fall 1992 First Year Honors Seminar. The Hitchhikers Guide to the University: An Exploration of Computers in Higher Education. Tuesdays and Thursdays 11:00 - 12:15 in SISCCAL (rm. 77 Peabody) Instructor: Christopher R. Wolfe 192 Peabody Hall 529-5670 Office Hours T.B.A.
Computers are rapidly becoming an integral part of higher education. Once the exclusive province of science and mathematics, today computers play an important role in fields as diverse as music, history, and psychology. The educational computing landscape now includes simulations and educational software on topics as different as Mendelian genetics and Latin American politics. Hypermedia, (interactive images, sound, text, and computer-generated animation) desk top publishing, "on-line" experiments, and sophisticated Geographic Information System are also emerging educational technologies. Does the future promise limitless possibilities, or will computers numb our minds and control every aspect of our lives?
This honors seminar for first year students seeks to explore the emerging role of computers in higher education, and their potential impact on the future. This course takes an interdisciplinary approach, blending critical thinking and imagination, theory and practice, reading, and hands-on experience. There are no prerequisites for the course, and previous knowledge of computers is not assumed. Students will read and discuss papers, explore and evaluate software and create a collective Hypertext. Some students may also develop software themselves with HyperCard for the Apple Macintosh.
Much of our activity will take place in the School of Interdisciplinary Studies Center for Computer Assisted Learning (SISCCAL), a multipurpose microcomputer center. Located in Peabody hall, SISCCAL features sixteen networked Macintosh computers with color monitors, laser printing, and scanning. The network links SISCCAL to Sherlock (Miami's on-line library catalog) and to the international Internet communication system.
Course Outline in Brief
The Possibilities Computer Assisted Learning Hypertext Critique of Computers in Education The Possibilities
Prose Overview
We'll start the course by imagining the possibilities for computers in higher education. While we're acquainting ourselves with the Macintosh computing environment, we'll read Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. We'll also take a field trip to the Time-Out on the Court video arcade at Forest Fair Mall to play Dactyl Nightmare; reportedly the best virtual reality game to date. Next we'll explore the current state of Computer Assisted Learning (CAL). We'll develop a theoretical foundation for our exploration by studying perspectives in psychology and courseware design. Computer-Assisted Instruction: A Synthesis of Theory, Practice, and Technology and The Hitchhiker's Reader will provide us with these foundations. In addition to reading about courseware, a key characteristic of this course is working with several kinds of educational software. Computer simulations such as SimCity and Hidden Agenda, discovery oriented learning environments such as Smithtown, and Hypermedia programs such as MacBaby will be the focus of these efforts. We will explore the world of Hypertext through readings in The Hitchhiker's Reader, through exploring Dickey's HyperPoems and Dougherty's Contour, and we will create our own Hypertext as a group project. Our critique of computers in education will be informed by Bowers' The Cultural Dimensions of Educational Computing: Understanding the Non-Neutrality of Technology. We will end the course, as it began, by imagining the possibilities for computers in higher education.
WCP 180.H and the Miami Plan for Liberal Education
WCP 180.H shares the goals and objectives of the Miami plan for liberal education, and satisfies Miami's Technology Requirement. The course is designed to promote critical thinking by providing you with opportunities to critically apply theory in the process of evaluation, and to critique theory from the perspective of personal experience. Both the theory paper and the critical evaluation of educational software promote reasoning and evaluation, and a sophisticated use of language and quantitative data.
We will work at understanding contexts by explicitly examining the contextual web surrounding the academy, and consider alternatives. The Bower book should be particularly helpful for this purpose. Our evaluation of educational software will be inadequate without an explicit consideration of the social, cognitive, pedagogical, and affective contexts in which computer based educational experiences are employed.
Engaging with other learners is central to the success of this course. The course has a seminar format which means that the expectation is that we will learn from each other. We will develop a hypertext as a group, and sometimes explore courseware in pairs. With the aid of electronic networks, we will literally engage other learners around the world!
