Educational Uses of Electronic Networks
C&I 300CN (SatEx)

Dates: January 20, January 27, March 23, May 4
(Snow/Backup Dates: 1/27, 2/3, 3/30)

Room: 176 Education Bldg.

Textbook: Williams, Bard (1995). The Internet for Teachers. Foster City, CA: IDG Books (ISBN 1-56884-600-2)

Terminal Server numbers: (800) to be given out in class; 217/244-8081

Class Email reflector: satex@mail.ed.uiuc.edu

Technical Support

Leah Dicker
Work: 32A Education (217) 333-6538
Home: (217) 359-0060
leah@uiuc.edu

• Identify your learning goals in this class.
• Participate in on-line electronic discussions and projects with the class and others on the network, complete network writing activities, and explore network resources.
• Learn the structure and process of on-line educational activities
• Maintain a "log" of on-line experiences during the semester and reflect on your experience.
• Write a couple of short papers about educational uses of networks.
• Propose, organize, and conduct a new network-based instructional activity.
• Write a summary paper which describes your instructional network experiences and analyzes the value of these activities.

C&I 300CN Assignments

All assignments should be sent to: satex-turn-in@mail.ed.uiuc.edu when turned in for grading, except for papers due the last day of class. These should be printed on paper and turned in at the last class meeting. Some assignments are also to be posted to a reflector and these are noted in the list below.

1/30 Short Bio: Send a short bio to the satex-turn-in@mail.ed.uiuc.edu We will add the bio to your personal web page .

2/10 Project Exploration: Identify an on-going project activity which is network based. Join the activity and participate as fully as possible in order to learn about how the project is structured. Keep notes in your log so you can write a summary of your participation.

2/17 Paper 1: Discuss your ideas about how you would like to use networks in education (breadth) and mention a couple of ideas for a project you might like to try in this class (depth).

2/24 Network 1: Swap Paper 1 electronically with another person in the class. Comment on their proposed curriculum plan. Make sure you mark your comments with your name, date, and time. Send your comments back to your partner. Write a response to your partner's comments and send that back to your partner. Then, send the finished document (paper, comments, response) back to your partner and send a copy to the satex-turn-in@mail.ed.uiuc.edu email account.

3/2 Project Proposal: Start implementing a networking project of your own. First, write a proposal for a Network Project. This is the proposal for your major class project. First send the project announcement to the class list satex@mail.ed.uiuc.edu Give feedback to other class members on their proposals. Then, after you have gotten feedback on your proposal, revise it and then "post" its on one or more listservs or newsgroups or some other mechanism by which it will be widely read. The project must be run electronically over the network. It can involve the SCHL boards, the K12 boards, your class at your school, a UI student group, or any approved group of students at remote locations. Remember keep the projects simple. The goal is to learn how to navigate the network as much as it is to develop skills in planning network activities.

3/2 Exploration Summary: Write a short summary of the project(s) you joined earlier. Send a copy of this summary to the SATEX reflector and to the satex-turn-in@mail.ed.uiuc.edu account.

3/9 Network 2: Pick a project proposal posted by a person in the class to the reflector. Suggest how it can be improved. Send a copy of their proposal with your comment to the author and send a copy to the satex-turn-in@mail.ed.uiuc.edu email account.

3/23 Progress Report: Bring a short progress report on your project to class and be prepared to briefly describe your progress.

5/4 Final Report: Bring a printed copy of your Network Project Report to class.

5/4 Net Log: Bring your log and a brief reflection paper to class. In the paper, summarize your usage, level of comfort, and specific episodes worth noting in your log. Please conclude with a comment on the extent to which you accomplished your network learning goals. (The specific details of this final assignment will be elaborated in class and by email).

Notes:

On campus students will also be required to share additional responsibilities related to group organization and project activities. Each on-campus person will select an off-campus school to work with.

Paper 1: This paper is to be a short piece, 2-3 pages.

Network 1, 2: These comments are to be short, one or two paragraphs.

Project Proposal: The proposal should be short, 1-2 pages. You might want to write a one paragraph overview and an outline of the project plan.

Project Report: The Project Report should be of medium length, 5-10. This report should have an description of the project activities, a discussion of the results (with samples of email or other network data collected), and a conclusion. This is not a research report. A literature review is not required, but for some projects it is highly recommended.

Log and Summary: Keep your network activity log on paper. Please use the attached log sheets, and make copies if you need more space. Try to make notes each time you log on and work over the network, as reconstructing at the end is unproductive in terms of helping you gain data for reflection on your network activities. The summary and analysis paper should be 1-2 pages.

All files: When turning in your written assignments, you can send MS Word files (Mac), text files (Mac), or email messages (any format). If you are sending attached files, please send the text in the body of an email message. All papers except those due on 3/23 and 5/4 are to be turned in electronically. The assignments due on 5/4 are to be printed on paper and put on floppy disk and handed in during class.