Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

An introduction to a small but representative sample of basic questions and issues in education. Students will examine questions relating to: the concept or idea of education; learning and the learner; teaching and the teacher; and more generally, the broader contexts of education. This course also introduces students to different ways of exploring educational questions and issues from philosophical and critical analysis, to historical and cross-cultural studies, to empirical research. Cannot be taken for credit by students with credit for 300 and 400 level education courses. Writing/Breadth-Humanities.

COURSE DETAILS:

COURSE TOPIC

Education is a central feature of all societies today and learning is an essential part of who we are: learning creatures. Through our classroom discussions, readings, and online explorations, we will create a learning community, collectively reflecting on and critically analyzing various dimensions of education: our own educational journeys, the various ways we learn, the “big questions” of education, different ways of looking at learning organizations in our society, what kinds of education are important in our increasingly complex and ever-changing societies, teachers and students, and what it means to be an educated person in an educated society.

FORMAT

The course will be structured as a series of modules in which we explore various educational topics. Each module is a separate exploration but, of course, all the various module topics are connected in some ways. Through our classroom discussions, readings, online explorations, we will create a learning community, collectively reflecting on and critically analyzing the purpose of education and being educated, the messages embedded in educational environments and to consider future possibilities for education.

Taught in a seminar format involving a wide variety of readings, discussions, and assignments, the course aims to develop a better understanding of the multifaceted nature of teaching and learning, schools and school systems. Part of the course is designed and taught by the students themselves, as a way of experiencing the nature of teaching first hand. Emphasis will be given to engaging in your own inquiry as a way of investigating the relationship between the personal and the universal and growth and transformation.

As a writing intensive course, it will provide opportunities for you to develop a number of writing genres. In these writing assignments, and throughout the course, an emphasis is placed on connecting personal experience, observation and belief with an understanding of broader philosophical, social and political issues in education.

Through readings and other media sources, students will be asked to reflect on and critically analyze and discuss the purpose of education and being educated, the messages embedded in educational environments and to consider future possibilities for education. Students will also have the opportunity to reflect on their own educational experiences and consider alternative ways that teaching and learning can occur. Information, questions and concepts will be shared through written and verbal exchanges, group discussions and presentations.

Grading

Materials

MATERIALS + SUPPLIES:

We will be using TopHat in this class. The cost is $24.

You can purchase TopHat at the Bookstore: Go to the shelf where your course is, and pick up an Access Code to be purchased at the Cashier. Your Access Code is sort of like the Gift Cards you see at the Safeway checkout--they have no "value" until activated. When you purchase the Access Code at the cashiers, she/he will "activate" your card so that you can have access to TopHat.

REQUIRED READING: