Technologies for Creative Learning

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Technologies for Creative Learning posted by member7_php on 2/19/2009

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Abstract/Syllabus

Courseware/Lectures

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Technologies for Creative Learning

Fall 2004

Workshop participant creates a new learning device. (Image courtesy of Prof. Mitchel Resnick.)

Course Highlights

This course features a complete set of readings from the class, including links to online readings, and the assignments from the class.

Course Description

This course explores how new technologies can help people learn new things in new ways. It analyzes principles and strategies underlying the design of innovative educational technologies and creative learning environments, drawing on specific case studies such as the LEGO Programmable Brick and Computer Clubhouse after-school learning centers. The course will include hands-on activities, analyses of learning experiences, and design of new tools and activities.

*Some translations represent previous versions of courses.

Syllabus

Summary

Assignments

Weekly Write-ups

As you do the readings each week, choose an issue/topic in the readings that you find particularly interesting, surprising, or provocative. Write a few paragraphs about it, including why you found it so interesting, surprising, or provocative (e.g., did it resonate with a personal experience of yours?).

Final Projects and Design Briefs

For the final project, your assignment is to design a new tool and/or new activities that support and encourage creative learning experiences -- and to write a "design brief" discussing the motivations, rationale, and principles underlying your design.

You are welcome (in fact, encouraged) to work in groups. If possible, you should test your tool/activities with sample users.

Calendar

Table of Calendar
LEC #	TOPICS
1	Introduction and Overview
2	Learning from One Another
3	Constructionist Learning
4	Learning Styles
5	Toys to Think With
6	Technological Fluency
7	Beyond the Centralized Mindset
8	Designing for Designers
9	Learning in Communities
10	Communities of Learners
11	Apprenticeship and Mentoring
12	Play and Learning
13	Poster Presentations of Final Projects

