Unit rationale, description and aim
At a time of rapid ongoing change in society and education, the role of an educator or allied professional with specialist knowledge and skills is critical to helping all children, especially those with diverse and/or atypical needs, attain the knowledge and skills they need for successful, lifelong learning.
This subject provides educators with a framework for understanding how students know and learn. The framework integrates and draws on contemporary theories of cognitive, emotional, social and cultural development. Educators can use the framework to unpack students' learning profiles and to make a range of decisions relating to effective inclusive practice. It applies the framework to literacy and numeracy learning, and to the development of autonomous self-managing learners. The knowing and learning framework is aligned with contemporary models of brain processing.
The aim of this unit is to support students in developing the required advanced knowledge, understanding and expert skills they need in address the differences and needs of individual learners.
Campus offering
No unit offerings are currently available for this unit.Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
Demonstrate an understanding of contemporary theor...
Learning Outcome 01
Demonstrate an understanding of the variables whic...
Learning Outcome 02
Identify common learning difficulties particularly...
Learning Outcome 03
Develop and or identify appropriate and inclusive ...
Learning Outcome 04
Analyse elements of and differences between key in...
Learning Outcome 05
Content
Topics will include:
- Current policies and priorities relevant to the promotion of inclusion in local schools and education systems and communities
- Contemporary theories of knowledge acquisition and learning. This includes multiple ways of knowing, short term and long term memory processes and structures
- Variables creating individual differences in the learning process.
- Theories of learning, maturation and cognitive development.
- Application to literacy and numeracy skill acquisition and intervention planning.
Assessment strategy and rationale
The assessment will relate directly to the achievement of the outcomes above. Some flexibility may be exercised in the assessment tasks to align with the needs of the student cohort, for example, students may be working in a classroom, in an administrative role or currently on leave from teaching.
To successfully complete this unit, postgraduate students need to complete and submit two graded assessment tasks. The assessment strategy used allows students to demonstrate their knowledge in a creative and practical manner.
Overview of assessments
Assessment Task 1 Write a paper that evaluates t...
Assessment Task 1
Write a paper that evaluates the framework developed in lectures for describing regular human development from the perspective of contemporary educational psychology.
This task includes analysis of common elements of and differences between key international, national and local policy frameworks guiding inclusive education
50%
Assessment Task 2 Write a paper describing how y...
Assessment Task 2
Write a paper describing how you would use the framework developed in lectures and any additional content you see as appropriate to plan and implement an inclusive learning and teaching program for students who have particular learning exceptionalities.
50%
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
Engagement for learning is the key driver in the delivery of this curriculum. The unit will facilitate active participation in pedagogical approaches that demonstrate alignment of teaching, learning and assessment and incorporate:
- Use of a core set of digital resources (including modules; readings; suggested websites and other electronic resources) to support learning and assessment;
- Use of online tools to build a community of learners (e.g. forum; chat; podcasts; WIKI);
- Engagement in reflective practice supported by the study of scholarly literature;
- Critical analysis and applied learning to educational case studies for the purposes of assessment;
- Classes may be face to face intensives and/or online
This is a 10-credit point unit and has been designed to ensure that the time needed to complete the required volume of learning to the requisite standard is approximately 150 hours in total across the semester. To achieve a passing standard in this unit, students will find it helpful to engage in the full range of learning activities and assessments utilised in this unit, as described in the learning and teaching strategy and the assessment strategy.
AUSTRALIAN PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS FOR TEACHERS
On successful completion of this unit, students should have gained evidence towards the following standards: