Curriculum Mapping in Higher Education: A Vehicle for Collaboration

This qualitative study makes the case for the implementation of curriculum mapping, a procedure that creates a visual representation of curriculum based on real time information, as a way to increase collaboration and collegiality in higher education. Through the use of curriculum mapping, eleven faculty members in a western state university Teacher Licensure program aligned and revised the teacher education curriculum across a sequence of courses. An increase in collaboration and collegiality among faculty emerged as an unintended outcome as a result of participation in the project. Kay Pippin Uchiyama  is currently the Assessment Coordinator for the Poudre School District in Fort Collins, Colorado. During this study, she was an Assistant Professor of Teacher Education at Colorado State University and a co-primary investigator for the Preparing Tomorrow’s Teachers to Use Data grant. She received her Ph.D. in Instruction and Curriculum in the Content Areas with an emphasis on Teacher Education and Learning to Teach from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Her interests include data driven instruction, assessment for learning, teacher education, professional development schools, and mathematics education. Her email is kuchiyam@psdschools.org. Jean L. Radin  is an adjunct professor at Colorado State University and a co-primary investigator for the Preparing Tomorrow’s Teachers to Use Data grant. She received her Ph.D. from Colorado State University. Her interests are brain-based teaching and learning, data driven instructional practices, teacher education and professional development schools. Her email is jradin@cahs.colorado.edu.     

Professors' and teachers' views of competencies necessary for mainstreaming

College professors' and classroom teachers' views of competencies necessary for mainstreaming were compared for II categories of competencies (75 competencies in all). The results indicate that teachers attach more importance to the set of competencies than do professors; there were significant differences between the two groups on approximately one-third of the items. In all cases, the teachers thought the competency was more important than did the professors. Means of the II categories were rankordered for both groups. Differences in rank were nonexistent or slight for most of the items. The three items on which there was a four-point difference in rank were: goalsetting and curriculum development (viewed as more important by the professors), and communication and assessing students' needs (viewed as more important by the teachers).     

Children as research subjects: Guidelines for gatekeepers

The opportunity to conduct research in early childhood settings is vital to the growth and further professionalization of the early childhood field (Bowman, 1986; Goffin, 1989). Even though a unique body of research exists within early childhood education, more research in a greater diversity of settings and with a broader variety of groups of children and adults is needed.Mary Kay Helling is a doctoral candidate at Purdue University, Child Development and Family Studies Department; on leave from the faculty of South Dakota State University, Human Development, Child and Family Studies Department. Teresa Hughes is a doctoral candidate, Purdue University, CDFS Department.