Stanford Online Course for Designing a New Learning Environment

Designing A New Learning Environment
INSTRUCTOR: Paul Kim
Chief Technology Officer and Assistant Dean, School of Education, Stanford University
October 15 - December 20, 2012
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The Course

What constitutes learning in the 21st century? Should reading, watching, memorizing facts, and then taking exams be the only way to learn? Or could technology (used effectively) make learning more interactive, collaborative, and constructive? Could learning be more engaging and fun?

We construct, access, visualize, and share information and knowledge in very different ways than we did decades ago. The amount and types of information created, shared, and critiqued every day is growing exponentially, and many skills required in today’s working environment are not taught in formal school systems. In this more complex and highly-connected world, we need new training and competency development—we need to design a new learning environment.

The ultimate goal of this project-based course is to promote systematic design thinking that will cause a paradigm shift in the learning environments of today and tomorrow. Participants are not required to have computer programming skills, but must have 1) a commitment to working in a virtual team and 2) the motivation to help people learn better. All of us have been involved in the learning process at some point in our lives; in this course we invite educators, school leaders, researchers, students, parents, entrepreneurs, computer programmers, illustrators, interface designers, and all those who are interested in working together, to create a new learning environment.

After the completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Identify advantages, disadvantages, limitations, and potentials of at least 10 interactive learning models and solutions.
• Describe how online communication, collaboration, and visualization technology play a role in the behavioral, cognitive, constructivist, and social dimensions of learning.
• Describe the major components and processes involved in development of interactive education systems.
• Communicate rationales of learning technology design approaches through team-oriented collaborations.
• Evaluate the value of ideas, principles, and techniques used in educational media or systems.

As a Final Team Project, students will design a new learning model catering to 21st century environments and learners. Each self-formed team will design and develop an application or system that combines team interaction activities and learning support features in ways that are effective and appropriate for today's computing and communication devices. Students must consider potential idiosyncrasies with various learning devices (e.g., tablet, phone, PC), infrastructure requirements (e.g., cellular network, wi-fi, Bluetooth), and any special hypothetical circumstances if relevant. In addition, each team must create and defend a business model (non-profit, for-profit, or hybrid) for the launch and scale up their solution.

Additional consideration will be given to teams that come up with system feature ideas presenting meaningful learning interaction and performance analytics.

The Instructor

Paul Kim is Chief Technology Officer and Assistant Dean for Stanford University School of Education. His courses focus on contextualized innovations in education, mobile empowerment design, and enterprising higher education systems. He is currently one of senior researchers for Programmable Open Mobile Internet, an NSF project to develop and evaluate ubiquitous wireless mobile computing and interactive systems for K-20 formal and informal learning and assessment scenarios. He is also working with numerous international organizations in developing mobile empowerment solutions for extremely under-served communities in developing countries. In his recent experiments in Latin America, Africa, and India, he investigated the effects of highly programmable open mobile learning programs with literacy, numeracy, and entrepreneurship education programs (e.g., math games, storytelling, and farming simulations). As part of his research, he is also exploring mobile wireless sensors in simulation-based learning and ePortfolio-based assessment to promote creativity and critical thinking in problem solving and innovation designs.

In the higher education space, he advises investment bankers and technology ventures focused on e-learning, knowledge management, and mobile communication solutions. His due-diligence engagements include early-stage angel funding and also later-stage private equity-based investments for large enterprises such as Grand Canyon University (Stock symbol: LOPE), Northcentral University, NCA/HLC accredited online universities, and Penn Foster College acquisition by The Princeton Review (Stock symbol: REVU). His recent international advisement cases include Saudi Arabia national online university initiative, institutional development for Universidad Tecnológica de El Salvador, and WASC accreditation for CETYS Universidad, Mexico.

He has a Ph.D. degree in Educational Technology and previously served as Chairman of the Board for Intercultural Institute of California, Executive Director of Information Technology for University of Phoenix (Stock symbol: APOL), and Vice President & CIO for Vatterott College, a for-profit colleges invested by private equity funds made of endowment funds from IVY league schools. He is currently a board member for WestEd and committee member for International Grand Challenges . For more information, please visit Paul's homepage .

More Information

Schedule
The course runs from Oct 15 - Dec 20, 2012.


Workload
4 hours a week.


Technical Requirements
You need a computer that allows you to watch the video lectures, and the ability to upload your assignments which will be digital artifacts such as powerpoint or video presentations.


Statement of Accomplishment
Subject to satisfactory performance and course completion, you will receive a statement of accomplishment signed by the instructor. This statement will not stand in the place of a course taken at Stanford or an accredited institution.