Educ 5710 Understanding Barriers To Learning

EDUC 5710: Understanding Barriers to Learning

Credits:

3

Prerequisites:

EDUC 5210, EDUC 5220, and EDUC 5240

Course Description:

This course will consider the myriad of ways in which students in a single classroom can differ and how it can impede learning. The characteristics and implications of physical and sensory disabilities and health impairments; cognitive, emotional and psychological differences; and racial/ethnic, gender, cultural, socio-economic and linguistic variability will be discussed. External and internal forces driving instructional adaptation and their implications for teachers will be covered.

Required Textbook and Materials:

The main required textbooks for this course are listed below and can be readily accessed using the provided links. There may be additional required/recommended readings, supplemental materials, or other resources and websites necessary for lessons; these will be provided for you in the course’s General Information and Forums area, and throughout the term via the weekly course Unit areas and the Learning Guides.

This course does not contain a main textbook; all required reading will be provided in the course Learning Guide for each week.
To access some of the resources, you must log into Moodle and go to Resources and then to the CIU Library and Resource Center. From there click Access to Library and Information Resource Network in order to get into LIRN. Once you are in LIRN, Click on the Alphabetical View tab at the top of the page and scroll down to the database where the resource is located (eBook Central, ERIC, Gale, etc.). Copy and paste the title of the resource, into the search bar. A link to the resource will appear.

For more information on navigating the CIU Library resources review the Library and Information Resources Network (LIRN) and JSTOR instructional document.

Software Requirements/Installation:

No special requirements.

Learning Objectives and Outcomes:

By the end of this course students will be able to:

1. Critically appraise the need for diversity, equity, and inclusion in a complex and contested environment.
2. Analyze the external and internal forces driving instructional adaptation for physical and sensory disabilities and health impairments and their implications for teachers.
3. Analyze the external and internal forces driving instructional adaptation for racial/ethnic, cultural, socio-economic, linguistic and gender differences and their implications for teachers.
4. Apply instructional adaptations tailored to students displaying behavioral, psychological, cognitive and/or academic difficulties and create opportunities for transformational change in instructional content and delivery in the classroom.
5. Examine the concept of diversity and the differences between traditional classrooms vs diverse classrooms including the physical environment and emotional environment.

Course Schedule and Topics:

This course will cover the following topics in eight learning sessions, with one Unit per week.

Week 1: Unit 1 – Introduction to Diversity in the Classroom

Week 2: Unit 2 – Physical and Sensory Impairments

Week 3: Unit 3 – Instructional Adaptations for Physical and Sensory Impairments

Week 4: Unit 4 – Cognitive, Psychological, and Emotional Differences

Week 5: Unit 5 – Instructional Adaptations for Cognitive, Psychological, and Emotional Differences

Week 6: Unit 6 – Racial, Ethnic, Gender. Socioeconomic, and Cultural/Linguistic Diversity

Week 7: Unit 7 – Instructional Adaptations for Racial, Ethnic, Gender. Socioeconomic, and Cultural/Linguistic Diversity

Week 8: Unit 8 – Diversity in the Classroom