Category: Curriculum
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Names vs Intent and Contents of Programs and Courses: Experiential Learning Case Study
There is an interesting academic issue related to the name of a course and its relationship with the intent and contents of the course. Over the last 20 years in academic management of curricula at several universities involving design of degree programs from bachelors to PhD level and introducing scores of new courses and monitoring…
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Who Fails when a Student Fails
Should not this be true also for schools? Are we willing to take responsibility of the failure of our students? We conveniently try to shift the blame to the student, or to his genetic intelligence, or to his learning disability, or to his psychological deficiency, or to his parents, or to his family, or to his…
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Mismatch of Curriculum with Realities at Stanford, MIT and other Ivory Towers
From ivory towers to realities By Dr Asad Zaman Published: June 28, 2015 Curriculum Mismatch with Real Life As MIT freshmen are wont to do, we were up way past midnight discussing big absorbing questions like the meaning of life. We realised that none of us had a clue and decided to ask our professors. A natural candidate…
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13 Myths of Schooling and Education: Resources
Myths of Schooling and Education: Resources There are popular “Myths” about education and schools that have become a matter of unquestionable belief for a large section of population during the industrial age. See Changing Education Paradigms by Ken Robinson Many successful and great people have busted these myths through their own personal achievements, examples, research and successful…
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How West Teaches History (through Movies) and How We have Forgotten: A Nation that has No History, has no Future !
A nation that has no history, has no future! Our ignorance about our history, our culture, our sensibilities are astounding. Recent protests about Geo’s morning show speaks volume about the “insensitivity” arising from this ignorance, especially the ignorance of the media people. A few minutes of listening to the FM channels would convince you that…
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Why do our graduates want to leave the country? Curriculum’s Relevance to Social Impact
Curriculum’s Relevance to Social Impact: Why do our graduates want to leave the country? Why do our elite schools derive their prestige from the fact that their graduates get immediate placements in Western countries? Why do our highest performers of our universities consider their destiny to leave this country and build their life in well…
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Syllabus- Coverage is Enemy of Understanding
The operative word in conventional schools is “cover“. There is a mad rush for coverage. Every one is after this elusive goal. The designers develop the lesson plans keeping in view how much of the subject can be covered during one period. The teacher is now forced to cover the lesson during one period. Teacher fills out the coverage form. The administrator…
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How our Curriculum Design (from Simple to Complex) Insults the Intelligence of a Student
[Delivered as L2L Talk on 2011-03-20] A child is naturally curious and interested in exploring about things that he does not know. Complex and unknown things are the ones that interest him (and us). We are interested in mysteries, conspiracy theories, adventure, drama, and are amused by the unexpected, stupendous, super-natural or sci-fi. We insult a child’s…
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Structural Paradigm of Schools: Foundations and Assumptions
Current Education Paradigm [1] Schools anywhere in the world share a common paradigm that was determined by the demands of the Industrial Revolution. In this post we identify the structural elements underlying the current paradigm. Many of the underlying assumptions of these structural elements are being questioned in the light of the transition to knowledge…