Mindtools are computer applications that, when used by learners to represent what they know, necessarily engage them in critical thinking about the content they are studying (Jonassen, 1996). Mindtools are designed and implemented based upon a cognitive model for how people learn. Using technology as a mindtool requires a unique instructional model that uses current computer-based technologies as the technical foundation of a new and dramatically enhanced literacy referred to by diSessa (2000) as "computational literacy."

This course outlines current technologies as examples of mindtools and provides students with the requisite skills and understanding of research needed to implement these tools in their instruction.