EDUA
1800,
A12, “Psychology of Learning I”
September-April
(Terms 1 & 2), 2008-2009
Dr. Kelvin
Seifert
Department of Educational Administration,
Foundations, & Psychology
Room 205, Faculty of Education
Phone:
474-9859 (direct line);
474-9018 (department secretary)
Email:
FAX:
474-7564
Office
Hours: Wednesdays, 9:00-10:30 a.m. and Thursdays, 3:00-5:00 p.m.
Overview of the Course
In this course we will explore ideas and research about classroom learning and teaching. Wherever possible, topics will be related to experiences you have had in classrooms, or that you are likely to have as teachers in the future. Reaching these goals will require collaboration with classmates at times, working individually at other times, and at all times being responsible for your particular contributions to the welfare of the class. How the responsibilities to the group and to yourself will be balanced is explained in the rest of this course outline.
Course Materials
You must purchase the following book. It will be essential to success in the course.
Kidder,
Tracy. (1989). Among
Schoolchildren.
In
addition, you will need frequent (though not necessarily daily) access to the
Internet in order to complete some of the assignments, including writing the
textbook for this course (see Assignment #1-4 in the next sections of this
course outline). You can either use your own computer and Internet provider, if
you have one, or else you can use computers in the Education Computer Lab (Room
328, Faculty of Education) or elsewhere at The University of Manitoba.
My Personal and Professional Background
1. I have been a member of the Faculty of
Education since 1974. During that time I
have worked with the early years program, the inclusive special education
program, and the program in adult and post-secondary education program. Over
the years I have taught courses about learning (like this one), about research
methods, and about aspects of children's development.
2. At various times, I have served as an administrator
in the Faculty of Education (as Department Head and Associate Dean). Currently
I am the Acting Head of the Department of Educational Administration,
Foundations, and Psychology (the “EAF&P department”), located on the side
of the building near the Hard Chalk Café.
3. Prior to joining the Faculty in 1974, I
taught nursery programs and day care centres for three years. In 1977-78 I also
took a one-year leave from the Faculty to teach kindergarten in the
4. I grew up in
5.
I am married and have two grown children (ages 26 and 29).
Both live in the
6. I love to play the piano and the clarinet, and to sing. I also love international folk dancing, and I lead a small dance band that specializes in Balkan dance tunes (if you’re not sure what “Balkan” refers to, look it up on Wikipedia).
Assignments:
The deadline for each assignment is listed with the
assignment, but there is an additional master list of deadlines on page 13. Note:
All assignments must be typed!
Assignment #1: Analysis Among Schoolchildren, by Tracey Kidder. Write an essay that shows how the teacher in this book deals with one of the following rather general issues about educational psychology:
1. Motivation:
ways of directing, maintaining, and energizing students’ behavior
2. Assessment:
strategies used to gather information about students’ performance
3. Diversity:
significant differences among students in background, experiences, skills, or
knowledge
4. Behavior
management: techniques used to prevent and remedy difficult or
inappropriate behavior on the part of students
5. Relationships
with parents: challenges about them, and techniques for developing positive,
supportive relationships
6. Some
other topic that you consider important (but see me if you want to use this
option)
The essay should have the following parts:
a) Title: Think of a title that is creative and descriptive. Do not simply call the paper “Assignment #1,” “Psych of Learning Essay,” or “Analysis of Among Schoolchildren.”
b) Introduction (about 1 page): Explain the purpose and scope of the essay. In one sentence or so, define or explain each of the key terms related to your topic. Use a descriptive subheading to label this part of the essay (e.g. “Purpose of This Essay”).
c) Examples from the book (5-6 pages): Describe several examples from the book that illustrate the two topics that you have chosen. Present each example briefly, but also completely enough that it includes relevant details. Be careful to point out how each example represents one or more concepts related to your topic area. Cite the page number(s) from Among Schoolchildren where each example is presented.
For each concept used or discussed in the essay, find and cite complete references for it. There should be three citations. At least two of these should come from a general textbook about educational psychology; the other should come from another source. In general the other sources should include a specific place within a scholarly book, or else a specific journal article from the library. It may be a source from the Internet if it is scholarly and from a reputable source.
