Access to the course is August 26, 2002 at http://www.nau.edu/webct

This is an informational overview.

You must be registered for the course to have access to the syllabus and course pages beginning August 26

Students cannot gain access to the course without a DANA account.

Course Description: Theories and practices of curriculum development and presentation of a modern and functional philosophy of curriculum construction.

Course Objectives 1. Understand principles of curriculum design from several perspectives. 2. Demonstrate competence in creating and presenting curriculum documents. 3. Differentiate among technical, practical, and emancipatory approaches to curriculum. 4. Identify the influences of different approaches to curriculum in school reform documents. 5. Understand the foundations of curriculum and their influence on curriculum products/praxis. 6. Participate in curricular decision-making. 7. Critique curricular decision-making.

Audience and Purpose of Course:

This course serves a diverse audience of students. Some students may take the course to improve course-writing skills in related fields. Some students may be taking the course as part of a Masters degree program, while others may be taking it to meet Ed. D. requirements. Given the diversity of students, the course starts with a general examination of ways of building curriculum, followed by a particular technique as the vehicle for designing a major instructional segment. The final part of the course focuses on issues of curriculum development related to school reform. Thus, the student can expect to begin the course with a lot of "doing" then "thinking about the doing" from several perspectives; finally, "thinking about what needs to be done." By the end of the course, students should understand traditional approaches to curriculum construction, critiques of those approaches, and alternatives to those approaches.

Posner (1985) distinguishes between curriculum development technique and curriculum conscience. Knowing how to create a curriculum is technique; understanding the assumptions and consequences of a curriculum is conscience. "A curriculum planner without the former is incompetent ('but what can you do?') and without the latter is ungrounded ('merely a technician'). A 'complete' curriculum planning model is not what the field needs. The field needs curriculum planners not only able to use various models but also aware of the implications of their use" (p. 94). The goal of this course is to move participants toward becoming such curriculum planners.
Instruction will be via readings, group work and discussions, writing, and web activities. Students will design a major unit of curriculum as the Course Unit Design Project for this course.

Required Texts: *can be obtained through NAU bookstore on line or Amazon.com )

Wiggns, G., & McTighe, J. (1998). Understanding by design. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Applebee, Arthur N. (1996). Curriculum as Conversation: Transforming Traditions of Teaching and Learning. University of Chicago Press. ISBN: 0-226-02123-8
Reserve readings (available on line) will be assigned in class. In addition, there will be readings assigned from the World Wide Web, URLs provided.

Essential Questions for the Course:

• What is curriculum?
• What is understanding?
• Is understanding more stimulated than learned?
• How does a perspective on curriculum construction affect the learning experience for students?
• How does curriculum interact with other elements of schooling and school reform?
  
  
  1. This course is designed to be completed on a weekly schedule. When you visit the web is your choice, but when discussion activities are assigned, you are expected to visit the discussion once by mid-week (Wednesday) and again by Sunday afternoon. All assignments are due at midnight Sunday, following the week of instruction.

  *Please review specific instructions on how to access assignments and submit them on Module I: Introduction page from the Course Table of Contents. You MUST use the Assignments Section from the Course Content Area to access and submit assignments. Reading assignments are also located within the Module pages in the Course Table of Contents. Always read the module pages before going to the Assignments Section.

WebCT Tutorial (author: Paul Alley)

Sequence

This implies something you may not have realized about the course. Even though it is a web course, allowing maximum convenience for you, it is designed to be completed in a sequence and on a set schedule. That is, each week you are expected to perform that week's activities. You can't cram the course into a short time at the start or end of the semester; if you are unable to do the course on the schedule provided, you should withdraw. This is not a self-paced correspondence course. It is a graduate level seminar course that requires participation from all class members each week. Here is that schedule, with indications of the discussion activities and other assignments: Check the class calendar for specific dates. Most assignments run from Monday to Sunday.

Schedule for ECI 675 Web course