603 - Iowa State University

CI 603: Advanced Learning Environments Design

Spring 2013

SYLLABUS “…a crucial part of implementation is the art of engagement, the ways to bring people together to create and plan how to make something work.” - Peter Block

COURSE INFORMATION Instructor Telephone Mail Address

Dr. Ana-Paula Correia 515-294-9376 N165 B Lagomarcino Hall School of Education Iowa State University Ames, IA 50011-3192

Email Address Website Skype ID

[email protected] anapaulacorreia.com meiraferreira

Office Hours

By appointment face-to-face or via Skype. Use email and/or telephone if you need immediate assistance.

Textbooks

Required: • Block, P. (2011). Flawless Consulting: A Guide to Getting your Expertise Used (3rd ed.). San Francisco: Pfeiffer. Recommended: • Morrison, G., Ross, S. & Kemp, J. (2011). Designing Effective Instruction (6th ed.). New York: John Wiley and Sons.

Readings

Besides the textbook, discussions are also based on: (1) on articles, (2) materials available on the Internet, and (3) analysis of artifacts provided by the instructor.

Course Accommodations

If you have a documented disability that requires assistance, you will need to go to the Disability Resource (DR) office for coordination of your academic accommodations. The DR is located in the Student Services Building, Room 1076. Their phone number is 515-294-7220, TTY 515294-6635 and email address is [email protected]

COURSE PHILOSOPHY AND APPROACH This course has two major objectives: (1) to teach you theory and practice of educational technology; (2) to provide you with the basic tools and techniques to start your practice as instructional consultant and become an entrepreneur. In this course, you will engage Created by Ana-Paula Correia

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in real-world projects. Local clients in community-based organizations, local companies and organizations were identified. The whole class, including you, fellow class members and instructor, will operate as a small, multi-team instructional consulting company which produces professional-level service free of charge. As such, realistic business elements (e.g., contracting, project management principles, consulting relationship) are embedded in the course, and (3) to educate civic-minded professionals in educational technology. The term “civic-minded professional” is used to describe a professional who had the public interest at the forefront of their professional work and a sense of civic responsibility to conduct their work to advance the social good (Dewey1, 1927). Working in real-world situations

The focus of this course is on the production and use of educational technology for learning and teaching and on developing and maintaining a consulting relationship. It is my belief that people learn better when they are actively engaged in learning tasks that are directly related to their needs and/or interests. Most of the learning in this course occurs within the context of real-world projects.

Working as a team member

In schools, government, higher education and corporate organizations and regardless of whether you work inside an organization as an independent consultant collaborative work is the norm. A substantial and important part of this course is dedicated to helping you learn about tools and skills related to working effectively in teams. Additionally, you will learn how to foster and maintain a successful consulting relationship with your clients. If you already have an extensive experience in teamwork and/or consulting, you should serve as an example and resource to your fellow class members.

Reflecting on professional growth as a consultant

Reflection adds value to any course. Therefore, you will be keeping a “Consulting Notebook” as part of your individual assignments (see Assignments for more details). To get the benefit of keeping this notebook, and to establish the professional habits of an instructional designer and consultant, you should be adding to this notebook on a continuous basis.

Creating opportunities for entrepreneurial experiences

Lecture and hands-on activities on entrepreneurship by inviting guest speakers with entrepreneurship, product development and consulting experience will also be offered.

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Dewey, J. (1927). The public and its problems. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press.

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COURSE EXPECTATIONS − Work with a client to accomplish a project goal(s) − Complete the projects in the timeline agreed

− Document the design and consulting process in the “Consulting Notebook”

− Reflect on your consulting process in class and in your documentation

− Be formal with the client: • Research on the client/organization • Create and sign a client contract (or memo of understanding) • Keep a steady stream of notes, emails, minutes of meetings, etc. • Schedule meetings ahead of time • Keep the client informed all the time (e.g., through periodical reports; agree on the first meeting on the best way to communicate) • Renegotiate any arrangement, if necessary • Be respectful − Participate in the class discussions and activities

− Be part of the consultation process regarding your fellow classmates’ projects. − Take the class seriously, pushing yourself to a level of professional practice you have not achieve in the past PROJECTS Educational Consulting Client Project (team) Project description: You will work with 2 or 3 other students from this class on an eductaional problem with a real-world client/ organization. Each team will work with a different client. Deliverables:

− Client contract (or memo of understanding)

− Communication and procedural documentation − Progress reports

− Final report (background of the organization, problem statement, methodology and analysis, findings/results and recommendations) Created by Ana-Paula Correia

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− Educational materials/ design product

− 30 to 40 minutes client presentation (see Course Schedule for dates). Consulting Notebook (individual) Project description: Throughout the semester you will keep a Consulting Notebook. You should purchase a sturdy, bound notebook for this purpose right away. Be sure to identify your notebook with your name, contact information, and the notation: "If found, please return to..." This notebook will serve several functions (shown below), and will be the vehicle for most of the individual grade you receive in this course. The design notebook will be a continuous record of your thinking, studying, and learning in the course as well as a repository for new ideas, observations, and examples of instructional techniques that you collect. I will consider your notebook to be confidential. When you turn them in for review I will handle them carefully and keep them out of the public eye. If there are great examples of reflection, collection or recording in some of your notebooks, we I ask permission at the end of the semester to capture some pages of those notebooks for sharing with future classes but I will not do so without your permission. Keep in the notebook ... spontaneous reflections

