- Good Internet access - It's an online course!
- Bring your enthusiasm, creativity, and a willingness to work with the team to explore ideas, and research strategies and tools that will help us become better educators! Please step out of that common college student "box" - What's the least I can do to get a passing grade for this course!!! This course is all about exploring and thinking about the profession you've chosen to major in, and ways that technology can help you! If you're truly interested in becoming an educator - you'll want to dive into the content and resources we're going to share with you with a real passion!
- There are no required books - we'll be using online resources throughout the course instead.
Video: An Introduction to Technology Integration (4:52)
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Video: What is 21st century education? (2:10)
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Several visual clues are used throughout this website:
- Main Sections and Titles
- Subsections
- Text
- Links
- Things you are assigned to read, think about, and do!
At the bottom of each experience section, there will be a light blue section labeled "Expand your horizons..." In this section, please pick one thing that most interests you and explore it further! It may be an article, a video, or an educational tool or resource. My purpose? I have so many wonderful resources to share with you! Pick at least one to explore. Do more if you have time to. This website will be available after you leave this course, so you can always come back to explore further! For this section, you'll be asked to share your reflection about what you explored in the class discussion for the week!
There is also a light green section labeled "Optional resources I want to share with you!" These are totally optional. There's some great resources there! Take a quick peek through them to see if there's anything exciting to you. Again, my purpose is to share some great resources with you, even if you don't have time during the week to look at them. You can always come back later and explore them!
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- As mentioned on the home page, this class is a team - a cohort of pre-service teachers and experienced educators. Together, we'll work to enrich the entire team through our discussions and the sharing of ideas, resources, and tools we research. You'll receive points for participating in our Canvas discussions - but that is just a side benefit. The main benefit is that we are working together to find and curate resources to share with each other. One of our goals is to have you take away many resources and ideas that you can actually use in your teaching profession.
- If you've not participated in Canvas discussions before, and need assistance learning how to do that, we've provided Canvas video tutorials in the Resources section of this site. Watch the student videos, particularly the one titled "Participate in a Discussion." They will teach you everything you need to know to work in Canvas. You can get to Canvas at My.USU.edu. You will need your A# and strong password to log in. If you have trouble logging in - please call the USU Help Desk (435-797-4357).
- Our course rules for Canvas discussions:
- Participate! Contribute! Share! Reply to posts that interest you! Express your thoughts and ideas. By doing so, we'll all benefit by considering several points of view. Our class team is a great brain trust - do your part! Online courses can be a lonely spot - we don't want that. We want you to know there are many others here to work and share with!
- Please, please be civil! It's OK to agree to disagree - but do so with kindness and tact! No profanity. No name calling. No put-downs. You know, we are asking you to use all those people skills you should have learned in Kindergarten! We're there to help and enrich each other! You are part of a team of educators.
- This is a full three credit hour 5000 level course. The work expectation is approximately 6-9 hours per week. If this is your first online course, please don't expect to accomplish this online class over the weekend - you will be overwhelmed. Each week, a suggested plan for breaking up the week's lesson into manageable chunks each day can be found in your Canvas modules for the course. Plan on spending time on the class each day! If you do, you will be successful, and it will be manageable, and more fun and meaningful! I want to stretch your horizons intellectually, make you think and reflect about teaching and learning, have you learn new skills, and come away from this course a better educator and professional!
- Each week, you'll need to go through the online content of the course, read the assigned readings, and watch the assigned videos.
- Each week, you'll join the class team in a Canvas discussion centered around the current week's experience and standards. The discussions are a critical part of the course! You're expected to actively participate in the discussions, by posting your thoughts and responses as outlined in the directions for the discussion. You'll also be asked to respond to other students' posts. As a team, these discussions are springboards for new ideas, teaching strategies, and technology resources you can use!
- You will be working on assignments that will involve personal reflection and research, doing hands-on projects to learn technology skills, and producing technology-enhanced lesson plans. We hope you will create lesson plans and other educational products that will be relevant to your own teaching needs - something you can actually use and benefit from - or that your students can use and benefit from. These will be shared with educators the world over. By the end of the course, you'll have created several of these! You'll also have access to all the others created by students in the course - a wealth of technology-enhanced teaching materials.
- We will be using both Canvas (for messages, grading, assignments, etc.) and this website (for content).
- Syllabus or Class Changes: During the course of the clsss, you will be notified of any changes to the class syllabus by a message in Canvas. Changes to this syllabus before or after the course may occur without any notification. Please check back. We suggest you bookmark this class site in your browser.
- Submitting assignments and electronic files: Assignments will be submitted through Canvas. If you've not participated in Canvas assignment submissions before, and need assistance learning how to do that, I've provided Canvas video tutorials in the Resources section of this site. Download and watch the student videos, particularly the video "Student Assignment Submissions.mp4."
