Education 626: Educational Software Design and Authoring

Educational Studies
School of Education
University of Michigan

Fall term 1996
Mondays 4:00-7:00 PM
in 2211 (the Multimedia Classroom)
on the second floor of the School of Education

 

Welcome to a pratical course that explores the relation of educational software design and authoring

Instructor	Carl Berger
Office	1600M SEB
Office hours	Office Hours by appointment
Phone	Carol Birmingham @ 313 763 1342
	or Kathy Wood@ 313 763 2123
Internet E-Mail address Internet URL	Carl.Berger@umich.edu http://www.oit.itd.umich.edu/~cberger/
Teaching Assistant	Rosalind Kam kamr@umich.edu

Contents

• Introduction
  
• Assumptions
  
• Philosophy
  
• Driving questions of the course
  
• Prerequisites
  
• Course software
  
• Course topics
  
• Course schedule
  
• Course requirements
  
• Grades
  
• Instructional Design
  
• Reading list
  
• Class Presentations
  
• Class Project
  
• Annotated Bibliography
  
• A starting Concept Map
  

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Introduction

ED 626: Educational Software Design and Authoring (3 credits)

Students identify significant educational problems and design, try out, and revise software or computer applications in the effort to solve these problems. Students will learn to use one or more authoring systems and explore the relationship between authoring systems and software design.

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The following assumptions are made:

• Understanding of technology comes from practice as well as study;
  
• All technology is value laden;
  
• Technology should make work easier, better or help us to do that we cannot now do; and
  
• The study of software design and paradigms of authoring systems allows use unique opportunities to understand the interplay of technology and learning.
  
  

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The philosophy of the course

Meaningful learning occurs when people solve authentic problems. In this course you will be given opportunity to work on the design of software to solve real problems. You will also be given the opportunity to explore authoring tools and see how the paradigm of the authoring tool influences software design.

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Driving questions of the course

Does technology really change how people learn? Are there unique design interactions with authoring? How can technolgy be used to forster learning and teaching? What tools can be used to help.

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Prerequisites

You should be able to use at least one brand of microcomputer. You should be able to use and prepare electronic bibliographies. You will be expected to design and generate an instructional program from an authoring system but you need not be familiar with an authoring program. You should also be willing to participate in action/problem oriented instruction. Finally, although this is not a programming course you should be able to develop a clear pattern of thinking that will lead to software design

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Course software

The following software will be used throughout the course. For much of the software, we have permission to use the software till the end of the course. The university has site licences for most of the programs.

• Oracle Media Objects
  
• PowerPoint
  
• Astound
  
• HyperStudio
  
• HyperCard
  
• Director
  
• Authorware
  
• PageMill/SiteMill
  
• Claris HomePage
  
• EndNote2 (A program to develop and keep bibliographies. )
  

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Course Requirements

You will be expected to:

• Participate in action/problem oriented research;
  
• Prepare for and participate in class discussion;
  
• Take responsibility to present a topic in class;
  
• Write evaluations research studies of technology and cognition,
  
• Use qualitative and quantitative analysis tools.
  
• Develop a project that produces an instructional piece of software. May be as simple as using PowerPoint to complex authoring on the web using HomePage. Students will present their projects to the class as well as produce a written report.
  
  

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Grades

Assignment	Percentage	Due date
Research participation	10%	Throughout
Class presentations	15%	Throughout
Network use	10%	Throughout
Authoring use and analysis	10%	Throughout
Course project	30%	12/16/96
Class/project participation	15%	Throughout

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Instructional Design

Definitions of Instructional Design (adapted from ARL)

Applied Research Laboratory's site on Training and Instructional Design (Penn State University)

Sherri Braxton's site on Instructional Design (George Washington University)

Examples of Graphic Design and Layout on the Web

Poison Prevention Sites on the Web

Digital Media Solutions site (has a lot of information about scanning, copyright, etc.)

Evaluation Guidelines for Instructional Technology Projects

 

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ED626 Class Presentations

Human Computer Interface

Dick & Carey Instructional Design Model

Gerlach & Ely Model

Rapid Prototyping Model

WorldChat

Usability Testing

Intellectual Properties

Image Processing

Software Deployment

 

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