EVT 7168 Instructional Development in Vocational, Technical & Adult Education
Course Syllabus (Revised Aug. 20 2007)
Note: Please print out and read this course syllabus very carefully in its entirety and keep it handy for reference throughout the semester. It contains information that is frequently the subject of questions about the course.
Conceptual Framework Statement
"The College of Education is dedicated to the ideals of Collaboration, Academic Excellence, Research, and Ethical Practice. These are key tenets in the Conceptual Framework of the College of Education. Competence in these ideals will provide candidates in educator preparation programs with skills, knowledge, and dispositions to be successful in the schools of today and tomorrow." For more information on the Conceptual Framework, visit: www.coedu.usf.edu/main/qualityassurance/ncate visit_info_materials.htm
Course: EVT 7168 Instructional Development in Vocational, Technical & Adult Education
Credit Hours: 3 Semester Hours
Instructor:
Bill Blank, Professor-Department of Adult, Career and Higher Education Dept.: http://www.coedu.usf.edu/main/departments/ache/ache.html
College of Education
University of South Florida
Bldg. EDU162
4202 Fowler Ave. Tampa, FL 33620
Office: EDU 151-G
Phone: 813-974-0314
Fax: 813-974-3366
Email: blank@coedu.usf.edu
Office Hours: posted on office door each week
Department Office and faculty mailboxes: EDU 151; 974-3420
Course Prerequisites: N/A
Course Description: Open to majors and non-majors, this course is an in-depth examination of theories, principles and applications of contextual teaching and learning (CTL) and similar instructional approaches such as applied learning and authentic learning. Use of contextual teaching and learning in school-based and non-school based career and workforce education and training settings is considered.
Course Goals:
Major goals of the course are to assist participants in
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Analyzing how global, societal and other changes will impact workforce education and training
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Examining theories and concepts that can improve learning outcomes
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Understanding theoretical and conceptual concepts supporting use of contextual teaching and learning
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Examining contextual teaching and learning in depth
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Reviewing contextual teaching and learning practices
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Conceptualizing research involving contextual teaching and learning
Content Outline:
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Global, societal and related changes impacting workforce education and training
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Cognitive and sociocultural aspects of workforce education and training

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Changing skill requirements of the future workforce
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Shortcomings of mental discipline and related philosophies
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Transfer of learning in theory and practice
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Human Competence
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Brain compatible learning
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Constructivism
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Mastery Learning
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Cognitive apprenticeship
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Situated learning
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Applied learning
Authentic learning
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CTL practices in schools and colleges
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CTL practices in the workplace
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Conducting research involving CTL and related practices
Student Outcomes:
Students should be able to achieve the outcomes listed below. These outcomes are assessed based on products developed and responses to questions and scenarios posed.
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Identify changes needed in education/training systems to accommodate changes in the workplace
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Critically examine transfer of learning and factors that promote and inhibit it
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Rel ate constructivism, mastery learning and human competence to the participant’s education/training setting
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Distinguish contextual teaching and learning from related educational approaches/theories
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Describe conceptual and theoretical bases of CTL
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Compare CTL practices in the classrooms and workplaces
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Conceptualize research involving CTL
Grading System and Criteria:
It is recognized that "grading" of adults in university level courses is problematic, invariably too subjective in nature, is fraught with difficulties and goes against a philosophy of true facilitative adult learning in which the adult learner takes from the learning experience what he or she wishes based on their investment of time and energy. However, all USF faculty are required to issue grades and some students take grading more seriously than others and feel very strongly that superior effort or achievement should be rewarded by a higher grade. Based on these considerations, the following overall criteria will be utilized to determine the letter grade assigned for the course:
Grade Determination:
Grade: Indicators:
A 1. Assigned discussion questions were well constructed and posted on time
2. Substantively participated throughout duration of all scheduled online discussion sessions
3. Posted all assignments/products on or near target date and in a high quality manner
4. Demonstrated evidence throughout semester that unit resources were fully utilized and
B
C key concepts were understood
Substantive deficiency in any one area listed above
Substantive deficiency in any two areas listed above
Textbook: N/A
Reference List:

The various references and readings used throughout the course can be found in each of the units.
