EDUC 893 Fall 2011 Syllabus
EDUC 893: Organizational & Social Aspects of Learning Technology Design
Fall Semester 2011–Tuesdays 4:30pm, Surrey Room 3010 & 3100
Dr. Alyssa Wise Surrey 5214
778-782-8046
Course Overview
This course looks at the design of learning technologies from a socio-cultural perspective. It is based on the idea that the ultimate success of today’s learning technologies depend not only on how “good” the products are with respect to traditional criteria of engineering, content coverage, and cognitive engagement, but on how the technologies are taken up and used within the broader context of an organization or social group. This refers both to challenges of technology adoption, but also to the fact that the learning enabled by the technologies occurs in a social context. Understanding these issues is especially important given the current explosion of “Web 2.0” applications such as online communities, wikis, and multi-player games which emphasize online sharing and collaboration over the centralized distribution of information.
This raises several important questions for learning technology designers and scholars:
- What makes a particular technology for teaching, learning, or knowledge development "fit" a social or organizational context—such as a workplace, school, or university?
- How can we practically come to understand such contexts in ways that will help us design effective learning technologies?
- What role do “social” elements play in learning and how can we design learning environments that promote desired kinds of interactions?
We will explore these questions through readings, class discussion and hands-on projects. Students will collect real-world data to analyze a context for learning and use design software to create a prototype for a social learning website.
Learning Outcomes
In this course you will:
- Develop an understanding of the rationales for considering learning technology design from a social / organizational perspective and how these views have evolved.
- Become familiar with several analytic tools for analyzing and designing learning environments from a social / organizational perspective including Activity Theory and Community of Practice Theory.
- Gain competency in creating high-fidelity web prototypes
Course Requirements
1. Participation in Class Activities and Learning Community (20%)
From a socio-cultural perspective, individual learning is often conceptualized as the development of your trajectory as a participant in and contributor to the knowledge practices of a community. In this course, your classmates and myself might be thought of as your most immediate community, and one of my goals for the class is to help you become more able, confidant and active engaging in discourse with us about the analysis and design of learning technologies form a social perspective. To this end, I am asking you to be both deliberate and reflective in how you engage with this course as both an individual and a member of the learning community. You will have the opportunity to set personal goals for your engagement in the course and reflect on the evidence of your progress towards them and trajectory of participation at several points in the term. Course evaluation of participation will come from both you and me. Below I outline some of my goals and expectations– in the first class you will develop your own as well.(Note: This is a variation of the reflective process developed by Cheryl Amundsen for EDUC 891.)
Readings & Discussion
Each week a small number of readings are set for the group discussion. I have tried to balance the readings between the theoretical (explanations of and rationale for an approach) and the practical (prescriptions for and examples of practice). Several of the readings are quite complex and will take some effort to understand; it is important (and expected) that you not only read the assigned works, but that you come to class prepared with questions, comments and ideas about them.
I will give you a set of thought questions each week to help you focus on the core issues in the readings. In class we will first work as a group to help each other comprehend what the authors are trying to say and then take a more critical stance, evaluating and comparing the different perspectives offered and looking at their application to practice.
Dreamweaver and Web Design Skill-Building
In addition to the theoretical component, this course has a technical component. We will use Adobe Dreamweaverweb design software throughout the semester to prepare for creating a prototype for a social learning web site. Each week you will be asked to work through a section of the “Missing Manual” book and complete the associated tutorial. Tutorial files for the book can be found at
In class, we will build on this technical proficiency by looking at examples of good (and bad) design and working on mini-projects. Getting a web page to look the way you want in a particular situation can present challenges to even the most experienced designer—the lab time is forexploring, experimenting and helping each other work through these challenges.
2. Activity Theory Analysis(30%) + Contribution to the Project Team (10%)
Activity Theory is a tool for understanding the world from a socio-cultural perspective. One of your two projects in this course will be to conduct an Activity Theory Analysis of an activity within an organization. You will work in a team to collect and analyze real data and gain insight into the dynamics of the people, tools, rules, division of labor, community and object involved in the activity. Start thinking now about ideas for interesting activities / organizations that you can get access to investigate (note that special restrictions apply when children or schools are involved).Evaluation is based on a collective written report and peer evaluations of your contributions made.
3. Social Learning Web Design Rationale & Prototype(40%)
Your second project for the course will be the creation of a prototype of a social learning website. We will base our designs on Wenger’s Community of Practice Theory – an idea often referred to when creating social learning sites and web applications. This individual project willgive you the opportunity to combine the theoretical, practical and technological aspects of the class. Equally important to the site prototype you create is the rationale for your design choices. Evaluation is based on coherence, completeness and justification of the design to meet its stated purpose.Your use of Dreamweaver will be needed to realize the vision of you design, however sites will not be evaluated for their technical sophistication.
