ACT Digital-Age Pedagogies

Course Overview

Aim

Show educators how to easily and effectively teach with technology

Summary

Unlike most “Teaching with Technology” courses, this course is based on a framework of digital-age pedagogies. Using the research-supported ACT pedagogy framework, you are shown how to easily and effectively apply a range of technologies to your teaching. In addition to learning how to apply many freely available tools for teaching, you will also develop lesson plans for each of the ACT pedagogies. This means that at the end of the course you are ready to practically apply what you have learned. The course also includes a copy of the book “Wake Up Class – 5 Activating Digital-Age Pedagogies that will Revolutionize your Classroom” by Dr. Craig Blewett.

Modules

The course consists of 8 modules.

• 1 – Getting Started – An introduction to learning online and general orientation
• 2 – ACT Overview – An introduction to the ACT approach and applying pedagogy before technology
• 3 – Curation Pedagogy – How to teach with technology using the Curation approach
• 4 – Conversation Pedagogy – How to teach with technology using the Conversation approach
• 5 – Correction Pedagogy – How to teach with technology using the Correction approach
• 6 – Creation Pedagogy – How to teach with technology using the Creation approach
• 7 – Chaos Pedagogy – How to teach with technology using the Chaos approach
• 8 – Assessment & Conclusion – Final assessments and getting ready to make the changes

Tools and Technologies

All ACT courses are based on a pedagogically grounded approach and as such are applicable using any tools and technologies. So the approaches you learn will work whether you are a Microsoft or Google school, a Laptop or Tablet School, a highly resourced or lower resourced school. Below are some of the tools covered in the course include. (Note: This is just an indication as we constantly update the tools and technologies we use).

Learning Approach

The course is based on the ACT pedagogies and so involves active learning from curating content to online conversations, to quiz-activated videos, and much more. The course is also gamified to further encourage participation.

Assessment

The course uses a range of assessment approaches because learning through curation, conversation, correction, creation, and chaos are core pedagogies of the course. As such assessment is based on:

• Stash Points – Careful reading and finding of stash items (curation)
• Quiz Points – Section quizzes that can be attempted multiple times (correction)
• Course Activity – Participating in forums and activities, and creating lesson plans (curation, conversation, creation, chaos)
• Final Assessment – Time-based Summative Quiz (correction, chaos)

Estimated Time Requirement

While the course is self-paced, it is designed to be completed over a period of approx. 8 weeks. The course requires approx. 40 hours to complete or approx. 5 hrs/week.