A major CILT initiative involved designing, offering, and moderating a series of netcourses—online short courses for researchers and educators. Five netcourses were constructed to disseminate knowledge and build community around each of the CILT themes. The netcourses each lasted six weeks and four of the five netcourses were offered twice. Enrollment in the netcourses ranged from five to twenty-five participants for each of the offerings and the participants represented a range of individuals from teachers to school administrative professionals to higher education professors. A brief description of the netcourses follows:
Community Tools Theme
Jim Gray
jim.gray@sri.com
This netcourse explored how technology use and socio-cultural context shape student thinking and learning. Individual, social, cultural, and technology/media factors were considered in specific examples of technology use. Examples were drawn from relevant research, commercially available learning tools, and students' experiences with a focus on Internet technologies and other interactive media. Class discussions and student projects were focused on implications for the design and use of technologies for learning.
SyllabusCommunity Tools Theme
Nathan Bos
University of Michigan
Serp@umich.edu
This netcourse explored how groups of people separated by time and distance may work together. This problem is of current concern to many people, from managers of newly merged multi-national corporations to distance-education teachers who want to support project-based learning. Knowing how to select the right tools and the right social practices can provide a basis for effective group work at a distance. Participants reviewed some of the latest tools for group work, learning what these tools do and how to use them well. Key challenges addressed included building trust at a distance and maintaining engagement at a distance.
SyllabusVisualization and Modeling Theme
Yael Kali, Technion
yaelkal@yahoo.com
This netcourse explored spatial visualization—the ability to create and manipulate mental images of three-dimensional entities (e.g., molecular structures, biological bodies, engineering objects)—and how technological tools can be used to facilitate students' developing spatial skills. Participants collaborated to critique studies about spatial visualization, to review software designed to assist students' spatial visualization, and to conduct mini-research about students' spatial visualization difficulties.
SyllabusAssessments for Learning Theme
Jason Ravitz
Jason@bie.org
This netcourse focused on the range of possible uses of technology to support ongoing and formative assessment of learning in the classroom. With the wide variety of technology innovation taking place in schools, assessment remains one of the outstanding challenges teachers face. A team of instructors discussed how embedded ongoing assessments can support the teaching and learning process and improve learning outcomes by providing valuable feedback to teachers and students. Participants accessed projects that demonstrated the power of technology to support teaching and learning.
SyllabusUbiquitous Computing Theme
Michele Spitulnik, University of CA, Berkeley
MicheleSpitulnik@aol.com
This netcourse focused on supporting inquiry in the classroom context and strategies that can be used to support effective inquiry-based learning environments. Strategies discussed included: setting explicit expectations for students, modeling desired behaviors, providing feedback, and using questioning techniques. Example inquiry-based projects were used to elaborate ideas and demonstrate key issues. Participants collaborated to create elements of an inquiry-based project.
Syllabus