Unified and Proteach Students
ProTeach Specialization in Educational Technology
Congratulations!! You have made a great decision in choosing Educational Technology as your ProTeach Professional Specialization. Your specialization consists of 12 academic hours and will provide you with many unique experiences including an opportunity to take online courses and an opportunity to integrate technology in a K-12 classroom. Please see Dr. Dawson as soon as you can to set up your schedule as courses are only offered at certain times of the year.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What are the Ed. Tech. Specialization requirements?
What are my options for electives?
What else do I need to know about online courses?
What do I need to know about the optional summer camp experience?
How can I take EME 6945 twice during my graduate program?
What kind of computer equipment do I need?
Whom do I contact if I have questions?
What are the Ed. Tech. Specialization Requirements?
There is one required course for the Ed. Tech. specialization, EME 6945: Practicum in Educational Media (3 credit hours). EME 6945 is a field-based course. You will be working with a local K-5 teacher (typically from Littlewood Elementary) to integrate technology in his/her classroom and assess the impact of your efforts on student learning. You spend approximately 6 hours per week in the classroom and will negotiate the times you spend in the school with your teacher. Thus, you will need to have some flexibility in your schedule. You will receive a message regarding this course during your student teaching semester if you student teach in the Fall. If you student teach in the Spring you must contact Dr. Dawson in advance so she has time to find you a placement for Fall.
What are my options for electives?
You will select three of the following in consultation with Dr. Dawson
- EME 6945: Practicum in Educational Media -Digital Kids Summer Camp
- EME 6205: Digital Photography and Visual Literacy (3 credit hours; online*)
- EDG 6931: Literacy and Technology (3 credit hours; online*)
- EME 5207: Designing Technology Rich Curricula (3 credit hours; online*)
- EME 5405: Using the Internet in K-12 Instruction (3 credit hours; online*)
- EME 5404: Instructional Computing II (3 credit hours; online*)
What else do I need to know about online courses?
All online classes are offered for 8 intensive weeks. The content and rigor of these courses is comparable to 16-week face-to-face courses. These classes are part of our online M.Ed. and Ed.S. programs for practicing educators so you will be in classes with teachers, media specialists and administrators from around the country and, in some cases, around the globe! The calendar below shows you when courses are offered and the table shows you session dates. You do not need to be on campus to take these online courses, however, you must have consistent and reliable, high-speed access to the Internet. Note that online courses do not follow typical UF scheduling; please pay careful attention to the dates. If you are concerned about whether you will like an online learning environment these resources and hints for success may be helpful to you.
Semester |
Fall |
Spring 1 |
Spring 2 |
Summer 1 |
Summer 2 |
EDG 6931 - Literacy & Technology |
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EME 5207 - Designing Tech Rich Curricula |
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EME 5404 - Instructional Computing II |
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EME 5405 - Internet in K-12 |
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EME 6205 - Digital Photography |
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Please see the main Distance Education website for course dates
What do I need to know about the optional summer camp experience?
We will be offering the first annual Digital Kids Summer Camp during 2007. This camp provides technology-rich experiences for rising 3rd-6th graders. Topics covered will include animation, video game creation, podcasting and vodcasting. You have an opportunity to be involved in planning the camp and working with the campers. This experience will enable you to develop advanced technology skills, to see digital natives in an environment where standardized tests, curriculum standards and academic pressures are absent and to develop a portfolio of student products to display at job interviews. The summer camp runs Monday through Friday mornings during the weeks of June 4, 11 and 18. In addition to attending the camp during this time you will be asked to meet sometime before the camp begins to prepare and hone your technology skills. This time will be negotiated after we see who is interested in participating. Mr. Jeff Boyer is the 2007 Camp Director and will facilitate the associated course. If interested, please register for 3 credits of EME 6945 during Summer A.
How can I take EME 6945 twice during my graduate program?
EME 6945 is a Practicum course and graduate students may earn up to nine (9) hours of such a course during their graduate program. Everyone will enroll in the school-based EME 6945 course (see Specialization requirements). Those electing to participate in the Summer Camp will simply take 6 hours of EME 6945 (3 during Summer A and 3 during the semester of their school-based Practicum).
What kind of computer equipment do I need?
All software used in the specialization is cross platform and most is freely downloadable. Any machine you purchase should be equipped with adequate memory, storage space, USB and Firewire ports and a CD/DVD burner. You are not required to purchase specialized software, however, if you wish to purchase some packages we recommend:
- A package like Microsoft Office that includes a word process, spreadsheet and presentation tool. (Note that Open Office is a free, open source application that functions much like Office.)
- Digital video software (iMovie and MovieMaker are the most popular)
- Concept mapping software (Inspiration is the most popular but Gliffy is free)
- HTML Editor (Netscape Communicator is free; We have Dreamweaver in our labs)
- Image editing software (There are many freely available packages; We recommend Photoshop Elements, a condensed version of Photoshop)
- Animation software if you wish to do more advanced work (We have Flash in our labs)
- If you wish to explore educational software packages we recommend you begin at Tom Snyder Productions.
- You may also want to purchase a digital camera and other peripherals based on your interests and teaching goals.
Whom do I contact if I have questions?
Dr. Kara Dawson
dawson@coe.ufl.edu
