Technology for Teaching and Learning

EDUC-W531, Technology for Teaching and Learning, is a survey of educational technology in learning environments in context. Students critically examine topics such as 21st century learning, new literacies, digital divides, digital citizens, technology in classrooms, web-based tools, mobile technologies, game-based learning, and technology innovations. Students evaluate educational technology tools and engage in social networking and collaborative learning.

This course is organized around essential questions to guide our learning, discovery, and exploration. The course as a whole is guided by the overarching essential question:

How do we approach and evaluate teaching with technology in our classrooms, schools, and communities?

Exploring this question prepares the student to engage with the current state of educational technology in the classroom more broadly and more deeply.You will also be introduced to four cross-cutting frameworks—Schwab’s Commonplaces, Vygotsky’s Cultural-Historical Activity Theory, Postman’s Five Things We Need to Know about Technological Change, and Ottenbreit-Leftwichet al.’s Teachers’ Technology Values—that you will draw upon in your analysis at all leve