Personal Curriculum Research Articles

Revitalise and Revolutionise: A Student-Centred Curriculum

Given the unique challenges encountered by midwifery students, it’s imperative that the curriculum is tailored to their requirements, rather than constrained by institutional frameworks. During a curriculum review we had the opportunity to revitalize our BSc Midwifery programme. Alongside the 2019 Standards for pre-registration midwifery education1 we put into action a flexible personalised curriculum that suits the needs of modern midwifery students.

Leadership in the Modern Academe: Knowledge Management and Curriculum Delivery in Multigenerational Professional Learning Communities

This study was conducted to look into the different perceptions and assessments of multigenerational professional learning communities as regards to knowledge management and curriculum delivery among their school leaders. The study follows a sequential explanatory mixed methods design. The study was done in two phases. In the first phase, a survey was conducted to gather quantitative data to assess the extent of knowledge management and the level of observance of curriculum delivery in multigenerational professional learning communities among their school leaders. A test of difference was then carried out to see if there is a difference between the perceptions multigenerational professional learning communities as regards to knowledge management and curriculum delivery. The result showed that there is no significant difference between the assessments of multigenerational professional learning communities. In the second phase, interviews were conducted to gather qualitative data and then themes were exposed. The qualitative results build on the initial quantitative results wherein the quantitative results inform the secondary qualitative results. The respondents of the study were the 14 Baby Boomer teachers, 61 generation Xs and 65 millennial teachers from the elementary schools in East 2. The co-researchers of the study were 2 teachers from each generations. In conclusion, this thesis has exposed that there is no difference in the assessment of multigenerational professional learning communities as regards to knowledge management and curriculum delivery among school leaders. Their perspectives also the same quantitatively and qualitatively. Meanwhile, the themes that emerged after gathering the data were: Principals’ Own Knowledge Management, Principals’ Personal Curriculum Delivery Initiatives, Generational Edge as to Experience, Technology, Discipline, Flexibility, Willingness to Learn and Exposure, and lastly, Positive Reaction to Principals’ Leadership. For the output of the study, a compendium of best practices for knowledge management and curriculum delivery was provided in the study for the school leaders to further enhance their capabilities in leading the modern academe in multigenerational professional learning communities.

Empowering Art and Design Education via a Flexible Curriculum

This concept paper explores the need to apply a more flexible and personalized curriculum approach in art and design education. This approach aims to foster student creativity, empower learning freedom, and focus on the uniqueness of individual students. Literature highlights reveal several weaknesses in the conventional curriculum such as flexibility, emphasis on technical aspects, and a lack of interdisciplinary. Reforms in art education need to emphasize the integration of other disciplines, technology, and creative elements in the learning approach. A rigid curriculum structure can hinder the development of creativity and innovation. Therefore, students need more space to explore alternative and creative approaches in learning art and design. Self-directed learning has a huge positive impact on creative thinking and problemsolving skills, gives students the freedom to pursue their interests and inclinations, improves resilience, and encourages innovative thinking. A balance between student autonomy and educational goals is important. Students need to understand the learning objectives and be given the opportunity to choose a project that interests them. Formative assessment, a supportive learning environment, and collaboration between students are essential in achieving this balance. Taking into account the above recommendations, art and design education can become more dynamic, relevant, and can foster creativity and innovation among students. This is important in facing the era of advancing globalization and rapid digitalization. Therefore, a more flexible and student-centered curriculum approach is a positive step in advancing art and design education. Keywords: art education, flexible curriculum, student creativity, self-learning and educational innovation

The personal curriculum: conceptions, intentions and enactments of learning across working life

ABSTRACT The concept of curriculum as a personal journey is now timely, yet timeless and pertinent as an explanatory basis for understanding learning and development across the lifespan. It addresses a current need to explain adults’ learning across working life when achieving individual, occupational, community, and societal goals. Advancing this explanation necessitate elaborating how that learning is realised and can be supported educatively. This conceptual paper presents and discusses the concept of personal curriculum to illuminate and explain pathways of adults’ learning and developmental experiences across working lives. It offers a perspective of curriculum as a personal, rather than an institutional phenomenon. It also extends the concept of ‘experienced curriculum’ beyond periodic episodes of engagement in educational programmes to capture the continuity of educative experiences across the adult life course. Importantly, this concept liberates curriculum from the constraints of something intended, enacted and appraised within specific social settings (e.g. educational and work settings) to be more inclusive of the totality of learners’ experiences. The case is made for its conceptual, theoretical and practical salience beyond a focus on institutional imperatives. Drawing upon empirical work on how working age adults sustain their employability across working lives, this conception extends discussions about what constitutes curriculum, to encapsulate the learning pathways individuals take across working life.

