In this thesis, I examine the relationship between activism and the two introductory-level Women's Studies classes, Introduction to Women's Studies and Issues in Feminism, and the social justice mission of the Women's Studies department. These two classes are the pillars for the program and are often the first classes that draw students into the program. I propose that the Women's Studies department does promote social justice through the curriculum and there are ways that the department could do more to facilitate activism in the classroom and beyond the classroom. The Women's Studies department at the University of South Florida is one of the longest freestanding Women's Studies departments. The department was established in 1970 and as an academic field is a child of the idealism and activism of the feminist movement. I believe that Women's Studies as an academic discipline has a responsibility to promote social justice because of its parentage. A case study approach enables me to see how activism manifests in a very specific location and provides real-life examples that can then be applied and adapted to other programs. I conducted two different analyses of the department: a syllabus review and in-depth interviews with instructors. The intention of the syllabus review was to see how the classes present on paper. The interviews allowed me to examine what actually occurred in the classroom. I was able to provide a snapshot of the call to activism, the manifestations of activism, and the facilitation of activism, which enabled me to theorize new ways to incorporate activism into not only introductory-level classes, but to all Women's Studies classes.

M.Ed. (Curriculum Studies) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

This study was motivated by the latest revision of the mathematics syllabuses of the Cape Education Department. The most important changes to content in the Senior Secondary Mathematics Syllabus (July 1984) are the introduction of calculus and linear programming, the substitution of a section on analytical geometry for vector algebra and the recall of the remainder and factor theorems. The way in which these changes were introduced left the task of integrating them into the teaching process in the hands of individual teachers. This is a task of extreme importance. If one's classroom practice is to simply plough one's way through the syllabus, one loses many opportunities to make the study of mathematics meaningful and worthwhile. Accepting the view of the spiral nature of the curriculum where one returns to concepts and procedures at increasing levels of sophistication, one needs to identify the position of topics in this spiral and to trace their conceptual foundations. Analytical geometry is in particular need of this treatment. Similarly there are many opportunities for preparing for the introduction of calculus. If the teaching of calculus is left until the last moments of the Standard 10 year without proper groundwork, the pupil will be left with little time to develop an understanding of the concepts involved. It is the advent of calculators which presents the greatest challenge to mathematics education. We ignore this challenge to the detriment of our teaching. Taken seriously calculators have the potential to exert a radical influence on the content of curricula and examinations. They bring into question the time we spend on teaching arithmetic algorithms and the priority given to algebraic manipulation. Numercial methods gain new prominence. Calculators can even breathe new life into the existing curriculum. Their computing power can be harnessed not only to carry out specific calculations but also to introduce new topics and for concept reinforcement. The purpose of this study has been to bring about a proper integration of the new sections into the existing syllabus and to give some instances of how the calculator can become an integral part of the teaching/learning process

M.Ed. (Curriculum Studies) / Knowledge in any field is not static. The world is faced with a knowledge explosion. New information, new ideas and new perspectives are continuously being uncovered, with the result that old information is. forever being challenged and proved wrong (Nicholls & Nicholls, 1978; Zais, 19761130). There is a need therefore to monitor the situation and to assess whether what is going on in the school is congruent with developments in the disciplines. In the context of this dissertation, English is a second language and it is also the medium of learning. Research has to assess whether the curriculum for English second language reflects the requirements of situation analysis, which includes developments in Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, and to assess the extent to which the syllabus as a curriculum document reflects the inherent characteristics of a curriculum. The syllabus that is being evaluated in this dissertation is a document designed in Bophuthatswana and has been in use since 1985. No formal evaluation of the particular syllabus has been carried out...

The purpose of this study was to explore the alignment of soft skills sought by current business IS entry-level employers in electronic job postings, with the integration of soft skills in undergraduate business information systems (IS) syllabi of public four-year universities in Texas. One hundred fifty job postings were extracted from two major electronic career databases. Ten undergraduate AACSB-accredited programs in the field of business information systems (IS) were investigated, and syllabi for the 70 major courses of the business IS programs were obtained for review. Content analysis was applied to all job postings and syllabi, exposing all soft skills related to the 9 categories used in this study adapted from the 21st Century Framework for Learning (Partnership for 21st Century Learning, 2009). Frequencies were tabulated to determine rank of soft skills in job postings and syllabi, and Jaccard’s coefficient statistic of occurrence was used for cluster analysis. Soft skills within all 9 categories were found in job postings (n = 1554) and course syllabi (n = 774). Three soft skill categories were aligned between job postings and syllabi: (1) initiative and self-direction, (2) social and cross-cultural skills, and (3) flexibility and adaptability. However, because differences in the higher ranked frequencies of soft skills in job postings and syllabi were noted, the null hypothesis of this study was rejected.

