Course Redesign - EPY 303

All students pursuing an undergraduate degree in education take this course. The sections are large (40-60 students) and will soon become larger (>100). This course has great potential for impacting a large number of students. In this course, technology will be modeled using two major initiatives.

1. Web "Case Pages"
   • Thirty "Case Pages" will be developed for use in the course. A case page will be a multimedia Web page that describes a case that exemplifies a course concept or presents an opportunity to apply a course concept. For example, a case page could describe the concept "learned helplessness" by describing relevant research, showing a video clip of a student explaining why she cannot perform a task, links to other information sources and reflection questions.
   • Case pages will be used to set the stage for class and bulletin board discussions. They may also be used in a distance-learning version of the course.
2. Scaffolded Discussions
   • Advanced discussion board "modules" will be developed. These modules will utilize the most current ideas in the areas of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (Koschman) and Knowledge Forum's (Bereiter & Scardamalia).
   • The approach used to facilitate the scaffolded discussions will be determined through a literature review of the above areas. It is expected that the review will produce several alternatives programs and / or approaches to the facilitation of these discussions.

In addition to the above initiatives, at least one section of the course will be offered through the distance education office in the summer of 2001.

- Michael Nussbaum