1
Education and Computers
Course Paper
Preface
As a course certified by the School of Arts and Sciences for the Rutgers Core Curriculum,
students who enroll in Education & Computers (05:300:350) must fulfill Goal y (Employ current
technologies to access information, to conduct research, and to communicate findings) of the
Core. This assignment will provide evidence about how well students have progressed toward
that goal over the course of the semester.
Overview
The Internet in all its various forms has been transforming pre- and in-service development of
professional educators. Digital tools will be an important aspect of professional development in
the 21st Century. Educators will be expected to use digital technologies for numerous
professional purposes, including individual and collaborative research. (Council of Chief State
School Officers, 2013).
For this Course Paper, you will select a website that has the potential to support your efforts to
advance your expertise and professional development in education. This assignment has several
major goals. These goals are consistent with various levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy:
● Illustrate the structure of an educational website. (Applying)
● Judge the quality of sites that can support your professional development and expertise.
(Evaluating)
● Explain how teachers can use the website as consumer and producers of research.
(Analysis and Creating)
● Describe how theory influences the tools and resources offered in the website.
(Evaluating)
You should select a website for this assignment that you think would help advance your growth
and expertise as a professional educator. Please select one site from the list located on pages 6 to
8 of this document. If you wish to choose a different website, please check with your instructor
for approval.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Requirements
You must include headings for each of the sections of the Course Paper.
You must follow APA style; citations must include quotes around cited text, author name
with page number found in parentheses.
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
Course Paper must be proofread for spelling and grammar.
Course Paper must fulfill all conditions of the rubric.
2
Course Paper Sections
Introduction
For this section, provide a brief introduction to this Course Paper, in one or two paragraphs. This
introduction should identify the selected website as well as explain your reasons for its selection.
Section 1: Mission, Structure, and Organization of the Website
The structure and organization of a website affect the success of its mission. These elements
influence its appeal, range of offerings, accessibility, efficiency, and ease of use.
This section must:
● Discuss the primary mission of the site, including the ways it supports professional
development and practice.
● Provide a written overview that describes the organization of the site, including its main
components or sub-sections as well as tools or resources featured on the site.
● Contain a graphic organizer, or concept map, that provides a visual representation of the
organization of the site. You may use SmartArt or Shapes in Word, or any graphic
organizer tool that you find helpful and easy to use to create the concept map.
● Provide an in-depth exploration of one of the major components of the site and explain
how that component supports the mission of the site.
3
Section 2: Quality of the Website
If educators are to use Internet resources effectively, they must make judgments about the quality
of the sites they employ for professional development (Cunningham, 2014; Forcier & Descy,
2008). Judging the quality of a website is a balancing act. Educators must consider numerous
criteria when making such a judgment. Few websites are excellent with respect to all criteria. A
strong, effective website, however, will robustly address most of the following criteria.
● Authorship and Sponsorship
○ Who is the author of the site or materials found on the site? What are his/her
credentials or other evidence of expertise in the area?
○ Where does the author get his/her information? Is the source reliable? Provide
support for your assertion.
○ Who sponsors the website? Are the sponsors reputable?
● Accuracy of Information
○ Where does the author get the information? Is the source reliable? Provide
support for your assertion.
○ Is the author presenting opinion, argument, or evidence? How do you know? For
example, a drug-maker may not be the best source of information about a
particular medical condition and appropriate treatments. Similarly, the NRA
might not be a completely objective source of information on gun violence.
● Currency
○ Is the information current and up-to-date? This doesn’t necessarily mean that the
publish date is within the last few years; rather, it means that the site provides
information that is generally accepted to be the latest thinking or still useful today.
○ Are links up-to-date?
● Presentation and Technical Aspects
○ Are the tools/resources easy to access?
○ Is the design of the website appealing?
○ Is it well-organized and easy to navigate?
○ Does the site feature multimedia elements such as video, graphics, audio,
animations? If so, do they enhance or extend the usefulness of the website? Or are
they distracting, superfluous, or unnecessary?