In choosing citations, make sure that they are relevant and not too “big” (e.g. do not cite an entire ed psych text to support a single concept that is discussed only in one small place within the text). Explain enough of the relevant concept or idea to show its relevance to the specific idea or place in your essay where it is cited.
Note: I will be spot checking citations for relevance, precision, and inappropriate plagiarism. (See also the comment about plagiarism on page 6 of this course outline.)
d) Conclusion
(about 1 page): Comment
briefly on how successful the teacher in Among
Schoolchildren was with regard to the topic of your essay. Then devise one
additional action or teaching strategy that might enhance the teacher’s
success. Make sure the proposed action or strategy is specific and practical,
and that it truly relates to your chosen topic. Cite a reference, if possible,
where someone might get help in implementing the proposed action or strategy.
Overall, keep the conclusion section brief.
DEADLINE: Session 5, October 8, 2008
WEIGHTING: 30%
Assignment #2: Critique and Edit an Article about Education from Wikipedia. Get acquainted with the online encyclopedia called Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org), and select one article from it on a topic about which you are especially knowledgeable. The article need not be about education, though it could be. What is important is that you consider yourself to be a bit of an expert about the topic.
Ideally, the article should be about 2-3 pages long when printed.
Using this article, do the following:
a) Create a Wikipedia account for yourself (it’s free and very safe), and sign in.
b) Print the article as it is and save the printout before doing any editing on it.
c) Write a critique of the article that is 2-3 pages long. The critique should do the following:
a. Summarize the key points of the article (note: this part should be one half-page at most);
b. Identify topics, facts, or points that are omitted in the article, but are relevant or important;
c. Identify sentences that seem unclear, misleading, poorly sequenced or organized, or ungrammatical;
d. Comment on the usefulness (or not) of the references and “additional resources” that may be listed at the bottom on the article; identify alternatives or additions to these.
d) After you have written the critique, use the critique as a basis for editing your chosen article. Do the editing directly online at the Wikipedia website. (We will spend a bit of time at the computer lab to acquaint you with how to do this, but expect also to self-educate yourself about this task to some extent.) Post and save online the new, revised version of the chosen article.
e) When all of the above is done, turn in the following documents to me:
a. The original printed version of the article.
b. Your critique/essay of the article.
c. The revised version of the article, printed from Wikipedia and as edited by you. (Do not turn in a version that you have printed for yourself separately from the posting on Wikipedia.)
DUE: Session 7, 22 October 2008
WEIGHTING: 10%
Assignment #3: Prepare a Table of Contents for an Ideal Textbook about Educational Psychology. Working with a group of other students (3-5 people, counting yourself), prepare a Table of Contents for an ideal textbook about educational psychology. There will be time in class for your group to design your Table of Contents.
You and
your group should start by examining the existing Table of Contents for the
online text called Educational
Psychology, found at the Learning and Technology Commons (LTC) website of
The University of
Revisions to Educational Psychology may consist of additions, deletions, reorganizations, or renaming of anything that you consider potentially helpful to yourself or to students like yourself. You can revise topics, subtopics, or whole chapters—you decide this with your group. Revisions can also include plans for changing the style of writing (within reason) for any features of the book, or even for the whole book. (Note, however, that adding graphics and pictures may be time-consuming and subject to stricter copyright regulations than adding text. So be very sparing about adding these features—perhaps not even using any at all. You may find that it works just about as well to point readers, via links, to graphics or photos found elsewhere on the internet.)
In addition to working on the Table of Contents, your group will recommend who in your group should write about which topics for each member of the group. Note, though, that I will make the final assignments of topics.
Each student will write about one topic, consistent with the length and breadth guidelines for the assignment. You may ask to write about more than one topic as long as the total material to be written is the equivalent of about five pages.
Your group’s recommendations for writing assignments will take the following form:
1) They will be recommendations or preferences, not simply automatic self-choices. Generally I will honor the recommendations, but I will also reserve the right to modify them to insure broad coverage of topics and to avoid duplications. I will need a degree of flexibility in doing so.
2) You must recommend two or three possible topics for each group member. These should be listed in order of priority (first choice, second choice, third choice).
3) Within your group, members’ recommendations may not overlap in any respect—i.e. fellow group members may not make the same choice(s), even for second or third priority topics. Aim for the broadest possible coverage.