This thesis addresses the gender-race intersectional inequality in Canadian conservatory piano syllabi revealing that women make up less than 14% of piano music in 20th and 21st Century piano repertoire in Canadian conservatories. By drawing on feminist musicology, critical race, and intersectionality studies, the thesis addresses elements of patriarchy and white supremacy found within specific conservatory repertoire examples. Using the SongData methodology, Adams presents 50 years of data points of gender-race representation in the Royal Conservatory of Music and Conservatory Canada piano syllabi, reporting that white women make up 13.1% of 20th and 21st-century music and Black, Indigenous, and Women of Colour make up less than 0.6%. Piano music by BIPOC women is then leveled and broken down according to conservatory standards and compared to repertoire within existing syllabi. Also included is an original graded syllabus of over 3,000 pieces by women and additional curricular resources for the piano studio.

This was a comparative study in which Texas teachers of industrial plastics and the employers of Texas plastic industries were surveyed in order to evaluate the need for various knowledge and skills of the plastics industry. The respondents believed that basic knowledge of plastics was much needed, and knowledge of the thermoplastic family is of more importance than of the thermoset family. It was also concluded that knowledge of demonstration skills is of only average or lesser importance than knowledge of other areas.

Syllabi are an integral part of any college experience and an understanding for how the genre functions on a rhetorical level is an under-researched area in the field of higher education. Using the tools of rhetorical analysis—looking at language and genre structures—I gathered a selection of 25 First-Year Writing syllabi within the Department of English at Virginia Tech to help address this concern of a lack of research. Using qualitative research methods—specifically those dealing with language and genre coding—I worked through my syllabi selection to ascertain how the genre functions rhetorically. Using Mary Louise Pratt's idea of the "contact zone" as well as Rhetorical Genre Theories and Actor-Network Theory, I argue that beginning with an understanding for how the genre of syllabi function rhetorically will also help us understand how the genre can be communicative, in the sense that it sends a message, as well as performative. / Master of Arts / Syllabi are an integral part of any college experience and an understanding for how the genre functions on a rhetorical level is an under-researched area in the field of higher education. Using the tools of rhetorical analysis—looking at language and genre structures—I gathered a selection of 25 First-Year Writing syllabi within the Department of English at Virginia Tech to help address this concern of a lack of research. Using qualitative research methods—specifically those dealing with language and genre coding—I worked through my syllabi selection to ascertain how the genre functions rhetorically. Using Mary Louise Pratt’s idea of the “contact zone” as well as Rhetorical Genre Theories and Actor-Network Theory, I argue that beginning with an understanding for how the genre of syllabi function rhetorically will also help us understand how the genre can be communicative, in the sense that it sends a message, as well as performative.

An Interactive Course Organizer (ICO) is an artifact that contains text and visual representation of a traditional course syllabus, it integrates visual elements, such as timelines, drawings, charts, graphs, maps, or pictures to show the sequencing and organization of major course topics while offering the user an actively controlled progression of the amount of course information covered. The goal of this research was to develop a theoretically- and empirically- grounded guidelines to design and develop of ICOs. It is anticipated that these guidelines can assist course developers and instructional designers in designing ICOs. This study employed a design and developmental research methodology with four phases: analysis, design, development and validation. Findings from literature review investigations in course syllabi, instructional message design, visual literacy, and interactivity theories and research as well as expert review informed the building of the guidelines. / Doctor of Philosophy / Interactive Course Organizer (ICO) is a tool that acts as a course syllabus. It combines both text and visual representation of a traditional course syllabus, and integrates visual elements, such as timelines, drawings, charts, graphs, maps, or pictures to help learners visually see the interrelationships between different parts of the course and how they all fit together. Its purpose is to provide visuals to assist learners in seeing the course and how it is organized "big picture". And by adding the interactivity feature, learners will navigate, access, and view the course content. It is a course framework to help students understand what it is they will be learning in the course. This research aimed to develop a theoretically- and empirically- grounded guidelines to design and develop of ICOs. It is anticipated that these guidelines can assist course developers and instructional designers in designing ICOs. This study employed a design and developmental research methodology with four phases: analysis, design, development and validation. Findings from literature review investigations in course syllabi, instructional message design, visual literacy, and interactivity theories and research as well as expert review informed the building of the guidelines.

No description available.