4
Section 3: Research
Research is the lifeblood of modern professions, and it is a core mission of most universities.
Historically, teachers have been consumers of research. They used the research to improve their
teaching. However, a trend in professional development is to encourage teachers to become
producers of research by conducting pedagogical investigations, also known as action research
(Conference on English Education, 2009; Henderson, Meier, Perry, & Stremmel, 2012; National
Science Teachers Association, 2010).
As you explore and examine the website, notice the topics that it addresses. Find a topic you find
interesting. Now imagine you are using this website with your own students. Propose a research
investigation that a teacher could conduct with students, and that would help the teacher to
determine if the website is an effective teaching tool. You may imagine you are any type of
teacher, and you may imagine your students are any age, including adults.
Design a little test to determine whether the website works (action research). And if reasonable,
imagine your students and you conducting that little test in your classroom. For example,
teachers commonly use technology to help students compare regions of the world, explore
undersea, practice math or spelling skills, or research aspects of government. Did it work? Did
the students gain the ability to compare regions of the world, or spell challenging words? If the
site purports to teach children how to stay safe online, do they demonstrate safety skills after
studying the site? If it is designed to provide current technology resources for teachers, can
teachers find what they need? If it is designed to represent an art gallery, does it represent the
collection accurately and replicate the in-person experience as much as possible?
Follow these steps:
1. Identify a problem area and formulate a question. For example, a simple research
question might be, “Can student-generated graphic organizers enhance students’
understanding of the life cycle of a butterfly?”
2. Identify the students involved in the investigation, by describing their grade, number of
subjects, gender, and any other demographic information that might help you determine
the effectiveness of the website.
3. Identify the tool used for gathering data. Will the teacher use student interviews,
parent interviews, quizzes, work samples, surveys, or some other process?
4. The approach for interpreting data. Will the data be quantifiable? Will it be qualitative?
5. Speculate concerning how the information gathered from the action research can
improve classroom practice.
Remember, you are imagining you are a teacher, and imagining an experiment, not conducting it
with real students. Any type of teacher, with any type of students. For additional information
about action research, use the links located under the heading Additional Information near the
end of this document.
5
Section 4: Theory
If research is the lifeblood of a profession, theory is its spine. Theory helps to explain what is
known; it allows for predictions about novel circumstances; and, it promotes new
research efforts that benefit practitioners in the field (O’Donnell, Reeve, & Smith, 2009).
Examine the resources and tools, information and knowledge presented in your website. As you
examine these items, consider which one of the major theoretical perspectives (i.e.,
constructivism, cognitivism, behaviorism, or others) appears to have the greatest influence on the
ideas, practices, and approaches offered by the site.
Once you have made that determination, do the following tasks:
1. Select two examples from the website that you believe are representative of the
theory.
2. For each of the two examples, identify and explain in detail how each item is
consistent with the theoretical perspective that you identified.
Each of the examples must be supported with citations from course readings. The citations must
include quotes around cited text and the author’s name with page number found in parentheses,
per APA guidelines. https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
Closing
Summarize the key points of your Course Paper in two or three paragraphs.
