EDUC639: Course description
This course has two main components: a) overview and critical evaluation of theoretical approaches to designing learning environments and b) practical considerations and design of technology-assisted curricula. The first part of the course will provide an in-depth evaluation of prominent approaches to instructional design. Special emphasis will be given to considerations of how learning environments can be designed such that they cater for individual learning and teaching styles while not losing sight of the learning goals. The use of technology will also be critically evaluated. Educational technologies offer unprecedented possibilities in enhancing and even revolutionizing learning curricula. However, the use of technology in education, still at its infancy, has largely ignored the challenges it poses to teachers and learners. The second part of the course will address issues of effectively integrating technologies in the design of learning environments taking into consideration both pedagogical and practical constraints. Students will design a learning environment in a domain (reading and writing, science, math, foreign language teaching, distance learning etc.), audience and learning goal of their choice. Lab sessions will be offered to give students the opportunity to become skillful users of modern technologies.