Syllabus for EDT-700

CAPSTONE PROJECT IN EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY AND ONLINE LEARNING


COURSE DESCRIPTION

Capstone Project in Educational Technology and Online Learning provides for a research-based Capstone experience for degree candidates in the Master of Arts in Educational Technology and Online Learning (MAETOL) program. For the Capstone project, students will synthesize prior knowledge with the research necessary in the course to complete the first three chapters of a research-based technology plan for his or her selected level. This culminating experience provides the student with a practical study that could be conducted in or applied to his or her own educational situation or future positions.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

After completing this course, you should be able to:

  1. Research, articulate, and implement best practices for the creation and delivery of online courses for your specific educational setting, organization, institution, school, or district: P-12, adult education, or higher education.

  1. Evaluate and select online resources for use in online teaching and school management, providing detailed rationales for these selections.

  1. Align selected content to specific national standards (P-12) or programmatic outcomes (adult education or higher education) to ensure an appropriate basis for assessment.

  1. Design, develop, and complete the first three chapters of a research-based technology plan (Introduction, Literature Review, and Methodologies and Procedures) that addresses a specific need within your organization or educational setting and is appropriate to the selected educational level.

  1. Provide insights into how the methodologies and rationales in the plan will enhance student learning and increase the overall efficiency within your educational setting at the selected level.

COURSE MATERIALS

You will need the following materials to complete your coursework. Some course materials may be free, open source, or available from other providers. You can access free or open-source materials by clicking the links provided below or in the module details documents. To purchase course materials, please visit the University's textbook supplier.

The course does not require a specific text, since the majority of work will be conducted through online research and synthesizing appropriate knowledge gleaned from texts used in previous courses in the program. Listed below are suggested Web sites to provide a springboard and help guide your work.

Standards

Library Resources

Citation and Style Guides

In addition to the Writing Style Guides and other educational resources referenced through the Student Resources tab in Moodle, the following links focus on particular aspects of APA style:

COURSE STRUCTURE

Capstone Project in Educational Technology and Online Learning is a three-credit online course, consisting of seven modules. Modules include an overview, topics, learning objectives, study materials, and activities. Module titles are listed below.

BEFORE YOU START YOUR RESEARCH

One or more of the assignments in this course may involve original research. Research on persons other than yourself may require approval by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of Thomas Edison State University prior to beginning your research. Examples of research types that may need IRB review are questionnaires, surveys, passive observation of individuals, interviews, and experimental procedures. Research involving vulnerable populations will always need IRB review. An IRB review is designed to protect research subjects from potential harm.

The following links fully explain the purpose of the Institutional Research Board as well as how to determine if your research requires IRB review. If you are in doubt, always ask for guidance from the University.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

For your formal work in the course, you are required to participate in online discussion forums and to complete a Capstone Project that encompasses the first three chapters of a research-based technology plan (Introduction, Literature Review, and Methodology and Procedures). Your work on this project will entail a series of formative activities designed to guide the development of your plan—one step and section at a time—and culminate in a real-life study of your own choosing that will be ready to implement upon completion of the research-based technology plan. You will be expected to incorporate the feedback you receive on each activity into the completed project. The plan you design with approval by the mentor will represent both synthesis and application of many of the strategies and resources you have discussed during the MAETOL program, as well as additional resources discovered in EDT-700.

Consult the Course Calendar for due dates.

Promoting Originality

One or more of your course activities may utilize a tool designed to promote original work and evaluate your submissions for plagiarism. More information about this tool is available in this document.

Discussion Forums

The course has six discussion forums, one each in Modules 1–6 and all graded with the aid of the Rubric for Online Discussions. Module 7 includes a peer feedback component as part of the Capstone Project. It, too, will be conducted as a discussion forum but graded with the aid of the Rubric for Peer Feedback.

All online discussions take place asynchronously in a designated discussion forum. Online discussions provide an opportunity for you to interact with your classmates. During this aspect of the course, you respond to prompts that assist you in developing your ideas, you share those ideas with your classmates, and you comment on their posts. Discussion forum interactions promote development of a community of learners, critical thinking, and exploratory learning.

Please participate in online discussions as you would in constructive face-to-face discussions. You are expected to post well-reasoned and thoughtful reflections for each item, making reference, as appropriate, to your readings. You are also expected to reply to your classmates' posts in a respectful, professional, and courteous manner. You may, of course, post questions asking for clarification or further elucidation on a topic.

Capstone Project

For your Capstone Project, you will synthesize prior knowledge with the research you conduct in EDT-700 to complete the first three chapters of a research-based technology plan. This culminating experience will provide you with a practical, real-life study ready for implementation in your own educational situation or future positions.

The Capstone Project, which must receive mentor approval by the second week of the course, comprises three components:

Research-Based Technology Plan

The Research-Based Technology Plan, on which you will work step-by-step completing formative activities in Modules 1–6, encompasses three chapters—an Introduction, a Literature Review, and a Methodologies and Procedures section—plus a Title Page, Table of Contents, and References.

The first chapter, Introduction, addresses the following elements:

.

The Literature Review summarizes the research you conduct to support your Statement of the Problem (Study) as presented in the Introduction to your plan. Written in a topical format, the Literature Review will consist of three sections: Best Practices for Online Teaching, Web-Based Curricular Resources, and Web-Based School Management Resources.

The Methodologies and Procedures chapter includes the first three components of a complete third chapter, omitting the Results section, which cannot be added at this point. The first three sections are as follows:

  1. Participants—Describe in detail your audience including demographics if possible.

  1. Tools and Materials—What resources will you use? Include the standards and outcomes your plan addresses. How will you collect the data?

  1. Procedure—Step-by-step description of exactly what the participants will be doing and how. Be sure to include how the procedures will support your Statement of Problem (Study) as written in the Introduction chapter.

For further details on each of the three chapters that make up the Research-Based Technology Plan, see Modules 4, 5, and 6, respectively.

Presentation of Plan

The second component of the Capstone Project is to choose and create a format for presenting the essential elements of your Research-Based Technology Plan to the class. Please see Module 7 for further details.

Peer Feedback

Lastly, you will be asked to provide specific feedback to your classmates on their presentation by responding to a series of questions. To ensure equity of feedback for everyone, the mentor will indicate a schedule for the reviews. While you are encouraged to view all presentations, you will only be required to offer specific feedback to certain members of the class. Please see Module 7 for further details.

GRADING AND EVALUATION

Your grade in the course will be determined as follows:

All activities will receive a numerical grade of 0–100. You will receive a score of 0 for any work not submitted. Your final grade in the course will be a letter grade. Letter grade equivalents for numerical grades are as follows:

A

=

93–100

B

=

83–87

A–

=

90–92

C

=

73–82

B+

=

88–89

F

=

Below 73

To receive credit for the course, you must earn a letter grade of C or higher on the weighted average of all assigned course work (e.g., assignments, discussion postings, projects, etc.). Graduate students must maintain a B average overall to remain in good academic standing.

STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS

First Steps to Success

To succeed in this course, take the following first steps:

Study Tips

Consider the following study tips for success:

ACADEMIC POLICIES

To ensure success in all your academic endeavors and coursework at Thomas Edison State University, familiarize yourself with all administrative and academic policies including those related to academic integrity, course late submissions, course extensions, and grading policies.

For more, see:

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