A review of the curriculum literature reveals historical shifts from: (a) scarcity to abundance of information; (b) from more to less centralization of curricular authority; and, (c) from the learner as a copy of the mentor toward greater individuality. These shifts make using the traditional curricular tool, the curricular canon, problematic. Two conspicuous problems are: how to clean through and organize one's extensive personal knowledge, and how to gain individual curricular freedom without abandoning the kind of formal structure traditionally provided by educational institutions. To address this dual problem, I provide philosophical underpinnings for the desirability of self-education without schooling, and then I explore what would happen if, rather than selecting topics of study based upon a socially-constructed past, the learner selects topics of study based upon their current inner culture. My central question: What kind of new curricular tool is it possible to create for making structured curricular decisions without an educational institution? To answer this question, I used an auto-ethnographic methodology that included thousands of hours of self-interviewing, personal document review, and reliance on non-verbal responses. This methodology served to create a curricular design method for making structured curricular decisions, customized to the individual rather than to society at large, and without institutional encumbrances. I describe this process for independent and authentic curricular decision-making in five steps: (1) inventorying; (2) authenticating; (3) organizing; (4) integrating; (5) curricularizing, and then present a streamlined version of this curricular tool as a potential alternative to curricular canonization. The tool is designed to obtain a curriculum that is categorically authentic to that with which the learner identifies (true to identity), aligned with the most highly prioritized values in in the learner's life (intrinsically motivating), and concentrated into topics the learner can engage in and study with a powerful sense of integrity (literally integrated). After describing this new tool, called the curricular catalogue, I discuss the ramifications of introducing a new tool to the field of education wherewith non-experts have the ability, by following a tutorial of the method, to create their own self-authenticated curriculum. These ramifications involve a paradigm shift from curricular prescription to curricular elicitation, from exclusively objective empirical concerns to both objective and subjective concerns, as well as a shift in the learning process from historic to present orientation. Research implications are discussed and the use of technology and gamification of learning are touched upon as potential means for introducing this new curricular tool. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies in partial fulfillment of
the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2013. / March 25, 2013. / authentication, authenticity, curriculum, decision-making, disestablishment,
self-education / Includes bibliographical references. / Jeffrey Ayala Milligan, Professor Directing Dissertation; Tom Anderson, University Representative; Robert A. Schwartz, Committee Member; Judith Irvin, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_253387 |
| Contributors | Purpura, Michael Joseph (authoraut), Milligan, Jeffrey Ayala (professor directing dissertation), Anderson, Tom (university representative), Schwartz, Robert A. (committee member), Irvin, Judith (committee member), Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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