Traversing perceptions toward Englishes: A currere-informed duoethnography of Southeast Asian PhD students studying in the US

Addressing scant duoethnographic practices of international doctoral students in the field of Applied Linguistics, as English teachers and learners from Indonesia and Thailand, we engaged in currere-informed duoethnography. We interrogated our English language learning and teaching trajectory from early education to graduate education through our narratives to gain a critical understanding of how our perceptions toward Englishes shaped by formal curriculum have evolved and of the repercussions of the perceptions we hold toward our personal curriculum. Four phases of currere method of regressive, progressive, analytical, and synthetic were framed in a transnational lens. This framing posits languaging as an entanglement of semiotic resources to unpack colonial hegemonic ideology that governs our languaging and educational practices and our transformative perceptions as emerging transnational teachers. This study aims to extend currere-informed duoethnography by incorporating the dimensions of transnational practices and identity construction. It also offers practical implications for English teachers and graduate students to actively construct transnational spaces and identities.

Learning across working life: educative experiences and individuals’ participation

ABSTRACT Understanding what constitutes learning across working life and how negotiating worklife transitions can be best supported has never been more important for working age adults, their workplaces and communities. The kinds and frequencies of changes in occupational and workplace requirements have consequences for personal goals, workplace viability and communities’ economic and social wellbeing. Hence, for both individual and societal purposes we need to elaborate the goals for and processes of that learning and what constitutes educative worklife experiences. Drawing on a three-phase investigation of adults’ worklife learning the kinds and qualities of the educative experiences directly or indirectly guiding, supporting and extending individuals’ learning and development are elaborated. This includes pathways of experiences across working life: personal curriculums. The paper reports and discusses the data from: (i) worklife narratives and follow-up interviews, and (ii) 18-month monitoring of work and learning of a cohort of workers. It furthers the case for viewing lifelong learning and lifelong education as being distinct and sperate phenomena, the interdependence among the contributions of adults, their educational experiences and those provided by their communities, leading to the explanatory concepts of personal curriculum and educative experiences to illuminate and elaborate learning and development across working life.

직업계고의 학교 재구조화에 관한 인식조사 연구

The purpose of this study was to derive policy implications by examining the perceptions of managers in national vocational high schools(VHS) for school restructuring. To achieve these objectives, strategic directions and tasks to reorganize the system of VHS were derived from previous research and policy reports. Validity was inspected through reviews of experts and practitioners. Then, a survey was conducted by 45 managers of nation-wide VHS. The survey consists of the strategic directions and tasks for school system restructuring. Collected data were analyzed by following methods: Borich s needs analysis, and IPA matrix. The results through this study were as follows. First, the strategic directions for system restructuring should strengthen distinct identity of VHS, which can be achieved by eliminating stigma of VHS and by establishing an industry-academic cooperation system. Second, the strategic tasks for system restructuring are developing a credit-based and self-directed curriculum. Specifically, they can be achieved by adopting courses in new technology, providing personalized learning for the students, and forming an environment that protects learner’s autonomy. In summary, the directions that VHS should aim for is to establish a differentiation strategy suitable for each unit of VHS; this can be implemented with following stages: designing, implementing and evaluating the innovative and personalized curriculum. The implications derived from this study are as follows. First, follow-up studies are required because national VHS differs between the policies and regulations of the Office of Education in each province. Second, modeling research on the school restructuring should be conducted since systematic innovation is required in constantly changing environment. Third, it is necessary to establish a cooperative system between VHS, industry, and university for the VHS credit-based curriculum.

