Please note: We will not have a synchronous meeting the first week of school. This will give you a chance to complete the orientation and get yourself ready to use Elluminate and other tools. The first synchronous online meeting will be Tuesday, August 30, 2011 at 6:30 PM Central time. This meeting will be held in Elluminate, so please be sure that you have "set up" Elluminate to run on your computer before the first scheduled meeting. You can find out how to do this in the Course Orientation - found by clicking on Course Orientation in the sidebar to your left. Several classes will be meeting together and we will be sending you the information during the first week of class about "where" the meeting will be held.

After the initial meeting, class will meet both synchronously and asynchronously (through wiki discussions and listservs). Meeting time for synchronous meetings are:

Tuesdays at 6:30 PM (Central time)

Janice Butler, Ed. D.

EDTC 6341 – Student Centered Learning Using Technology (UT Brownsville): This course provides the Master Technology Teacher (MTT) with the skills and conceptual knowledge for instructional design and development of student-centered learning activities in the K-12 classroom. The course also addresses effective modification of instruction that uses advanced technologies for special needs students, and mentoring other faculty members and administrators in the effective integration of technology.

We begin in this second course by looking at effective ways to build curriculum that focuses on student-centered learning, rather than the teacher-centered "sage-on-the-stage" instruction which is quite prevalent in classrooms today. You will be using predominantly project-based learning in this course - and it will likely be a very different method of teaching than you have ever used before. Project-based learning is widely accepted as an effectively method that will actively engage the student and promote critical thinking as well as advanced problem solving skills - important components of the skills that students in the 21st century need.

Thus, this course will further your knowledge about students learning by using technology skills in meaningful contexts. As you go through the various projects, it is important for you to consider both how you can use the tools in teaching AND how you can mentor other teachers in the effective use of the tools in their classrooms.

A major focus of the MTT program is the mentoring of faculty, administrators, and parents in effectively using technology.

Objectives
Upon completion of this course, the learner will be:

• proficient in develop student-centered instruction using project-based learning
• proficient in developing instruction that includes technology integration.
• proficient in using Web 2.0 tools for a variety of instructional tasks.
• adept at synthesizing the knowledge and skills required to perform the multifaceted role of the Master Technology Teacher in an applied context.

BlackBoard is a fully online system that allows you to access it with a username and password and grants you access to your course materials. These materials include anything an instructor would normally hand out, assign or lecture. The only difference is that now you have access to that material 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

You can access the materials and submit your own work at any time (within due dates). The system also provides an environment where you can interact with both the instructor and fellow students in a way similar to what you experience in the classroom.

More specific help and resources can be found by clicking on the Student Support button on the left sidebar menu. Due to the username/password synchronization you will sign on to MyUTBTSC with the username and password that you have established. For questions please contact the Help Desk or Info Shop at infoshop@utb.edu or (956) 882-4357.

In addition to materials in BlackBoard, this course will include materials in an Earth System Science Education Alliance (ESSEA) Course. More specific details will be provided in the modules when you are to begin using the ESSEA course.

Consult THE CALENDAR for important due dates, available resources, etc.

There is no textbook for this course.

Other Materials/Texts:
All the materials below are PDF files and can be printed out or read online; you do not have to purchase the materials.

Horizon Report - This eye-opening report, a collaboration between the New Media Consortium and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI), describes six areas of emerging technology that will impact K-12 education within three adoption horizons over the next one to five years. It is updated each year. Please download the latest copy.

Long-Range Technology Plan, 2006-2020 - Presented to TEA in December, 2006

Software: You will be using a variety of Web 2.0 tools as well as other software in this class. Because we know that you work in an environment that has limited funding (K-12 education), we encourage the use of free, freeware and open source software, when possible. This will allow your expenses to be low and offers you the ability to rather rapidly add value at your workplace because you will also be able to encourage the use of free software and provide access to the software, also.

Some suggestions for available software can be found in under the Resources link. Other suggestions for free software will be made throughout the semester. We encourage you to share any resources that you may be familiar with.

Email Account: Very important course information is communicated to you via email. It is crucial that you check your email at least once per day. Please see important information below regarding email communication.

