Course Syllabus Fall 2010

Here is our course syllabus. As new materials become available, we may incorporate them into the readings and class discussions.

    Beyond WebCT: Integrating Social Networking Tools Into Language and Culture Courses

Course Description: This course is designed to introduce students to web-based social networking environments and provide them with the resources and experiences to effectively integrate them into their teaching repertoire.

Course Objectives:

  1. Students will become familiar with web-based social networks and their use in education.
  2. Students will evaluate a variety of social networking sites through hands-on exploration.
  3. Students will use a class blog to regularly reflect on course materials.
  4. Students, in consultation with the instructor, will implement one social networking tool in a currently taught course.
    • Students will show evidence of integration with course content and objectives.
    • Students will develop a corresponding student assessment rubric.
    • Students will share their classroom project results through an in-class pecha kucha style presentation and blog post reflection.
  5. Students will develop a portfolio of effective, appropriate, collaborative teaching/learning environments, to include a pedagogical rationale for their use as well as suggested course applications. Students will submit this work on our course wiki.

Course Format: In-class and online discussions, in-class and online exploration and collaboration.

Required Texts: Online resources provided in syllabus. Unless otherwise noted, you are to read/listen/view these materials prior to that class date.

Course Requirements:

  • Graduate status.
  • Students must have taught a minimum of one year in the department and successfully completed the departmental methods course.

*Since this course requires the use of a computer with speakers, microphone and webcam, we will assign those items on semester loan to students who do not have them.

Final Grade:
25% Wiki (Portfolio)
25% Classroom Implementation of Social Networking Tool
25% Blog Contributions
25% Participation

Introductory session: Why Social Networking?

For Class Discussion:
Reminder: Please prepare the following four items before our first class:

  1. communities of practice by Mark K. Smith
  2. Information R/evolution by Michael Wesch (under 6 minutes)
  3. Web 2.0 Is the Future of Education by Steve Hargadon
  4. Openness as Catalyst for an Educational Reformation by David Wiley
  5. To review for Friday: How to get students to find and read 94 articles before the next class by Michael Wesch

In-Class Activities:

  1. Get to know our community of practice
  2. Discuss course structure, learning activities, assessments
  3. Explore our course blog and wiki
  4. Create blogger profiles

2nd Session: Learning Repositories

For Class Discussion:
Reminder: Please prepare the following three items before our class:

  1. Thomas L. Friedman’s 2007 MIT talk “The World is Flat 3.0” (Listen up to 37 minutes)
  2. Diego Leal’s BRINGing it OUT a notch K12 Online Conference 2009 Keynote (25 minutes). Non-Spanish speakers can select the English subtitles option.
  3. Open for Learning: The CMS and the Open Learning Network by Jon Mott and David Wiley

In-Class Activities:

  1. ‘Pulse Check’ feedback and review
  2. Introduction to Diigo.  We’ll look at Mott and Wiley’s article in Diigo to see another example of communities of practice
  3. Work on class blog: Profiles and commenting. Some resources:
  4. Introduction to LearnCentral and Elluminate (Elluminate Participant Orientation Resources)
  5. Brainstorm next online session. One possibility: This Saturday’s Classroom 2.0 Live! Elluminate session introducing the 2010 Global Education Conference

3rd session: Educational Trends

For Class Discussion (to prepare in advance)

  1. 2007 Harvard Business IdeaCast’s interview with Don Tapscott, author of ‘Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything’. (First 15 minutes and 30 seconds of the podcast)
  2. Horizon Report, a collaboration between The New Media Consortium and the Educause Learning Initiative. The web version, allows you to navigate non-linearly and leave and see comments from other readers of this report. Please pay particular attention to the two trends predicted to impact higher ed in one year or less—mobile computing and open content—as well as the critical challenges facing learning organizations.
  3. KnowledgeWorks Foundation 2020 Forecast: Creating the Future of Learning. Spend some time exploring the 2020 Forecast, focusing on  the description of the kinds of ‘learning agents’ that will emerge and  the Trend of Learning Commons, in particular the brief, videotaped interview with Lisa Petrides, President for the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management In Education.
  4. The Machine is Us/ing Us by Professor Michael Wesch (a little over 4 minutes)
  5. Don’t Buy That Textbook, Download It Free, by Noam Cohen, NY Times

In-Class Activities:

  1. RSS in Plain English by Lee and Sachi Lefever (3.5 minutes)
  2. Chronicle of Higher Ed special video on Digital Ethnography Project (About 7 minutes)
  3. 7 Things You Should Know About series
  4. Beyond Borders, The Open Source Teaching Project, Spanish Connects Us, Virtual Student Foreign Service
  5. FlatWorld Knowledge, California Open Source Textbook Project, CK12 FlexBooks, Connexions
  6. Academic Earth, MITOpenCourseWare, Open Learning Initiative, Stanford on iTunesU, Open.Michigan, LearnCentral
  7. Google Scholar, DigitalCommons@UConn, DASH, eScholarship
  8. OER Commons,Creative Commons, Wikimedia Commons, Open Source Cinema, Europeana Open Culture, TED: Ideas worth spreading
  9. University of the People, Peer 2 Peer University, Think Global School

