The Learning Design Technology Program at Stanford's Graduate School of Education is a 1-year long course. It is designed to initiate a diverse cohort of students into the world of educational technology. At the end of this year, each student puts up a research back design project that tackles some learning related area - be it an adult, adolescent or child learning, in school, at the workplace or in informal settings.
My cohort has 18 people from 9 countries, from education, consulting, policy, computer science, linguistics, art history, finance, social entrepreneurship and design backgrounds. It is natural that every student would want to take a different set of courses relevant to their experience and interest. The courses I took over the two quarters and in this one are:
Autumn Quarter
Understanding Learning Environments (EDUC 333A with Shelley Goldman and Ray McDermott) This course provided a foundation on the different Learning Theorists, and the evolution of the way education was approached in the Western world. We learnt about various theorists, from Dewey, Piaget, Vygotsky and Skinner to Papert and Friere. We taught sections of the class based on these theories and learnt from the instructors and fellow students. A lovely class that helped me keep these theories fresh forever and be critical of them all.
Development in Early Childhood (PSYCH 147 at the Bing Nursery School) This course was conducted at the Bing Nursery School, where we were fully immersed in the pre-school environment as novice teachers to the young children, while under the close scrutiny of the expert teachers there. Each week, we learnt to be better facilitators of early childhood education while observing children and keeping a record of our observations there. We were also expected to read a variety of literature on early childhood development and attend lectures on the Bing Nursery methods. An enriching class for anyone who is interested in young children, and one that made me reflect on human nature and relationships at any age.
Technology for Learners (EDUC 281 with Karin Forsell) This course provided an overview of technology for any kind of learning. We learnt about various frameworks that teachers and educators apply to design instruction and assessment (like Bloom's Taxonomy), and the design thinking methods that have worked so well to design products or services, and brought them together to make a learning tool. We partnered with local organisations ( The Palo Alto Baylands Nature Preserve in our case) to design a learning app for them.
EAST House Seminar : Current Issues and Debates in Education (EDUC 100A with Anthony Antonio) This was a light introduction to some of the research carried out by faculty and doctoral students at the Graduate School of Education. A fun class with predominantly undergrads, it gave me not only a perspective on the research topics that a variety of faculty were interested in, but the kind of questions that students just out of high school in the US had about their own education system, and issues in education that they were passionate about.
Introduction to Data Analysis and Interpretation (EDUC 200A with Candace Thille) This course was designed to make us critical consumers of data driven research. It also gave us a foundational understanding of statistics, correlation, regression and quantitative research methodologies. The interesting thing about this class was its flipped classroom model, where the content was taught online, but we met every week to discuss doubts and questions. The fantastic Candace Thille brought life to this most dreaded subject that I took up to stop being intimidated by numbers in research. She not only taught us to analyse data, but also analysed the data we were generating by interacting with the online course material and made the course better suited to us each day.
The Spirit of Entrepreneurship / ETL Seminar (MS&E 178 with Ravi Belani) In the neighborhoods around Stanford, there exist countless startups and entrepreneurs who have smartly created industries and opportunities where none existed. A lot of these people were students not too long ago, and this course brings these alums back to their alma-mater to talk to the students here. The speakers in this quarter were almost all focused on social change and had started businesses. They were very diverse in age, gender and purpose. It was thought provoking to listen to these people who spoke of their journey, challenges and successes.
Learning Design Technology Seminar (EDUC 229A with Karin Forsell) This course is the space where our cohort meets, shares and develops our Masters projects. In the Autumn quarter, we didn't advance much more than zooming in on a topic that we wanted to tackle. I chose the topic of student mental health.
Winter Quarter
Beyond Bits and Atoms (EDUC 236 and 211 with Paulo Blikstein, Chris Proctor and Richard Lee Davis) As cool as the title sounds, the class had nothing to do with Atoms or Bits. Well, a little to do with Bits. Based on three big theories - Constructionism, Constructivism and Critical Pedagogy, this class was simply about building tangible tools for learning. This translates to long hours in a workshop, working with your hands, meeting children, making things with and fot them, and framing education in terms of making meaning. We built three things in this class - a Rube Goldberg machine, a child's dream toy, and a learning tool for middle school nearby that helped teachers facilitate social emotional learning in the classroom (Inside Out Emotions).
Child Development and New Technologies (EDUC 342 with Brigid Barron) This course was a more focused course on technology for children. It covered aspects of child development from infant to adolescent, and the various technologies that they are exposed to as they grow up in today's world. The best part of this class was guest lectures from professionals working in the field of tools for children, like the founders of Iridescent, Toontastic and Worldreader. My group worked on a concept for a virtual reality tool to teach empathy to children in middle school.
Internship at LightUp (EDUC 215 with Josh Chan, Tarun Pondicherry) As a part of LDT, we are expected to intern during 2 quarters of the year. The first internship I did was with LightUp (https://www.lightup.io/). I worked here as a Curriculum Design Intern. I helped with user research and product design.
Learning Design Technology Seminar (EDUC 229B with Karin Forsell) This quarter was all about diving into the research and prototyping learning experiences for our Master's Projects.
Spring Quarter
Foundational Course in Testing (EDUC 142 with Guillermo Solano-Flores) This course was about testing and assessments : The history of assessments, their function, the use and application of standardized testing for schools and students, how to design effective and unbiased assessments and research and review of a testing system of your choice. I took up the CBSE tenth standard science curriculum and tests, and researched the framework of the NCERT syllabus and the tests taken by students for the CBSE board.
Gender, Education and Global Perspectives (EDUC 197 with Christine Min Wotipka) This was a discussion oriented class about gender and its implications on educational practices around the world.
Research Workshop in International Education (EDUC 331 with Prashant Loyalka) This workshop gave me an opportunity to listen to speakers from around the world, doing long term research in various domains in education.
Learning Design Technology Seminar (EDUC 229C with Karin Forsell) This quarter, we focussed on building out the projects we had conceptualized in the previous months.