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=Technology Tools for School Reform=

Mikhak, Bakhtiar. //MAS.963 Technological Tools for School Reform, Fall 2005// . (Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MIT OpenCourseWare), __[|http://ocw.mit.edu]__  (Accessed 10 Jun, 2011). License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA **Direct Link**: [] **Description:** This course explores the potential impact of modern technologies on the school reforms debate. The first part of the course provides an overview of the current state of the school reform debate and reviews the ideas in the progressive school reform movement, as well as examining the new public charter school in Cambridge as a case study. The second part of the course requires critical study of research projects that hold promise as inspirations and guidelines for concrete multidisciplinary activities and curriculum for progressive charter schools. The course concludes with a discussion of the challenges in scaling the successful innovations in school reform to new contexts. (Source: course website)

The course was offered through Massachusetts Institute of Technology and originally posted in 2005.

**Strengths:**  According to the rubric created for evaluation of this course, some of the notable strengths are the clearly stated goals and objectives for the course. The course is organized well and there are several portions of the site that list assignments and where to find required readings, including links to Amazon.com to purchase textbooks. The instructor notes the importance of communicating with classmates to discuss course readings and assigns a group project. Main assignments include development of a website and research paper as well as presentations to the class and a broader audience. Given that this course was first taught in 2005, there have been a lot of advancements in technology and instructional design of online learning and Learning Management Systems. This course has the potential to be a highly interactive course with some updates to course design and content.

**Weaknesses:** The Technology Tools for School Reform course is not designed as a strong online course in respect to the LMS rubric designed by our group. The syllabus is vague making it difficult to determine the depth of the requirements and projects. Most of the content is listed as reading pdf and text sources although there are a few official websites, likethe  //No Child Left Behind Act// . There aren’t any videos or other multi-media sources. The course requirements and evaluation process are vague. Although students are asked to create a website as a final product, the requirements are unclear. The “exemplary” examples of student work do not show media rich websites but rather PDFs with mostly text.

There is a schedule that has a list of topics for each week but there is no further elaboration. The grading system is vague, lacking rubrics to guide student learning. The course does not have any communication tools, such as a discussion board, a chat area, or a place to display or share current student work. Consequently, there isn’t any evidence of student interaction or online collaboration. This course seems more of an “index” of readings than a contemporary online course.There are no multi-media tools used except links to resources which is more like first generation distance education <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Although the description of the Technology Tools for School Reform sounds exciting and progressive, there is little evidence on the course website of using current multi-media rich tools as part of this online course.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In the area of design, it is easy to find what ever information is provided, however there is no contact information or collaboration sites. The layout, colors, fonts, and spacing do create an easy buy not very eye-catching site. The initial photo is very appealing but misleading by today’s standards because it was not linked to the site or anything else as expected.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In terms of Community/ Interactivity this site fails poorly as well. There is little interaction between students and/or the instructor except in the class discussions which makes this basically a traditional style of instruction with some additional digital text added. This does not address the UDL guidelines of multiple means of representation for diverse populations. This course was published in 2005 after UDL was established and applied the previous decade which means it should have been used in higher educational institutions like MIT. In terms of Interactivity there is relatively little as the Course Requirements vaguely states it in : <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“All students are expected to do the readings, and to participate in discussions of the readings in class....You are encouraged to share the questions or issues that you found particularly provocative in the reading with the rest of the class.”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">There is only one collaborative experience evident which is on a research project as stated: <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Students will work in small groups to design tools, material and activities to be field-tested in the charter school during the term or beyond. We anticipate that each group will engage the faculty, administrators, and the broader school community in the design and implementation process.” This is also an authentic learning since the products are designed and used in a local school.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Below is our rubric and assigned scores with averages at the bottom. Please scroll to the right if you are not able to view the entire sheet in the window.

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