Department of Curriculum and Instruction
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The Department of Curriculum and Instruction is recognized within the state of Minnesota, nationally and internationally as a leader in education research and teacher preparation. The department has a long history of faculty who are both exceptional teachers, researchers, and collaborators with the public schools. It has cooperative ventures with the large and diverse school districts of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Students have gone on to make significant contributions in their chosen fields in the U.S. and abroad. The Department of Curriculum and Instruction, consistently ranks in the top twenty in the nation, and is part of the College of Education and Human Development.
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Browsing Department of Curriculum and Instruction by Type "Newsletter or Bulletin"
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Item Changing trends for administrative location of developmental education with an institution: A pilot study of NADE members(Center for Research on Developmental Education and Urban Literacy, General College, University of Minnesota, 2005) Arendale, David R.With this limited pilot study, conclusions about the data are carefully restrained. However, a couple of interesting observations can be made. Not surprisingly, the most common name of the departmental unit for NADE members is developmental education. The surprise was observing that the regular academic departments of mathematics, English, and humanities occur with such a high frequency. Boylan (2002) indicated that some shifting away from centralized developmental education units may be occurring. This preliminary study seems to confirm that among the top ten departmental names that NADE members receive their mail, only two have the words developmental education explicitly listed in their titles. It appears that centralized developmental education administrative units are becoming rare. As a pilot study, it suggests that further investigation is warranted. Some possible directions could be a more careful analysis of the original data set. Similar studies could be conducted with other professional associations in the field (e.g., College Reading and Learning Association, National College Learning Center Association). Follow-up interviews with a stratified sample of members could probe for the historic choices made concerning departmental names and whether changes have occurred in the intervening years.Item The developmental education model in the United Kingdom: Access programs(Center for Research on Developmental Education and Urban Literacy, General College, University of Minnesota, 2006) Arendale, David R.A review of programs with similarities to developmental education in the U.K. provides a different perspective which they call access programs. Higher education in the U.K. is coordinated, funded, and evaluated by the national government. Two organizations that are resources in the field of access programs are the European Access Network (2004) and the Institute for Access Studies (2003). Rather than using the U.S. term of developmental education, the U.K. approach of access program focuses on widening participation in higher education by historically-underrepresented student groups. In addition to similar concern for academically-underprepared students, the U.K. access program scope includes older students, students returning to education, displaced workers, and other demographic groups who whom college has not been common.Item Lessons that I have learned from students in peer study groups(National Association for Developmental Education, 1996) Arendale, David R.I have taught history courses and worked in academic assistance programs for the past 12 years at both the community college and four-year college level. I helped to introduce the Freshman Seminar at three institutions during that time. I have used a variety of strategies with students to help improve their academic performance. For the past six years I have worked with the Supplemental Instruction program, a program that works with forming student-led study groups that meet outside of class. It is on the basis of my observations and research with SI that I have some things to share this evening. Rather than a presentation filled with statistics, it will be illustrated by comments from both student leaders and student participants in student-led out-of-class discussion groups.Item Mentoring in the classroom: Making the implicit explicit(1994) Martin, Deanna C; Blanc, Robert; Arendale, David R.In the SI model, mentorship stands at the center of students' relationship with the SI leader, a peer or near-peer who has previously done well in the class. The leader assumes the mantle of the model student who attends all lectures, takes exemplary notes, and in every way demonstrates the qualities which will assure success in the course. The leader convenes sessions outside class hours. Students attend voluntarily. The sessions blend what-to-learn with how-to-learn-it, artfully mixing study skills with content in ways that empower students in both. SI produces the most dramatic results in the traditional high risk classes where assistance is available to all students in the class. Improvement in student performance and reduction in attrition rates attest to the overall success of the SI model and the mentorship it embodies.Item Preliminary results of pilot study concerning use of emerging technologies by students within an introductory history course(Center for Research on Developmental Education and Urban Literacy, General College, University of Minnesota, 2007) Arendale, David R.The preliminary data gathered through self-reported data from the students provide a more diverse image than the one often described in the popular press. The most popular Internet activity was visiting Facebook and Myspace social networking Web sites. Nearly two-thirds of the students had done so before the fall semester. About half the students had composed material on collaborative wiki Web pages. Listening to podcasts was the least frequently accessed service. While more than half of the students have been downloading music from the Internet, less than a third had listened to podcasted shows. Students expressed that they were very confident of their computer skills and ability to create material for the Internet. However, about a third were very concerned about privacy issues on the Internet. Preliminary data analysis suggests that this may adversely limit some students from accessing selected Internet learning tools. During the Fall 2006 semester, the most popular Internet resource was the wiki Web page that contained the students’ self-generated exam study guide. Nearly three-quarters of the students used it and rated it highly effective from their point of view for helping them academically. The podcasts were used by about half the students in the class. This was about double the rate of listening to podcasting when compared with earlier semesters. Their ratings of the podcast were more mixed with nearly an equal number rating it low, medium, and high. An interesting result was that most students just went to the podcast Web site and downloaded the individual episodes for listening. A much smaller number took the additional step of subscribing to the podcast. This replicates reports from other podcasters who noticed that some listeners preferred to download from the Web rather than subscribe. While the average student probably has lots of experience with visiting Web pages, the additional steps for subscribing to podcasts seem to discourage the additional effort.Item Words make a difference: The influence of language on public perception(Center for Research on Developmental Education and Urban Literacy, General College, University of Minnesota, 2007) Arendale, David R.Can a nuanced change of words make a difference to students, parents, and policymakers? Changing public perception with any concept or idea is difficult. Inaccurate prior information, memories, and prejudices are difficult challenges to overcome. The struggles within U.S. society concerning racial stereotyping, religious strife, and bigotry continue. As a historian, I see positive results for society when the majority becomes intolerant of language that categorizes and demeans people. The language usage changes described in the new glossary for developmental education and learning assistance provide another step to building a better and more productive society for all citizens.