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Syllabus

Course Meeting Times

Lectures: 1 session / week, 3 hours / session

Now that the Internet bubble has burst, what's next? With the dust starting to settle, some issues are coming to the forefront that will potentially define over a long term the use of information and educational technology by different sectors of the population.

  • Access - Will the networked society be inclusive, or is there a danger that certain sectors of the population will be left out?
  • Learning - What are the media forms that will mediate learning, and what are the key pedagogial considerations?
  • Sustaining models - What are the strategies by which we will sustain creation and use of media forms for learning?

We will study these issues through lectures and demonstrations, readings and class discussions, student reports, and a final project. Guest speakers include the following:

  • John Belcher - Professor of Physics and head of Studio Physics Project/Technology Enabled Active Learning Project at MIT.
  • Nolan Bowie - Kennedy School of Government, Senior Fellow and Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy
  • Anne Margulies - Executive Director, MIT OpenCourseWare
  • Brenda Matthis - Expert on unintended biases in software design, Lesley College
  • Lisa Neal - Editor-In-Chief, eLearn Magazine

Readings

Available at the COOP
Digital Divide, Pippa Norris

Many other readings assigned in the syllabus (websites) and in class

Course Grade

ACTIVITIES PERCENTAGES
Class participation 35%
Mid-term project - critical analysis of work/works related to digital divide (list to be given in class) 45%
Final project - a project, in any medium, on a topic related to the issues covered 20%


 

Attendance

Because this is a once-a-week class, you are expected to attend every session. Attendance is a part of class participation. If you find that you cannot attend a class, do your best to inform the instructor ahead of time with the reason for the absence.

Schedule

Session 1:
Organization of the course:
Media (access, forms of media)
Education (learning strategies)
Market Place (sustaining models)

Session 2: Personal Media - StarFestival
Assignments:
1. Look at the StarFestival Introduction
2. View the Miyagawa lecture in the Web site.
3. Study the StarFestival CD-ROM
4. Read the selection passed out in class
5. Begin reading Digial Divide

Session 3: Issues of Digital Divide
Assignment:
1. Digital Divide

Session 4:
Guest Speaker: Nolan Bowie
Assignment: to be passed out in class

Session 5: Being inclusive
Guest Speaker: Brenda Matthis
Assignment: to be passed out in class

Session 6:
Mid-term presentations on issues of access

Session 7:
Mid-term presentations on issues of access (Mid-term project due)

Session 8:
Trials and tribulations of multimedia learning environments
Guest Speaker: John Belcher
Assignments:
1. Field Line Motion in Classical Electromagnetism

Session 9: A New Model for e-Learning: MIT's OpenCourseWare
Guest Speaker: Anne Margulies, Executive Director, OCW
Assginment: reading to be given out in class

Session 10:
Guest Speaker: Lisa Neal, Editor-in-Chief, eLearn Magazine
Assignment: TBA

Session 11: TBA

Session12: Final Project Presentations

Session 13: Final Project Presentations (Final project due)