This course offers an introduction to the field of Educational Technology, with an emphasis on efforts to support school reform through the development of software artifacts specifically for teaching and learning. Through readings, lab work, and a combination of on-line and in-class discussions, we will survey several major traditions of research and development in this field.

Two strands of inquiry span the course. First, we examine the different arguments and assumptions that each tradition of R&D in Educational Technology has made about how learning happens, what constitutes a valuable educational outcome, and how we would know if it was achieved. Second, we examine the varying ways in which innovators in the field have attempted to prove the worth of their innovations to educators, and achieve more widespread influence. The second strand may be of particular interest to prospective developers of educational technology innovations.