teaching: Examples in History, Mathematics, and Science
Due: storyboard I (instructional design + scaffolding design)
April 1, 2010 - Neuroscience
Readings:
Efficient Learning for the Poor: Insights From the Frontier of Cognitive Neuroscience. Helen Abadzi. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank, Directions in Development Series, 2006.
Chapter 2: Health, Nutrition, and Cognitive Processing
Annex I: Neuropsychology Essentials
How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School. John D. Bransford, Ann L. Brown, and Rodney R. Cocking (Eds.). Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1999.
Chapter 5: Mind and Brain
April 6, 2010 - Review of the Learning Sciences
Readings:
Efficient Learning for the Poor: Insights From the Frontier of Cognitive Neuroscience. Helen Abadzi. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank, Directions in Development Series, 2006.
Annex II: The Lens of Cognitive Science
Due: assignment IV
April 8, 2010 - Cognitive Tutors
Readings:
ACT: A Simple Theory of Complex Cognition. John Anderson. In American Psychologist, Vol. 51, No. 4, 1996, pp. 355-365.
Cognitive Tutors: Technology Bringing Learning Sciences to the Classroom. Kenneth Koedinger and Albert Corbett. In R. K. Sawyer (Editor), The Cambridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
Hybrid Education 2.0. Steve Kolowich. In Inside Higher Ed, December 28, 2009.
Optional readings:
Cognitive Tutors: Lessons Learned. John Anderson, Albert Corbett, Kenneth Koedinger, and Ray Pelletier. In Journal of the Learning Sciences, Vol. 4, No. 2, 1995, pp. 167-207.
Handout: assignment V - review of classmates' team project
Due: storyboard II (instructional design specific to subject matter)
April 13, 2010 - Improving Child Literacy in Africa: Experiments with an Automated Reading Tutor (guest lecture by Ayorkor Mills-Tettey, Ph.D. candidate at CMU)
Readings:
Improving Child Literacy in Africa: Experiments with an Automated Reading Tutor. G. Ayorkor Mills-Tettey, Jack Mostow, M. Bernardine Dias, Tracy Sweet, Haijun Gong, Sarah Belousov, and M. Freddie Dias. In Proceedings of IEEE/ACM Conference on Information and Communication Technology and Development (ICTD ’09), Doha, Qatar, April 17-19, 2009.
April 15, 2010 - No class due to Spring Carnival
Due: assignment V
April 20, 2010 - Direct Instruction vs. Discovery Learning
Readings:
Efficient Learning for the Poor: Insights From the Frontier of Cognitive Neuroscience. Helen Abadzi. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank, Directions in Development Series, 2006.
Chapter 9: Which Instructional Methods Are Most Efficient?
More TBA.
April 22, 2010 - Student Final Project Presentations I
April 27, 2010 - Student Final Project Presentations II
April 29, 2010 - LearnLab India: Towards "In Vivo" International Comparative Education Research (guest lecture by Carolyn Rosé, CMU SCS professor in LTI and HCII)
Readings:
TBA
May 4, 2010 - Poster and demo session (time and location TBD)