Assignment BriefTitle – Curriculum Development for Inclusive EducationAs educators we may often reflect upon our teaching context, or subject area and speculate how we would design or redesign the learning programme if we had a chance to do so. This assignment offers an opportunity for you to conceptualise, design and plan a short course comprising six sessions. Your short course doesn’t have to be realistically fundable: it could be quite different to your regular teaching.
This assignment comprises two interrelated elements:A Course Description and Scheme of Work (SOW) for a short course of six sessions durationA referenced rationale for the design of the proposed short course, which should be informed by inclusive learningCourse Description and Scheme of WorkFor the first stage of the assignment you are required to write a brief CourseDescription and create a Scheme of Work for the six sessions of your short course.Each session should be for a minimum of two hours.Pro-formas for the SOW and course description are available on Moodle.Both the SOW and course description are intrinsic to this assignment and are mandatory, however they are not included in the word length for the assignment.Both should be attached in an appendix to your assignment.NOTE: As the assignment is submitted via turn-it-in, all three parts; the rational, SOW and course descriptor should be merged into ONE document.
The Rationale For the second stage you are required to write a 3,000 word rationale that explains your thoughts and intentions when conceptualising the short course. Specifically, it should comprise a critical review and analysis of curriculum models and pedagogy theory, together with a justification which explains why you have designed and planned the short course in the way you have. Your justification should show a clear relationship between theories of curriculum design and pedagogy to which you refer and the short course you are proposing. You must justify your course in terms of how it addresses the key values of inclusion and inclusive education practice within a context informed by your subject specialism or teaching context.You may choose to adopt a radical approach to the conceptualisation and design of your short course, or plan a short course based on your current teaching situation and experiences.
Whatever approach you take, your rationale must reference the cultural, social and economic context of the target group for the course and offer an explanation of how these factors may have influenced the course design. You must refer to at least one online discussion you had in which you shared emerging ideas about the conceptualisation, design or planning of your short course, and describe the impact the discussion had on your thinking.You should include also an explanation of where your proposal sits within the present learning and/or qualifications framework and identify how it contributes to learner progression. Finally, you should demonstrate a critical awareness of the role of resources and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) or Information and Learning Technology (ILT) within contemporary teaching and learning and justify the use of ILT and other resources within your short course proposal.
Curriculum rationale guiding questions Give a description of your courseWhat is the course/ topic? What level will it be taught at? Who is it for? What is its purpose?What might be the cultural, social and economic background of your potential students? Has this influenced your course design? What curriculum model(s) inform your design of the course?Why? Justify why this model is best suited to your courseCan you give examples of how the course design is influenced by the model, for example the teaching strategies chosen?What pedagogic approach does your course draw on? How do these link to the curriculum models chosen?Consider here the link between the design of the course and the various theories of learning, such as behaviourism, cognitivism, humanism, praxis etc…What ideology do you think underpins your curriculum?Democracy, instrumentalism, empowerment, development of the individual and her skills, might be some that you draw onWhat have you done when designing your course to try and make it more inclusive?Here you could think about teaching and learning strategies, assessment strategies, access, when and where the course is taughtWill you use ICT in your course? If so, how and why, if not, why?Two points to remember;The areas above do not carry equal weight and the key theoretical focus should be on the curriculum models. The other points, such as reference to the on-line discussion only need a passing referenceThe assignment is not about an exploration of curriculum theory per se. Instead, you should be linking the theory to the design of the course and using the theory to justify the course design.
