There are three papers required for this class. Each paper should be 5-8 pages in length (at least–but quality is always more important than quantity.  Except that sometimes, in order to get real quality, you do need sufficient quantity.  Nothing is more disappointing than a paper with promise that is too skimpy to fulfill that promise), well-organized, and of course the grammar and syntax should be completely correct.  (And of course all work should be your own.  Plagiarism is never acceptable, and if you include any writing that is not your own, without giving credit to the original source, your grade on the paper will be F.  No makeups, no questions, no excuses.  But I really don’t have to even say that, do I?).

All papers should be submitted (before 11:59 PM on the specified due date) directly to my dropbox using the dropbox page.  No late papers will be accepted!

We’ll be developing the specific topics as we go along, but these are basic themes they should cover.

• Where Have You Been? (DUE FEBRUARY 24)

  This paper is an examination of your own educational history.  Looking at what we’ve learned about past (and current) images and ideas about education, as well as your own reflections and those of your classmates, what has worked in your history of schooling? What has failed?  Compare some of the points we’ve covered in this class to what has happened (is happening) and what you’ve done (are doing) in your time as a student.  Be specific and give us lots of examples.

• What Are You Finding? (DUE MARCH 24)

  How is this course working for you as an example of the future of education (even though we’re in the present)? Are we doing something all that different from what’s been done before? Should we be? Think about another course that you’re taking right now–maybe a more “traditional” one, or maybe one that is quite similar to this one.  Are the differences positive? Negative? Mixed?

• Where Are You Going? (DUE APRIL 29)

  What’s your educational plan? Now that you’ve spent (most of) a semester learning and thinking about what schooling means and where it’s been and where it’s going, how will you change your own experience of your own education in the coming years of college…and beyond. If most learning takes place outside of the classroom (does it?), how will you continue to learn and what will you continue to learn?

There will also be a final project (DUE MAY 19).  This project will be your own version, your own vision, of the future of education.  And it should be as visionary and unique as you can make it.  Show us (rather than just telling us) what the future will look like.  We’ll be talking and planning more about this project as we go along–and this project can be (your choice) a group endeavor.  But more about that later.