Hardware: In this class you need to connect your computer to Elluminate Live Classroom. To do so, you need (a) a headset with a microphone and (b) a wired Internet connection, preferably broadband. Additionally, please allow time to install necessary (free) plug-ins before you are first scheduled to use Elluminate. For a tutorial on connecting to Elluminate for the first time please go to the Technology Orientation.

We are lucky to be "pioneers" in online education during this time of rapidly evolving technology. At the same time, we sometimes have to be patient as technology does not behave quite the way it was "advertised." Expect some minor frustrations as we work our way through using a system that is not quite up to holodeck standards. (Those Trekkies out there know what I am talking about.) We are on the beginning voyage into this emerging technology field. But, we will go through it together - and in my experience have a great deal of fun learning how to make an imperfect system work well for us. Be patient and look forward to this as a time to grow and use a technology tool that very few people even realize exist and even fewer online programs utilize.

Digital Library: You will need to access the Digital Library at various times during your Ed Tech courses. We encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity to access scholarly journals for use during your program. In addition, you will be required to review and critique tutorials that are available at the Digital Library.

SMARTHINKING: SMARTHINKING is your source for 24 X 7 online tutoring. While they cannot help you with your technology projects, we HIGHLY recommend that you use the services for any writing assignments you may have to submit. You will generally get results from a a certified tutor within 24 hours of submission. You may submit questions in addition to submitting essays to the SMARTHINKING tutors. To access SMARTHINKING services go to MyUTBTSC Online Portal (http://myutbtsc.blackboard.com) and login with your UTB/TSC credentials. For more information Contact UTB/TSC Distance Education and Instructional Technologies at (956)882-6696 or onlinecourse@utb.edu. We will discuss this in Elluminate before you begin submitting papers.

Safe Assign: This provider will allow you to submit your papers to ensure that you are not plagiarizing anything in your document. Once you submit the assignment, you will have access to the report regarding your paper and will be able to submit a revised version before the deadline. We will discuss this in Elluminate before you begin submitting papers.

Overview: Throughout this graduate-level course you will communicate with your instructor and your peers in a variety of ways:

• Phone conferences
• Online discussions in Elluminate Live Classroom
• Email correspondences
• Course wiki and group wiki
• Face-to-face meetings (certainly not mandatory, but when possible)

Phone Conferences: Call the instructor at if you wish. If the instructor is not available, please leave a short message with your return number. Please enunciate your callback number slowly.

Online Discussions: The class is scheduled to meet in Elluminate Live Classroom approximately once per week. Other modes of communication may also be used as they become available. Each tool will be introduced with a tutorial provided ahead of time when needed and practice will be planned.

Email Correspondence: Very important course information is communicated to you via email. It is crucial that you check your email on a daily basis. You may also contact your instructor via email. While we make every effort to respond within 24-hours (and usually much sooner), sometimes glitches cause the email to go awry. Please do not assume we are ignoring you if you do not hear from us. Please re-send your email with Second Attempt in the subject line so that we may respond to you.

IMPORTANT Please note: It is critical that you go through the Course Orientation activity to ensure that you can receive emails from the course listserv.

Formatting for all class Emails: To enable everyone in the class to easily organize emails, please include the course number, your name, and then the subject of your email in the subject line. For example: 6341 Janice - Your topic here. If you do not include the course number and your name, it may be inadvertently overlooked and thus take a longer time to receive a response, espcially since many students are in more than one class with me this semester.

Course wiki: You will be posting your projects in the course wiki under the appropriate section or your individual page(s). The wiki can be accessed at http://butleratutb.pbwiki.com. The link for this semester's course pages are in the top left column on the home page of the wiki. More information about accessing and using the wiki is provided in the Course Orientation.

Face-to-Face Meetings: While not mandatory, we would be happy to meet anyone face-to-face if needed or wanted. Please contact the instructor by email or phone to set up a time to meet.

You will notice that we do not have any quizzes or exams. In our experience, quizzes have not had much impact on learning in an online environment, but become simply a "hunt for the answer" exercise that quickly gets old. Therefore, we expect you to apply the knowledge in the materials and courses that are provided.

