Office: 145 Main Hall.  I am available daily to meet with students, however my schedule is unpredictable so it is best if you call or email to make an appointment.

About this class: Educational Psychology focuses on how and why students learn, think and develop in school, and how teachers can enhance students' educational development.  We will examine a broad range of concepts, principles and theories related to teaching and learning during the semester. There are two significant features of the class that make it different from most other courses. First, it is offered for writing emphasis credit. As you may know, writing emphasis classes involve both formal writing and writing-to-learn (i.e., writing activities intended to help students better understand the subject matter of the course). I will describe the types and purposes of the writing activities in a separate handout.

A second important feature is the Problem-Based Learning format of the course. Problem-based learning involves a significant shift in the way that students and teachers approach learning the subject matter of the course. In a traditional classroom format, students learn the subject matter by moving from one topic to the next during the semester. Examinations cover a set of topics chronologically; so there might be four, evenly spaced exams during a semester with each one covering one-fourth of the lectures and readings. In contrast, a problem-based learning (PBL) format begins with multifaceted, authentic and open-ended problems—the kinds of problems that people encounter in "real-life" settings. Students learn the subject matter by working through the problems, following various paths through readings and class discussions to develop an understanding of the issues and solutions to the dilemmas. Each problem cuts across many different topics. So, you can expect to be studying several topics simultaneously rather than sequentially as you might in a more traditional format.

PBL is an approach that, I believe, can deepen students' understanding of the subject and lead to the ability to use the subject matter in new situations. To understand something deeply means that you can use it flexibly in new problem situations. PBL engages you in this activity throughout the course, and your understanding should develop as a result of working through problems with the subject matter. 

Another advantage of PBL is that it can motivate the subject matter of the course. In other words, the subject matter of the class becomes important to students in order to understand and solve problems. Many times in a regular classroom students do not see a larger purpose or reason to learn the subject—other than to pass the tests and get a grade. In PBL the reason to learn the subject is to solve problems that have important meaning and consequences separate from just getting a grade.

To summarize, this class breaks with a traditional class format in a number of ways. Rather than following a topic by topic format, you can expect to work on complex problems, cases and projects during the semester. Sometimes you will work individually and sometimes as a member of a team. Writing also plays an important role in the course, as a way to learn about the subject and a way to communicate ideas. 

Course Objectives: By the end of this course all students should have made significant progress toward:

     1. understanding and using important ideas, theories, principles and concepts to solve or resolve problems related to teaching and learning.

     2. communicating more effectively in writing and using writing more effectively as a way to understand the subject matter of the course.

     3. improving your ability to assess your own learning, thinking and ideas.

The texts for the course are available from Textbook Rental.

1.Blythe, Tina et. al. (1998). The Teaching for Understanding Guide. Jossey-Bass Publishers. San Francisco.

2.Damon, William (1995). Greater Expectations: Overcoming the Culture of Indulgence in Our Homes and Schools. Free Fress. New York.

3.Kohn, Alfie (1996). Beyond Discipline: From Compliance to Community. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Alexandria, VA.

4.Stevenson, Harold & Stigler, James (1993). The Learning Gap: Why Our Schools Are Failing and What We Can Learn From Japanese and Chinese Education. Summit Books. New York.

5.Tishman, Shari, Perkins, David N., & Jay, Eileen (1995). The Thinking Classroom: Learning and Teaching in a Culture of Thinking. Allyn and Bacon, Boston.

Learning Activities.  This class will include the following types of learning activities:

1.Problem-based learning. Students will work on a number of problems and cases during the semester. Most of these will extend beyond a single class session.

2.Interactive learning. A good deal of the course work will take place in small groups or teams.

3.Electronic Discussions. The class is set up on a web site that can accommodate electronic discussions. Students will contribute to these regularly.

4.Writing.  Students will write regularly throughout the course, both as a way to learn the course material (i.e., writing-to-learn) and as a way to communicate ideas to others (i.e., formal writing).

5.Reading. Careful, close reading is a very important part of the class.

 

Evaluation and Grading.   Assessment is a process of examining a person's learning and performance with respect to well-defined criteria and standards. At the end of the course I make a summary judgment about how well you have met the course objectives, and turn that judgment into a grade. But, assessment is more than simply evaluating student work for a grade; it is an essential part of learning. During the semester, I will use evaluation rubrics to clarify the criteria and standards for quality of learning in the class. Your performance will be judged against these criteria and standards and not against the performance of other students in the class. Assessment will focus heavily on providing you with ongoing information about the quality of your learning and performance, information that you can use to improve your understanding and performance. One of the course goals to become better at judging the quality of your own learning and performance, so I will be asking you to do quite a bit of self-assessment.

There are no examinations in the traditional sense; however, you will produce many pieces of work in the class that will contribute to your course grade. There will be many opportunities to demonstrate what you understand, what you can do with what you understand, and how well you can judge your own learning. The course grade will be based on a combination of these "understanding performances." The activities that will be evaluated for grading purposes include:

1.Case analyses

2.Problem logs that include analyses and solutions

3.Writing projects

4.Contributions to Discussion Forums

I will give you advance notice about what activities will be evaluated for grading as well as the criteria and standards for the evaluations. I do not have a predetermined or fixed idea about the relative importance of these different activities for your course grade. 

How to do well in this class.  I think you would be well served to approach this class as a kind of adventure! It will be a different way to learn, and I believe the problems, cases, projects and subject matter will always be interesting and sometimes even fascinating.

Given the PBL format it would also be helpful to approach the material not as information to be memorized, but as ideas that can help you better understand and solve problems and dilemmas. The problems and cases will push you to rethink and revise your ideas repeatedly. There will be no "easy" answers, and that's as it should be--since educational problems rarely have easy answers. Perhaps the best way to prepare yourself is to adopt an inquiring mind—as we explore the problems we will engage in systematic inquiry--hypothesizing, collecting evidence and information, proposing solutions, testing solutions against the evidence, accepting, rejecting or revising our hypotheses and so on.

You will learn a lot during the semester, but most important is the depth of your understanding—your capacity to use what you learn with skill and good judgment. Read carefully and closely, challenge yourself to go beyond the information given, rely on your fellow classmates as resources, be a resource for your fellow classmates, ask questions, look for reasons to support your ideas, use writing to develop your ideas, seek feedback from others, be prepared for the unexpected, and be prepared to change your mind.