The purpose of this course is threefold:
- A theoretical foundation: you will learn more about the use of ICT in Education from a pedagogical-didactical, learning psychological and technological perspective (the TPACK model). In addition, you will read several state-of-the art articles/papers that enable you to develop a comprehensive understanding of the role of ICT in education. Students start with an introduction of the ICT themes through six web lecture and three articles. The Introduction web lectures and articles are mandatory for all students. From the remainder ICT themes, students can select six that interest them most.
- The application of ICT in education: We refer to this by ‘Learning-by-designing’. In groups you will design a practical educational ICT application (you don’t have to develop it). The starting point is the ICT context from either your school or your teaching practice (or that of a fellow student) that you will analyze. Based on this analysis and the aforementioned theoretical foundation you will design an application in which ICT will be deployed to improve, strengthen or transform the didactics of a subject (e.g., math didactics) in secondary education. In addition, you have to write a well-argued evaluation report on the ICT application of another group. We also pay attention to the different types of ICT tools that can be used in schools, what you can do with them (with which ICT themes they connect) and how to use them effectively in the classroom.
- Reflective practice: the course emphasizes that students (learn to) reflect on their ICT skills in education so as to engage in a process of continuous learning. You will do that by keeping up a journal regarding the development of your educational ICT skills. Material for this journal will come from studying the literature, the process of designing an educational ICT application and by profiling your educational ICT skills on the basis of a self-assessment and a peer assessment. You will do the latter at the beginning and at the end of the course.
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This course uses blended learning, which means that it is student-centered. This is reflected in the balance between face-to-face meetings and online education (e.g., web lectures and supervision by means of Skype or a similar technology). Student-centered in this course also means that you have the opportunity to choose in some degree the subjects (i.e., ICT themes) that you are interested in and that you deem to be relevant for an educational ICT application that you have to design. However, it does not mean that you will do all learning activities on your own: collaborative learning is paramount as well, because the ICT application will be designed and evaluated in groups of 3 or 4 students.
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