This means that projects and activities that apply the knowledge you have gained are weighted heavily in this course. Most of the activities are to be completed online and are designed to assist you it better understanding the materials. You will be evaluated as follows:

Course Orientation/Whyville Orientation (worth 40 pts. each): This brief exercise will familiarize you with the expectations of the course. It is very important that you complete this quickly so that you may begin working on the rest of the course.
ESSEA Modules (cumulatively worth 368 pts.):
In addition, you will be learning how to create effective project-based learning lessons. These activities are very important and comprise a large percentage of your grade for the course. Directions for completing the activities and due dates are included in the ESSEA course

Data Analysis (worth 40 points):
You will be asked to conduct two data analyses using spreadsheet software. In one project, you will create a survey for your students or teachers and analyze the data that is produced from that survey by putting it into graph format. On the other analysis, you will be gathering data from NASA or NOAA, putting it into a spreadsheet and creating graphs to explain the data.

Customized Search Engine (worth 40 points):
You will be creating a customized search engine for your students to use in projects.

Final lesson presentation (worth 100 points):
You will present the details of your final lesson to the class.

Whyvillle and Games Tours (worth 100 points): Each person will present a tour on Whyville.

Contribution to class (worth 272 points):
Class meetings are scheduled on a semi-weekly basis. You will be expected to not only attend, but actively participate in class rather than spending your time lurking in the class. If you do not voluntarily contribute, you will be asked for your feedback by the instructor. Several times during each session, you may be polled for your response to something that is being discussed, so it is important that you log in and stay, rather than log in and stray, either to another location in your home or on the Web. That means no checking emails during class!

In some cases, we join several other classes for meeting a guest speaker. You will be notified about such meetings. You will also be asked to participate in guest lectures by having at least two questions to ask during the visit. At least twice during the semester, you will be required to present online using well designed presentations. It is mandatory that you be at the session in which you are scheduled to present.

Please contact the instructor for options if you are unable to attend the synchronous meetings weekly.

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT PRESENTATIONS: In an effort to reinforce the importance of effective PowerPoint presentations, you will be developing and presenting two of your PowerPoint projects to the class via Elluminate. It is important that these presentations use the skills you are learning in EDTC 6340 for effective presentation design. More details will be provided with the directions for the projects.

Late Projects: One letter grade will be deducted from any project submitted AFTER the due date (at midnight) as posted on the calendar. If your project is two weeks late or it is submitted after the last day of the class (whichever comes first), you will receive zero credit for that particular project.

Evaluation:Grades for the semester will be derived as follows:

Grade Distribution by points:

Students are expected to be above reproach in all scholastic activities. Students who engage in scholastic dishonesty are subject to disciplinary penalties, including the possibility of failure in the course and dismissal from the university. "Scholastic dishonesty includes but is not limited to cheating, plagiarism, collusion, the submission for credit of any work or materials that are attributable in whole or in part to another person, taking an examination for another person, any act designed to give unfair advantage to a student or the attempt to commit such acts. Regents' Rules and Regulations, Series 50101, Section 2.2.

Since scholastic dishonesty harms the individual, all students, and the integrity of the university, policies on scholastic dishonesty will be strictly enforced (refer to Student Handbook for more information).

Students with disabilities, including learning disabilities, who wish to request academic adjustments in this class, should notify the Disability Services Office in the semester so that the appropriate accommodations may be made. In accordance with federal law, a student requesting academic adjustments must provide documentation of his/her disability to the Disability Services Counselor. For more information, call or visit the Counseling Center Cardenas North 103, (956) 882-8292 or email steve.wilder@utb.edu.

This UTB graduate distance education class is facilitated via UTB BlackBoard. This allows faculty members and students to continue their teaching and learning, whether or not the university shuts down as a result of a hurricane or any other natural disaster.

Should any disaster occurs, announcements will be made within Blackboard and from your instructor in the case of Elluminate meetings continuing. The final decision to continue or drop Elluminate session will be determined by your instructor. To facilitate the completion of classes, most or all of the communication between students and the institution, the instructor, and fellow classmates will take place using Blackboard.

To receive credit for a course, it is the student’s responsibility to complete all the requirements for that course. Failure to access course materials once reasonably possible can result in a reduction of your overall grade in the class. 

Photos with photographers' name are from http://www.sxc.hu; non-attributed photos purchased by course designer - all rights reserved.

This page was last updated on August 18, 2011

Pages are maintained by Dr. Janice Wilson Butler and
the Office of Distance Education,
UT Brownsville
© Copyright 2011