Technological tools for school reform

Lectures: 1 session / week, 3 hours / session

This course explores the potential impact of modern technologies on the school reforms debate.

In this first part of the course, after providing an overview of the current state of the school reform debate and reviewing the ideas in the progressive school reform movement, we look at the process of founding and the design principles behind the new public charter school in Cambridge, Community Charter School of Cambridge (CCSC). We provide an in-depth analysis of this school because it will serve as a concrete local context for the implementation of the final design projects for the course.

In the second part, we will critically study research projects that hold great promise as inspirations and guidelines for concrete multidisciplinary activities and curriculum for progressive charter schools. Students will work in small groups to design tools, material and activities to be field-tested in the charter school during the term or beyond. We anticipate that each group will engage the faculty, administrators, and the broader school community in the design and implementation process.

The course concludes with a discussion of the challenges in scaling the successful innovations in school reform to new contexts, and the types and roles of nonprofit organizations that have been formed to meet these challenges. In particular we will discuss strategies for successful introduction of innovative educational ideas - such as the ones students develop in this class - in real world settings.

All students are expected to do the readings, and to participate in discussions of the readings in class. Readings that are not available on-line will be provided at least a week in advance.

I strongly recommend that you discuss the readings outside of class in preparation for class discussions. The class discussions are very important since they give us an opportunity to present different perspectives and interpretations of the readings and in the process come to a shared understanding of the central questions and issues. You are encouraged to share the questions or issues that you found particularly provocative in the reading with the rest of the class.

The main deliverables for the course will be:

There will be two opportunities for presenting your class project. The first will be on Ses #13. This presentation will be to the class participants only. The initial feedback from this session should be reflected in your final presentation on Ses #14 which will be open to a broader audience.

The grade will be based on your class participation, class presentation, and your contribution to the various components of your group class project.

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