Course Description

IST 389, Leadership and Technology for Instruction, is a preparation experience for undergraduate Learning Assistants (LA’s). In this course, you will prepare for a leadership role in an “active learning” classroom.

The underlying assumption driving the course is that the more you know about learning, the better prepared you will be to diagnose and solve teaching/learning problems. In addition to introducing teaching and learning principles, we will also address skills such as coaching/facilitating, providing feedback, evaluating work, and facilitating teams; issues of academic integrity and supportive environments for learning; and information technologies used for both managing courses and increasing engagement and learning. This is a hands-on course where students will create instructional materials, participate in role play scenarios, and work with data on learning.

Course Goals

After this course, you will be able to understand:

• How students become metacognitive and the components of self-directed learning
• How prior knowledge affects learning (including misconceptions and how to address them)
• How knowledge organization differs between experts and novices
• Factors that motivate student learning and how to keep teams on track
• How students develop mastery through component skills
• How practice and feedback enhance learning and how to provide directed feedback
• How students develop/course climate affect learning and how to create inclusive learning.

Skills we will focus on:

• Practicing listening and question-asking over explanation
• Creating supportive environments where it’s okay to be wrong and ask questions
• Overcoming fears or anxiety with initiating conversations with students
• Reflecting upon past, successful learning experiences and how to share those with students
• Communicating with members of a team (including faculty and TAs) to help students

Course Communications

• Logging into Canvas – Students are expected to login regularly to check for course updates, announcements, emails, discussions, etc.
• Course Announcements – The instructional team will use “announcements” for messages to the whole class. Announcements may include changes to due dates, clarification on assignments, or other messages that are pertinent to the whole class.
• Emailing through Canvas – Students are expected to use Canvas for all course communication. When communicating with individuals or discussion groups, the instructional team will use your Penn State email via Canvas, so be sure to forward your Penn State email to whatever account you typically use.
• Response time – Every attempt will be made by the instructional team to respond to email questions within 24 hours. We ask that you give us the same courtesy when we send requests related to this course.

Assignments

• Completing assignments – Students are expected to complete all reading assignments by the assigned due dates (see assignments associated with each lesson in the modules and/or the course schedule).
• Individual work and teamwork – All assignments are to be completed on your own without the help of others, but we encourage students to talk about assigned readings outside of class.
• Notifying instructional team of late assignments – Students are expected to notify the instructional team 24 hours prior to any assignment being turned in late.