Homework answers / question archive / Learning Guide Unit 1 Overview Unit 1: What is Curriculum? Topics:   Defining the term Curriculum Factors affecting curriculum  Learning Objectives: By the end of this Unit, you will be able to: Examine foundations, principles, concepts, and constructions within the term curriculum Appraise social constructs influencing curriculum theory, development, and assessment Identify a curricular issue within a milieu and suggest causes and solutions Tasks: Read through the Learning Guide and the Reading Assignment Complete the Discussion Assignment by posting in the Discussion Forum Respond to three of your fellow classmates’ posts in the Discussion Forum Complete and submit the Written Assignment   Complete and submit the Portfolio Activity   Introduction In this unit, we start negotiating the facets of curriculum and examine its multi-layered conceptualization relative to your milieu or educative social environment (school, classroom, community and all those involved in the teaching and learning paradigm)

Learning Guide Unit 1 Overview Unit 1: What is Curriculum? Topics:   Defining the term Curriculum Factors affecting curriculum  Learning Objectives: By the end of this Unit, you will be able to: Examine foundations, principles, concepts, and constructions within the term curriculum Appraise social constructs influencing curriculum theory, development, and assessment Identify a curricular issue within a milieu and suggest causes and solutions Tasks: Read through the Learning Guide and the Reading Assignment Complete the Discussion Assignment by posting in the Discussion Forum Respond to three of your fellow classmates’ posts in the Discussion Forum Complete and submit the Written Assignment   Complete and submit the Portfolio Activity   Introduction In this unit, we start negotiating the facets of curriculum and examine its multi-layered conceptualization relative to your milieu or educative social environment (school, classroom, community and all those involved in the teaching and learning paradigm)

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Learning Guide Unit 1

Overview

Unit 1: What is Curriculum?

Topics:
 

• Defining the term Curriculum
• Factors affecting curriculum 

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this Unit, you will be able to:

1. Examine foundations, principles, concepts, and constructions within the term curriculum
2. Appraise social constructs influencing curriculum theory, development, and assessment
3. Identify a curricular issue within a milieu and suggest causes and solutions

Tasks:

• Read through the Learning Guide and the Reading Assignment
• Complete the Discussion Assignment by posting in the Discussion Forum
• Respond to three of your fellow classmates’ posts in the Discussion Forum
• Complete and submit the Written Assignment  
• Complete and submit the Portfolio Activity

 

Introduction

In this unit, we start negotiating the facets of curriculum and examine its multi-layered conceptualization relative to your milieu or educative social environment (school, classroom, community and all those involved in the teaching and learning paradigm). The term curriculum encompasses a learner’s relationship to a particular educative system whether collective or cultural and so, the question is:  how does the system of beliefs, traditions, and functions influence its design and implementation? 

Beginning with uncovering the complexities of the term curriculum, you then explore comparative examples and begin to situate curriculum in local contexts and/or through your personal constructions.

This course examines curriculum through multiple lenses including but not limited to traditional classroom practice, curriculum policy, courses of study relative to a specific subject field, socio-cultural perspectives, and research-based findings.  Though you will analyze and negotiate curriculum from past to present, you will also take a more introspective look at how curriculum affects and may be affected by educators. 

Reading Assignment

1. Eisner, E.  What does it mean to say a school is doing well?.  In Flinders, D. J., &   Thornton, S. J. (Eds.), The Curriculum Studies Reader, Fourth Edition (pp.297-305). New York, NY: Routledge. Retrieved from: https://chrisdavidcampbell.files.wordpress.com/2016/12/eisener-2001.pdf

• Elliot W. Eisner is highly revered when it comes to discussions about curriculum reform and in this article, he talks about rationalization and its role in the American education system.  He further explores standardized testing and what he believes it reveals about students.  As you read, many of you may recognize narrative echoes of or resonances to your own educative situations especially in terms of “out-of-classroom” professional knowledge landscapes. Eisner is also an advocate for creativity in the classroom and arts education. 

2. Kliebard, H. (1977). Problems of Definition in Curriculum. Journal of Curriculum and Supervision Fall 1989 (5) 1, pp.1-5. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/journals/jcs/jcs_1989fall_kliebard.pdf

• Herbert Kliebard is a well-known curriculum theorist and historian looking at past educative reforms for some insight or guidance regarding present-day classroom situations. 

3. Su, S. (2012). The Various Concepts of Curriculum and the Factors Involved in Curricula-making. Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268348184_The_Various_Concepts_of_Curriculum_and_the_Factors_Involved_in_Curricula-making

• Shao-Wen Su is a professor at the National Chin-Yi University of Technology (Taiwan).  Her work here explores definitions of curriculum and what aspects need to be considered when deriving one’s professional understanding of the term.

4. What is Curriculum? (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.igi-global.com/dictionary/curriculum/6468

• IGI Global, an international academic publisher for research aimed at societal change, compiles a list here of curriculum definitions with links to additional resources. Please take a look at the list of 36 definitions on this web page.

