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SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
Education 407-5
The Theory and Practice of Implementation:
Meeting the Challenge of Educational Change
(E2.0O)
Fall Semester, 1991
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Instructor: S. Troudt
(September 3—November 29)
Location: Ft. St. John
PREREQUISITE:
Educ 405 or equivalent.
PURPOSE
Education 407-5 is a five-credit course that provides teachers with the opportunity to
use their own classrooms as laboratories for exploring, analyzing and evaluating the
processes of implementation. Theory and practice are linked through workshops,
seminars and classroom implementation projects. The course is operated on a
pass/withdraw basis. No grades will be assigned.
This specific course focuses on the implementation of new program directions
arising from the Sullivan Royal Commission in British Columbia. The purposes of
the course are to help practising teachers and administrators:
a.
Understand the base of theory and research in curriculum, child development,
language learning and other fields on which the recommendations of the Royal
Commission are based;
b.
Examine the beliefs, values and intentions reflected in the Commission's
recommendations, the Year 2000 document, and recent program and curricular
documents;
c Explore the practical implications of new program and curriculum directions by
becoming familiar with a variety of instructional and evaluation strategies that
support a developmental approach to learning and teaching;
d.
Clarify personal beliefs about the teacher's role in a program that assumes a
developmental approach;
e.
Be able to articulate a rationale for using a developmental approach in the
classroom, supported with examples from current educational literature and
classroom practices in such areas as whole language, cooperative learning and
teaching for thinking.
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COURSE COMPONENTS
Workshops
The workshop component of the course will model a student-centred approach to
instruction. Activities will include examination of:
• the Royal Commission recommendations, the Year 2000 document and
materials which support their implementation;
• a developmental approach to teaching and learning based on current
theory and research;
• learning as a constructive, generative and collaborative process;
• principles and criteria for educational decision-making based on a
coherent educational philosophy;
• strategies for creating developmental learning environments;
• strategies for selecting, organizing and implementing appropriate
instructional approaches;
• strategies for assessing and evaluating pupils, teachers and educational
programs.
Seminars
The seminar component of the course will provide a forum in which participants
can support and learn from one another as they compare their implementation
experiences. Seminars will provide opportunities for participants to reflect on their
personal knowledge of children, teaching and learning, and how these change
through the processes of implementation.
Implementation Project
The classroom component of this course will involve the design and
implementation of developmental learning approaches in participants' own
classroom or school settings. On going support, coaching and consultation will be
provided jointly by the course instructor and district personnel. Participants will be
asked to keep a reflective journal in which they document and assess changes in
understanding and teaching practices throughout the semester, and to develop a
portfolio which represents what they have learned during the course.