Pedagogical+Considerations


 * Further Considerations and Guidance on the Pedagogical Design and Development of Materials**

Preamble:
 * The emphasis on this assignment is a group exploration of the concepts of learning, digital technology, and teaching and as such, there are no prescriptive measures, formulas, or "right answers", but rather, points to consider and articulate as the assignment unfolds.** Questions found in the Module B overview, the lesson activities in Modules B and C, and the suggested steps below will provide you with additional guidance. In addition, at the end of every lesson in Modules B and C, assignment targets are posted to help scaffold the creation of a well-thought out assignment.


 * Identify a problem or an area of exploration.** Identify a salient issue, a problem, a new perspective, or a challenging topic in science and math education. What about this issue provokes you to examine or explore it for this assignment? Ground the identified problem in an authentic context and/or in contemporary discourse. Module A auto-e-ography, video cases, interview @ home, research on contemporary scholarship in educational technology and your Framing Issues Assignment may provide sources of insight here. Allow yourself to consider and articulate multiple ways to achieve these goals (both requiring digital technology and not requiring digital technology).


 * Design a learning experience.**What is your rationale for the design of a particular technology-enhanced learning experience? What are the goals for this experience? What will the experience look, sound, and feel like? How will it address the problem or area of exploration and promote learning? What is the learning theory that will inform the design of this experience? Key to consider in the creation of a proposal is the learning theory that support the design of the experience, principles of design that will inform the creation of the space or materials, the context of the environment, activity structures and the roles of the persons and artifacts in the environment, what the participants in the environment bring to the experience, and the choice of digital technology to represent or support the learning environment.

Several of these considerations are further elaborated below with additional guiding questions and a hypothetical example of a group that wished to design a learning experience on force and motion. In this example, a group decides that designing the learning experience will entail the creation of a lesson on force and motion that integrates the use of a simulation and the design of the classroom space.
 * Develop materials . ** The development of materials is a practical instantiation of the pedagogical design. As mentioned, this may mean the development of a lesson plan, a tagged information space, a content management system, an architectural blueprint, a video, or a story board. The materials should show coherence with the pedagogical design.


 * Identify a problem.** Student difficulties with force and motion concepts are revealed in contemporary studies on student achievement in physics.
 * Design a learning experience.** A classroom group chooses to design a lesson that fosters conceptual understanding of force and motion. A member of the group suggests that students learn science best when they move. As they learn more about the intricate ways the body is connected with the mind and what it means "to know,” the classroom group seeks to make a connection between the problem they perceive and a theory of learning called embodied learning (see Module C, lesson 3, "embodied learning theories”). The theory leads the group to believe that students need room to move in class while they do force and motion hands-on activities and activities with a computer simulation on Force and Motion (see Module B, lesson 1). In this case, space configures prominently in pedagogy. Relevant questions about the design of space that are brought up during group discussions and brainstorms include:


 * Is there an arrangement of computer stations that will facilitate movement in the class?
 * What should the orientation of student desks be in order to facilitate movement?

In order to fully articulate their point, the group draws upon an interview they conducted with a physics teacher in Module A, a Framing Issues assignment of one of their member’s on learning and digital technology, literature on theories of learning, embodiment, embeddedness, computer models, examples of information visualization from Module C, and examples of learning space design the group has searched for and gathered.

To envision the classroom space, the group brainstorms and asks themselves the following questions, "What does the technology-enhanced or technology space look like? How are objects, artifacts, people situated in the space?” (Thick description, diagrams, and models can be employed to recreate the space so that another person may experience what it is like to move or navigate throughout the proposed space).In this example, the group decides to recreate a technology-enhanced space and change the current arrangement of desks, benches and computers. They find that the benches are not moveable but the desks and computers can be changed. A new spatial structure is redrawn from an aerial view using an innovative lab draw program at [|www.labplan.org]. In order to fully articulate the features of the spatial structure, a legend is created on the drawing that points to each feature and then each feature is fully discussed in print text by the group. The group emphasizes how the new arrangement of computers and desks allows students to move more freely than before, and that this is an important aspect of learning force and motion based on embodied theories of learning.
 * Develop materials.** After writing up their pedagogical design, the group decides to develop an instructional sequence for a learning force and motion lesson. In addition, they recreate a new technology-enhanced space in a school building to show how physical objects such as the desks are re-positioned based on a force and motion instructional sequence. The space changes as students are asked to do different tasks in the instructional sequence. In order to fully articulate the dynamic nature of space and learning, an emphasis is placed on lesson activities that are the foundation of the instructional sequence and ample detail is provided so that it is apparent that changing instructional goals motivate changes in space.
 * Environment . ** What does the technology-enhanced or technology space look like? How are objects, artifacts, people situated in the space? Thick description, diagrams, and models are employed to recreate the space so that another person may experience what it is like to move or navigate throughout the proposed space.

//Learning Force and Motion example.// For example, the group decides to recreate a technology-enhanced space and change the current arrangement of desks, benches and computers. They find that the benches are not moveable but the desks and computers can be changed. A new spatial structure is redrawn from an aerial view using an innovative lab draw program at [|www.labplan.org]. In order to fully articulate the features of the spatial structure, a legend is created on the drawing that points to each feature and then each feature is fully discussed in print text by the group. The group emphasizes how the new arrangement of computers and desks allows students to move more freely than before, and that this is an important aspect of learning force and motion based on embodied theories of learning.


 * Contextual Nature of Learning and Teaching.** Both technology spaces and technology-enhanced spaces are highly contextualized in the sense that they are bound by classroom practices, curricula, structure, and personal meaning. As such, the contextual nature of the space may have implications for teacher behaviour and student learning. The context of the space is described, and the identities of the members within the space, the roles that the objects, artifacts and users are articulated.

//Learning Force and Motion example.// For example, the group would like students in the technology–enhanced space to learn major concepts associated with force and motion. On our class' tagged information space, they find a simulation that allows students to manipulate forces on objects. This simulation can be integrated well into the lesson they have designed. The roles of the teacher, student, the simulation, and classroom artifacts are described as if the lesson were occurring.

> Use specific language rather than ambiguous descriptors and terms (such as: "traditional" classrooms or teacher "facilitator"). These terms often need further elaboration.
 * Guideposts**
 * 1) Print text
 * For this assignment, your design can be conveyed with multiple forms of media and technology (eg. Text, images, AV, installations, models, diagrams, layouts, plones, moodles, e-portfolios, web pages etc.). But because each assignment must be accompanied with some reference to the literature and an explanation using print text, here is a general guideline for how much print text should be included in this assignment. Remember, guidelines for print text are not inclusive of any images, diagrams, models, screenshots, appendices, or bibliographies included.
 * Print text: 5000-7000 words
 * 1) Sequence and Formatting Requirements
 * Title page
 * Should list all group members with the name of the contact person for the group listed first (this is the person who will e-mail the assignment and receive feedback for the group from the instructor).
 * Table of Contents
 * Include page numbers
 * Body of the Assignment (see Assessment Rubric for headers)
 * Use 1.5-double spaced line spacing
 * Artefact
 * Submit Electronically with the assignment or provide URL where the artefact is located
 * Bibliography
 * For this assignment, literature from the course readings and resources from our resource folders should be cited in the bibliography.
 * Use APA Format for bibliographic citations.
 * References beyond the course reading list are required.
 * 1) Assignment - Watch