Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

An intensive examination of developments in a curriculum area selected by the student. In addition the course will deal with major philosophical and historical factors that influence the present state and future directions of curriculum and instruction.

COURSE DETAILS:

Meeting Dates:
January 6/7
January 20/21
February 3/4
February 24/25
March 10/11
March 31/Apr 1

Meeting Times:
Fridays: 4:30pm to 9:00pm
Saturdays: 8:30am to 4:30pm
(specifics, to be discussed)

Meeting Location:
Vancouver Community College, Broadway Campus, Vancouver
Room BWY B2209

As the title implies, this course is concerned with issues and ideas regarding curriculum and instruction as they relate to one’s teaching specialty, what we might call an exploration of ‘self and practice, & self in practice.’ More specifically, it is an opportunity to explore such issues and ideas in the context of post-secondary education in our times, with respect to your own setting, and your own teaching domain or ‘subject.’ We will be drawing on historical antecedents, and contemporary social science perspectives, namely institutional or organizational ethnography. A central aim of the course is for you to examine the features of your own teaching practice in light of both big ideas and issues in post-secondary education, in light of your institutional and departmental setting and culture, and, importantly, in light of “the colour of our times.” The central means or ‘approach’ for exploring these domains will be through the related methodologies of ‘self-study,’ critical reflective practice, and reflexivity.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

1. To examine and situate ourselves in our professional settings, and in our professional teaching practice, using various historical and social science lenses, applied to our various post-secondary educational domains.
2. To critically examine our philosophical, conceptual, and experiential orientations that have a bearing on how we think about learning, teaching, and the organizational/educational settings in which we live and work.
3. To develop an informed and critical perspective on issues and ideas regarding curriculum and instruction in the post-secondary setting writ large, curriculum and instruction in one’s own institutional and departmental setting, and curriculum and instruction in one’s own teaching practice.
4. To develop skills in the practices of organizational ethnography, self-study, critical reflection, and critical reflexivity.
5. To deepen our sense of ourselves as practitioners, professionals, scholars, and engaged citizens, especially in light of “the colour of our times.”

It is my hope that such a constellation of informed and critical perspectives will assist you in developing and enriching your action research plan further on in the program, and in sustaining what will ideally be your ongoing explorations of ‘self and/in practice.’

Grading

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

REQUIRED READING NOTES: