The Doctoral Certificate Program in Interactive Technology and Pedagogy responds to strong doctoral student demand for interactive digital technology (IT) training and certification. It aims to better prepare doctoral students for life and work in the contemporary university and to impart valuable IT skills and experience that will make CUNY Ph.D. holders more competitive when they enter academic job markets. The ITP certificate’s interdisciplinary approach is designed to provide a critical introduction to the constellation of questions related to science, technology and critical thinking, to explore pedagogical implications of interactive technology, and to advance students’ skills as creators and users of technology-based educational tools and resources. Like all GC certificate programs, the Certificate Program in Interactive Technology and Pedagogy is limited to CUNY doctoral students; upon successful completion by the student, the certificate is awarded when the doctoral degree is conferred.
The certificate's sequence of courses provides theoretical, historical, philosophical, literary, and sociological perspectives on technology and pedagogy and their intersection in the classroom. The program will provide students with the critical skills to reflect on and then design and implement IT tools for use in teaching, primarily at the college level. Like other certificate programs at the GC, information technology is an emergent field that is well served by multidisciplinary approaches. And though the program draws on the discipline-based expertise of many doctoral faculty members, it also strives to build a collective conversation about the broad implications of emerging educational technology for intellectual work and classroom practices.
Download the full Certificate Program Proposal (.pdf)
For more information, contact:
Stephen Brier
Coordinator of the Interactive Technology and Pedagogy Certificate Program
The Graduate Center, CUNY
365 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (212) 817-7290
Email: itp@gc.cuny.edu
The sequence of courses--a total of nine doctoral degree credits that can be completed by students in two years--is designed to provide a variety of historical, theoretical, political, and practical approaches to understanding the connections between IT and pedagogy. The ITP Certificate Program relies on an interdisciplinary approach to IT and pedagogy--an approach that leads us to pursue solutions applicable to the humanities, the social sciences, and the physical and natural sciences. First, two three-credit core courses provide students with an overview of history and theory, and pedagogy and practice, respectively. Second, in a series of short noncredit workshops, students master relevant technical software and IT-design skills that allow them to develop a new or rigorously evaluate an existing IT tool for classroom use; a minimum of three such noncredit workshops must be taken by students in order to complete the ITP certificate. Third, students select from one of four possibilities for a three-credit independent study course, which will provide them with the opportunity to reflect on and evaluate the effectiveness in practice of the IT tool they create or evaluate. This design represents an effort to provide pedagogical guidance and evaluation by appropriate doctoral faculty of individual GC students who complete the certificate.
Core I
This course examines the history of interactive media, including its economic, social, and intellectual evolution, to consider how links between science and technology shape the ways we think and act in industry, in the academy, and in everyday life. The course also examines the coinciding legacies of fascination with and ambivalence about technology, looking at notions of technological determinism, in particular, to gauge the expansive impact of technology on work, social and cultural life, and education. The course also explores the history and theory of hypertext, literary theory, and new media, highlighting the theoretical and practical possibilities for research, reading, and writing in a world where new, nonlinear narrative structures are becoming the norm. The first part of the course employs readings in history and social theory to explore technology as a subset of science and technology in the twentieth century. The second part of the course focuses attention on processes of human learning while also exploring larger philosophical and political issues related to the equitable access to technology by traditionally underserved groups, the so-called "digital divide." It also examines science, technology, and the classroom, exploring the support for (and opposition to) the complex coupling of technology and pedagogy.
Core II
This second core course introduces students to IT in the classroom, focusing on cognition and design. Interest areas include research in digital media; visualization and design; modes of learning within and outside the classroom; and conceptualization and production of educational media products. The course also provides a hands-on introduction to key educational uses of new-media applications, including on-line writing tools, electronic archives, and experimentation in virtual spaces. The class will meet frequently in GC computer classrooms. The course employs an interdisciplinary approach to the application of digital media to classroom teaching and scholarly research and presentations. Students will learn skills and concepts and then will design and prepare a multimedia-based project in their discipline. The second core course serves as the "content course" for the certificate. This course makes it possible for participating doctoral students to build on the theoretical insights gleaned in the first core course and to begin to conceive and develop an IT project in their own discipline.
Independent Study
In the independent study course--conducted under the supervision of the Certificate Program Coordinator, an appropriate faculty member, or professional designee--students will work directly to implement in the classroom the IT tools they designed in ITCP 70020 (the second core course) and the workshop electives. ITP student will hopefully be able to conceive, develop and implement IT tools particular to the classrooms in which they will be teaching as instructors, adjuncts, GTFs, or in other classroom environments. They will draw from experience and a given set of readings drawn from their Core I and Core II experiences to reflect on and--where possible--to shape the IT tools they develop in this independent study course.
Workshops
Workshops (a minimum of three must be taken to receive the certificate) focus on concepts as well as skill building. These short workshops (usually an evening long event) are offered on a no-credit basis. The type and number of workshops a student selects will be based on the nature of the student's project, necessary technical follow up on what was offered in the core courses, and development of particular technological skills applicable to the student's learning and teaching project. Selection of workshops should, ideally, reflect the direction of the student's developing IT interest and work. Students should have a given project in mind that will eventually make its way into the classroom, as electives will allow students to sharpen their understanding of issues introduced in core courses. Essentially, workshops focus on building particular technological skills applicable to teaching and learning in particular disciplines. These noncredit electives are taught by doctoral and other CUNY faculty and, where appropriate, by advanced graduate students and non-university IT and media professionals.