Welcome to EDF 6215 Home Page

Learning Principles, Summer 1999

Mike Tyler, Ph.D., Instructor

  
  • Orientation to the Course
  •  
  • Meeting Times  
  • Grade Policy 
  • Learning objectives 
  • Course Sessions & Modules 
  • Assignments Overview 
  • Communication 
  • Sample Assignments 
  • Check My Grade
  • Questions and Answers
  •   Meeting Times

    This class is an Internet-based class. No on-campus meeting times are planned.


    Learning Objectives


    "I am not inviting you to follow me, but to follow yourself. I am only here to help you if you need me." (Groddeck, 1977, p. 2).


    One objective of this course is to demonstrate the importance of the preceding statement as a basis for relevant education. I cannot pour knowledge into the minds of students any more than you can.  What you learn and how you grow during this course will depend entirely upon what you contribute to your own education.

    On a more direct level, objectives of this course include offering students an opportunity to --

    Additionally, students will be able to --

    Grade Policy 


    Academic achievement in this graduate course is based on the following grading system:


    (Source: The Merriam Webster Dictionary, p. 686)

    Overview of the Assignments 


    Key Assignments


    Policy on the Assignment's Point System

    Lesson Plans: All Lesson Plans and the corresponding Critique of Lesson Plans will receive between 1 and 10 points. Points will be assigned as follows:
     
  • 10
  • An exemplary assignment, worthy of recognition as a model
  • 9
  • A well completed assignment, demonstrates mastery of material
  • 8
  • Adequate completion, suggests some minor confusion or misunderstanding of significant material
  • 7
  • Inadequate completion, more than minor confusion is present
  • 6 or fewer
  • Little of no demonstration of understanding of main points,  or severe misunderstanding of critical areas
     


    Lesson Plans. Each student will be responsible for the development of 3 assigned lesson plans.  These lesson plans will generally follow a prescribed format, and are intended to provide an opportunity to place readings into practice.  Lesson plans must be submitted to the instructor and to the student's partner no later than 5pm on the date assigned. Assignments not received will be docked 1 letter grade for each 24 hour period, or portion thereof that the assignment is late.  There will be no exceptions to this rule.  Assignments which are not completed on time create a serious burden on other students in the class. If you are concerned about technology failures, dogs that eat papers, or illnesses that interpret your study time, then plan to turn your assignments in several days in advance.  Then, in the even of unforseen circumstances, you can still be on time!



    Lesson Plan Critiques.  Each student will be responsible for the critique of 3 assigned lesson plans.  These critiques will generally follow a prescribed format, and are intended to provide an opportunity to critically evaluate attempts to move theory into practice.  Each student will critiue a peer's lesson plan while that peer is critiquing your lesson plan.  Balance is called for.  As educators, we need to learn to provide effective, productive feedback that helps an individual learn.  Critiques that provide no information useful to the author may be deemed inadequate.  In addition, such critiques likely will not demonstrate that the author of the critique understands the learning theory upon which the lesson plan is based.  In these cases, the critique likely will not be assessed a strong grade because it fails to communicate the two criteria I will look for: 1) that the critique author understands the theory, and 2) the critique author has provided the lesson plan author with helpful feedback.


    Discussion Questions. For each of the 4 readings on a specific discipline, I will post a question or issue to consider. Each student in the class must then post 2 responses. The first response may be either a direct answer to the question I posed, or a response to another student's post. The second post each student makes MUST BE a response to someone else's post. While every student is required to post at least twice, no one is limited to 2 responses- and at the discretion of the instructor, extra credit may be assigned for additional postings which help to significantly facilitate discussion. Some students in previous offerings of this course clearly were disappointed in the lack of interaction among students. By contributing to an on-line discussion you can ensure that interaction remains at a reasonable level and increase your own learning. Nothing promotes learning a concept like explaining or teaching it!

