It is clear that all courses of study, all classrooms, have a culture, and that a part of that culture is economic. The currency of the classroom is grades. It is important therefore to grade what you would have students value, and to reward behaviors you want to encourage.

What we want you to get out of this course is some idea of the kinds of things you can do with computers in the classroom and a sense of how that might change teaching and learning therein. We would like your learning to be meaningful and reflective. We would also like you to get into some topics in a little more depth, but we don't care which ones, or how you go about doing it. And we would like the course itself to be, as much as it can, a kind of test bed for exploring educational computing.

The course will be criterion referenced and portfolio based. What that means practically is that there is a bunch of things you have to do which we will mark on a check, check plus (for really good stuff), check minus (for really incomplete stuff) basis.

Each section of the course will include a basic set of things that everyone must submit (either online or brought or mailed in), as well as optional readings, exercises, and projects that may be included for extra credit.

Deadlines, Deadlines, Deadlines...As you all know, life is made up of deadines, as is school. For this course, the discussion requirement will be limited to a window of time for which you may participate. For each module, the deadline will be several weeks after the module opens. The Telecommunication module will close

March 7. (All other requirements can be done anytime for any module.) The Tutor module will close March 28. The Tool module, April 18, and the Tutee the last day of class, May 14.

We have given each requirement a number of points (as shown in the table below). For example, each lesson plan is worth 5 points. An excellent one would be worth 6 points; a poor one would be worth only 2 points.
 

	TELECOM	TUTOR	TOOL	TUTEE
READINGS	critique & summary (3 points)	critique & summary (6 points)	critique & summary (3 points)	critique & summary (6 points)	18 points
PRACTICUM	email (3 pts) eval criteria (3 pts) web sites (3 pts)	5 software reviews (X3 pts each =  15 points)	wordprocess (3 pts) data manip (3 pts) presentation (3 pts)	Logo I (3 pts) Logo II (3 pts) (or prog. evidence, 6 pts)	39 points
PROJECT	lesson plan (5 points)	lesson plan (5 points)	lesson plan (5 points)	lesson plan (5 points)	20 points
DISCUSSION	3 postings (X 1pt. each = 3 points)	3 postings (X 1pt. each = 3 points)	3 postings (X 1pt. each = 3 points)	3 postings (X 1pt. each = 3 points)	12 points
REFLECTION	3 postings (X 1pt. each = 3 points)	3 postings (X 1pt. each = 3 points)	3 postings (X 1pt. each = 3 points)	3 postings (X 1pt. each = 3 points)	12 points
	23 points	31 points	23 points	23 points	101 points

 
The grade distribution is as follows:
above 93=A
90-92=A-
87-89=B+
83-86=B
80-82=B-
77-79=C+
73-76=C
70-72=C-
Below 70=E
Any assignment can be resubmitted to obtain a higher grade.

You can submit most of your work online. Some of it will need to be handed or mailed in. Send them to ED 114A, SUNY Albany, Albany, NY 12222. Please mark hardcopy submissions with the course number: ETAP 426/526 (SL2). TA: Rick Parkany has a mailbox available in the same office.

You probably also noticed that there is no textbook for this course. The idea is that you should make your own textbook as you go. We highly recommend that you also print out the informational sections of this course (Overviews & Readings), copies of your work, and any web sites you find useful, and collect them all in a personal portfolio. Many previous students have found their portfolios really useful professionally (especially for job interviews). Your portfolio is yours and can be organized in any way you find useful.

If this all seems really confusing, it is and it isn't. We think computers really are changing the way we approach education and we have tried to make this course reflect some of those changes. It should feel a little uncomfortable to you, but we hope you will grow into it.

We have tried to be clear in the modules themselves about what you need to do for each of them. If it is easier for you, you can access all the assignments by category through the links in the Assignments module.

And you can always ask. A cool thing about asychronous learning is you can ask questions when they occur to you.

That's about it. Don't forget, if you have any questions, please ask (anyway you can -- if all else fails, call us).

Rick Parkany contact info: email rparkany@borg.com, home phone:(315)733-2016.

You can also email me through the course itself, stop by tuesday night, or make an appointment.