CEP Welcome September 1, 2005

Matthew J. Koehler September 1, 2005CEP Cognition and Technology Who’s Who?  Team up with someone you don’t know  Talk to them for 5 minutes  Introduce them to the class

Matthew J. Koehler September 1, 2005CEP Cognition and Technology Hands on Activity - Read a Story  Handouts coming.  Hand back the story when you’re done.

Matthew J. Koehler September 1, 2005CEP Cognition and Technology Hands on Activity - Make Some Definitions  Form groups of three  Take 15 minutes to come up with a definition for TECHNOLOGY and a definition of COGNITION  You may use whatever you want (including the internet)  Be prepared to defend your definition  Write your definitions on the board

Matthew J. Koehler September 1, 2005CEP Cognition and Technology The class  Almost everything you need to know about the class can be found online from home page:  OR 

Matthew J. Koehler September 1, 2005CEP Cognition and Technology Where do Cognition and Technology Meet?  Theories of mind - The advent of the digital computer started influencing how people thought about cognition.  Designing Technology - How people work, think, and learn has an influence on the kinds of technology we build.  New Forms of Learning - Advances like the WWW, gaming, digital video, etc. has an impact on how we learn  Modeling - New forms of science are possible, we can now model complex phenomena (like the weather), including cognition.

Matthew J. Koehler September 1, 2005CEP Cognition and Technology About the Class  Semester long project …  Together, starting at ground zero, we are going to design and conduct a study on how (or if) people learn from games.  This will be collaborative project, done by the whole class.  Most of this work will be done in groups of 3-4 person teams, and the tasks will vary from week to week (e.g., design survey that measures people’s level of interest in gaming).  How we will do this, and what we will do will evolve from week to week.

Matthew J. Koehler September 1, 2005CEP Cognition and Technology Topics in the Course  Early weeks - Background readings and discussion about cognitive psychology and information processing theories of mind.  Middle weeks - Armed with our firm footing in cognitive theory, we'll begin to move into what the research has to say about learning with some of the more recent technologies (e.g., web, video, games, simulations, etc.).  Later weeks – We'll continue our reading into recent research into learning with technology, but focus more and more on our own study that we have been designing.

Matthew J. Koehler September 1, 2005CEP Cognition and Technology About the course  Things we will be doing  Reading - You have to do the readings.  Writing - Once a week, every week  Talking - You must talk in class  Think - try out ideas you might not agree with  Argue - It's okay to disagree  Collaborate - get along with team members  Attend Class  Have Fun - Joke, laugh, enjoy yourself

Matthew J. Koehler September 1, 2005CEP Cognition and Technology Course - Yahoo groups  We are going to use yahoo groups to communicate outside of class, and to share files back and forth.  We are going to sign up for the yahoo group in this class in a little bit

Matthew J. Koehler September 1, 2005CEP Cognition and Technology Course - Participation  24% of your grade  Contribute in class (12%), both the right quantity and quality  Contribute out of class (12%) as well (using and the yahoo group). A good rule of thumb is to have something substantive to say at least once a week

Matthew J. Koehler September 1, 2005CEP Cognition and Technology Course - Weekly Assignments  Every week, I’m going to give you something an assignment, that is relevant to the topic for the week.  For example, since we are talking about re-orienting towards the cognitive approach to mind in the first week of class, your assignment this week will be about your current approach to a theory of mind.

Matthew J. Koehler September 1, 2005CEP Cognition and Technology Course - Weekly Assignments  These weekly assignments are intended to be manageable and meaningful, and to get you engaged in the material.  Also, they are intended to get you in the habit of writing about your thinking, and sharing with others.  These assignments are always due WED night 11:59pm.

Matthew J. Koehler September 1, 2005CEP Cognition and Technology Course - Weekly Assignments  Thinking and writing are only 1/2 of an academic discourse and community … the other 1/2 is reading and listening. Accordingly, I expect that you will routinely read other students work before class on Thurs.  I might you questions about this … so be prepared.

Matthew J. Koehler September 1, 2005CEP Cognition and Technology Course - Weekly Assignments  The weekly assignments are 33% of your grade. Each one is graded on a 5 point scale.  5 Points - Goes beyond the requirements of the assignment, and makes good connections to the course readings and outside readings. Careful attention to good writing  4 Points -  3 Points - Meets the requirements of the assignment, and connects to the readings, ideas presented in class, or other students' work.  2 points -  1 point - Incomplete, not answering the question posed. Not including any connections to the readings or other people's work.-1 point for each day it is late.

Matthew J. Koehler September 1, 2005CEP Cognition and Technology Posting Assignments  Your job is to make a web-portfolio that showcases your work in this class, both to the other members of this class, and to the general public (you can delete it when the course is over if you want to).  Your MSU webspace  Any other webspace you want, Geocities, blogs, etc…  You’re responsible for learning how

Matthew J. Koehler September 1, 2005CEP Cognition and Technology Web portfolio  Get it up and running as soon as you can (I understand this may take longer for some of you than others).  When you get it up and running, give me a correct address so I can link to it on the people page.  This week send mail to the yahoo group w/ an address of where to find your work regardless of where it is (on yahoo group, as attachment, on your portfolio)  10% of your grade (8% for doing one, 2% for better ones)

Matthew J. Koehler September 1, 2005CEP Cognition and Technology Class study of games  33% of your grade  1/3 of is determined by estimation of your own contribution and efforts to the project  1/3 is determined by evaluation of your group as a whole. There will be many mini-assignments given to groups, and how your group does on these assignments will determine how your group is evaluated here. Everyone in the group receives the same evaluation for this 1/3.  1/3 will be the final presentation of results which will happen on the last day of the class.

Matthew J. Koehler September 1, 2005CEP Cognition and Technology Questions? Comments?

Matthew J. Koehler September 1, 2005CEP Cognition and Technology Passwords

Matthew J. Koehler September 1, 2005CEP Cognition and Technology Pictures  I really like pictures of people, its much more personal, and it helps me put faces to names  Especially after the class is over.  So please send me a picture you want me to use for you in the class.  If you really do not want a picture used, please send some image that has some personal attachment (icon, etc.)

Matthew J. Koehler September 1, 2005CEP Cognition and Technology Week 1 Assignments  Let’s review them on the website. 

Matthew J. Koehler September 1, 2005CEP Cognition and Technology Hands on Activity - Let’s Write!  Take out paper and pencil / pen, and write as much as you can recall about the story you read  Put your name on it, and hand it to the instructor

Matthew J. Koehler September 1, 2005CEP Cognition and Technology Almost Done  Review Assignments for next week  Get to a computer and sign up for yahoo group  After instructor has approved your membership, you’re free to go  See you next week.