EDPA 4xxx – Innovation Lab
(Class should be cross listed so that it can fulfill a requirement for most CEHD students)
Credit Hours: 1
Number of Students: 5 to 10
Course Grading: Pass or Fail (No A through F)
(Alfonso Sintjago and Isaac Bolger)
Course Description:
Prerequisite: None
This course will serve as a space where CEHD students will be able to expand on their innovative ideas by collaborating with other students within the school of education. They will develop projects of their interest and contribute to other project being developed by their peers. While students are currently learning about a wide number of innovative ideas taking place within the field of education, there are few opportunities for students to go beyond the textbook and develop projects that can impact the local and global community during their studies at the University of Minnesota. Having a very capable, highly educated and self-motivated group of students, this laboratory could serve as an empowering space, where individuals could learn to develop, collaborate on, and implement innovative projects transforming and improving society. The course would promote the regular discussion of ideas. A bulletin board would be developed where ideas would be visualized and discussed by all the members. Through the bulletin board, students will be able to share their innovative ideas and obtain feedback and support for their concepts from other students. Everyone will be encouraged to promote various ideas throughout the course of the semester. Students will be able to submit these ideas either openly or anonymously. As a number of ideas are explored and refined, every year the most captivating ideas would be realized. Students can either chose to collaborate on a particular project or use the space to develop their own unique idea. With the school’s purchase of iPads for CEHD undergraduate students, one of the particular projects that will be discussed will be the establishment of an iOS application development team and the implications of mobile technology for education.
The course will be located in Wulling Hall and students will have access to examples of educational technology available in the market (such as the Kno, Nook, Kindle, $100 laptop, etc). The space will include white boards, bulletin boards, conference tables, small work spaces. There will be areas where students can pin up photos, physical articles, as well as other physical objects that are ed-related.There will also be a PC set up with some recent, and older, simulations and bookmarks connecting to education software examples. Through the use of a Moodle site students will be able to communicate and discuss, not only within the confines of the physical laboratory, but anywhere in the world. Through a number of semesters, successful projects will be continued and expanded. Particular attention will be given to national and international educational innovation competitions. The class will consist of 2 hours/week for 7 weeks and can be re-taken for up to 3 credits for students wishing to undertake longer projects. Students will not be required to sign up for a credit to be engaged. Yet, students will be required to apply to be admitted into the laboratory.
Some of the topics that may be discussed include the impact of incentives on a student’s motivation, the growing use of Open Education Resources (OER), the “gamification” of education, rapid growth and spread of online education, growing use of blended learning, one laptop per student initiatives, the implications of cloud computing, mobile learning, invisible learning, the impact of innovative design, diversity within the charter school movement, the movement towards a personalized education, increased access to educational material outside of traditional education settings and its implications for lifelong learning and its impact on formal schooling, as well as other innovative education policies currently being discussed and implemented in different communities and countries across the world. Students will be evaluated based on their attendance, their contributions to the innovation lab, and on a final report and presentation.
