Technology and Education During & Post-COVID

"Learning is a remarkably social process. Social groups provide the resources for their members to learn." John Seely Brown & Paul Duguid, The Social Life of Information.

The course will initially be delivered in an online format and was designed to help contextualize the place of technology in education during the COVID and post COVID challenges.

It is designed to:

  • help students, teachers, professors, administrators, and instructional designers develop their knowledge of blended (bimodal or hybrid) teaching through a variety of sources (research-based) and a carefully designed sequence of learning activities.

        • key aspects of face to face and remote teaching

        • definitions & design (SAM)

        • applications and their future

        • use ACE framework as a guide to help design our teaching units. (example: "Slipper camp" presentation resources)

        • Social media, blogs, wikis, learning management systems, etc.

        • Web 2.0 technologies: Flip Grid, Zoom, Perusall, Padlet, Pear Deck, Adobe Spark, etc.

  • it is a practical, hands-on course that is grounded in constructivist learning theory.

  • emerging technologies have the power to sustain, transform, and disrupt education. Students will work with and explore the technologies that may have an mpact on teaching, learning and creative expression.

  • assignments will be customized depending on the student's areas of interest. Students will build a personal learning network (PLN) by using Twitter and blog post reflections on themselves as learners, students, and teachers. The tools will be used to reflect on:

    • systems thinking (cybernetics)

    • the 'big' ideas: in education and life:)

    • thinking about the 'thinking' (metacognition)

The course promotes and is designed using parameters of the Open and Social Learning movement (open source software, social cognitive theory, social constructivism, connectivism, open teaching, etc. etc.)

Most important of all ---> the course while challenging will be fun, practical, and rewarding :)

Hope you join me on this great adventure. You don't need to be a 'techie' to benefit from the course :) Actually non-techies welcome!

Sam Bruzzese

Twitter: @sam_bruzzese Email: sam.bruzzese@mcgill.ca

If you have any questions please contact me via email or on Twitter @sam_bruzzese

The course is a special topics course offered this spring by the Department of Integrated Studies in Education in the Education Faculty at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec.

Advance Organizer (the course will be divided into three parts):


Part 1: Concepts / Setting the Stage: The 'big' ideas (the 'good', the 'bad', and the 'ugly' in technology and education)

Detailed syllabus with readings and requirements posted weekly on myCourses.

Week 1: May 3rd & 5th

  • Welcome & Course Overview:

    • Class 1 & 2

      • *What Makes Good Teaching? Another brick in the wall!

      • What do we mean by Education and Technology? (S1)

      • The Progressive Teacher's Role in the Classroom by Alife Kohn (posted May 3, 2021)

      • Tech Lab: FlipGrid, Mighty Network, Twitter, Perusall, myCourses

Part 2: Instructional Design Strategies (classes 5 to 11)--> the applications, the 'scaffolding' --> specific exercises & in-class activities


Week 2: May 10th & 12th

  • Class 3

    • *Designing for Open and Social Learning by Alec Couros & Katie Hildebrandt ~ article found in chapter 9 (skim but read by class 7 (May 26th)

    • Does Technology Inevitably Change Education?(S2)

    • ?

    • Tech Lab: Seesaw

  • Class 4

    • * What Can History Tell Us About Education and Technology(S3) OR (Fishman & Dede book excerpt) TBD

    • ?

    • Tech Lab: Adobe Spark; Google Sites or Wix


Week 3: May 17th & 19th

  • Class 5

    • Does Technology Improve Learning? (S4)

    • Transition to part 2 of the course --> Sam --> M1, M2, M3

    • Tech Lab: Pear Deck & Book Creator

  • Class 6****

    • Does Technology Make Education Fairer? (S5)

    • Technologies to Support Meaningful Learning (M4)---> Sam

      • the students work on class presentations on instructional strategies in small groups (2 hours) ~ units should include bimodal design

    • Tech Lab: n/a students work on presentations


Week 4: Wednesday, May 26th; no class on Monday ~ holiday

  • Class 7

    • Will Technology Displace the Teacher? (S6)

    • Supportive Instructional Strategies (M5):

      • scafolding, modeling & explaining, coaching & mentoring

        • Presentation 1: Technologies to support online learning (M4) ---> May 26

      • Tech Lab: n/a since there are two student presentations


Week 5: May 31st & June 2nd

  • Class 8 & 9

    • Dialogic Instructional Strategies (M6):

      • articulation, collaboration & social negotiation, reflection

        • Presentation 2: Supportive Instructional Strategies (M5)---> May 31

        • Presentation 3: Dialogic Instructional Strategies (M6) TBD ---> June 2

      • Tech Lab: Class -> 8 Padlet Class 9 -> students pick 1 tool to explore from Dr. Trust's site


Week 6: June 7th & 9th

  • Class 10 & 11

    • Exploratory Strategies (M7):

      • problem-solving, hypothesis testing, exploration & creation, role playing

        • Presentation 4: Exploratory Instructional Strategies (M7) ---> June 7

        • Presentation 5: Assessing Meaningful Online Learning (M8) ---> June 9

      • Tech Lab: Class 10 Socrative Class 11 -> students pick 1 tool to explore from Dr. Trust's site


Part 3: Putting It All Together (classes 12 and 13) -- > 'synthesis'

Week 7: June 14th and 16th

  • Class 12

      • Will Technology Displace the School? (S7)

      • Assessing Meaningful Learning in Bimodal Settings (M8)

    • Tech Lab: we may start the final project showcase (depending on the number of projects) or student may choose to share the tool they've discovered from Dr. Trust's site

  • Class 13

      • Education and Technology: Looking to the Future (S8)

    • STUDENT SHOWCASE CELEBRATION: Sharing of units designed by students -- brings together everything learned in the course. Details to follow...

**** For the student presentation topics in classes 6 to 10/11 we will be using a 'flipped' classroom model. We will explore/play with designing meaningful learning environments via peer teaching student presentations ( 20 %). Full details will be provided on myCourses. The class will build their presentations on the following:

  • Supportive Strategies

  • Dialogic Strategies

  • Exploratory Strategies

The presentation will focus on using these strategies in a face to face, online, or blended learning environment.

"Well-planned online learning experiences are meaningfully different from courses offered online in response to a crisis or disaster. Colleges and universities working to maintain instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic should understand those differences when evaluating this emergency remote teaching."

As we move towards enhanced remote teaching this is a great article to read.

"The open movement is an informal, worldwide phenomenon characterized by the tendency of individuals and groups to work, collaborate and publish in ways that favour accessibility, sharing, transparency and interoperability. Advocates of openness value the democratization of knowledge construction and dissemination, and are critical of knowledge controlling structures."

(Couros, 2006, p. 161)