Throughout the course we will be reflecting on our experiences as students - both with computers and in traditional classrooms. The group hypertext project demands both reflecting and acting, in developing hypertext.
This course introduces the methodology of technical professionals in the fields of courseware design and hypertext development. These methods include applying theory in developing a hypertext, field testing courseware, analyzing data, and evaluating a product on the basis of experience. The evaluation of empirical data, problem representation and solving, and the application of scientific principles from the field of psychology are important components of this process. The relationship between technology and society is a key component of this course and the central focus of several readings.
Miscellaneous Expenses
In addition to the books and reader, you are expected to have several 3.5 inch computer disks to backup your work. The virtual reality game Dactyl Nightmare costs $4.00.
Academic Honesty
Please read Part V, Sections 501 - 507 of the Student Handbook. The University policies on academic honesty discussed there apply to all aspects of this course.
Course Goals
By the end of this course you should:
´ Have a better understanding of Computer Assisted Learning
´ Have a better understanding of hypertext & hypermedia
´ Have a better understanding of contemporary learning theory
´ Be comfortable working in the Macintosh computing environment
´ Have developed your own ideas about computers in higher education
´ Have contemplated the pitfalls and potential of a future with hypertext, hypermedia, Computer Assisted Learning and Intelligent Tutoring Systems.
Assignments
Grading for the course will be based on a 1,000 point scale, with letter grades being assigned in the traditional fashion (e.g. 90%+ = A etc.). The portion of points for each assignment is outlined below.
15% Cognition and Computer Assisted Learning Paper 10% Homespun Hypertext Group Project 25% Critical Evaluation of Courseware: Criteria for Evaluation - 10% Courseware Evaluation - 15% 15% Hypertext Paper 10% Exercises 25% Final Project (one of the following) Computers and Higher Education paper Computers and Society paper Creative Writing or course themes HyperCard Stack
Cognition and Computer Assisted Learning Paper: A 3 - 5 page paper on cognitive theory and Computer Assisted Learning based on the readings from weeks 3 - 8. This paper will be integrated with papers from the rest of your classmates to form a group hypertext.
Homespun Hypertext Group Project: We will integrate the Cognition and Computer Assisted Learning paper from the entire class into a HyperCard based hypertext. The goal of this assignment is to learn about the "ins and outs" of hypertext through direct experience with building our own.
Critical Evaluation of Courseware (Criteria): How do you know if an educational software program is any good? Your task here is to develop criteria for evaluating courseware. The readings from weeks 3 - 6 should be particularly useful.
Critical Evaluation of Courseware (Evaluation): Here you will apply the criteria you developed above to evaluate courseware in the Center for Computer Assisted Learning (SISCCAL). The goal is to assess the strengths and weaknesses of several educational programs.
Hypertext Paper: A 5 - 7 page paper on hypertext (linear or hypertext format) based or the readings from weeks 9 - 12 and your experience developing the group hypertext.
Exercises: Mini exercises to be announced.
Final Project: A 7 - 10 page paper on computers and higher education or computers and society, creative writing or course themes, or a HyperCard Stack of your creation. Your topic must be approved by the professor.
Schedule of Readings, Assignments and Experiences
(Note: All readings should be completed by the first class meeting of the week. ´æIndicates in-class activities, Bold Indicates assignment due or noteworthy event. Additional exercises may be assigned as needed.)
