Unit 1 - Educational Technology Foundations

Welcome to our class! Our focus this semester will be on the development of activities and tools to support learning goals for K-16 students. On this page, you'll find everything you need to complete the first few tasks for the semester. Information will be in text and video format. Please make sure to watch all videos and read all text before attempting each task. If you normally skim long passages of text (I'm always guilty of this), this is not the semester to do that. Should you have questions along the way simply email me at zheying.zhu25@uga.edu.

Two tips that will help you:

• Make a checklist of everything that needs to be completed before you get started. 

• You have 2 weeks to complete all of these tasks. There are readings, several videos to watch, and a bit of writing. If you wait until the last minute - all the tasks run together and get pretty complicated.

This module lays the foundation for developing instructional activities that are directly applicable in real classroom settings. The concepts and tools introduced here will support your ability to create meaningful, student-centered learning experiences that align with real-world educational goals.

Before we jump into the main course content, I want you to take a few minutes to think about something important—how this course might be useful to you personally, academically, or professionally. 

This reflection is not about how much you know right now. It is about what you think this course might offer you, based on what you know so far. It is a way to set your own purpose for being here and to start thinking about how what we do in this class might help you in the real world. Here is the link to this activity: https://uga.questionpro.com/t/AcYvNZ6v4p.

Attention: If you signed the research consent form, your answers may also help us better understand how students think about course relevance in online learning. If you choose not to participate in the research, no problem. Your answers still count for the course, and you will receive full credit.

You'll need a space to organize all of your work. We're going to use Google Sites to create a portfolio for you to keep all of your work. This is also how I will access all of your work in order to grade it. 

**Important note - you can't edit a Google Site unless you are using Google Chrome or Firefox as your browser. But honestly, if you're not using one of these two browsers already - it's time for an upgrade (your life will be better for it, I promise). If you do try to create/edit a site using Safari or Explorer, you'll be sent to the "classic" version of Google Sites and none of my instructions will make any sense.

You likely already have a Google account. If not - please go to google.com and set one up (you'll need it for several things this semester). Once you're set up with a Google account, go to http://sites.google.com/new to create your site. 

**Important note - if you like to tinker with technology to figure it out, the instructions that follow should be sufficient for you to complete this task. If you would like a tutorial, you can click here for an excellent overview on how to get started with Google Sites (then follow the instructions below).

1. Name your site in the top left corner.

2. Once you've named your site, create 5 pages: About, Facilitate, Collaborate, Create, and Design Project.

3. Most of your pages will be blank for the time being. On your About page, include a photo of yourself and a brief biography that's about 2-3 paragraphs long. Click here to see an example of what this might look like. 

4. Click the Publish button when you are finished. Google Sites will save all of your work - but it won't be viewable publicly until you click the Publish button. If you'd like to see your website as others will see it, click the small arrow on the right side of the Publish button and choose View Published site. This will allow you to see what your actual website address is, too.

5. Post your contact information, including your new portfolio address, to this form.​ Please note - your portfolio address will be similar to: https://sites.google.com/view/whateveryounamedyoursite

**Before you start on this task, you'll need to follow the instructions for purchasing access to our textbook (which is an online resource site). You can find those instructions on our Syllabus. If you have any issues accessing the text once you’ve purchased it, please contact me for assistance. You aren't using it yet - but I want to make sure you can access it before we start the next unit (when you will definitely start using it).

It is always difficult to strike a balance between understanding technology tools and understanding the role of those tools in teaching and learning. In order to ensure a balance and to establish a good foundation in educational technology, you really need to start with a few quick reads. The list looks long, but many of these are short reads. And make sure to complete the reading response form linked below when you finish all the readings.

Reading 1: Howland, J., & Jonassen, D. (2012). Meaningful learning with technology (4th ed.). Boston: Pearson. You're just reading the first chapter. It's an excellent overview of the role technology can play in creating meaningful learning experiences in K12 classrooms and other learning environments. This reading will be a great resource for every single writing assignment you have for this course. As an educator, parent, and lifelong learner - this quote from the chapter is incredibly meaningful to me and I try to use it as a guide in all of the courses I teach:

In order for students to learn meaningfully, they must be willfully engaged in a meaningful task. In order for meaningful learning to occur, the task that students pursue should engage active, constructive, intentional, authentic, and cooperative activities. Rather than testing inert knowledge, schools should help students to learn how to recognize and solve problems, comprehend new phenomena, construct mental models of those phenomena, and, given a new situation, set goals and regulate their own learning (learn how to learn).

Reading 2: Rose, D. H., & Gravel, J. W. (2010). Universal design for learning. In P. Peterson, E. Baker & B. McGraw (Eds.), International encyclopedia of education (pp. 48-56). Oxford: Elsevier. You just need to read Chapter 4: Universal Design for Learning. This goes into fantastic detail about what Universal Design for Learning really means. 

**You will have to create a free account to read the chapter - but the web version has some nice accessibility features that might be useful to you. I particularly like the option to have any text that you highlight read to you. You're basically just reading all of chapter 4 - and there are videos included that you are not required to view but might help to explain UDL a bit better. To access the reading - use the link provided above and then follow these instructions (rather than create a new account, you can just log in with your Google account, if you prefer:

1. Create a teacher or parent account (student accounts cannot access the book)

2. Go to the resources page

3. Scroll all the way down to the bottom of the resources page and click on the book

**Here's a quick video (with audio) if you're having trouble finding the book.

Reading 3: International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Standards for Students. This is the set of standards I use for this course. You'll use these standards to make connections among the many tasks you'll complete this semester. This is a good one to print out for later. You can read more about ISTE here.

Reading Response: Once you've completed the four readings, take a few minutes to answer these questions.