The long life-time shadow of bullying: cost-effectiveness of KiVa to reduce bullying in primary schools

BackgroundThe ‘long shadow’ of childhood bullying can extend beyond immediate adverse mental health and educational outcomes well into adulthood, with associated long-term health and social care costs. Reducing bullying is therefore a public health priority. KiVa, a school-based anti-bullying programme, is effective in reducing bullying in schools in Finland and is currently being tested in the UK through the large-scale Stand Together trial. MethodsThe Stand Together trial is a two-arm, pragmatic multicentre cluster randomised controlled trial (RCT) to test the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of KiVa in reducing bullying in UK primary schools compared to usual practice over one academic year. The trial is targeting approximately 13,000 7- to 11-year-olds in 116 primary schools across England and Wales, including North Wales, the West Midlands, South East- and South West England. Usual practice is defined as the delivery of the Personal and Social Education (PSE) curriculum in Wales and the Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) Education in England. To assess cost-effectiveness, we are conducting a cost-utility analysis and wider cost-consequence analysis from a school and societal perspective. Pupil self-reported health-related quality of life (CHU9D) is the primary outcome to enable the calculation of quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) in an Incremental Cost Effectiveness Ratio (ICER). The cost-consequence analysis will consider other outcomes such as pupil self-reported bullying-victimisation, pupil absence and bullying-related service use, teacher wellbeing and the frequency of parent-school meetings regarding bullying. Cost calculations will include the time and resources required to implement KiVa in schools versus usual practice, including the cost of resources and training. We will undertake sensitivity analysis to explore the impact of assumptions about dose of intervention, adherence, and costs of delivery. Our analyses will provide the first large-scale RCT-based evidence of the cost-effectiveness of KiVa in UK primary schools.

Recommendation Optimization of Physical Education for Developing the Intelligence of Autistic Children following Intelligent Collaborative Filtering Algorithm

Autism, a developmental disorder affecting social and communication skills, differs from most the mental handicap in showing a characteristic pattern of poor, intact, and even superior cognitive abilities. This study aims to solve the mismatch of the teaching content and mental health education for autistic children. Inspired by artificial intelligence, an improved neural network matrix factorization (NeuMF) model is designed based on the theory of collaborative filtering, and time data is added to improve the NeuMF by using the K-means clustering algorithm. Several evaluation indexes such as root mean square error (RMSE) and mean absolute error (MAE) are selected to assess the performance of the proposed model. Results show that RMSE and MAE of the improved NeuMF model are 1.251 and 0.625, respectively, which are better than collaborative filtering and traditional neural network factorization models. Moreover, the proposed model is used to recommend the activities of physical education (PE) for developing the intelligence of autistic children. This proves that the optimized model has better performance and can be used to recommend online courses for autistic users. This dynamic personalized curriculum recommendations model can help autistic children recover in a short time.

How registered nurses balance limited resources in order to maintain competence: a grounded theory study

BackgroundNurses have limited time outside of work for continuing professional development. Consequently, strategies need to be explored to enable them to better maintain their competence. This article describes recent research investigating if nursing behaviours in the use of mobile technologies could be leveraged to better facilitate mobile learning. It addresses a gap in the existing literature around how nurses resource their own professional development and learning in the absence of appropriate learning resources in the workplace.MethodsThe research employed a classic grounded theory methodology which was conducted with 27 registered nurses from Public and Private Hospitals in Queensland and external postgraduate nursing students from Victoria, South Australia and the Northern Territory enrolled at the University of Southern Queensland.ResultsThe Theory of Economising Learning describes how nurses maintain competence with limited resources. Unfavourable staffing levels and a fast-paced workplace mean that nurses rarely prioritise their professional learning while at work. Instead, it requires the nurse to contribute personal resources including time and money.Though the research revealed nurses were unconcerned about using mobile technologies, they were concerned about maintaining competence with limited resources. To counter this, nurses economised their learning by balancing personal resources against their motivation to maintain competence. The process of economising learning begins and ends with the development of the nurse’s personal curriculum in response to what they identify as being the most significant knowledge deficits at work that jeopardise their competence. A learning opportunity that addresses the knowledge deficit is sought. Nurses balance the opportunity to address the deficit against the cost of personal resources, to decide if they will engage with the opportunity and update their personal curriculum accordingly.ConclusionsIt is suggested that workplaces need to create reasonable expectations within nurses to address knowledge deficits and provide the resources, including time, to allow them to do so without personal cost. It is also necessary for workplaces to moderate the flow of learning opportunities so as not to overwhelm and demotivate the nurses. Currently, nurses use several strategies to optimise their learning using mobile technologies which could be leveraged in the workplace.

