Symposium 2019

Willian Pinar (2019) explored the roots of the term “curriculum” and found the concept of “currere” – to run a course, to take a journey. He posed curriculum as the lived experiences of our learners. This idea challenges us to consider what curriculum looks like as a journey.

For many learners, this journey is akin to encountering a wide, fast running river; the learners’ goal – doing real things in the real world – lies uphill, upstream on the far side of the river. Our job, as educators, is to throw rocks in the river – learning activities and the interactions they embody – that provide pathways to their goals.

This interactive session engages educators in identifying and examining the learning activities they use. Participants then explore the essence of these activities: what are learners “doing” in these activities, who and what do they interact with, and – most importantly – what is the likely outcome of each activity? How far in the river is each activity likely to take learners? Next, participants consider how these activities can be leveraged through different technologies and learning modalities (e.g., mobile, online, face-to-face, workplace). The activities are “mapped” then analyzed through the metaphor of throwing rocks in the river.

This metaphor sets up a variety of intriguing potential discussions: matching learning activities with desired learning outcomes; blending educational technologies and practices to create effective pathways; or examining strengths and challenges of common learning “pathways” – e.g., distributed/hybrid learning, online, face-to-face, etc.; analyzing “bottom up,” “top down,” and “flipped” approaches.