IN-CLASS APPLIED ASSIGNMENTS

GROUP PRESENTATION

Self Evaluation &

Peer Evaluation

Students--working in groups in class and on-line--will be required to formulate responses to questions, issues, problems, presentations, videos, and so on, and submit these responses at three times as indicated below. These responses are applications and may take the form of communiqués, critiques, constructs, creative work, and so on, for the Polished submissions.

The guiding principle for these applications is that you are intending to teach. While the teaching is directed initially at your peers, it could be reconfigured to a different target group for the Polished and Summative submission..

These responses are graded on a two-point scale (as too weak or non-participating (0), or participating with evident quality (2)).  There could be 6 to 12 of these in-class or on-line applications. Overall, these in-class assignments account for 25% of the course credit.

NOTE: For paper copies sign your name legibly (First and Last) to the in-class assignment or no credit can be given. For electronic submissions make sure you are making significant contributions in the on-line discussions about the assignment in Forums. For on-line assignments I intend to post the discussion/assignment question on Saturday, and close the discussion thread Friday evening at 7;00 p.m. The assignment can be submitted no later than Saturday at 7:00 p.m. This gives you seven days to reflect on the question, discuss it on-line, and formulate a response to submit.

In this assignment you select four topics from four of the six general domains indicated above and developed in chapters 2 through 13. You prepare a Brochure on each topic. Your target audience could be student teachers, teachers, children, parents, the public, and so on. Sample Brochures are available on-line and will be available in class later in the semester.

Due: See Below.

Your group prepares a presentation (5 to 10 minutes) typically aligning with one class on a topic from the relevant chapter, (an Applied Topical Presentation) generally, or ideally, related to the chapter.  Presentations illustrate in a practical way concepts, applications, strategies, etc. for the chapter assigned that week. Various formats are permitted (Video, PowerPoint, YouTube, audio tapes). Those opting for the video format (e.g., videotaping skits, pantomime, puppetry, interviews, simulations, creative scripts, illustrations, cartoons, etc.) must submit their videos by January 31st. Hopefully, a selection of the videos can be shown in class. This is a peer instruction teaching activity so if you opt for the video (or audio) format the presentation may be used in another group setting/class setting for peer instruction purposes.

Note: For those opting for video formats only a select few will be shown in class given the time constraints, the number of presentations, and the suitability of the content. Same for those preparing PowerPoint or similar technical formats.

Due: Jan 31st.

My Course Philosophy for 80-203

My philosophy for the educational psychology course is constructed  considering first, a range of possible course structures, secondly, the nature of the students in the course, and thirdly, my personal philosophy of such a course in a professional educational career path.

(1)     The nature of current university level courses:

a.        Undergraduate Courses --Educational psychology courses at the undergraduate level address breadth of the topic, expect acquisition of the curriculum content (i.e., the textbook and additional readings), require formal tests, and often require a written research paper on a focus of interest.

b.       Graduate Courses --Educational psychology courses at the graduate level (e.g., 80-503) focus on depth related to a particular topic, or a few related topics. (e.g., In the current 80-503 course the entire course focus is on self-regulation, a topic which gets about 10 pages of text, of the 500+ pages of text in the current text for 80-203).

c.        Professional Courses –Educational psychology treated as a professional course focuses on applications. Students are expected to gain exposure to the curriculum content through, reading, discussions, and use. They are expected to draw on the curriculum content to construct pedagogical applications, applications that have authentic educational merit, that are practical for portfolio constructions, that actually teach content and topics, and that facilitate functional learning.

(2)     the type of student in the program

a.        first, in the Faculty of Education program the consecutive students are university graduates, not typical undergraduates in Psychology or another major

b.       second, the students are diverse in terms of culture, background majors, technological expertise, and educational career objectives

c.        third, the students are professionals (or in a professional career path) and should acquire a life-long-learning style, practice, or penchant, and demonstrate a professional learning style

(3)     the type of program offered (i.e., professional program as opposed to an undergraduate program or graduate program).

Given the above caveats the following points regarding my personal course philosophy are applicable:

-I do not envision 80-203 as a typical undergraduate course in Psychology

-I am not aiming for mastery of content as in an undergraduate course

-I am not aiming for integrating content in the field of psychology as part of a major or minor field of study

-I am not aiming for in-depth explorations of theory and research (with research papers, and seminars) as in a graduate course.

-My aim: (1) exposure to concepts, information, research, models, and theories related to educational psychology, (2) reflection on such concepts, (3) use of such concepts in a pedagogical forum, (4) resource-building of such concepts, and (5) applications of such material to teach proximally and distally, evidenced by products produced (e.g., brochures, newspaper columns, newsletters, PowerPoint presentations, video presentations, web pages, peer tutoring, collaborative on-line discussions, and so on). These objectives are not in line with an undergraduate course philosophy or a graduate course philosophy.