- Late work: This course will make you stretch, even push you outside your comfort zone at times. It's important to keep up and not get behind! In this class, late work will be accepted - your instructor will give you the details about late work. Extenuating circumstances such as incapacitating illness, death in the immediate family, etc. (similar to the "I Grade policy" below), will be considered in scoring work submitted late. Each assignment in the course has a "submit by" date clearly identified.
- Ethics and Honesty: "Each student has the right and duty to pursue his or her academic experience free of dishonesty. The Honor System is designed to establish the higher level of conduct expected and required of all Utah State University students." In this course, your voice is important. I will be asking you to assess your own efforts as part of the grading process. It is vitally important that you be ethical and honest in this. Dishonesty will cause you to receive a failing grade for the course.
- The Honor Pledge: To enhance the learning environment at Utah State University and to develop student academic integrity, each student agrees to the following Honor Pledge: "I pledge, on my honor, to conduct myself with the foremost level of academic integrity." A student who lives by the Honor Pledge is a student who does more than not cheat, falsify, or plagiarize. A student who lives by the Honor Pledge:
- Espouses academic integrity as an underlying and essential principle of the Utah State University community;
- Understands that each act of academic dishonesty devalues every degree that is awarded by this institution; and
- Is a welcomed and valued member of Utah State University."
- Plagiarism: "Plagiarism includes knowingly "representing, by paraphrase or direct quotation, the published or unpublished work of another person as one's own in any academic exercise or activity without full and clear acknowledgment. It also includes the unacknowledged used of materials prepared by another person or agency engaged in the selling of term papers or other academic materials." The penalties for plagiarism are severe. They include warning or reprimand, grade adjustment, probation, suspension, expulsion, withholding of transcripts, denial or revocation of degrees, and referral to psychological counseling."
- Please take time to read through Utah State University's Academic Honesty/Integrity Policy - we will adhere to it in class.
- Students with Disabilities - The Americans with Disabilities Act states: "Reasonable accommodation will be provided for all persons with disabilities in order to ensure equal participation within the program. If a student has a disability that will likely require some accommodation by the instructor, the student must contact the instructor and document the disability through the Disability Resource Center (797-2444), preferably during the first week of the course. Any request for special consideration relating to attendance, pedagogy, taking of examinations, etc., must be discussed with and approved by the instructor. In cooperation with the Disability Resource Center, course materials can be provided in alternative format, large print, audio, diskette, or Braille."
- Withdrawal Policy and "I" Grade Policy: Students are required to complete all courses for which they are registered by the end of the semester. In some cases, a student may be unable to complete all of the coursework because of extenuating circumstances, but not due to poor performance or to retain financial aid. The term 'extenuating' circumstances includes: (1) incapacitating illness which prevents a student from attending classes for a minimum period of two weeks, (2) a death in the immediate family, (3) financial responsibilities requiring a student to alter a work schedule to secure employment, (4) change in work schedule as required by an employer, or (5) other emergencies deemed appropriate by the instructor.
- Course feedback and evaluation: Students taking this course are strongly encouraged to give feedback on the course. What can we do to make it better, more meaningful and helpful to you? We ask that you take time at the semester's end to fill out the IDEA evaluation.
We love teaching! We love helping students learn and improve! We love watching students rise to the challenge to be innovative and creative! That's why we chose to be teachers! Since we are required to give you a grade in this course, we will endeavor to make grading as uncomplicated and fair as we can. And we will ask for your help in assessing your efforts. Points will be assigned for the following:
Thank you for reading through the course syllabus. Now move on to the course experiences (lessons).
- Assignments, Canvas Discussions: Points will be awarded for completion of required coursework. These will be graded using a scoring rubric that is provided for each assignment. Your own self assessment of your effort may be included in this.
- If you happen to receive a low score - advice will be given as to what you need to do further to revise and resubmit for an acceptable score. It's OK to fail at something, if you try again until you make it acceptable. We want you to succeed!
- Deadlines are important! We only have 14-15 weeks to accomplish a lot! Please avoid falling behind!
- There are no midterm or final tests for this course. You will be evaluated on the quality of your participation in class discussions, the quality of your assignment submissions, and the effort you put into those.
- 94-100% = A • 90-93% = A-
- 87-89% = B+ • 83-86% = B • 80-82% = B-
- 77-79% = C+ • 73-76% = C • 70-72% = C-
- 60-69% = D • Less than 60% = F
Thank you for reading through the course syllabus. Now move on to the course experiences (lessons).
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Material on this website - other than curated internet videos and resources linked to within - are copyright 2018 by Nathan M. Smith Jr. - Updated June 25, 2018
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