The Possibilities Week 1: 8/26 & TH 8/28: Adams Chapters 1 - 12. ´ Syllabus Review and Macintosh Orientation Exercises. Week 2: T 9/1 & TH 9/3: Adams Chapters 13 - 35. ´æMacintosh Orientation Exercises. Computer Assisted Learning Week 3: TH 9/10: (M T Switch) Steinberg Preface, Chapters 1 & 2. ´ Hidden Agenda. Week 4: T 9/15 & TH 9/17: Wolfe Reader (1-4: Resnick (a), Resnick (b), Glaser, and Papert). ´ SimCity. Week 5: T 9/22 & TH 9/24: Wolfe Reader (5 & 6: Jonassen and Underwood & Underwood). ´æSmithtown. Week 6: T 9/29 & TH 10/1: Steinberg Chapters 3 - 4, 10: Courseware Evaluation Criteria due 10/1. ´ MacBaby. Week 7: T 10/6 & TH 10/8: Steinberg Chapters 5 - 9. Week 8: T 10/13 & TH 10/15: Wolfe Reader (7 - 10: Larkin et. al., Burns & Capps; Woolf; and Bergeron & Paquette). ´ HyperCard Orientation Exercises Hypertext and Hypermedia Week 9: T 10/20 & TH 10/22: Wolfe Reader (11 - 13: Landow & Delany; Dickey; Dougherty). Cognition and Computer Assisted Learning Paper Due 10/20. ´ Contour, HyperPoems. Homespun Hypertext Group Project. Week 10: T 10/27 & TH 10/29: Wolfe Reader (14 - 17: Yankelovich et. al.; Landow; Bolter; Moulthrop). ´ Homespun Hypertext Group Project. Week 11: 11/3 (Vote) and TH 11/5: Delany & Landow p. 133 - 140, 153 - 167. Wolfe Reader (18 - 21: Yankelovich; Slatin; Irish & Trigg; Charney). ´ Complete Homespun Hypertext Group Project. Week 12: T 11/10 & TH 11/12: Wolfe Reader (22 & 23: Cumming & Sinclair; Brockman et. al.). ´ Evaluate Homespun Hypertext Group Project. Week 13: T 11/17 & TH 11/19. Courseware Evaluation due 11/19. ´ Discuss and work on final projects Critique of Computers in Education Week 14: T 11/24: (Thanksgiving) Bower Chapter 1 & 2. Week 15: T 12/1 & TH 12/3: Bower Chapter 3 & 4. Hypertext paper due 12/1. The Possibilities Week 16: T 12/8 & TH 12/10. ´ Clossing Discussion Finals Week: Final Project due.
Required Readings
Adams, Douglas. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. New York: Harmony Books, 1979.
Bowers, C. A.. The Cultural Dimensions of Educational Computing: Understanding the Non-Neutrality of Technology. New York: Teachers College Press, 1988.
Steinberg, Esther R. Computer-Assisted Instruction: A Synthesis of Theory, Practice, and Technology. Hillsdale, New Jersey: Erlbaum, 1991.
Wolfe, Christopher R. Hitchhiker's Reader. Oxford, Ohio: Oxford Copy Shop, 1992.
Hitchhiker's Reader Table of Contents
1. Resnick, L. B. (1989). Introduction. In Lauren B. Resnick (Ed.), Knowing, Learning, and Instruction: Essays in Honor of Robert Glaser (pp. 1-14, 23- 24). Hillsdale, New Jersey: Erlbaum.
2. Resnick, L. B. (1987). Instruction and the cultivation of thinking. In Erik De Corte, Hans Lodewijks, Roger Parmentier, and Pieter Span (Eds.), Learning & Instruction: European Research in an International Context Volume 1 (pp. 415-422). New York, New York: Leuven University Press and Pergamon Press.
3. Glaser, R. (1987). Learning theory and theories of knowledge. In Erik De Corte, Hans Lodewijks, Roger Parmentier, and Pieter Span (Eds.), Learning & Instruction: European Research in an International Context Volume 1 (pp. 397-414). New York, New York: Leuven University Press and Pergamon Press.
4. Papert, S. (1984). Computer as mudpie. In Dale Peterson (Ed.), Intelligent Schoolhouse (pp. 17-26). Reston, Virginia: Reston Publishing.
5. Jonassen, D. H. (1988). Integrating learning strategies into courseware to facilitate deeper processing. In David H. Jonassen (Ed.), Instructional Designs for Microcomputer Courseware (pp. 151-181). Hillsdale, New Jersey: Erlbaum.
6. Underwood, J. D. M. and Underwood, G. (1990). Evaluation and innovation. In Jean D. M. Underwood and Geoffrey Underwood, Computers and Learning: Helping Children Acquire Thinking Skills (pp. 169-202). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Basil Blackwell, Inc..
