CECS 5300
Cognitive Psychology in Computer Education
Spring 2010
Instructor:Dr. Scott Warren OR (emergency)
Web site:http://www.scottjwarren.com
This is an online course presented in the University of North Texas’ Department of Learning TechnologiesMoodleLearning Management System.
Learning Objectives
The goals of this class include:
· Examining the role of cognition and cognitive psychology and other views of pscyhology and learning as they relate to everyday life
· Understanding the role of mental processing and other psychological factors in human attention, knowledge acquisition, and general understanding
· Providing a framework for designing strategies to improve human processing
· Designing and developing instruction that leverages what we know about human processing to increase learner acquisition and construction of knowledge, improve creative thinking, and problem solving ability
· Understand how technology can aid or impede human cognition in educational settings
· Explore alternatives to the objectivist view of mental processes and what they mean for technology enabled learning designs
COURSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM:MOODLE
Moodle is an open-source learning management system akin to WebCT Vista (now retired) or Blackboard. As this course is currently being redeveloped, we are using Moodle to create the materials and course before exporting it for the new Blackboard system that UNT has adopted. It can be found at:
http://moodle.lt.unt.edu
In order to access the course, you will need to first go to Moodle and Sign Up for an account. Make sure you write down your log in information in a safe place.
Once you have followed the directions and are signed up, locate the course in the Spring 2010 link on the left-hand side (CECS 5300/Cognitive Processing). It will ask you for a password to enroll in the course. That enrollment key password is “cognition”.
At that point, the work and information for the course for the first week is listed under the week of January 14 and each week thereafter.
REQUIREMENTS
All submissions to meet these requirements must be emailed to me or brought to my office. You will receive a confirmation of receipt as evidence you submitted the material. Electronically this will be a response to your email or a note if you bring the material to my office. Please keep this receipt until after the course is completed.
1. Weekly Forum Postings/Participation- 25%
o You are expected to post to each of the weekly topics and respond to at least two of your peers. Make sure that your posts push the discussion forward rather than have them simply be comments about the quality of their post.
· For example, "When you noted that distance learning products have had difficulty being used in the schools you have worked with, it left me wondering what the specific cognitive impediments you saw are in the classroom" is a good post. A less desirable post would be: "Good point, Farah!"
· Grading will be done by the instructor to determine the degree to which the learner understands and/or explores the concepts and participates in the community of practice that is this class.
· After the first week, students will be responsible during the weeks that they are assigned to act in specific roles related to the Forums. Everyone will fill each role at least once. These roles are as follows:
· Initiator- It is this person's role to determine and post the two questions or prompts that the class will respond to during the week that they are assigned to do so. These will be posted in the appropriate Moodle Forum. This is due on the Sunday night prior to the week that the discussion is intended to take place
· Moderator- This person will be required to keep the discussion going and to help answer questions that students post related to the questions, readings, etc. They can keep the discussion going by asking further questions of posters during the week, especially where there appears to be confusion.
· Summarist- At the end of the week, this participant will post a one page summary to the Forum that concisely sums up the discussion that took place during the week. This is due the Sunday night that concludes the week during which they are assigned to complete this task.
· As the instructor, I will act as an expert and facilitator to help the Moderator and will provide resources and feedback where appropriate. If there are specific problems with student knowledge constructions, I will challenge these with questions and resources that conflict with the status quo to help drive discussion further.
· Completing your role as Initiator/Moderator/Summarist is 10% of the 25% of this grade.
2. Web log (Blog) - 10%
· As a strong believer in reflection, I follow the research that says that a weekly blog or journaling activity will get you thinking more deeply about your readings and experiences in and out of class related to the course topic. However, this all tends to work better with feedback, so you will have a partner that changes up every three weeks who will reply to your weekly posting. I will generate a random list that connects you to a different partner during the first week and the partner feedback will begin during WEEK TWO.
· 15% of the grade comes from your own posting and the other 10% comes from responding to your partner. If they do not post, you get the 10% automatically, but will need toe-mail methat it is the case so I can investigate.
3.Weekly activities related to the readings- 10%
· These are activities that you will post within the Moodle that ask you to complete some activity related to the week's lesson. These may be short papers (1-2 pages), web searches and compilations, brief literature reviews, responses to sets of questions, etc.
4.Midterm Paper - 25%
· The midterm paper will be a 10-15 page paper in which the learner will be expected to analyze an educational system, lesson, or other cognitive system that is relevant to them.
o Once you have provided an overview (1-2 pages) of the entire system in a holistic fashion,
o You will then identify its constituent parts using both a graphic depiction system such as Mindomo or Thinkature to show how cognition functions within it as well as textual descriptions of the effectiveness of these pieces (1 page).
o You will identify three or more pieces that are ineffective and provide recommendations from the cognitive processing literature as to how they could improve the learning effectiveness of the system, curriculum, lesson, etc. and provide a brief (1-2 page) sample of the more effective instruction, system, curriculum, etc.
o This will also require a short (1-2 page) literature review that includes five or more references that DO NOT INCLUDE the textbook. A proper bibliography or references section composed according to the American Psychological Association Style Manual 5.0 is also required.