4th session: Learning 2.0

For Class Discussion:
Reminder: Please prepare the following items before class:

  1. Alex Reid’s post on Richard Miller’s MLA Dream (both embedded videos together are under 16 minutes)
  2. From Knowledgable to Knowledge-able: Learning in New Media Environments by Michael Wesch
  3. Minds on Fire: Open Education, the Long Tail, and Learning 2.0 by John Seely Brown and Richard P. Adler
  4. Sugata Mitra: The child-driven education (17 minute TED talk. You can follow along with the interactive text as well—in 5 different languages)

In-Class Activities:

  1. Kiran Bir Sethi teaches kids to take charge TedIndia 2009 (9 minutes)
  2. Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsay’s Flat Classroom Project
  3. TedxRedmond
  4. Kevin Gaugler’s CivWiki: Culturas de España
  5. Jon Pennington’s Spanish Connects Us
  6. Jonathan Bergmann’s and Aaron Sams’ Educational Vodcasting
  7. Enza Antenos Conforti’s and Seth Dickens’ E-Twinning: NJ & Trento project
  8. Dave Cormier’s Very first draft of “how to be successful in a MOOC” (3:13 minutes)
  9. 3 Steps for 21st Century Learning by Jackie Halaw (4 minutes)
  10. Work on class blog

5th session: Presentation Tools

For Class Discussion (to prepare in advance):

  1. Educause’s 7 Things You Should Know About Next-Generation Presentation Tools
  2. Educating the Net Generation: Chapter 7, Convenience, Communications, and Control: How Students Use Technology
  3. Video for ELI: Net Gen Students at University of Minnesota from a 2007 Educause Learning Initiative session. Please watch the 5 minute video.
  4. Examples of Universal Design for Instruction in Online and Blended Courses from the UDI at the University of Connecticut
  5. Garr Reynolds’ Presentation Tips in particular, the three sections, ‘Organization & Preparation Tips’, ‘Delivery Tips’ and ‘Slide Tips’.
  6. Seth’s Blog: Really Bad Powerpoint
  7. Challenging the Presentation Paradigm (in 6 minutes, 40 seconds): Pecha Kucha by Jason B. Jones
  8. Check out Tom Barrett’s Interesting Ways Series using Google Docs. In particular, look at the ‘Interesting Ways’ for Web Conferencing, Wallwisher, Wordle, Prezi and Voicethread.

In-Class Activities (a sampling from among these):

  1. PechaKucha 20×20
  2. Wordle
  3. Flickr Slideshow
  4. Google Docs
  5. Slideshare
  6. Spresent
  7. Zoho Show
  8. Prezi
  9. Glogster
  10. Vuvox
  11. TodaysMeet
  12. Poll Everywhere
  13. SurveyMonkey
  14. Jing
  15. Screencast-0-Matic
  16. CamStudio (Windows only)
  17. Talkshoe
  18. Livestream
  19. Ustream
  20. Voicethread
  21. Brainstorm class projects
  22. Explore course wiki

6th session: Assessment for Learning

For Class Discussion (to prepare in advance):

  1. The test has been canceled: Final exams are quietly vanishing from college by Keith O’Brien
  2. From Degrading to De-Grading by Alfie Kohn
  3. The Testing Straitjacket by Trent Batson
  4. Educause—Technology and Learning: Defining What You Want to Assess by Joni E. Spurlin
  5. A Model for Teaching College Writing, guest blog post by Barbara Vance on David Parry‘s academhack Tech Tools for Academics blog
  6. Ending the Semester, lessons learned (Part 3) by Barbara Sawhill of Language Lab Unleashed
  7. Ending the Semester, lessons learned (Part 4: Assessment) by Barbara Sawhill of Language Lab Unleashed
  8. Evaluación for Hisp 205—El blog central by Barbara Sawhill
  9. VoiceThread as Final Exam by Barbara Sawhill on Language Lab Unleashed

In-Class Activities:

  1. Student Web Portfolios St. Olaf College
  2. UCONN’s eportfolio You’ll need to get an account to view this.
  3. Brainstorm class projects
  4. Explore course wiki

7th session: Mapping Our Worlds

For Class Discussion (to prepare in advance):

  1. Educause’s 7 Things You Should Know About Google Earth
  2. Google for Educators – Maps
  3. Digital Storytelling Part V – Google Maps by Silvia Tolisano

