Welcome to EME5403 Technology in Education. I'm Dr. Terry Cavanaugh, and I'll be your instructor for this course. Our course will survey a wide variety of topics including: standards, as they relate to educational technology; the hardware of the computer; educational technology learning theory; computer applications; the Web; assistive technology; and technology integration. While our topic base is pretty wide, a lot of the students make it relate to their interests and areas by doing their projects on material within their fields of interest. Make the course work for your by relate it to what you want to learn and do.

If this is your first distance-learning course, you could be in for a treat. Distance learning is very different from a regularly attended class, more ways than just the showing up to class. Some pointers that may help make the changeover a little easier.

• First, still think of it as a regular class, it just that you set the hours. Decide on what days and times you will do your work, set yourself a schedule and stick to it. Keep aware of what's due when. Don't let yourself fall behind because no one is reminding you to keep up or when an upcoming assignment is due. Don't put it off. Your assignments are due pretty regularly, don't let yourself get into the "I'll do it later mode," that later comes too soon.

• Another good idea is to create (or printout) a personal assignment calendar, include on it the topics, assignments, readings, labs, etc. and a course notebook where you can save print outs from your online work.

• When you are trying something new and it doesn’t work right away, don't get too frustrated. Yes, make the attempt, and you might want to try a couple more times, but if you can't make it work then ask for help. Don't feel that you're all by yourself; ask me or the other students. As this course is a distance learning course we don't have regular meeting, but if you want to meet please feel free to contact me and lets set up an appointment or create a group get-together (for those who want to or can make it)

I would suggest that one of the first things that you should do is explore the class site. Go into each section and see what's there. Start by reading the syllabus [the attached PDF] (and prepare to begin the required assignments) and then you can go start on your first assignments: editing your personal information, editing your class homepage, and then into the forum section for forum #1: The course, you can also read the next forum, but don’t answer until you have gone through the course material in section one. As you explore make sure to read the assignments (you might want to print them out), and look at the evaluation rubrics for the assignments. From this you can hopefully start to set your schedule and figure on how much time you will need to complete your work. You can also get the book you will need for the course either online (from online bookstores like Amazon.com) or from the campus bookstore. 

To Login to the Course:

First you will need to get to the Blackboard login page, you can get there by going the the www.unf.edu page and then choosing "Current Students" and selecting the Blackboard link on the left or type the address http://blackboard.unf.edu into your web browser. You will need to log into blackboard (big button on the top left) and then select our class (EME5403 Technology in Education). When you get to the Blackboard/course site you should set the location as one of your bookmarks (or favorites). Please feel free to contact me if you need help.

Terry Cavanaugh

PS. if you are a full time student pursuing a masters or doctorate degree there is the graduate tuition waiver from the College of Education and Human Services Graduate Scholarships. Call me or go to http://www.unf.edu/coehs/studentcenter/tutwave.htm for more information.