The Siri Strategy's Value in Managing the Bugis Family Economy in Surumana Village, South Banawa District, Donggala Regency

Many people regard "siri" as having a bad connotation, which does not bode well for the Bugis. Because "siri" is frequently associated with violence and murder, the slogan "ejapi naeja" is frequently used (red later if you want red) It's always taken as a bloodbath. This value has become a sign associated with the Bugis ethnicity in every part of the country, even where the Bugis ethnicity is found. Siri culture is associated with a fighting attitude. Fight for justice, for humanity, and for the family's dignity. Many Bugis people are encouraged by Siri's ideals to work hard because they want to go on a pilgrimage as a mark of social prestige, and to work hard because they don't want to dishonor their families. If Siri is given room to think in the administration of the family economics, the dominance of the concept of decent value becomes an attractive positive value to be communicated. When it comes to revealing such events, a qualitative technique is ideal to apply because qualitative research takes place in a natural setting and aims to understand and interpret phenomena based on people's interpretations. Qualitative research involves the use and collection of various empirical materials, such as; personal experience, introspection, curriculum vitae, interviews, observations, historical, interactional and visual texts that describe routine and problematic moments, and their meaning in individual lives.

A Qualitative Exploration of Implementation, Adaptation, and Sustainability of a School-Based Physical Activity Intervention: Move for Well-Being in School

School-based physical activity can promote health and improve learning outcomes, but efforts to increase school physical activity have had limited success. This study evaluates the sustainability of a multicomponent school-based physical activity intervention and identifies important factors for implementation and sustainability. Results are based on focus group interviews with 18 teachers at five implementing schools 10 months after the termination of the intervention period. The intervention comprised components related to physical education, recess, and the classroom, and focuses on inclusion for all students. The descriptive analysis of the interviews shows that the intervention is sustained with variation, and activities are adapted differently at the five schools. The deductive content analysis, based on the Framework for Effective Implementation, reveals several important factors for sustainable implementation: School management plays an important role in setting a long-term perspective and giving the intervention priority by securing the necessary organizational infrastructure for implementation and sustainability. The teachers must find the intervention advantageous and to have clear requirements, which entail convincing communication and education by both external and internal intervention advocates. A collective start-up with training and easy-to-use materials should gradually be altered toward individual feedback and development of teachers’ personal curriculum.

Психолого-педагогічні основи забезпечення успішного навчання студентів-іноземців

The paper deals with the main problems of international students’ study at higher educational institutions and the necessary university services, for example, propaedeutic training and foreign language courses that help foreigners to study successfully in an unfamiliar learning environment. The interpretation of psychological adaptation and academic adaptation is given based on the analysis of the issue source. The work explores specifics of adaptation and favorable conditions for international students in higher education, as well as identifies problems with the adaptation of foreigners in university education. Recommendations for psychological support of foreigners by advisors are given. The university services of the international students’ advisors and other university staff are analyzed concerning assistance on academic adaptation to the different educational system of the country and university requirements to studying. It is indicated that knowledge of the basics of psychology, features of personality psychotypes, and human adaptive abilities is very important for advisors to help students adapt to the academic requirements of a particular educational system. Advisors should act as a mediator to facilitate the learning process of students, taking into account individual worldviews and intellectual development, for example, while developing a personal curriculum and teaching time management. The work also highlights three main forms of counseling by their advisors as seminars, individual assistance or group work. Various student centers and university campus organizations are listed that help foreigners study and live in an unfamiliar academic environment. Keywords: psychological problems of adaptation, pedagogical basics, advisors, international student, university.

Emerging learning environments in engineering education

ABSTRACT Three major challenges, sustainability, the fourth industrial revolution, and employability, will require new types of engineering programs, to help students develop skills in cross-disciplinarity, complexity, and contextual understanding. Future engineering students should be able to understand the needs for technological, sustainable solutions in context. The engineering graduates should be able to act in complex and chaotic situations. The question is how engineering institutions are responding now and how they should respond in the future. This article analyses the general responses from engineering education over the last 20 years. These responses are student-centred learning, integration of theory and practice, digital and online learning, and the definition of professional competencies. Examples are given of institutions that are already applying several of these components in the curriculum. On the long-term horizon, more personalised curriculum models are emerging based on students developing and documenting their own learning and career trajectories, as part of their lifelong learning strategy.

I Come From A Place: Reflections on Katie Cannon’s Womanist Classroom

This essay honors the teaching legacy of Katie Geneva Cannon. The renowned social ethicist, theologian, and womanist scholar was foremost a beloved teacher. Her former student reflects on Cannon’s embodied teaching praxis that contends for the historical survival of the particular self. Weaving personal narrative and curriculum theory, the essay supplies intimate glimpses into the expansive and liberative learning space Cannon nurtured in her classrooms.