4) Each recommended topic or combination of topics should result in about 1000-1200 words of writing. That’s about five pages typed, when double-spaced. Neither trivial topics nor huge ones are allowed!
When all of the above steps are finished, your group should turn in two documents:
1) Group-constructed Table of Contents that includes proposed authors’ names with each topic wherever appropriate (many topics—perhaps even the majority—may be blank).
2) A separate listing of group members and their recommended topics, in rank order of preference (i.e. for each person, list the first choice first, the second choice second, etc.).
I will combine and integrate all groups’ Tables of Contents into a single master Table of Contents. The TC will honor your preferences, while also avoiding duplications and achieving as much breadth of coverage as possible. I will then post the integrated, master Table of Contents on the LTC Wiki website within about one week’s time, while you are still completing your teaching block in the schools.
Consult the posted TC to find out your final writing assignment. Refer to the TC as well if you are curious about what other students will be writing about.
DUE: Session 9, 5 November 2008
WEIGHTING: 10% assigned in common (everyone in your group will get the same mark)
Assignment #4: Write 1000-1200 words based on your assigned textbook topic. The material should combine qualities appropriate for an ideal textbook with qualities you consider helpful to students like yourself who are learning about educational psychology. Specifically, think about the following:
1) The language should be clear, concise, and accessible.
2) You may use technical terms, but do so sparingly. When you introduce a technical or special term, be sure to define it immediately and clearly.
3) You may speak directly to your readers (i.e. use the second-person “you”), if you wish, but don’t use this style so much that the text sounds overly casual.
4) The content that you write should serve the needs of current education students and/or future teachers. Do not be guided excessively by the choices and emphasis of professional authors in their commercial texts. They may have overemphasized less useful topics and underemphasized more important ones.
5) Coverage should be your own creation. It should not simply reproduce what you see in existing commercial texts or existing websites. Simply cutting and pasting from any of these constitutes plagiarism, and will be dealt with as such. (Note, too, that plagiarism and near-plagiarism is surprisingly easy to spot using modern computer and Internet technology tools.)
Keep in mind that readers will be students like yourself—individuals seeking to become teachers in the near future. They will not be professors like me. So phrase and design everything with fellow students in mind. On the other hand, remember that “students like yourself” are actually very diverse, so try to show awareness of this fact as well. Because your article will eventually be published on the Internet, it will be readable from anywhere in the English-speaking world. You can expect at least 1000+ people to read your article per year, so don’t mess it up!
The article should include three scholarly references (journal articles, not websites, that you have actually seen and that you are confident truly support the specific point(s) that you are making). The references should be listed according to typical APA bibliographic style.
(Note that for the next assignment (Assignment #5), the formatting will need to be changed to fit the software requirements of wiki referencing and bibliographies. I will demonstrate these changes and give you a handout to help with doing this. Wiki procedures differ from conventional APA-style referencing in certain ways, and may require a bit of tinkering in order to get right.)
In addition, the article should list three external resources (usually websites or web-published articles) that are both practical and relevant to your topic. These should also be formatted correctly for wiki publication.
Because the paper for this assignment will be used for the next assignment (Assignment #5), keep the formatting simple. You may use bulleted or number lists when/if appropriate. Headings and subheadings are a good idea, to help readers navigate through your ideas. But pictures, graphics, and tables are not a good idea because they take a lot of work to format correctly. I recommend simply referring readers to links for these materials if they already exist elsewhere on the internet (you will see why when you do Assignment #5!).
Unlike for Assignment #5, turn in Assignment #4 as a separate, unposted document in Word (“*.doc”) format. In addition, however, I recommend that you print and save it as a “rich text file” (rtf) or “plain text file,” using Courier or Courier New as the font. Using one of these formats will make the work easier for Assignment #5. Even though a plain text font will by definition make the essay look “plain,” the difference in visual appearance will not affect on your mark for the assignment.
DUE: Session 7, 22 October 2008
WEIGHTING: 20% (individually assigned)
Assignment #5: Post article on LTC Wiki. Post your material from Assignment #4 on the LTC wiki, which is hosted by The University of Manitoba (http://ltc.umanitoba.ca/wiki/Educational_psychology). By the time you are ready to do this, I will have already posted the revised, master Table of Contents at the site—one that supersedes the Table of Contents composed by last year’s students. You are responsible for posting your article, linking it to the appropriate part of the appropriate chapter in the posted Table of Contents. To do this, work directly with the Wiki editing tools at the website. Editing directly online is not hard, but it has to be done carefully. For most people this task will take a bit of practice, tinkering, and patience.