5. International Bureau of Education. (n.d.). Different Meanings of “Curriculum". Retrieved from http://www.ibe.unesco.org/en/geqaf/annexes/technical-notes/different-meanings-%E2%80%9Ccurriculum%E2%80%9D

• This website provides information on curricula from a global standpoint. This page of the website focuses on how a curriculum is developed and differs as it moves from paper to classroom implementation. After reading Different Meanings of "Curriculum", take a moment and review the different resources available on this website.

6. UNESCO International Bureau of Education (UNESCO-IBE). (2016). What makes a quality curriculum? Current and Critical Issues in Curriculum and Learning (2), pp.1-41. Retrieved from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0024/002439/243975e.pdf

 

• This resources are taken from UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) and their collected international understandings of curriculum.

7 . UNESCO International Bureau of Education (UNESCO-IBE). (2013). The Curriculum Debate: why it is important today. Geneva: UNESCO-IBE. Retrieved from http://www.ibe.unesco.org/sites/default/files/resources/wpci-10-curr_debate_eng.pdf

• This resources are taken from UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) and their collected international understandings of curriculum.

Optional Video

1. Fell, R. (2014, April 09). What is Curriculum [Video File]. Retrieved from  (2:06)

 

• This is an introductory video created by pre-service teachers as they decipher the term curriculum and the layers of its definition.

2. lwf. (2011, March 21). Sir Ken Robinson, Creativity, Learning & the Curriculum [Video File]. Retrieved from  (29:26)

 

• In this video, Sir Ken Robinson discusses the need for creativity when it comes to learning within the classroom.  Though curriculum is often seen as prescriptive, there are elements of it that are subjective because of its inherent connection to human growth and learning.

Discussion Assignment

In the discussion forum, you are expected to participate often and engage in deep levels of discourse.  Please post your initial response as early in the unit as possible and continue to participate throughout the unit. You are required to post an initial response to the question/issue presented in the Forum and then respond to at least 3 of your classmates’ initial posts.  You should also respond to anyone who has responded to you. 

• Research and locate a published (online or documented – not Wikipedia) definition for curriculum outside of the ones presented to you in this unit.  It does not have to be extensive, just a few lines but no more than a paragraph.  Prepare your post by extracting the definition and copying/pasting it into the forum. Underneath the excerpt, share why this definition resonates with your educative perspective.  Please provide a reference for this excerpt cited in APA format. 

Discussion Forums will be assessed using this rubric.

Written Assignment

Eisner poses many questions in his piece entitled What Does It Mean to Say a School Is Doing Well?  which is characteristic of his writing style.  Some questions are answered but often, he leaves them unanswered.  For instance, on page 302, in the third full paragraph, Eisner asks questions but does not immediately or directly answer them. 

I want you to go back through the article and find three (3) "unanswered" questions and try to compose short answers.  Choose three (3) questions that you can expand upon and if you choose a yes/no question, give details for your answer. 

Here is an example response to one of Eisner’s questions: 

In the third full paragraph on page 302, Eisner asks "What opportunities do students have to formulate their own purposes and to design ways to achieve them?"  In the context of his article, I think Eisner implies that these opportunities rarely occur. However, in my research experience in English language classrooms, I have seen many Korean English language teachers break free from traditional teacher-directed methods in the hopes of rejuvenating their practice and also engaging students in the lesson.  Many teachers employ task-based methods or group activity-based strategies handing over much of the learning responsibility to their students. Objectives are still set, rubrics are still presented, activities are created, and evaluative measures are met but the students are often at the forefront of their learning. Teachers become facilitators so that students can encounter certain skills. demonstrate them and then put them into communicative use.  Curriculum guidelines and standardized tests often dictate what a teacher should focus on in the classroom, but many teachers are tired of seeing their students disengage from the learning process.  By integrating more interactive and self-directed learning activities, teachers meet the requirements of the curriculum policymakers while helping students see the practical side to their language learning. 

Organize your written assignment as an essay with an introduction and conclusion covering three (3) of the “unanswered” questions.

Your paper should be 2-3 pages in length, exclusive of the reference page. The paper must be double-spaced and cite at least 1 additional source in APA format.  The paper must be well-written using Times New Roman, 12-point font. Check all content for grammar, spelling and to be sure that you have properly cited all resources (in APA format) used.

Proofread your work to make sure your responses are clear and coherent and in correct APA format.  Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab (OWL) is a free website that provides excellent information and resources for understanding and using the APA format and style. The OWL website can be accessed here: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

Papers will be peer-assessed using this rubric.

Learning Guide Unit 1

Portfolio Activity

Building on the themes discussed in this unit, reflect on the following notion based on your own personal perspective.  Draw on your own experience and knowledge to expand upon your thoughts.

Relative to your milieu, recall and identify at least one but no more than three curricular issues.  Describe the issue(s) and why it is (they are) of concern.  The term milieu comes from the work of Joseph Schwab (1983); the term refers to the social environment where education takes places.  Some scholars refer to this as the space and place of learning like the classroom or school itself. 

Think about the following as you prepare your post:

• What is the specific curricular issue(s)?
• Who does it affect in your milieu?  If it affects more than one person or group, please be specific.
• Identify possible reasons for the issue(s).
• Upon reflection, recommend ways to solve this (these) issue(s). 

This activity will be assessed by your instructor using the Portfolio Activity Rubric.