In-Class Activities:

  1. Mapping Our Worlds: Creating Interdisciplinary Lessons Using Online Mapping Tools by Barbara Lindsey
  2. Work on course wiki
  3. Work on class project

8th session: Digital Storytelling

For Class Discussion (to prepare in advance):

  1. Educause’s 7 Things You Should Know About Digital Storytelling
  2. Web 2.0 Storytelling: Emergence of a New Genre by Bryan Alexander and Alan Levine
  3. Open Discussion on Web 2.0 Storytelling by Bryan Alexander and Alan Levin
  4. 50+ Web 2.0 Ways to Tell a Story Wiki by Alan Levine
  5. marco antonio torres. Be sure to check out his digital storytelling link. Some suggestions: Digital students @ analog schools in Los Angeles, CA; The School Community in New York, NY; My son Rio in My Home

In-Class Activities:

  1. Jigsaw puzzle activities on the Disruptive Innovations in Learning wiki. Mandatory: Pecha Kucha (since you’ll be using this as your class project presentation method) and Google Maps. We’ll choose the other tool together.
  2. An addition resource for class project ideas: Educational uses of Flickr. Examples: hoo-koo-e-koo, Geography Girl on Flickr!Choose your own adventure. Create posters, comics and more from your photos with BigHugeLabs. For those interested in an example of an iterative Flickr assignment assessment piece, check out this post by Darren Kuroptawa
  3. Discuss class projects
  4. Work on course wiki

9th session: Finding and Evaluating Information in a Hyperconnected World

For Class Discussion (to prepare in advance)

  1. We’re on information overload by Thomas Washington.
  2. “It’s Not Information Overload. It’s Filter Failure” by Clay Shirky. A little under 24 minutes.
  3. Tips for Handling Information Overload: Too Much Content by Dawn Foster
  4. The Chronicle of Higher Ed: The New Metrics of Scholarly Authority by Michael Jensen for subscribers only. For an earlier and freely available version, see Authority 2.0 and 3.0: The Collision of Authority and Participation in Scholarly Communications by Michael Jensen.
  5. The iPad and Information’s Third Age by William Rankin
  6. “Social Bookmarking and Annotating’” by Bill Ferriter
  7. Case Study: Latin America by Rubi Romero, a student in the Summer 2009 University of Washington course: Beyond the Fail Whale: How Twitter is Changing Organizations, taught by Kathy E. Gill

In-Class Activities:

  1. Netvibes
  2. Page Flakes
  3. Protopage
  4. Google Reader
  5. delicio.us
  6. Diigo
  7. Google Alerts
  8. Zotero
  9. Scopus at UCONN
  10. Twitter
  11. Wordle: using word clouds in a lesson by José Picardo

10th session: Social Annotation

For Class Discussion (to prepare in advance):

  1. Hyperpolitics (American Style) by Mark Pesce (25:39 minutes)
  2. YouTube Annotations
  3. YouTube Launches Auto-Captioning for Videos by Ben Parr
  4. And for another perspective on YouTube’s auto-captioning feature: Sorry, Google, YouTube Captions Aren’t for the Deaf. They’re for Your Robots by Xander Becket
  5. Educause’s 7 Things You Should Know About Social Bookmarking
  6. Educause: Calibrated Peer Review: A Writing and Critical Thinking Instructional Tool
  7. this progress by Dan Visel

In-Class Activities:

  1. The Muppets: Beaker’s Ballad (1:16 minutes)
  2. Test Your Awareness: Do The Test (1:09 minutes)
  3. Flickr
  4. Viddler
  5. Forvo
  6. Wordreference.com
  7. Lingro
  8. Stixy
  9. Using del.icio.us to create an easy, always updated online portfolio by Michele Martin
  10. dotsub
  11. Work on course wiki

11th session: Gaming and Virtual Worlds

For Class Discussion (to prepare in advance):

  1. Free as in Freedom: The Power of Pull – John Seely Brown by Sumeet Moghe
  2. Educating the Net Generation, Chapter 15, Planning for Neomillennial Learning Styles: Implications for Investments in Technology and Faculty (You can choose either the pdf or html version (with diigo highlights) of Chapter 15)
  3. Video Games and the Future of Learning by Kurt Squire
  4. “Living Epic”: What the title means and what it implies by Roger Travis. Be sure to read parts 1-3 (the links appear at the end of posts 1 and 2)
  5. Educause’s 7 Things You Should Know About Virtual Worlds

In-Class Activities:

  1. Discuss class projects
  2. Work on course wiki

12th session: Collaborative Editing

For Class Discussion (to prepare in advance):