The final, posted article should be error-free and formatted in a simple, readable way. It should include all of the scholarly references that you found for Assignment #4. The references need to be posted and listed according to normal wiki formatting procedures I will demonstrate these and give you a handout to help with this. Wiki formatting differs from conventional APA-style referencing in certain ways, and may require a bit of tinkering in order to get right.
In addition, the article should list two external resources (usually websites or web-published articles) that are practical and relevant to your topic. These should also be formatted correctly for wiki publication.
Note: the hardest part of this particular assignment will be the mechanics of formatting, not the writing of the ideas. So leave yourself lots of time for posting your article. Formatting correctly can be a pain in the neck, but it is worth doing because your article will have a BIG audience—not just me, but literally the whole world. A good-looking article will add greatly to the willingness of Internet-readers—fellow students throughout the English-speaking world—to consult with and use your ideas. (I am not exaggerating here.)
I cannot emphasize it enough: Your audience will be far broader than just me (the professor); it will also be other future teachers.
DUE: Session 14, 12:00 midnight, 2 February 2009 (final posting due then)
WEIGHTING: 10%
Assignment #6: Identify Potential “Featured” Articles or Topics. Read all of the articles posted for the online textbook, including any carried over without revision from last year’s version of the text. Altogether you will have to read about 30,000 words, or the equivalent of about 100 pages (when formatted as in a book) or 150 pages (when formatted as in Word documents)—i.e. about 25% of the length of a conventional textbook.
Select any three of the articles that you consider especially deserving of future students’ attention. Your selection should discuss the following qualities, though not necessarily in this order of priority:
1) usefulness to education students like yourself,
2) relevance to the themes of educational psychology,
3) accessibility of writing style (ease of reading),
4) clarity and appropriateness of examples, and
5) accuracy and appropriateness of theory and concepts used. Cite examples to support your claims about the quality of the articles.
Write a brief paper explaining how the above factors led to your selection of articles. Go beyond obvious, general reasons (“I just happen to like this paper”, “Classroom management is important” etc.). For each article selected, cite one additional reference (i.e. not one cited in the article itself) supporting all, or at least part, of your position. The reference should come from any of the commercial textbooks used earlier in the course when you designed the Table of Contents.
The paper should devote about two average paragraphs to each of the three selected articles. With additional introductory or concluding comments, the overall paper should be no more than 3-4 pages long when typed, double-spaced, as a Word document.
DUE: Session 17, 25 February 2009
WEIGHTING: 10%
Assignment #7: Group
Presentation about Among Schoolchildren.
Work with a few other classmates to present a five-minute skit that portrays some
aspect or scene from the book Among
Schoolchildren. The skit should illustrate one or two issues or ideas that
you or classmates wrote about for the online textbook (Assignments #4 and #5).
You will have to settle within your group about which issue(s) to illustrate in
your skit, because there will not be time to demonstrate them all.
Part of the skit
should include a concise commentary or narration that explains what issue(s) is
being illustrated. The commentary or narration should be inserted appropriately
into the overall presentation (before, during, or after), as you see fit.
There will be time
in class to prepare the skit. To use this time well, it will help to be
thinking ahead about what would make a good skit. It will also help to talk
with potential group-mates about the design of the skit. Do this ahead of time as
much as possible.
DEADLINE: Sessions 18, 4 March, 2009
WEIGHTING: 10% (in common for your group)
Grading Standards
In keeping with Faculty of Education policies about grading
standards, I will use the following standards in determining final letter
grades for the course:
Grade %
Equivalent
A+ 97-100%
A 90-96%
B+ 87-89%
B 80-86%
C+ 77-79%
C 70-76%
D 60-69%
F less
than 60%
Deadlines and Weightings for Assignments
Refer often to the table below, because it lists the
deadlines for each assignment. Note that
the deadlines for your section of this course may differ slightly from the
deadlines for the other early years section.