    PLEASE NOTE- The on-line discussion area is largely intended as a space for student-to-student interaction. Feel free to post questions that other students may respond to. If you are seeking information from the instructor, e-mail the instructor directly. I read my e-mail at least daily, and will not necessarily read the bulletin board daily. If you post a question on the WebBoard, I will assume that is an indication you are seeking input from someone other than me, and I will not respond.  I may however, choose to offer students extra credit for their responses which meet the needs of others!


    Research Paper. Every student is expected to complete a research paper and present their paper via the web. This paper is conceptualized as a "review of literature" paper, and will be completed in several steps as detailed below. A score not to exceed 50 points will be assigned for this paper.

    A complete description can be found here.


    Possible Total Points
     
     
  • 30 points possible for Lesson Plans
  • 20 points possible for discussion questions (4 x 5 ) 

    30 points possible for Lesson Plan Critiques 

    50 points possible for research paper 

  • 130 total points available 
  • 117 - 130 = A  

    104 - 117 = B 

     91 - 103 = C 

     90 or below = F 


    Sample Assignments

    From this page you can access actual student work that received a very strong grade. These samples are provided as examples of one manner in which the assignments can be completed, and should be seen as exemplars, not as templates.


    Policy on Late Assignments

    My commitment to the class is to hold class during scheduled hours (whatever that means in cyberspace), to be available during office hours, to maintain appointments, and to review and return all work in a timely fashion. For me to maintain my commitments, I must have the opportunity to schedule assignments at appropriate intervals. Late assignments are an inconvenience and impinge upon my ability to meet my obligations to other students and my family.  In addition, late assignments keep other students from completing their work, since much of the class is based on responding to someone else's work.  Therefore, I discourage turning in assignments after the assigned time. To enforce this, all assignments are due at 5pm on the date assigned (be on time!). Late assignments will be assessed a penalty equal to 10% of the possible points for each week (or portion thereof) that the assignment is late. Please plan your time accordingly.


    Overview of Course Sessions & Modules

     

    WEEK 1 -- 

  • E-mail the instructor acknowledging completion of the readings and asking any questions that may exist.
  • WEEK 2 -- All Assignments to be completed by 9-4 at 5pm
  • MODULE 1 (Internet-based)
  • List of potential research topics sent to instructor (see Research Paper Guidelines). WEEK 3 -- All Assignments to be completed by 9-11 at 5pm
  • MODULE 2 (Internet-based)
  • WEEK 4 -- All Assignments to be completed by 9-18 at 5pm
  • MODULE 3 (Internet-based)
  • WEEK 5 -- All Assignments to be completed by 9-25 at 5pm
  • MODULE 4 (Internet-based)
  • WEEK 6 -- All Assignments to be completed by 10-02 at 5pm
  • MODULE 5 (Internet-based)
  • WEEK 7 -- All Assignments to be completed by 10-09 at 5pm
  • To Be Determined
  • WEEK 8 -- All Assignments to be completed by 10-16 at 5pm
  • MODULE 6 (Internet-based)
  • WEEK 9 -- All Assignments to be completed by 10-23 at 5pm
  • MODULE 7 (Internet-based)
  • WEEK 10 -- All Assignments to be completed by 10-30 at 5pm
  • MODULE 8 (Internet-based)
  • WEEK 11 -- All Assignments to be completed by 11-06 at 5pm
  • MODULE 9 (Internet-based)
  •   WEEK 12 -- All Assignments to be completed by 11-13 at 5pm
  • Research Paper and supporting presentation files must be complete and received by the instructor
  • Complete Module 10 Homework


    If you are an enrolled student of this course, please click on the blue ball icon to access the 11 web-based modules.


    Resources

    Communication
  • E-mail the instructor
  • Connect to the class bulletin board

    Connect to the class mail list


    Go to Top / FGCU Home Page / Faculty Home Page


    This web page was initially developed as a result of a collaboration between Mike Tyler (instructor) and Danilo M. Baylen (instructional designer). Currently, it is maintained by Mike Tyler, and any questions about this site should be directed to him.
    This page was last updated on 03/23/99.