Readings
Required Textbooks
- Wenger, E., McDermott, R. & Snyder, W.M. (2002). Cultivating Communities of Practice.Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
- McFarland, D. S. Dreamweaver: The missing manual. O’Reilly Media. Available as an e-book online at and in hard copy at Chapters etc.
* Please buy the version of the book (CS3, CS4, CS5 or CS5.5) that matches the software you have.CS5.5 software will be provided to new students in the ETLD program.
Articles / Individual Book Chapters
Bannon, L., & Kaptelinin, V. (2001).From Human-Computer Interaction to Computer-Mediated Activity. In C. Stephanidis (Ed.),User Interfaces for All: Concepts, Methods, and Tools(pp. 183-202). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Engeström, Y. & Miettinen, R. (1999).Introduction.In Y. Engeström & R. Miettinen (Eds.) Perspectives on Activity Theory(pp.1-16). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Feenberg, A. & Bakardjieva, M. (2004).Consumers or citizens?The online community debate. In A. Feenberg , A. & D. Barney, D (Eds..)Community in the digital age(pp. 1-28).Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield.
Gee, J. (2005).Semiotic social spaces and affinity spaces: From The Age of Mythology to today’s schools. In D. & K. Tusting (Eds.), Beyond communities of practice: Language, power, and social context (pp. 214-232). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Liu, X. and Schwen, T. M. (2006), Sociocultural factors affecting the success of an online MBA course.Performance Improvement Quarterly, 19:69–92.
Mwanza, D. (2000). Mind the gap: Activity theory and design (Tech. Rep. No. KMI-TR-95). Milton Keynes, UK: Knowledge Media Institute, The Open University.
Rogers, E. M. (2003). Diffusion of innovations (5th ed.). New York: Free Press.
Schlager, M. & Fusco, J. (2004). Teacher professional development, technology, and communities of practice: Are we putting the cart before the horse? In S. Barab, R. Kling & J. Gray (Eds.) Designing for virtual communities in the service of learning (pp. 120-153). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Schwen, T. M., & Hara, N. (2003). Community of practice: A metaphor for online design?The Information Society, 19(3), 257-270.
Sfard, A. (1998). On two metaphors for learning and the dangers of choosing just one.Educational Researcher, 27(2),pp. 4-13
Wilson, B. & Myers, K. (2000).Situated cognition in theoretical and practical context.In D. Jonassen, & S. Land (Eds.) Theoretical foundations of learning environments. (pp.57–88). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Photocopies of these readings will be distributed in class and a reading fee of $20 charged. You should make payment for readings by cheque payable to Simon Fraser University due the 2nd week of class. A limited number of readings will be provided via digital links.
Scheduling
Due dates for all assignments have been provided and need to be respected. I realize that you all have many other demands on your time, so please plan ahead. If you have a special circumstance or scheduling conflict you wish to discuss, please talk with me as soon as possible. Unless you have negotiated with me ahead of time, late work will only be accepted within one week of the due date and the mark will be reduced by one letter grade.
Because this is a seminar course, class meetings, discussions and activities are central to the learning process and your attendance at all class sessions is expected. If you have to miss a class, please let me know beforehand so we can make alternate arrangements for you to keep up with the material. Multiple absences and/or failure to make up missed class work will negatively impact your grade.
Communication
There will be an e-mail list for this course to distribute announcements etc. and you will need to activate your SFU account (if you haven’t already) and check it regularly or have it forwarded to a personal e-mail account.
There is a website for the course with copies of all course assignments as well as reading questions and sample projects located at
If you have questions or concerns about your progress in the class or feel that you need additional consultation, please feel free to email me to set up a time for us to talk.
Academic Honesty
It is expected that all work turned in for this course will be your own original work with appropriate credit given to all sources used. This applies both to written and technological work. Any suspected plagiarism will be investigated and the consequences of dishonesty will be severe. It is your responsibility, as a student and a member of the academic community, to ensure that you have appropriately acknowledged and correctly cited all the resources you have used. For help with this, you may wish to consult the library’s reference on citations and plagiarism.
SFU Library Plagiarism Site:
Grading
Marks for all class components will be given as letter grades. Final course grades will be calculated as a weighted average using the percentages listed on the syllabus and the following conversion scale taken from the SFU Calendar.
