• Communicating/delivering information
• Developing curriculum/creating teaching materials
• Engaging students in learning and problem solving in ways that could not be done without the technology

Although issues of productivity and professional practice are integrated into course assignments, the primary focus of Technology in Education is to ensure that teacher candidates are able to integrate technology to support meaningful and relevant instructional and assessment activities. Each candidate is required to develop a website to showcase the products they develop during the course and throughout the preparation program (samples available at http://www.wfu.edu/~cunninac/students2k.html). The content of the website includes, but is not limited to: a newsletter designed to demonstrate the integration of technology and curriculum standards in the teacher candidate’s content area; a field experience plan that is directly related to curriculum standards; a collection of annotated web-based resources; a professional presentation that outlines a fictitious school’s technology plan; and an instructional design project that demonstrates the candidate’s ability to design content-specific instruction and assessment activities. Teacher candidates also use video-editing tools to create a video anchor for a problem-based learning unit as well as design instruction and assessment activities that incorporate interactive video.

A major goal of the Technology in Education course is to encourage the development of instructional design strategies that include technology integration at a level that requires students to synthesize, analyze, evaluate, and create. Technologies are framed as “tools and learning environments that have been adapted or developed to function as intellectual partners with the learner” (Jonassen, 2000). In an effort to foster this approach to technology use, all major assignments, most classroom activities, and the final exam are presented as problem or project-based learning situations. Modeling this method of instructional design becomes a strategy for communicating to the students that educational technology is a tool for changing teaching and learning.

The Authentic Task Approach
All major assignments are set in a realistic educational context a classroom teacher might experience such as a technology-enhanced unit of instruction, a technology committee responsibility, an Open House presentation, a school publication, or a PTA meeting. Students create responses that reflect their content-area background, technology skills, and creativity, in response to a scenario presented by the instructor. The intent is to immerse students in activities that require them to use technology as a tool to complete a realistic educational task. Through modeling and immersion, it is hoped that future teachers develop a level of familiarity and comfort with this type of instructional strategy that ultimately reveals itself in their instructional design. Course assignments can be found online at http://www.wfu.edu/~cunninac/edtech/portfolioprojects.htm.

Megan Constance, Elementary Education (undergraduate)
Website: http://www.wfu.edu/%7Econsmm1/
Technology Portfolio: http://www.wfu.edu/%7Econsmm1/portfolio/portfoliomain.html

Catherine Ringer, Secondary Education – Math (undergraduate)
Website: http://wwws.wfu.edu/%7Eringce1/
Technology Portfolio: http://wwws.wfu.edu/%7Eringce1/techportfolio.htm

Katherine Baird, Secondary Education – Foreign Language (graduate)
Website: http://www.wfu.edu/%7Ebairke4/
Technology Portfolio: http://www.wfu.edu/%7Ebairke4/techportfolio.htm
FL Advocacy: http://www.wfu.edu/%7Ebairke4/advocacy.htm

Restructuring in both secondary and elementary education programs aligned the methods and technology courses in the same semester. This program change created an opportunity for faculty to collaborate on instructional design projects that help candidates develop meaningful and relevant curriculum units demonstrating appropriate technology integration. These curriculum units, assessment strategies, web and software resources are all developed with an eye toward use in field experiences. The digital video project in the elementary program is one collaborative technology project in the science methods and technology course that is used in the fall field experience. Candidates design and create and video anchors aligned with state science standards which are implemented as engagement for interactive science lessons in the field. Teacher candidates frequently use their websites to provide resources, information, and activities for students and to communicate with students and parents. The result of intentional alignment of methods and technology experiences is the natural integration of technology into classroom instruction during the student teaching phase of teacher preparation. The scaffolding of these experiences is reinforced by the deliberate alignment of methods and technology courses, the collaboration between faculty on assignments, and the authentic task approach to the development of technology skills and dispositions.

Course syllabi and schedules for each of the three sections of Technology in Education are available online at: http://www.wfu.edu/~cunninac/students2k.html

The following are direct links to pdf versions of the course syllabi:
EDU 307 Elementary Education http://www.wfu.edu/~cunninac/syllabussp05.pdf
EDU 307 Secondary Education http://www.wfu.edu/~cunninac/syllabus307fa04.pdf
EDU 607 Secondary Education http://www.wfu.edu/~cunninac/syllabus607fa04.pdf