5.Final Paper - 25%
· The final paper (10-20 pages) stems from the midterm. In this instance, the learner will take the piece that they developed for the midterm, but you will also be required to
o identify where that system/curriculum/instruction focuses on surface level learning.
o From there, you will be required to examine and identify strategies that can be used to increase critical thinking, problem solving, and/or creativity in the cognitive system, curriculum, lesson, etc.
o You will then provide a sample of more effective instruction that targets critical thinking, problem solving, and/or creativity and explains how it will be evaluated taking off from the existing piece you previously revised.
o This will require a short (1-2 page) literature review that includes five or more references that DO NOT INCLUDE the textbook and are DIFFERENT from and IN ADDITION to the references from the midterm.
o A proper bibliography or references section composed according to the American Psychological Association Style Manual 5.0 is also required.
6.Miscellaneous additional readings, participation, and brief activities as assigned - 5%
· There is often a need for additional reading, participation, and other activity to expand upon the existing work assigned at the beginning of the semester. That is what is included here.
GRADING
Grades will be assigned based on papers, online participation, and your weekly blogs. I will grade each test and then add sufficient points to each test in order for the top test to be 100. All assignments must be completed by the due dates noted on the Calendar below or in Moodle. Turning in late assignments must approved with Dr. Warren before the assignment is due or the grade will be a 0.
Any student may request an Incomplete if criteria set by the University is met. These criteria are:
1. circumstances beyond the control of the student make completing the assignments difficult or impossible.
2. arrangements are made with the instructor before attempting to complete the assignments.
A grade of Incomplete is not justified for not having sufficient time to complete the assignments but may be awarded for illness or family problems that were not expected. In rare circumstances I will consider an Incomplete for work related problems. All Incompletes must be finished within one year.
TEXT BOOK
Cognitive Psychology (5th edition) by Robert Sternberg copyright 2008. The ISBN-13 # is 78-0495506294. ISBN-10 # is 049550629X for the Student Edition. It is published by Cengage (formerly Thompson Higher Education).
You can buy this from the UNT bookstore, but it is considerably less expensive online.
OFFICE HOURS
I am normally in my office on Tuesday afternoons and evenings. My posted office hours are from 11 AM to 2 PM Monday, 2-3 PM Wednesday, and 11 AM to 1 PM on Thursday. However, you can also e-mail me to schedule an appointment or we can meet online or converse through e-mail. Because of travel to conferences, university meetings, and other commitments, there are several exceptions to the n office hours this semester.
· There will be no Face-To-Face Office Hours on Tuesday the weeks of:
February 1-5 (iSchools Conference)
February 18-20 (AACU Conference)
March 12-21 (Spring Break and Speaking)
March 29-31 (SITE Conference)
April 30-May 4 (AERA Conference)
March 8-9 (OK City U. Conference)
May 5-9 (Dead Week)
During these weeks, I will be available by e-mail nd can meet through various chat formats. Please DO NOT call my OFFICE Phone as it is not a great way to reach me. If you really need to speak on the phone, send me an e-mail with your phone number and concern and I will return your call as soon as I am able.
CONTACT
Email:
Office telephone: 940-369-7489 (in case of emergency only. This voicemail is checked VERY infrequently, so use e-mail)
ODA/ADA STATEMENT
The Department of Learning Technologies complies with the American with Disabilities Act in making reasonable accommodation for qualified students with disabilities. If you have a qualifying disability as defined in the Americans with Disabilities Act and would like to request accommodation, please see or contact the instructor by the 12th class day. If you have a complaint or suggestion please contact Dr. Jeff Allen at 940-565-4238.
SCHEDULE OVERVIEW
Introduction to Cognition (Chapter 1) - Week One
Cognitive Neuroscience (Chapter 2) - Week Two
Cognitive Development (Chapter 13) - Week Three
Attention/Consciousness (Chapter 3) - Week Four
Perception (Chapter 4) - Week Five
Knowledge Representation (Chapters 7&8) - Week Six
Memory (Chapters 5&6) - Week Seven
MIDTERM PAPER - 25% - Due March 15 at Midnight - Post in the Moodle - Week Eight
Language Acquisition (Chaper 9) and Language Context - March 12-18 (Chapter 10) - Week Nine
Spring Break - March 17-25 (Week Ten)
Problem solving/Creativity (Chapter 11) - March 25-April 1(Week Eleven)
Decision making/Reasoning (Chapter 12) - April 2-April 8 (Week Twelve)
Human and Artificial Intelligence (Chapter 14) - April 9-15 (Week Thirteen)
FINAL PAPER - 25% - Due May 4 at Midnight - Post in the Moodle
WEEKLY WEB LOG (Blog) REFLECTIONS - 10%
WEEKLY FORUM DISCUSSIONS (2 per week) - 25%
MISCELANEOUS ADDITIONAL READINGS, ACTIVITIES, ETC. - 5%
WEEKLY ACTIVITIES RELATED TO THE READINGS - 10%