For the purpose of ...

individual team reflections

• demonstrating your thought process in independent learning • stepping outside the team experience to consolidate learning about yourself and team dynamics • demonstrating your own efforts to examine the performance of your team, and of yourself as a member of the team

examples of instructional consulting, materials Created by Ana-Paula Correia

• connecting your current learning and experiences to existing knowledge • examining your own assumptions in the light of new experience and insight • integrating learning over time into a coherent understanding of the field, its major constructs and your own perspective

• building a collection of resource materials for your own continued use • establishing the habit of surveying your 4

and techniques, as well environment for insights and information as observations on you can use professionally consulting situations • engaging in continuous self-instruction through observation and analysis • demonstrating a developing habit of mind that values your own responsibility to recognize and capture resource materials

reading and discussion notes

• capturing and saving the ideas generated through reading and discussion • demonstrating your efforts to master and apply the conceptual material in the course • describe your efforts on becoming and entrepreneur in educational technology

Deliverables: To get the benefit of keeping this notebook, and to establish the professional habits of a designer, you should be adding to this notebook on a continuous basis. To encourage this habit, I will collect notebooks three times in the semester and keep them for a two-day review (see Course Schedule for dates). This way I can track the consistency with which you are using the notebook. I encourage you strongly to establish a couple habits with regard to keeping your Notebook at the beginning of the semester: • date the entries so that you know what happened when in reviewing the notebook • note the type of entry for each item you record or paste into the notebook -- you can do this with a simple label ("reflection," "meeting notes," and so on), for example with any notation system you come up with such notations help you navigate the notebook when you are looking through it and certainly helps me identify the types of material you have included • paste things into your notebook and use it for messy thinking tasks (sketches of layouts for your print materials, lists of contacts for your usability tests, scribbled diagram of the directions to the client office) as well as for neatly written entries But -- what if I am a person who does everything on my laptop? I can hardly read my own handwriting anymore because I always type! If this sounds like you, then: 1. Get yourself a big glue stick and a good pair of scissors. Print out those notes and stick them in your notebook. (Also, give some serious thought to whether you have limited your own thinking by limiting the media you are able to use for supporting it!)


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Reflective Final Paper (individual) Reflection is an important component of learning, especially when you are engaged in hands-on projects. Additionally, an objective review of your own performance and that of your peers is a critical skill in team-based professional work. After completing the instructional consulting project, you will be asked for a detailed reflection covering the overall course experience. Guidelines on Reflective Final Paper Your reflective paper documents and analyzes your learning experiences in this course AND your engagement in the projects with your respective clients. The reflective paper should be analytical and critical in approach. Your paper should include, but not limited to, the following: • a brief summary of your educational consulting project; • some discussion of your insights about the project you were involved in; • how did your project impact your perceptions on your role and development as instructional designer AND independent consultant; • discussion on how did the involvement in the project helped you learn the course content, broadened your understanding of the field, enhance your practice as educator/ instructional designer, etc.; • any other insights you would like to share with. You are welcome to share some stories about your experience in this course and/or projects to better present your arguments. It is strongly recommended to relate the readings and/or class discussions with your experiences and reflection. Deadline: (see Course Schedule for date) Deliverable: Your reflective paper should be approximately 4-6 pages long (double space) and should be submitted to the instructor by email. Your reflective paper will be graded for clarity, depth of insight and logical relationship of the insight to your professional and/or personal context.


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Participation in Class Discussions and Activities (individual) The weekly classes are opportunities for discussions on the readings, asking questions, and dealing with any issues on the course. Course attendance is required, except when teams work exclusively on their projects (some instructional time will be available for project work, see Course Schedule for dates). Please be punctual and inform the instructor of any circumstances that will prevent you to attend class on time. It is an expectation of your participation in this class that you will participate on the client presentation (as presenter or participant) (see Course Schedule for dates). Grading

Deliverable Educational Consulting Client Project Consulting Notebook Reflective Final Paper Participation on Class Discussions TOTAL

Grade Equivalents for Grade Points 200-188 A 169-164 187-182 A- 163-158 181-176 B+ 157-152 175-170 B 151-146 Academic Dishonesty

BC+ C C-

Grade Points 120 25 20 35 200

145-140 139-136 135-132 Below 131

D+ D DF

This course will follow the policies on academic dishonesty as adopted by the university. Academic dishonesty includes submitting as one’s own work prepared by others, assisting another student in academic dishonesty, and plagiarism among other behaviors specified in the university policy. Plagiarism is the “unacknowledged use of the information, ideas, or phrasing of other writers is an offense comparable with theft and fraud, and it is so recognized by the copyright and patent laws.” (2009-2011 Iowa State University Catalog). You are expected to turn in original work (your own or that of your team) for every part of every deliverable in this course. Please add the full reference of any sources (text, image or audio) if any. Any instances of academic dishonesty will be handled in the manner prescribed in the University policy on academic dishonesty, which is available at http://www.public.iastate.edu/~catalog/20092011/geninfo/dishonesty.html. You are responsible for being familiar with this policy.


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