Building Social and Emotional Competence in School Children: A Randomised Controlled Trial

Background: This randomised controlled trial took place in primary schools where teachers were already trained in the Incredible Years&#174 (IY) teacher classroom management programme and where the universal IY Classroom Dinosaur School social-emotional skills curriculum was being delivered as part of the statutory Welsh personal and social education curriculum. Aims: The study examined whether the IY Small Group Therapeutic Dinosaur School programme had added benefits for children with identified behavioural, social, and/or emotional difficulties. Method: Children were screened for behavioural difficulties using the teacher-rated Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and were eligible for study inclusion if teachers rated them as above the cause for concern cut-off on this measure. Two hundred and twenty-one children were randomised to intervention or wait-list control conditions. Assessments of behaviour and social-emotional competence were completed by multiple respondents, including teachers, children and researchers who completed blinded direct observations (on a subsample). Results: Multilevel modeling analyses showed improvements in the problem-solving knowledge of children in the intervention condition (ES = .39 for prosocial and .41 for agonistic solutions), compared to children in the control condition on the Wally Problem Solving measure. Intervention children were also significantly more likely to achieve teacher set social-emotional academic goals. Conclusion: This study shows limited but promising results for the addition of a targeted school-based social-emotional intervention delivered by teachers, alongside a similar class-wide universal curriculum, to young high-risk children.

Redefining the importance of children's voices in personal social emotional development curriculum using the Mosaic Approach

ABSTRACTThe research explores the implementation of the Mosaic Approach into a Greek early years’ setting. For the data collection, 21 children were observed using cameras, tours, mapping, and researcher's interviews with teachers and parents. Special consideration was given to the newly added tool of peer-to-peer interviews. Results depicted children's need for quality relationships with peers and adults and their favourite and least favourite places in their school. The authors suggest the adaptation of the Mosaic Approach into the Personal, Social and Emotional Development curriculum as an educational tool of children's rights which empowers their voices, as well as reinforcing their self-esteem and ability to form quality relationships.

Research Productivity of Social Work PhD Candidates Entering the Academic Job Market: An Analysis of Pre- and Postadmission Productivity Indicators

ABSTRACTBesides traditional admissions criteria, research-intensive social work PhD programs may rely on personal interviews and curriculum vitae or resumes to gauge prior research experience to determine applicants’ fit for the research-related productivity expected in their programs. Case record review of social work PhD candidates (n=56) entering the job market (fall 2007 to spring 2016) aimed to explore preadmission demographic, academic, and research productivity characteristics as correlates of postadmission research productivity and time-to-degree. Race and ethnicity, residency, master’s degree type, Graduate Record Examination analytical score, and preadmission research productivity were significantly, yet differentially, related to postadmission research productivity. Only master’s degree type was significantly related to time-to-degree. Implications for prospective applicants and admissions committees at research-intensive social work schools are discussed.

Creating and Utilizing a Personal Finance Curriculum for Elementary Aged Homeschoolers

This paper will discuss the creation of a personal finance curriculum for elementary aged homeschool students. The curriculum created should be from a perspective that teaches students financial literacy in the context of everyday life. In the paper, the curriculum will be divided up into multiple phases that the homeschooling parent/educator must address. These phases are: How the student will generate income, how the student will pay expenses out of that income, and how the student will save and invest portions of their leftover net income. These phases will be discussed in depth and websites and literature that homeschool parents can utilize will be proposed as well. The goal of this paper is to combine the three phases to create a curriculum that a) teaches children a vocation they can practice for life, b) accustom them to paying taxes and other expenses, and c) introduce them to the long-term benefits of saving a percentage of their net income.

Scientific books and individual curricula among Jesuit Indipetae in Portugal and China (17th-18th cent.)

In this contribution, I show how the study and practice of mathematics in Portugal in the 17th and 18th centuries was framed within the development of the SJ mission of the “padroado”, especially in that of China; visibly also books and personal curricula were involved in it. In the 17th cent., mainly “foreign” Jesuits - but not exclusively - were involved in it (Indipetae, in Coimbra, Lisbon, etc.), side by side with Portuguese personalities (Cassão, Francisco Pereira, e.g.); since the end of the 17th century, with Tyrsus Gonzalez’ intervention and a successive reorganization of mathematical instruction in Lisbon, etc., Portuguese involvement augmented significantly, as a prosopographical list proves it, even if not all of them were appreciated by their European colleagues in China.