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08/20 Welcome!

Before class:

  • Join our class's workspace in Slack! You should have received an invite email. If not, you can also click on this shared link to join us. Once you're in, please complete your profile so that we can get to know each other behind the mask! We'll use Slack as our primary communication tool besides Zoom. So it's a good idea to download the desktop and/or mobile apps and set notifications so that you won't miss any important messages.

  • Join our Zoom meeting https://zoom.us/j/2694643865 Yes, everyone, whether you are in person or online! We'll test out a few things today to see what works best for certain activities. So please be patient and bear with me if things should go wrong sometimes.


1. Who is the instructor?

My name Xigui Yang is pronounced as She-gway Young. This is my second year teaching EDIT 2000. I'm from China. I worked as a high school English teacher in China for a few years and then taught Chinese in a charter school in South Carolina for two years before I came to UGA. Right now I'm a third-year doctoral student in Learning, Design, and Technology (LDT). My research interest is in designing positive collaborative learning experiences for students, especially in online or hybrid settings. You'll learn more about me in the #introductions Channel in Slack. You're going to introduce yourself there as well!

Now let's each do a very quick intro: Your name, where you're from, where you're if you are online, how you spent your summer?


2. What is this class about?

It’s about meaningful learning with technology and finding the intersection of learning, design, and technology in K12 learning environments. View the syllabus for more details.

3. What materials do you need?

You’ll need access to technology – your own computer and maybe headphones for online meetings. Mobile devices are helpful as well. There is an OIT office (Aderhold 213), where you can check out various items such as laptop, camera, charger, ect. for a week or two.


Textbook (optional)

Gonzalez, J. (2020). Teachers Guide to Technology (4th ed.). Cult of Pedagogy.


(The textbook introduces a wide variety of technological tools and resources that can be used for education. The publisher provides a coupon code (UGAEDUSF2020) for us to get 50% off so the cost is only $12.5. Click on this link to use the coupon code. Please note that you should select the 2020 Tech Guide (The code will only work for the 2020 guide). Then on the payment page, click on "Add Coupon" to enter the code.


4. What is the class format?

This will be a flexible hybrid class. We'll have face-to-face, synchronous online and asynchronous sessions. We'll try to meet about once every week (either face to face or via Zoom based on your preference) and have asynchronous sessions to work outside of class, where you might work independently or in groups.

Let's take a Zoom poll to decide what days would be the best for most us to meet and what time works best.


5. Breakout Room Discussion

As we all know, because of the corona pandemic, schools are forced to convert to online or at least partially online, online learning and educational technology have become a hot topic. Now lets have a small group discussion about your experiences and your opinions.

  • Group 1 & 2: What was your online learning experience like during the second half of the spring semester? How do you expect your fall semester classes to be like when schools are reopened? How are you feeling during the first day of class?

  • Group 3 & 4: In face-to-face sessions, what class activities might be helpful to create a learning community while we're practicing social distancing? What technological tools might be useful for these activities?



HOMEWORK (DUE Tuesday, August 25th, before class).

1. Post on the #introducitons channel on Slack. Please write 1-2 paragraphs about yourself and upload a few pictures of you without a mask on :)

Here are some prompts for you:

  • Your name, major, year of study

  • What do you do when you're not in class?

  • Why did you choose this course? What do you expect to get from it?

  • What are some fun facts about you?

  • What do you plan to do after graduation?

  • Questions or concerns about this course...

  • Literally just anything that you would like to share with us...

2. Complete this tools survey.

3. Earn a Late pass by sending me a direct Slack message by next Thursday, Aug 27th, about how technology is used in your other courses to facilitate quality instruction while practicing social distancing during the first week.

4. Before next Thursday, Aug 27th, read:


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