Curriculum Design: Theory and Practice

Catalog description

Course participants explore the fundamentals of curriculum; that is, curriculum cultures, traditions, perspectives, theories, or models that have significantly affected the field of curriculum design. Participants also learn about historical and contemporary issues in the development of national, state, and local academic standards, and how these issues have shaped the design of particular curriculum programs. Participants engage in curricular analysis of a content-specific program through examination of "what is behind the curriculum" (purpose, goal, perspectives, assumptions), "what is in the curriculum" (the nature of the content, basis for its selection, content and media structures), and "what are the experiences with the curriculum" (how curriculum may be taught, what methods may be used, how the program success may be judged, the "frame-factors") in order to outline the strengths and weaknesses of the program, and how it can be adapted to maximize its benefits and minimize its limitations for a specific institutional or educational context.