Systems Requirements and Technical Problems:
On the Blackboard log on screen, you will see the Browser Check which you can use to determine if your browser is compatible with Blackboard. Contact the instructor with questions about the course content or assignments. If you have technical questions or problems with Blackboard or your hardware during the semester or are unsure if your system is sufficiently up-to-date to handle Blackboard, contact the USF academic computing help desk at mailto:help-ac@usf.edu
or call 974-1222 in Tampa or 1-866-
974-1222 statewide. Under “Resources” you’ll find links to download applications that you might need if yours are out of date, etc. such as Flash Player, Adobe Acrobat, etc.
Blackboard Announcements:
When you log on to Blackboard and open EVT 7168, you will notice that Announcements are visible. I will periodically post announcements with reminders about important activities or due dates, information about new resources or other important information. Be sure and check for announcements at least weekly. Note that by clicking on the tabs you can read announcements posted during the past week, month, etc. in case you missed them.
A Word About Blackboard E-Mail:
Click the Blackboard Welcome screen and you’ll see the “USF Email Address” section which lists your official internal USF email address. Email sent to you from within Blackboard by instructors and fellow participants will go to this address. You’ll want to change this address to your personal yahoo, aol, etc. email address so you won’t have to check this new USF account. Follow the instruction under “ Change
Official USF E-Mail Address ”. Otherwise, remember to periodically check your USF email account frequently throughout the semester. I will normally respond to emails within 48 hours unless I am out of town for a conference, etc. To send email within Blackboard, click Communications , then Send E-mail .
You can send email to All Users or Select users.
Unit Assignments:
The course is built around Units with each having one or more assignments. Within the course Web site are instructions for completing the assignment for each unit. Since additional resources may be added to units as the semester progresses, I recommend that you print out each unit as you begin working on it and check off the steps as you go.
Unless otherwise indicated, assignments/products are to be submitted to the Class Discussions or to the Assignments areas within Blackboard. When you go into the Class Discussions area, you will see one or more Forum for each of the units for the course. Be sure and post each assignment to the appropriate Forum. For shorter assignments, you might be keying your responses to questions, etc. right in the Message box for that forum. If the assignment is lengthier , you’ll first create it in your word processor, save it as an .rtf or .doc file and attach it to the forum as a separate document. Please be sure and include your name and unit number on each assignment if you create it on your word processor.
Anything you type or post to the Class Discussion forums can be seen by everyone in the class.
For some units you may be asked to post your work in the Assignments area of Blackboard (e.g., your responses to questions posed). Click on the Assignments icon on the main course page and then click the >> View/Complete Assignment:… link for the particular assignment you are responding to. If the assignment is fairly brief (approximately 200 characters) you can enter it directly in the Comments box and hit “Submit”. If your assignment is fairly lengthy you should attach it as a separate .rtf or .doc file because once you exceed the limit of characters you can enter into the comments box, everything you have entered may be lost. Anything you type or post in the Assignments area can only be seen by the

instructor. Keep in mind that Blackboard will normally only open.doc or .rtf files. Please make sure you save the files you create for assignments or products as .doc or .rtf files.
Course Schedule:
An important document you will be using throughout the semester is the Course Schedule (click “Course
Documents” on the main course website). It indicates due dates for each of the unit assignments. It is very important to check the Course Schedule often to make sure you stay on schedule. If necessary, a revised version may be posted after the semester begins; make sure you have the latest version.
Conducting Online Research:
You’ll be conducting a fair amount of online research this semester which will be good practice for completing your dissertation. There are two resources you need to know about that will help you. One is
“ Instructions for Conducting Online Research ” which has information on using data bases through the
USF Library, ERIC and other sources. It is mentioned and linked in several of the course units. Keep in mind that many of these sources are constantly in flux and instructions for use may change. The other is a “ Course Guide for EVT 7168 ” developed by Ms. Sue Ariew who is a USF educational librarian. She has done an excellent job of providing links to the most important sources you’ll be using. Be sure and bookmark this site and spend some time early in the semester exploring both resources.
Student Homepages:
If you are a part of the PhD program in Career & Workforce Education, you should already have created your homepage (feel free to update it and add a photo if you don’t already have one—you can copy and paste from a previous course). To view everyone’s homepage in the CWE PhD cohort (some may be in this course and others may not be), click the “Organizations” tab at the top of the screen, then click “2006
PhD in Career & Workforce Education Cohort” and then click “Students” and then “cohort 2006”. If you’re not in the PhD cohort please add your homepage to this course (not the Organization). When you log in to Blackboard and enter EVT 7168, click “Course Tools” and then “Homepage”.
In the Introduction area, enter your name and a brief salutation or greeting which is what others will see before they actually open your homepage. In the Personal Information area enter the actual biographical information about you. Include contact information to the extent you feel comfortable. You might want to include your work site, mailing address, telephone, direct email address, etc. Include a description of your current teaching or work setting, something about your background, your teaching and occupational experience, and anything you want to share about your family, hobbies, unusual experiences, etc. Also include in your home page any links you might have to your school, college, program, company, agency, etc. or other favorite web sites. To recap: homepages for those in the PhD program are in the
Organizations area (and are, therefore, available indefinitely) and those who are taking this course and who are not in the PhD program, should create their homepage within this course.
Uploading Your Picture: To upload your photo to your homepage, click “Upload a Picture” in the area where you created your homepage. Please use a recent color portrait, passport type of photograph; make sure the digital image is no more that approximately 320 by 240 pixels so that it will fit on the homepage. Here's a free, easy to use resizer you can download to resize your picture if needed: http://bluefive.pair.com/pixresizer.htm
.
Viewing Homepages: To view the homepages of those in the PhD program go to the Organizations area as described above. To view homepages of those who created them within this course, click
Communications and then click Roster and then “list all” twice and then click the name of the person’s homepage you wish to view.
Policy On Incompletes (I):

An Incomplete (grade of "I") will be submitted at the end of the semester only for unusual circumstances.
It is the instructor's experience that when a participant receives an incomplete in a course, a great deal of paperwork, telephone and/or Email exchanges and face-to-face meetings are necessary to resolve the I.
And almost without exception, usually due to a significant time lapse that occurs, the course assignments are rarely completed in the same quality fashion as those, which are completed on time. University policy calls for incompletes to be awarded only when the coursework has been substantively completed (75%) and there are extenuating circumstances preventing the student from completing the course requirements by the end of the semester.
If an I is given, any incomplete work must be completed within one semester after the I is received due to the fact that the course web site is only archived for one semester. After that time, all records, assignments, postings, etc. for that semester are deleted by the USF computer center. Those receiving an I and not completing all outstanding assignments and resolving the I during the subsequent semester will have to retake the course to remove the I.
Other Important Information (Standard Information In All USF Course Syllabi):
ADA Statement: Students with disabilities are responsible for registering with the Office of Student
Disabilities Services in order to receive special accommodations and services. Please notify the instructor during the first week of classes if a reasonable accommodation for a disability is needed for this course. A letter from the USF Disability Services Office must accompany this request.
USF Policy on Religious Observances: Students who anticipate the necessity of being absent from class due to the observation of a major religious observance must provide notice of the date(s) to the instructor, in writing, by the second class meeting.
Web Portal Information: Why are the NetID and Helios account important to students? A helios account, which is the official USF e-mail account, is given to every USF student when enrolled. Every official USF correspondence to students will be sent to the helios account. More information about this and the USF
Web Portal can be found at: http://www.acomp.usf/portal.html
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Academic Dishonesty : Plagiarism is defined as “literary theft” and consists of the unattributed quotation of the exact words of a published text, or the unattributed borrowing of original ideas by paraphrase from a published text. On written papers for which the student employs information gathered from books, articles, or oral sources, each direct quotation, as well as ideas and facts that are not generally know to the public at large must be attributed to its author by means of the appropriate citation procedure.
Citations may be made in footnotes or within the body of the text. Plagiarism also consists of passing off a s one’s own, segments or the total of another person’s work. Punishment for Academic Dishonesty will depend on the seriousness of the offense and may include receipt of an “F” with a numerical value of zero on the item submitted, and the “F” shall be used to determine the final course grade. It is the option of the instructor to assign the student a grade of F or FF (the latter indicating dishonesty) in the course.
Detection of Plagiarism: The University of South Florida has an account with an automated plagiarism detection service, which allows instructors to submit student assignments to be checked for plagiarism. I reserve the right to 1) request that assignments be submitted to me as electronic files and 2) electronically submit assignments to Turnitin.com. Assignments are compared automatically with a huge database of journal articles, web articles, and previously submitted papers. The instructor receives a report showing exactly how a student’s paper was plagiarized. For more information, go to http://www.turnitin.com/ and http://www.ugs.usf.edu/catalogs/0304/adadap.htm#plagiarism .