I’d like to welcome you to the course site for CDT 450: Disruptive Technologies! CDT 450 will be held Thursdays 3-6 PM for the Spring 2015 semester. We will meet in Frey Hall 309. Seats are limited to 20 … although I doubt we will spend much time in them.

One thing you’ll notice right away is that this site is probably a lot different than the kinds of course websites you are used to seeing. First of all, it is open … that means that the conversations, writings, and really everything else is not behind some sort of log in. I want you to become comfortable with the notion of openness and understand how important I feel it is in the creation of a learning community, enhancing your identity, and building your understanding of design.

collaborate

This space will be an interesting experiment for us all. I consider this an ongoing text that we will build together. I want each of you to consider yourselves authors in this public space. Each time I teach this course your posts will be part of the experience for the subsequent classes. I want you to embrace the idea that you have been invited as a co-author in an ongoing open dialogue related to disruptive technologies. This is not a simple course website, but an evolving and dynamic learning community with continuity from year to year through extended discourse.

Please take that seriously and think about how your contributions will continue to create an open community for sharing knowledge.

With all that in mind, this is a course. That means that while we will work together to arrive at goals along the way, there will be rigor. That also means I hope that you realize this isn’t about working to a single endpoint. We will be doing things that build upon the past and invent new thoughts related to the work we are doing.

My goals for those participating are to gain a deep appreciation for building communities that foster social connections and open knowledge sharing. Additionally I hope you will work to understand how emergent technologies can be explored, and ultimately exploited, to support new forms of conversations, scholarship, teaching, learning, and participation. Through our readings, writing, conversations, and activities I hope you will arrive at these milestones together.

A good place to start is with the syllabus. From there, jump into the blog and if the mood strikes you, contribute new posts or comments to existing conversations.

Photo credit jayfresh, via Creative Commons.

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