Readings

Table of Readings as per Topics
LEC #	TOPICS	READINGS
1	Introduction and Overview
2	Learning from One Another
3	Constructionist Learning	Papert, S. Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas. New York, NY: Basic Books, 1981. ISBN: 9780465046270.———. "What's the Big Idea: Towards a Pedagogy of Idea Power." IBM Systems Journal 39, no. 3-4 (2000).Other Suggested ReadingsKay, A. "Computers, Networks, and Education." Scientific American 265, no. 3 (Sept. 1991): 100-107.
4	Learning Styles	Turkle, S., and S. Papert. "Epistemological Pluralism." Signs 16, no. 1 (1990). Turkle, S. Chapter 2 in Life on the Screen. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 1995. ISBN: 9780684803531.
5	Toys to Think With	Resnick, M. "Technologies for Lifelong Kindergarten." Educational Technology Research and Development 46, no. 4 (1998).Resnick, M., R. Berg, and M. Eisenberg. "Beyond Black Boxes: Bringing Transparency and Aesthetics Back to Scientific Investigation." Journal of the Learning Sciences 9, no. 1 (2000): 7-30.Eisenberg, M. "Mindstuff: Educational Technology Beyond the Computer." Convergence. 2003. Turbak, F., and R. Berg. "Robotic Design Studio: Exploring the Big Ideas of Engineering in a Liberal Arts Environment." Journal of Science Education and Technology 11, no. 3 (2002): 237-253.
6	Technological Fluency	DiSessa, Andrea A. Chapter 1 in Changing Minds: Computers, Learning, and Literacy. Cambridge, UK: MIT Press, 2000. ISBN: 9780262041805.Resnick, M. "Closing the Fluency Gap." Communications of the ACM 44, no. 3 (2001).Resnick, M., Y. Kafai, and et al. "A Networked, Media-Rich Programming Environment to Enhance Technological Fluency at After-School Centers in Economically-Disadvantaged Communities." Proposal to the National Science Foundation. 2003.Other Suggested ReadingsNational Research Council. Chapters 1, 2, and 3. Being Fluent with Information Technology. 1999.International Technology Education Association. Standards for Technological Literacy . 2000.National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council. Technically Speaking: Why All Americans Need to Know More About Technology. 2002.
7	Beyond the Centralized Mindset	Resnick, M. "Beyond the Centralized Mindset." Journal of the Learning Sciences 5, no. 1 (1996): 1-22.———. "Thinking Like a Tree (and Other Forms of Ecological Thinking)." International Journal of Computers for Mathematical Learning 8, no. 1 (2004): 43-62.Starr, P. "Seductions of Sim." American Prospect, no. 17 (1994): 19-29.Other Suggested ReadingsResnick, M. Turtles, Termites, and Traffic Jams. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1997.
8	Designing for Designers	Fischer, G. "Beyond "Couch Potatoes": From Consumers to Designers and Active Contributors." First Monday, 2002.Fischer, G., and et al. "Meta-Design: A Manifesto for End-User Development." Communications of the ACM 47, no. 9 (2004): 33-37. Resnick, M., A. Bruckman, and F. Martin. "Pianos Not Stereos: Creating Computational Construction Kits." Interactions 3, no. 6 (1996): 64-71.
9	Learning in Communities	Resnick, M., N. Rusk, and S. Cooke. "The Computer Clubhouse: Technological Fluency in the Inner City." In High Technology and Low-Income Communities. Edited by D. Schon, B. Sanyal, and W. Mitchell. Cambridge, UK: MIT Press, 1998, pp. 266-286. ISBN: 9780262691994.Warschauer, M. "Reconceptualizing the Digital Divide." First Monday 7, no. 7 (2002).Other Suggested ReadingsShaw, A., and M. Shaw. "Social Empowerment Through Community Networks." In High Technology and Low-Income Communities. Edited by D. Schon, B. Sanyal, and W. Mitchell. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1998, pp. 315-336.
10	Communities of Learners	Borovoy, R., and et al. "Folk Computing: Revisiting Oral Tradition as a Scaffold for Co-Present Communities." Proceedings of the CHI 2001 Conference. 2001.Fischer, G. "Social Creativity: Turning Barriers into Opportunities for Collaborative Design." In Proceedings of the Participatory Design Conference (PDC'04). Edited by F. deCindio and D. Schuler. University of Toronto, July 2004, pp. 152-161. Koschmann, T. Chapter 1 in CSCL: Theory and Practice of an Emerging Paradigm. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1996. ISBN: 9780805813463.Scardamalia, M., and C. Bereiter. "Computer Support for Knowledge-building Communities." Journal of the Learning Sciences 3, no. 3 (1996): 265-283.Other Suggested Readings Brown, J. S., A. Collins, and P. Duguid. "Situated Cognition and The Culture of Learning." Educational Researcher 18, no. 1 (1989): 32-42.Bruckman, A. "MOOSE Crossing: Construction, Community, and Learning in a Networked Virtual World for Kids." PhD Dissertation. MIT Media Lab, 1997. (Please read Chapters 1 and 2.)
11	Apprenticeship and Mentoring	Walker, G. "Social Change One on One: The New Mentoring Movement." American Prospect 7, no. 27 (July 1996).Spencer, R. Empowering Children for Life: A Preliminary Report from the Robert and Grace Stone Primary Prevention Initiatives. Stone Center, Wellesley College, 2002. Sullivan, A. "From Mentor to Muse: Recasting the Role of Women in Relationship with Urban Adolescent Girls." In Urban Girls. Edited by D. Leadbeater, and N. Way. New York, NY: New York University Press, 1996. ISBN: 9780814751084.
12	Play and Learning	Zigler, E., D. Singer, and S. Bishop-Josef. Chapter 1 in Children's Play. Washington, DC: Zero to Three Press, 2004. ISBN: 9780943657752. Hirsh-Pasek, K., R. Golinkoff, and D. Eyer. Chapter 9 in Einstein Never Used Flash Cards. New York, NY: Rodale Press, 2004. ISBN: 9781594860683.Alliance for Childhood. Tech Tonic: Towards a New Literacy of Technology. 2004.
13	Poster Presentations of Final Projects