6
Resources for Educators—Select One to Evaluate
PBS Teachers
http://www.pbs.org/teachers
Discovery Education
http://www.discoveryeducation.com/teachers/
Edutopia
http://www.edutopia.org
Scholastic Teachers
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/
Smithsonian Education
http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/educators/
Library of Congress: Teachers
http://www.loc.gov/teachers
Intel® Education
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/education/k12/teachers.html
The Metropolitan Museum of Art: For Educators
http://www.metmuseum.org/learn/for-educators
National Dance Education Organization
www.ndeo.org
The Teachers Corner
http://www.theteacherscorner.net/
Teachers Network
http://teachersnetwork.org/
LD Online
http://www.ldonline.org
MoMa Learning
http://www.moma.org/learn/teachers/online
Guggenheim Teacher Resources
7
http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/education/school-educator-programs/teacherresources
Art Education 2.0
http://arted20.ning.com/
The Incredible Art Department
http://www.incredibleart.org/
Promethean Planet: Mathematics Teaching Resources
http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-us/resources/subjects/math/
Education World
http://www.educationworld.com/
Annenberg Learner: Teacher Resources and Professional Development Across the
Curriculum
http://learner.org/
The Math Forum@Drexel
http://mathforum.org/teachers/
The Physics Front: Physics and Physical Science Teaching Resources
http://www.thephysicsfront.org/
Philadelphia Museum of Art: Teacher Resources
http://www.philamuseum.org/education/resources.html
Denver Art Museum: Creativity Resource for Teachers
http://creativity.denverartmuseum.org/for-teachers/resources/teachingresources/
BioEd Online: Science Teacher Resources from Baylor College of Medicine
http://www.bioedonline.org/
BSCS: A Science Education Curriculum Study
http://www.bscs.org/site-categories/products/teacher-resources
National Council for the Social Studies: Resources
http://www.socialstudies.org/resources
National History Education Clearinghouse
http://teachinghistory.org/
8
Smithsonian’s History Explorer: Teacher Resources
http://historyexplorer.si.edu/teacher/
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
http://www.gilderlehrman.org/programs-exhibitions/for-educators
National Gallery of Art: Teachers
http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/education/teachhistoryegers.html
Zinn Education Project
https://zinnedproject.org/
9
Terms
Component: A component is a major section of the site. For example, an art museum website
might have various sections devoted to different art movements or art from different
geographical regions of the world. Some of the sections might have subsections. Such a section
is considered a component.
Guiding Questions: These questions serve to help you organize and steer your response to the
challenge posed in a section. (Note: Not all sections of the Course Paper have guiding questions.)
Depending on the website that you have chosen, some questions may be more important than
others to respond to.
Resource: A resource is an item in the website that offers information or practical guidance to
teachers. Examples of resources would be a study, article, or essay.
Tool: A tool is an item in the website that could be used to perform or support tasks such as
lesson plans, a graphic organizer, templates for experiments.
Additional Information
Themes in Education: Action Research
This document, produced by the Northeast and Islands Regional Educational
Laboratory At Brown University, provides an excellent introduction to the process of
classroom/action research.
Action Research in Education
In this video, an action research expert, Dr. Carol Davenport, explains how action research can
help teachers develop their reflective practice and expertise.
Action Research in the Classroom, Part 1
This video introduces Action Research to primary school teachers. It illustrates the theory,
benefits and methodology of using Action Research in the classroom.
Action Research in the Classroom, Part 2
This video extends the ideas and concepts presented in the video, Action Research in the
Classroom, Part 1.
10
Citations
Collins, R. (2011). Four Important Reasons to Consult with School Stakeholders.
Retrieved from http://www.state.nj.us/education/schools/security/req/FourReasons.pdf.
Conference on English Education. (2008). Understanding the Relationship between Research and
Teaching. Retrieved from http://www.ncte.org/cee/positions/researchandteaching.
Council of Chief State School Officers. (2013). Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support
Consortium InTASC Model Core Teaching Standards and Learning Progressions for Teachers
1.0: A Resource for Ongoing Teacher Development. Washington, DC: Author.
Cunningham, M. (2014). Evaluating Web Sites: A Checklist. Retrieved from
http://www.lib.umd.edu/binaries/content/assets/public/usereducation/evaluating-web-siteschecklist-form.pdf.
Forcier, R.C. & Descy, D.E. (2008). The Computer as an Educational Tool. Upper Saddle River,
NJ: Pearson.
Henderson, B., Meier, D.R., Perry, G., & Stremmel. (2012). Voices of Practitioners: The Nature
of Teacher Research. Retrieved from
http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/vop/Nature%20of%20Teacher%20Research.pdf.
National Science Teachers Association. (2010). The Role of Research on Science
Teaching and Learning. Retrieved from http://www.nsta.org/about/positions/research.aspx.
O’Donnell, A.M., Reeve, J., & Smith J.K. (2009). Educational Psychology: Reflection
for Action. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Purchase answer to see full
attachment