A+A
A- / 4.33
4.00
3.67 / B+
B
B- / 3.33
3.00
2.67 / C+
C
C- / 2.33
2.00
1.67 / D
F / 1.00
0
A Comment on Laptop Use
Most of our class time will be discussion and activity based and a paper notebook is sufficient for note taking. We will all move to computers for any work that requires it. If you do choose to bring your laptop to class, please use it to support, rather than detract from, your presence in class. For example, taking good notes to share with your classmates and looking up relevant information on-the-spot are ways a laptop can support classroom learning. Please refrain from checking email and web-surfing during class - your classmates can tell if you are being disrespectful by only half-listening to their ideas.
Expectations
You will….
…do the readings consistently.
…actively contribute to class discussions and activities
…pick projects that are interesting and meaningful to you.
…use the work time allotted in class productively.
…ask for help or support if you need it.
…have fun exploring these ideas and approaches!
Course Outline
Note: Course outline is subject to revision in order to best meet your learning needs and interests
I. Introduction & Theoretical FoundationsWk / Date / Topic / Readings / Preparation Activities / Work Due
1 / Sept 6 / What is a “Social” View of Learning? / [Goal-setting in-class]
2 / Sept 13 / Knowledge & Learning as a Socially Constructed Entities / Wilson & Myers (2000) Situated Cognition in Theoretical and Practical Context
Sfard (1998) On Two Metaphors for Learning and the Dangers of Choosing Just One
MM - Chp 1 (Getting Going) + Tutorial
II. Analyzing Technology Use and Adoption from a Social Perspective
3 / Sept 20 / Conceptualizing Socio-Cultural Activity Systems / BannonKaptelinin (2001) From HCI to Computer Mediated Activity.
EngestromMiettinen (1999) Introduction to Perspectives on Activity Theory
MMChps 2 & 3 (Working w/ Text)
Experiment with the different techniques described. / Bring Activity Theory (AT) Project Ideas to Class
4 / Sept 27 / Activity Theory in Action 1 / Mwanza (2000) Mind the Gap: Activity Theory and Design
MM - Chp 4 (CSS) + Tutorial
If you’ve used CSS, substitute Chp 8 (Adv. CSS) / AT Data Collection Ideas
Wk / Date / Topic / Readings to be Discussed / Work Due
5 / Oct 4 / Activity Theory in Action 2 / Liu & Schwen (2006) Sociocultural Factors Affecting the Success of an Online MBA Course: A Case Study Viewed from an Activity Theory Perspective
MM - Chp 5 (Linking) + Tutorial / AT Data Collection Plan / Execution
6 / Oct 11 / Managing Change in Systems / Diffusion Simulation Game [Online Activity]
Rogers (2003) Diffusion of Innovations, Chp 1
MM - Chp 6 (Images) + Tutorial / AT Data w/ Initial Analysis
III. Designing Technology to Support Learning from a Social Perspective
7 / Oct 18 / Theorizing Communities of Practice / Cultivating CoPsChps 1 & 2 (Value and Structure)
[Reflection and goal-settingin-class] / Final AT Report
8 / Oct 25 / Designing Online Spaces to Support CoPs / Cultivating CoPsChp 3 (7 Principles)
FeenbergBakardjieva (2004) Consumers or Citizens? The Online Community Debate
MM - Chp 9 (Layout) + Tutorial / Social Learning Web Design (SLWD) Project Ideas
9 / Nov 1 / Lifecycle & Development of CoPs / Cultivating CoPsChps 4 & 5 (Early and Mature Stages of CoP Development)
MM – Chapter 19 (Templates) + Tutorial
Optional but recommended as a timesaver for the project. / SLWD Vision Worksheet
10 / Nov 8 / Challenges to Supporting CoPs with Technology / Cultivating CoPsChp 6 (Challenges of Distributed Communities)
Schwen and Hara (2003) - Community of Practice: A Metaphor for Online Design? / SLWD Design Spec Worksheet
11 / Nov 15 / Grounding CoPs in Existing Local Culture / Schlager & Fusco (2004). Teacher Professional Development, Technology, and Communities of Practice: Are We Putting the Cart Before the Horse? / SLWD Content & Layout
12 / Nov 22 / Alternatives to the CoP Metaphor / Gee, J. (2005). Semiotic Social Spaces andAffinitySpaces:From The Age of Mythology to Today's Schools / Draft SLWD & Rationale
IV. Conclusions & Looking Forward
13 / Nov 29 / Social Perspectives on Learning and Web 2.0 / [Reflection and goal-settingin-class] / Final SLWD & Rationale