IT659 - Product Development

IT 659 - Product Development
Dr. Anthony Betrus
betrusak@potsdam.edu
phone: (315) 267-2670
Office: Dunn 393
Summer 2017

Days/Times: Tuesdays, 7:10-9:40 through May 17

Course description:

The culminating development project of our Educational Technology Specialist masters program, IT659 is a chance for students to demonstrate their skills and experiences in the domains that define our field. A Masters degree is about experience and preparation for the field, and thus students will illustrate to their professional peers in our field as well as potential employers that they have had the range of relevant experiences. Specifically, the portfolio produced in this course requires students to show mastery in the six areas of Advanced Digital Age coaching as defined by ISTE.

The purpose of this course is to provide students with the opportunity to apply the skills and knowledge that they have acquired from other courses in the Educational Technology Specialist program into one complete project. Working from an approved plan, students will produce a project specific to their needs.

The core of the course is the construction of a final portfolio that is designed to be a showcase the students expertise in the six domains of our field. Students will create the portfolio in both Web-based and file based format. The file format (savable to a local drive) will be archived for NCATE accrediation, and thus no grade can be given without its delivery.

The personal nature of the portfolio puts the impetus for development on the student.

Prerequsites:
Permission of Instructor. OLT program students will be asked to use skills gained throughout their coursework, especially web development and graphics in construction of their portfolios.

Course Goals

To synthesize the information and skills gained in the ETS program into an individual project.
To reflect on the national standards our program is designed to address, and to detail how each student addressed those standards in their program.
To develop an online portfolio to display the students work and potentially assist them in a job search.
To be aware of the current grant funding and crowdsourced funding options available.

Web and DVD Portfolio Requirements

For the final project for IT659 students will bundle all the projects and essays involved into portfolios in web and file based formats. Students are responsible for the core design and development decisions. Although DVD is on its way out, our department needs a physical copy for archival purposes.

Both portfolios must be compatible with what would be a reasonable public school computer, either Windows or Mac operating system. More specifically:
- Adobe Acrobat PDF files are the preferred format for documents other than core navigation elements.
- Other media, especially interactive media, should be formatted in a way for maximum compatibility. Projects that would require more powerful hardware, like video game projects, should be captured as video.
- Movies should be embedded in web pages and playable on the DVD version. Flash documents should be uploaded in SWF format.
- All elements should be named appropriately, with the correct file extension.
- The file and folder structure of the web project should be logical. The main pages should be 'index.html', folders should organize content, and no extraneous files (files that are not linked to in the portfolio) should be included.
- More complex interactive web pages (like PHP based sites) can be linked to, but should be hosted in a permanent server space.
- Avoid 'bleeding edge' technology. The emphasis is on a consistently working, complete project.
The final files will be copied to a drive for archival purposes, so please be sure that the portfolio works without internet access.

The students should make sure all portfolio elements are archived in a way that makes them cross-platform (Mac-PC) compatible.

Course Structure, Projects & Weighting:
The class has the following milestones, follow this path to complete the course.

Read the ISTE NETS for Coaches Standards Document then reflect and note what projects come to mind that involve a standard. Some examples include:
- The Instructional Design Project (651) aligns well with Standards 2 & 4.
- The Program Evaluation Plan (654) aligns well with Standard 4 & 6.
- The Internship(657) aligns well with Standards 1, 2, 3, & 5.
- The Internship Workshop (657) aligns well with Standards 3, 4, 5, & 6.
- The Research Project (635) aligns well with Standard 4 & 6.
Gather these projects, as well as any other work you may have. This project is an excellent excuse to clean out old thumb drives and other odd storage to centralize project data. You may also need to contact old group members for final versions of projects.
Write your Reflection Essays according to the assignment specification.
E-mail them to instructor for approval of the essays.
Our class will have meetings where we collectively proofread each others essays. Portfolio materials require an additional level of specificity in editing.
Convert projects to archive ready formats. Please consult instructor on acceptable formatting (pdf is the preferred format, although others may be considered).
Create your DVD Portfolio and Web Portfolio
Deliver DVD to instructor, e-mail web address to the instructor.
Make any final adjustments.

As stated earlier, the impetus for development for the project is on the student. The independent and personal nature of this development is part of the assignment. We will meet regularly throughout the semester, but will scedule meetings during classtime, and at other times use distance education. A Master's degree student in our field should be able to independently manage a project of this size in this amount of time. This class should be one of the final courses in our program, but it is understood students might want to integrate future projects into the course.

Grading

50% - Standards: How well students address the standards and illustrate their relationship to their coursework and course projects. Emphasis is on not only a tie in to the standard, but to specific subdomains for that standard.
50% - Organization & Presentation: How clearly and professionally the information is organized and presented.