Purpose

To provide you with multiple perspectives for addressing issues of relevance to you.

Description

On the first day of class, we will identify important current issues in education. Then we will form teams with each team focusing on a particular issue. During each class, we will discuss a set of ideas and then each team will meet and discuss how the ideas relate to their issue. Next, the teams will present their thoughts to the class and make a contribution to the issues chart (see below).

I have selected readings and set topics for the first part of the term. For the second part, we will see what ideas the class is most interested in pursuing further and study these ideas in more depth.

Assignments

Metaphors

Metaphors are a great way to make sense of new ideas – especially when you construct your own metaphors. During the term, I want you to create three metaphors related to ideas in the course readings. You will present each metaphor to the class in an informal, discussion-oriented way on the day we are scheduled to discuss that reading. That is, you will explain your metaphor and we will discuss how it helps us to understand a particular idea. Some sort of visual representation or chart would be helpful in explaining your metaphor.

In addition to presenting your metaphor for discussion in class, I would like you to turn in a written explanation for your metaphor. This explanation should describe in detail the connection between your metaphor and the idea it illuminates. It should also explain where the metaphor breaks down. That is, explain ways in which the metaphor differs or misrepresents the idea. This is important because no metaphor is a perfect representation and the limits need to be recognized. This explanation can include figures, charts, concept maps, or other visualizations.

Issue Chart

As a class, we will construct a chart that analyzes each issue from the perspective of each course topic (i.e., expertise, transfer, development). Each team will be responsible for one issue. The team should send me, via email, its contribution to the chart a couple days after we discuss the topic.

I will create a website that displays this chart and links all the information. Your contributions will not be graded. Rather, I will provide feedback and ask you to make revisions until it is ready to "go public."

Course Project

The course project is wide-open in order to give you the freedom to do something that you find valuable. The general guidelines are as follows:

The project needs to focus on one of the issues our class chooses to study.
The project should demonstrate that you have studied and thought deeply about the issue.
The project may be associated with your work. In fact, this is a good idea.

I would like you to be a bit creative in selecting a project. For instance, instead of just writing a paper, you might want to think about writing an opinion pieced for the newspaper or proposal for a school, district, company, etc. Other ideas might include the following:

If you're a teacher, make a plan for revising your teaching based on what you learn about a particular issue.
Develop a product based on your knowledge of some issue. The product may be a technology, activity, assessment, etc.
Do a mini research experiment.

These are just some ideas. You can choose others. The idea is to do something that will be useful to you and demonstrate that you have pursed a particular issue in depth. On the last day of class, you will present your project to the rest of the class.

I will ask you to self-grade your project and I will average your grade with mine.

Grade Breakdown

Metaphors	25%
Issue Chart	25%
Course Project	50%