ETEC 591/701
Administration of Educational Technology Units for Education and Training Systems

Assignment

Purpose

Weight

Due

Preparation of a Business Case

To demonstrate that you are able to prepare a convincing business case for a significant educational technology project.

This is a group project. Create a business case for a an assigned educational technology project. The case should include the following: executive summary (abstract), brief description, listing and discussion of alternatives (including both a narrative as well as listing of revenues and expenses), description of criteria for selecting among alternatives (including risk factors and other criteria), and recommendation of an alternative and projected return-on-investment.

Groups will be formed by interest area: K-12, higher education, business, government, or nonprofit.

35%

March 10

Business Intelligence

To develop your familarity and critical reading skills with the business literature in the field, write a 5-page (double-spaced) report that does the following: (a) succinctly reports on a key business, project, or people management issue facing educational technologists; (b) reflects your personal research of at least 10 articles on the topic--at least 2 should come from peer-reviewed journals (as a graduate student, you should be familiar with the concept of a peer-reviewed journal and be able to identify which publications in the field are peer-reviewed), and at least 5 should come from the popular press in the field (as with the concept of peer-reviewed journals, you should be familiar with this concept as a graduate student), and (c) synthesizes what you have learned through your research into a coherent report, and (d) suggests how this issue might affect your work in the field of educational technology.

25%

Topic due: February 3

Report due: March 24

Learning Assessment: Project Management

To demonstrate that you can manage educational technology projects, including estimating them and managing unplanned situations.

This take-home assignment presents several projects to estimate, as well as several discrete issues regarding the planning and management of educational technology projects to which you must respond. These projects represent a wide variety of environments in which educational technologists work, including K-12 and higher education, corporate environments, and government and nonprofit agencies. The challenges presented on this Learning Assessment are based on readings and in-class assignments completed earlier.

17.5%

Distributed in class: April 7
Return: Hard copy only--6:00 pm, April 14.

Learning Assessment: People Management

To demonstrate that you can manage the performance planning and career development processes.

This take-home assignment presents several people management issues on a variety of educational technology projects representing the variety of environments in which educational technologists work to which you must respond. The challenges presented on this Learning Assessment are based on readings and in-class assignments completed earlier

22.5%

Distributed in class: April 7
Return: Hard copy only--6:00 pm, April 14. (Same dates as the other Learning Assessment.)

Reading about Business Issues

To develop your ongoing instinct for business issues in learning and other types of organizations.

Follow the business press in general, and in relation to your interest area in educational technology. For example, if you are interested in working in a corporate training department, you might read or Business Week and the Weekly Buzz from ASTD. If you are itnerested in working in higher education, you might read the Business column from the daily paper as well as The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Indirectly, through specific questoins on the Learning Assessments and inclusion of relevant sources in the Report for the Business of Educational Technology Fair.

Ongoing.