  1. Educause’s 7 Things You Should Know About Blogs (required)
  2. The Power of Wikis in Higher Ed by Linda L. Briggs (required)
  3. Reflecting, Writing, and Responding: Reasons Students Blog by Carie (Windham) Page (optional)
  4. See Who’s Editing Wikipedia by John Borland (optional)
  5. Wikipedia and the New Curriculum by David Parry (optional)
  6. Roger Travis’ Video Games and Human Values Initiative wiki (optional)
  7. Tom Barrett’s Interesting Ways series (optional)

In-Class Activities:

  1. Due to the Global Education Conference we will not meet this week but rather, each of us will attend a minimum of two sessions of our choosing from the online conference, blog our reflections on our experiences  and respond to each other’s posts. Please include the session title, presenter names and link back to the session and any additional online content you reference.
  2. Over the Thanksgiving break please continue work on your wiki entries, your classroom project presentation and your blog entries.

13th session: Online Rights and Safety

For Class Discussion (to prepare in advance):

  1. In Defense of Open, Online Communication in Education by Jason Welker (To be read by everyone. The rest we will divide up and then post summaries)
  2. Hitting Pause on Class Videos by Steve Kolowich
  3. Recut, Reframe,Recycle by the Center for Social Media at American University
  4. Educause’s 7 Things You Should Know About Creative Commons
  5. Stalking in English Class by Clarence Fisher
  6. The complete guide to building a digital footprint by David Truss
  7. Digital Footprint PSA by Sarah Edson
  8. The German privacy paradox by Jeff Jarvis. Don’t forget to read the comments.
  9. The Online Amplification Effect by Margaret Soltan
  10. Admissions of Guilt by Terry Calhoun
  11. Google Profiles, Online Reputation Management, and Digital Footprints by Wesley Fryer
  12. Unmasking the Digital Truth, a wiki by Wesley Fryer
  13. Firesheep should get your ATTENTION: Open Public Wifi Dangers are REAL by Wesley Fryer

In-Class Activities:

  1. Digital Dossier by Kanupriya Tewari
  2. Creative Commons
  3. DuckDuckGo
  4. Example of Higher Ed Creative Commons Use: Drew University Writing Program On-line Resources for Writers
  5. Copyright-Friendly and Copyleft Images and Sound (Mostly!) for Use in Media Projects and Web Pages, Blogs, Wikis, etc. by joycevalenza
  6. The Electronic Frontier Foundation
  7. Next Vista for Learning
  8. Best practices for managing your online identity by claimID
  9. Share class projects

14th session (Part One): Virtual, Mobile Connections

For Class Discussion (to prepare in advance):

  1. Educause: From Distraction to Interaction: Incorporating Cell Phones Into the Learning Environment (13 minute audio)
  2. Mobile Learning Environments by David J. Gagnon
  3. Cell Phones in the (Language) Classroom: Recasting the Debate by Peyton Jobe
  4. The Mobile Campus
  5. Social Media in Africa, Part 1
  6. Social Media in Africa, Part 2: Mobile Innovations
  7. Social Media in Africa, Part 3: Democracy. Want to know more about the impact of mobiles in the developing world? Check out this 38 minute presentation by Nathan Eagle of MIT (not required), “Crowd-Sourcing on Mobile Phones in the Developing World“
  8. Travis Allen’s Blog: The Life of a 21st Century Student.
  9. The Official Google Blog: The Future of Mobile by Steve Kolowich
  10. From Toy to Tool: Cell Phones in Learning a blog by Liz Kolb. Please explore her site and be sure to listen to Liz Kolb’s and Jeff Stanzler’s blogtalk radio interview with Florida Spanish teacher, Ariana Leonard. You’ll find the interviews on the right hand side of her blog. You can listen to this interview directly on the site or via iTunes. (35 minutes)
  11. Educating the Net Generation, Chapter 12, Learning Spaces

14 session (Part Two): Personal Learning Networks

For Class Discussion (to prepare in advance):

  1. Educause’s 7 Things You Should Know About Personal Learning Environments
  2. Myths and Opportunities: Technology in the Classroom an Alan November video (13 minutes)
  3. Sharing: The Moral Imperative by Dean Shareski (26 minute video)
  4. My Personal Learning Network in Action by Karl Fisch
  5. Questioning the Future of the Open Student by Vicki Davis
  6. Educause’s 7 Things You Should Know About Facebook
  7. Educause’s 7 Things You Should Know About Facebook II
  8. I’m So Totally, Digitally Close to You by Clive Thompson, NYTimes
  9. Educause’s 7 Things You Should Know About Twitter
  10. How I use Twitter, search, Diigo Delicious, DEVONthink, Scrivener to find, refine, organize information –>knowledge by Howard Rheingold
  11. Why I Still Love Twitter by Isabelle Jones
  12. spectacle at Web2.0 Expo… from my perspective by danah boyd

In-Class Activities:

  1. Share class projects
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