The cognitive demands of teaching require a continuing cycle of professional learning. This cycle requires federal, state, district, and school attention and policies that align with what we know about adult and student learning. The study of high-quality professional development is crucial to strong schools and communities.

Learn how to evaluate existing and design new instructional materials for any learning environment based on understanding how people learn and process information. We will cover multimedia learning principles such as Mayer's, the underlying theories and research, and design principles like gestalt, figure/ground, and hierarchy. The course features a "rapid prototyping" process for revising and creating mterials throughout the class project

In this class, we will learn about performance improvement, an extension of instructional design in which practitioners assess needs and gaps in human performance in organizations using tools like root cause analysis, then design interventions to address the gaps and plan on-going evaluation for continuous improvement. These skills are commonly used in for-profit, government/military, and non-profit industries and is growing in education

The goal of this course is for students to understand and apply views on cognition, learning, and teaching to inform the design and research of technology-enhanced or STEM education learning activities and/or environments. This course is open to graduate students from any discipline that want to be able to understand and draw upon current perspectives of learning for technology-enhanced or STEM educational practice.

In Phaedrus, Socrates debated the value of a new technology, writing, in the Academy with his students under a plane tree near Athens. Designed to develop "reflective practitioners", this course is our virtual plane tree in which we will use systems theory and cultural studies to explore how context and technology shape each other and ethical considerations for the design, selection, and implemetation of educational innovations.

Overview of the field of gifted education including conceptions of giftedness, identification tools and processes, characteristics of gifted learners, programming options, curriculum and instruction, and evaluation for gifted learners- including historically under-represented students. Students will gain a foundation in the field of gifted education and appropriate educational responses to gifted learners to be built upon in subsequent courses.

Designed to introduce students to modifying and creating appropriate and effective curriculum for gifted learners. Course participants will understand how to choose appropriate content, process and product outcomes and develop meaningful learning experiences that are rigorous, concept-based, open-ended, and tied to gifted learners experiences. Participants will explore and understand the process of curriculum design through multiple lenses.

Students gain an understanding of models for delivering instruction and adapting teaching strategies for appropriately educating gifted students. Participants learn strategies that nurture the affective, creative, and cognitive needs of gifted learners; including those who are culturally and linguistically diverse, economically disadvantaged, highly gifted, or have special needs or disabilities (twice-exceptional learners).

In this course, students will explore an assessment cycle consistent with current evidence-based practice of data-based decision making, including a cycle of screening, monitoring progress, administering targeted diagnostic assessments, and measuring progress with outcome measures. This work will be grounded within a multi-tiered systems of support framework.

Can a modern innovation actually be old? This course examines key historical moments of innovation in teaching and learning -- from the Common Schools through modern EdTech -- with the goal of helping those who are interested in improving schools today become better prepared to do so by exploring the purpose, context, and legacy of similar efforts in the past.