7. Larkin, J. H. and Chabay, R. W. (1992). Introduction. In Jill H. Larkin and Ruth W. Chabay (Eds.), Computer-Assisted Instruction and Intelligent Tutoring Systems (pp. 1-7). Hillsdale, New Jersey: Erlbaum.
8. Burns, H. L. and Capps, C. G. (1988). Foundations of intelligent tutoring systems: An introduction. In Martha C. Polson and Jeffrey Richardson (Eds.), Foundations of Intelligent Tutoring Systems (pp. 1-19). Hillsdale, New Jersey: Erlbaum.
9. Woolf, B. (1990). 20 years in the trenches: What have we learned? In Claude Frasson and Gilles Gauthier (Eds.), Intelligent Tutoring Systems: At the Crossroads of Artificial Intelligence and Education (pp. 234-250). Norwood, New Jersey: Ablex.
10. Bergeron, A. and Paquette, G. (1990). Discovery environments and intelligent learning tools. In Claude Frasson and Gilles Gauthier (Eds.), Intelligent Tutoring Systems: At the Crossroads of Artificial Intelligence and Education (pp. 34-55). Norwood, New Jersey: Ablex.
11. Landow, G. P. & Delany, P. (1991). Hypertext, hypermedia, and literary studies: The state of the art. In Paul Delany & George P. Landow (Eds.), Hypermedia and Literary Studies (pp. 3-50). Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.
12. Dickey, W. (1991). Poem descending a staircase: Hypertext and the simultaneity of experience. In Paul Delany & George P. Landow (Eds.), Hypermedia and Literary Studies (pp. 143-152). Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.
13. Dougherty, T. J. (1990). Contour: A hypermedia environment for teaching about subjective contours and other visual illusions. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 22, 223-227.
14. Yankelovich, N., Meyrowitz, N., & van Dam, A. (1991). Reading and writing the electronic book. In Paul Delany & George P. Landow (Eds.), Hypermedia and Literary Studies (pp. 53-79). Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.
15. Landow, G. P. (1991). The rhetoric of hypermedia: Some rules for authors. In Paul Delany & George P. Landow (Eds.), Hypermedia and Literary Studies (pp. 81-103). Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.
16. Bolter, J. D. (1991). Topographic writing: Hypertext and the electronic writing space. In Paul Delany & George P. Landow (Eds.), Hypermedia and Literary Studies (pp. 105-118). Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.
17. Moulthrop, S. Reading from the map: Metonymy and metaphor in the fiction of ïforking paths.Í In Paul Delany & George P. Landow (Eds.), Hypermedia and Literary Studies (pp. 119-132). Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.
18. Yankelovich, N. (1991). From electronic books to electronic libraries: Revisiting ñreading and writing the electronic book.î In Paul Delany & George P. Landow (Eds.), Hypermedia and Literary Studies (pp. 133-141). Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.
19. Slatin, J. (1991). Reading hypertext: Order and coherence in a new media. In Paul Delany & George P. Landow (Eds.), Hypermedia and Literary Studies (pp. 153-169). Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.
20. Irish, P. M. and Trigg, R. H. (1989). Supporting collaboration in hypermedia: Issues and Experiences. In Edward Barrett (Ed.), The Society of Text: Hypertext, Hypermedia, and the Social Construction of Information (pp. 90-106). Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.
21. Charney, D. (1991). The impact of hypertext on processes of reading and writing. In S. J. Hillgoss and C. L. Selfe (Eds.), Literacy and Computers. New York: MLA.
22. Brockmann, R. J., Horton, W., and Brock, K. (1989). From database to hypertext via electronic publishing: An information odyssey. In Edward Barrett (Ed.), The Society of Text: Hypertext, Hypermedia, and the Social Construction of Information (pp. 162-205). Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.
23. Cumming, A. & Sinclair, G. (1991). Conceptualizing hypermedia curricula for literary studies in schools. In Paul Delany & George P. Landow (Eds.), Hypermedia and Literary Studies (pp. 315-328). Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.