Courses Spring 2012

Introduction to Educational Evaluation ADMPS 3201 – 13747/PSYED  3450 – 13760
William Bickel
Mondays, 4:30 pm
This course is designed to introduce students to basic concepts in educational evaluation through practical in-class, and structured field experiences.  Students will review multiple approaches for organizing and conducting evaluation, and do an in-depth analysis and application of a “client-oriented” approach to evaluation via in-class group simulations and individual, student designed “field” assignments. 
Special emphasis in the course will be given to in-class exercises that model evaluation processes, from commissioning/negotiating evaluation goals to competing for “contracts” with “clients.”  The in-class simulations prepare students to undertake a modest “evaluationesque” exercise in an organizational context and with a client of their own choosing.  They will work with individually identified clients to define information needs, designing and implementing data collection procedures to address those needs, and collecting and reporting results in a timely manner to insure the use of the results.  (The field exercises have frequently led to the definition of dissertation-related work in a student’s own organizational context.) 

This course should be of interest equally to students who want to learn about evaluative thinking and conducting evaluations, and those who might participate in or commission such work in their own basic, higher education, or non-profit organizational settings for the improvement of educational & organizational processes and practices. 

 

Special Topics: Learning Technology LSAP 3595 – 24910
Lindsay Clare Matsumura 
Mondays, 9:00 – 11:50 am
There is strong evidence that Technological Innovations such as Computer Games, Robotics, Simulations, Computer Based Tutors, Mobile Devices, and Online Social Networks have tremendous potential to support learning in both formal and informal environments. What is less clear is how new technologies can be designed, applied, and evaluated to best induce learning. The goal of this class will be to help participants use learning science theories to examine technologies, including:

Class participants will be given an introduction to an array of emerging educational technologies with a specific focus on case study and evaluation, looking at both the positive and the negative in regards to learning. Special attention will be paid to exploring learning technologies being developed in the Pittsburgh area.
The class will require the completion of a culminating project whose purpose will be to use the knowledge gained over the course of the semester in a practical take-­away. Possible projects include writing a proposal for using a learning technology in a novel way, an analytic paper focused on why a technology does or doesn’t work, or analyzing the implicit assumptions about learning in a particular technology. Participants will be strongly encouraged to use the technologies covered over the semester to produce prototypes or examples that inform their project.

 

Educational Policy: Learning Policy for Improved Instruction
LSAP 3595-20919
Mary Kay Stein & Richard Correnti
Mondays, 1 to 4:00 pm
School quality is at the forefront of public concern. Numerous (and at times conflicting) educational policies have been enacted at the federal, state, and district levels all aimed at improving students’ learning opportunities. The difficulty of substantively improving teaching and learning through externally imposed policies, however, has been well documented. In this course, we examine theoretical and methodological approaches to understanding educational policymaking and the processes by which policies are (and are not) translated into practice. Specific questions we address in this course include: How are “problems” framed to constituents and how does this influence policy implementation? How do educators “make sense” of policies in the context of their prior beliefs and experiences? How does variation in human and social capital resources in schools and districts influence policy implementation? What are the “learning demands” for individuals and organizations entailed by specific policies? And, how can policies be designed to more effectively support improvements in teaching and learning?

 

Learning Sciences and Educational Change
 LSAP 3595-24909
Kevin Crowley
Tuesdays, 12:00 – 2:40 pm
This course provides an intense introduction to the learning sciences and their role in helping to support sustainable educational change. The course is designed for students interested in the intersection between learning research and educational practice/policy, and is appropriate for Ph.D. students who bring background in either. In an effort to maximize the connections between learning research and educational change, the course is organized around the three major learning sciences discoveries with direct implications for how educational experiences should be organized. Although widely supported by learning sciences research, these claims are often in direct conflict with how education systems actually operate – especially schools. The claims are: 1) The form of cognitive learning that education should target is understanding; 2) Participation and positional identity are core educational outcomes; 3) Schools are a special case of a learning environment. Learning is organized differently in different settings, which has direct implications for what is learned, how it is learned, who learns it, and why they do (or don’t) engage with learning. As we consider each of these claims, we explore how learning science gets done, introducing forms of research that allow us to get beyond simplistic distinctions between "basic" and "applied" science, including the notion of design experiment in creating classroom learning communities, technological learning environments, and informal experiences.

 

Behavioral Neuroscience
PSY 2475-25034
Julie Fiez
Thursdays, 1:00 – 3:25 pm
Methods and data from the fields of neuroscience and cognitive neuroscience are beginning to play an increasingly important role in the development of basic theories about cognitive function, and in our understanding of clinical disorders such as depression and addiction. Many graduate students in psychology are not able to take full advantage of these related areas of study, however, because they lack prior exposure to basic biological and neuroscientific facts and methodologies. The objectives of this course are to: 1) introduce basic facts and methods of systems and cognitive neuroscience, cellular and pharmacological neuroscience, and molecular neuroscience; 2) provide a neuroscientific overview of cognitive topics (e.g., perception, language, emotion), and 3) provide a neuroscientific overview of disordered and impaired cognition (e.g, depression, Schizophrenia) The proposed course will be open to all graduate students, but it is specifically designed to be a required core course in the Clinical and Cognitive graduate training programs in the Department of Psychology.

 

Topics Seminar in Cognitive Psychology: Mapping Brain Connectivity
PSY 2575-26268
Walter Schneider
Tuesdays & Thursdays, 4:00 – 5:50 pm
This class that will cover background and technical methods of mapping High Definition Fiber Tracking of brain connectivity for basic research and clinical imaging. The class is for graduate and advanced undergraduates interested in mapping/quantifying anatomical connections of the human brain. These techniques are used to study of brain: systems, disorders, development, and neurosurgery planning. It will involve a laboratory where students will learn to use advanced computation software executing research projects including: developing technical methods, mapping brain networks, or clinical analysis of data. For more details go to http://www.lrdc.pitt.edu/schneider/D10.pdf NOTE: THE LAB PORTION OF THIS COURSE IS OPTIONAL. UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS WHO DESIRE A CREDIT FOR THE LAB SHOULD REGISTER FOR ONE CREDIT OF PSY 1903 (course # 21737.) GRADUATE STUDENTS SHOULD REGISTER FOR ONE CREDIT OF PSY 3902 (class # 10209.) The labs will be held on Thursdays after the lecture portion of the class.

 

Small Groups
PSY 2155-25031
John Levine
Thursdays 9:00 – 11:50 am
The goal of this course is to provide students with a critical overview of theory and research on small groups. A seminar format will be used, in which class members read and discuss papers from several disciplines that focus on a variety of small group phenomena. Topics include group composition; group structure (e.g., status systems, norms, roles); group dynamics (conformity and deviance, leadership, cooperation and competition); group performance (productivity, decision making, socially shared cognition); and the ecology of groups. Students are expected to read and comment on papers, participate actively in class discussions, and write a research proposal on a topic relevant to the course.