Assignment Weighting Session Date
A#1, Essay about Among
Schoolchildren 30 points 5 Oct
8
A#2, Wikipedia critique and posting 10 points 7 Oct 22
A#3, Group-designed TC of online text 10 points 9 Nov 5
A#4, Draft of online text article 20 points 12 Jan 21
A#5, Posting of online text article 10 points 14 Feb
4
A#6, Recommendations re posted articles 10
points 17 Feb 25
A#7,
Group Presentation of Among Schlchn 10 points 18 March
4
Schedule
of Topics, Activities and Assignments:
Class activities are subject to some
flexibility or change; deadlines for assignments, however, are firm.
|
Session & Date |
Topics,
Activities, and/or Deadlines |
|
1. Sept 10 |
Introduction to the course. Begin
in-class coverage of major themes of educational psychology. |
|
2. Sept 17 |
Behaviorism (classroom management);
models of motivation; best practices about assessment of learning; diversity
among students; … |
|
3. Sept 24 |
…continue with topics from September 10
& 17… |
|
4. Oct 1 |
Visit Dafoe Library; examine sample
textbooks about educational psychology; review TCs of major texts; etc…. |
|
5. Oct 8 |
Due A#1, Essay about Among Schoolchildren; visit Faculty of Education computer
lab for demonstration of Wikipedia; continue designing TC for online text |
|
6. Oct 15 |
…continue designing TC for online text… |
|
7. Oct 22 |
Due: A#2, Wikipedia
critique and posted editing |
|
8. Oct 29 |
|
|
9. Nov 5 |
Due: A#3, Group-designed
TCs |
|
Nov 12, 19, 26, Dec 3, 10 |
At your school placements. Good luck! J Master TC for online text posted by
November 12th. |
|
10. Jan 7 |
Visit computer lab again for
demonstration of LTC wiki that hosts our online text. |
|
11. Jan 14 |
|
|
12. Jan 21 |
Due: A#4: Draft of online
text article |
|
13. Jan 28 |
|
|
14. Feb 4 |
Due A#5: Online text
article posted |
|
15. Feb 11 |
|
|
16. Feb 18 |
|
|
17. Feb 25 |
Due A#6: Recommendations
re “featured” articles due |
|
18. March 4 |
Due A#7, Group
presentations about Among
Schoolchildren |
|
March 11, 18, 25, April 1, 8 |
At your school placements again. Good
luck! J |
Appendix #1:
More
about Assignment #2 (Editing an Existing
Wikipedia Page)
-
When doing Assignment #2 (editing an existing Wikipedia
page), the editing should be significant,
not minor. This means the following:
o
Make
it add up to 150-250 words (about ½ to 1 page) of new material, though this can
be distributed in more than one place.
o
Include
concepts, examples, or both.
o
Make
minor corrections about anything as needed—e.g. correct wiki formatting,
grammar, spelling, omitted or incorrect words, or whatever.
o
Add
at least one link to or from the page you are editing. The
linked page can be another Wikipedia page or another Internet resource. But
make sure it is focused, relevant, and not too general!
o
It
may reorganize or resequence existing material significantly.
Appendix
#2:
Information
and Guidelines for Assignment #4
(Writing a New Page in the LTC Wiki)
Getting
There
-
The URL for the educational psychology textbook
is: <ltc.umanitoba.ca/wikis> (that’s
lower-case “L-T-C” at the beginning, not “one-T-C”). Once there, go to
the search box in the left hand column and search for the term “educational
psychology”. The search should take you to the opening page of the textbook.
-
Create an account (it’s free and safe!). You can
either use your usual UMClaimID and password, or create a special account
different from this.
-
Sign in—always. In this course, you must
sign in for any and all editing on any wiki, so that I can have a record of the
work you have done.
Creating Links
-
If you are writing new page (vs. editing an
existing one), the new page must contain a link from a relevant
chapter-opening page (i.e. from the page with the chapter number and title on it).
This can only be done by visiting and editing the source page or originating
page; it cannot be done from the page you yourself are creating.
-
Your new page must also link back to the
relevant chapter-opening page, as well as to at least one other specific page
in the text. This can be done from within your assigned page.
-
For Assignment #4 (the stand-alone, initial
printing of the page), you will need to devise a clear, tidy way to indicate
where every link will occur in the text, and to what other web page or web site
each link will point. You might have to handwrite this information onto the
manuscript somehow.
