In Higher Education
Current Courses
LDT100, World Technologies and Learning, is an undergraduate course that fulfills undergraduate requirements for both the GS and IL general education requirements. The primary purpose of this course is to familiarize you with the many ways that technology influences learning in cultures throughout the world. There are no prerequisites for enrolling in this course, but it is essential for students to have an open mind and a desire to learn through collaborative work and instructor facilitation.
LDT 566, Using Technology to Enhance Learning Processes, is graduate a course designed for online and resident graduate students. The primary aim of the course is to develop students’ knowledge about the tradeoffs associated with technology use in educational settings and understand the latest research on technology use and related benefits and costs of that use. In this course, students will discuss important factors in the successes and failures of various approaches and explore the research issues inherent in related learning environments. Students will also examine the nature of knowledge construction, collaboration, and distributed cognition (along with its consequences) by discussing the relevant literature, viewing demonstrations of sample technologies, and thinking critically about the role of education and technology in society.
LDT 575, Designing Experimental Research, is a graduate course intended to provide students with the expertise necessary to design quantitative educational research studies. As part of this course students will learn how to create research plans that integrate all the different parts of a study in a logical and coherent way in order to effectively answer research questions. This requires an understanding of how to craft a problem statement, unpack the research problem with an appropriate framework, use research literature to justify a research question, and develop and justify methods that can answer the research question in a replicable way while aligning theoretically to the study’s framework. This type of understanding is difficult to develop, requiring both knowledge and practice. Towards this aim we will take a hands-on approach towards understanding research design. We will read articles each week and connect them to design activities to allow you to practice important research design skills. Students will take turns presenting course concepts and leading discussions about design issues.
LDT 577, Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) is a graduate course focusing on introducing students to this interdisciplinary branch within the Learning Sciences. CSCL focuses on the study of social learning processes with and without technology and the development and evaluation of tools to improve the practice of collective cognition in learning contexts. CSCL also promotes a shift in mainstream education from a practice that prioritizes individual knowledge acquisition of inert forms of knowledge about things, to one that prioritizes higher forms of psychological function, such as control over learning processes, artifact creation, and collaborative knowledge building. In this course students will learn about CSCL theories, research, and methodologies and they will create new tools, artifacts, and designs to articulate developing understanding. The course is run in an apprenticeship manner such that students will eventually will be expected to apply their knowledge to facilitate course activities in ways that align with course concepts.
LDT 843, This course starts from the assumption that good outcomes of new technology for education and society are never guaranteed but rather that the use of technology for learning, or any other purpose, always entails ethical tensions-a struggle between “good” and “evil.” The course provides a practical angle on these issues for learning technology designers, educators, and researchers. The course is organized into three parts. Part 1 provides initial conceptual frames for thinking about ethical issues in technologies for education and learning, including basic moral theory, utopian/dystopian thinking, and guiding values. Part 2 surveys a range of contemporary issues in technology and ethics that are relevant to education and learning. For example, the course considers issues of surveillance, engagement and addiction, and debates over profit-seeking. Part 3 focuses on drawing conclusions for practice, with application to individual students’ professional contexts.
Past Courses
LDT 594 Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning Research Apprenticeship
IST 110: Introduction to Information, People, and Technology
IST 602: Supervised experience in college teaching
IST 331: Introduction to Human-Centered Design
IST 413: Usability Engineering (Co-Instructor)
K-12 Teaching Experience
Lead Teacher, Imagineering with Games & Technology, After School Club; Grades 2-6, January, 2015- present.
Teach elementary students about human-centered-design through the creation of physical and digital artifacts. Students solve design challenges and use Lego’s and Minecraft as a means to build their design solutions.
Lead Teacher, Girlz Digital World, Summer Camp; Grades 6-8, June 2013.
Taught middle school girls about human centered design through the creation of art and digital stories. Students learned about four stages of design and hoe designers use art and emotion to convey stories and persuade people. Students also learned to create different types of digital stories using animation, iMovie, and QuickTime pro.
Student Teacher, Science Education (San Francisco Bay Area Public Schools); Grades 5-8, August, 2001- 2003
Focused on secondary science education. Taught inquiry science in formal school settings. Helped run after school science clubs and implemented ThinkerTools Force and Motion curriculum.