Embedding Specialized Curriculum Throughout a Program’s Plan of Study
Laura H. King, East Carolina University
Keywords:
UDL, Accessibility, Online Learning
Key Statement:
Teaching specialized content embedded throughout a plan of study allows students to learn how to integrate the content more strategically when aligned with specific courses.
Abstract:
As higher education institutions are being challenged to adhere closely to 120 hours to graduation, plans of study may benefit from embedding specialized curriculum throughout a plan of study rather than as a stand-alone course. Accessibility and Assistive Technology curriculum is specialized and historically taught in a stand-alone course. This session shares how this content was designed to spiral through a plan of study, allowing students to link its content directly to content in other courses. It has applications for learning more about the example shared, as well as how it may be applied for other types of content.
Hear it from the author:
Transcript:
As higher education institutions are being challenged to adhere closely to 120 hours to graduation, plans of study may benefit from embedding specialized curriculum throughout a plan of study rather than keeping it as a stand-alone course. This session shares this university’s experience of revising a Special Education course to a series of modules embedded across other relevant courses in a spiral curriculum manner. It has applications for learning how it may be applied for other types of content.
References:
Boothe, K. A., Lohmann, M. J., Donnell, K., & Hall, D. D. (2018). Applying the principles of Universal Design for Learning in the college classroom. Journal of Special Education Apprenticeship, 7(3), 1–13.
Horton, D., Liu, D., McIlaith, S., & Wang, N. (2023). Is more better when embedding ethics in CS courses? SIGCS: Proceedings of the 54th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, V.1, 652–658. https://doi.org/10.1145/3545945.3569881
Walker, J., Lohmann, M., Boothe, K., & Owiny, R. (2022). Working smarter: Using universal design for learning to spiral curriculum in small special education preparation programs. Journal of Special Education Preparation, 2(2), 30–41.