The Content
-
Keep a balance between explanation of concepts
and supportive examples. The two elements do not have to fill precisely equal
amounts of physical space, but they both have to be clearly present.
-
Note any further guidelines about style and
content found anywhere in this course outline. Some are scattered around!
-
Examples may come from your personal experience
or be made up. If they come from another publication or web page, they should
be cited appropriately. Wherever they come from, they should be focused on and
relevant to the point being made, contain as little distracting content as
possible, and generally be simple and to-the-point.
Citations
-
All sources must be cited, whether web-based
or library referenced. Use APA citation style wherever possible, though modify
it as needed when posting on the Wiki. Make sure citations are authoritative
and truly focused on your topic (i.e. not too general or merely tangential).
Formatting
-
For
Assignment #5, marks will depend on uploading your page successfully so that it
displays good Wiki formatting. Links should work (test them!), paragraphs
should be visible and reasonable in length, and all text should display in a
font-size that is appropriate. For most people, achieving these results takes a
bit of practice and tinkering, either in the Computer Lab or at home with
Internet access.
-
Note
that when a posted Wiki page is printed, it may display different amounts of
white space than when the same page is printed simply as a document in Word. Do
not worry about this; it is normal and will not cause me to think your paper is
too long.
Appendix #3:
Additional Information
for Assignment #7, “Group Presentation
about Among Schoolchildren”
1.
Read
Among Schoolchildren, by Tracy
Kidder, according to the timeline and deadlines that I will provide in class.
2.
From
time to time in class, we will review some of aspects of the plot and
“messages” of the book.
3.
At
various times in class, you will work in a group of 3-4 students. (I will
assist you in forming the groups.) Each group will prepare a skit illustrating one of the following topics:
1. Motivation: ways of directing, maintaining,
and energizing students’ behavior
2. Assessment: strategies used to gather
information about students’ performance
3. Diversity:
significant differences among students in background, experiences, skills, or
knowledge
4. Behavior
management: techniques used to prevent and remedy difficult or
inappropriate behavior on the part of students
5. Relationships
with parents: challenges about them, and techniques for developing positive,
supportive relationships
6. Some other topic that you choose (but
see me if you want to use this option)
4. The skit will have the following properties:
a) Illustrate, extend or modify one particular feature, incident or scene in the book
b) Involve everyone in your group
c) Relate to or illustrate an idea about teaching or learning taken from the online wiki text
5. Present the skit on March 4th (Session 18). I will determine at random which session will be your presentation date.
6. Along with your skit, turn in a brief explanation (1-2 pages) of how or why the skit illustrates its particular point or idea. The explanation should contain the following:
a. Indicate the question that your group addressed from the assignment.
b. Indicate what scene, feature, or character of the book is being changes (cite relevant pages or chapter).
c. Summarize the plot of the skit in one paragraph.
d. Explain how the plot relates to the question in Point (a) above.
7. I will mark the skit on the basis by two criteria:
a) How well it illustrates the intended concept(s), and
b) How accurate or appropriate the concept itself has been used
c) Quality of delivery (pacing, confidence, smoothness of flow, awareness of audience reactions and needs)
I will use (and give you a copy of) a marking rubric for the skit.
8. I will mark each presentation within 24 hours of the day when you present it. In most cases you should be able to have your mark with 48 hours of the presentation. (See also the marking rubric in Appendix #4.)
Appendix
#5:
Marking
Rubric for Assignment #7 (Group Presentation about Among Schoolchildren)
|
Feature of Presentation |
Aim for: |
Comments: |
Possible Points |
Actual Points |
|
Accuracy of concept, idea, or theme |
-
concept, idea, or theme clearly identified and explained as needed; relation to online wiki text identified;
importance to teaching or learning explained briefly; |
|
3 |
|
|
Appropriateness of example(s) illustrated in skit |
-
relevance of example(s) explained; examples demonstrated or illustrated clearly; minimum of distracting
detail in example(s) |
|
3 |
|
|
Quality of Delivery |
-
members seem relaxed, confident; pacing good; voice projection is good;
members know their cues; delivery flows smoothly; props support the skit
without distracting |
|
4 |
|
TOTAL: 10