Course Outline: EDUC 4203E (SEP) Educational Psychology and Special Education J/I

Course Outline: EDUC 4203E (SEP) – Educational Psychology and Special Education J/I

Course Description:This course provides an overview of psychological principles as they relate to human development, learning, motivation, instruction, and assessment. The special education component of the course examines the Ontario Ministry of Education policies on special education and exceptional learners as they relate to IEP’s, IPRC’s and their application in Ontario classrooms.

Goals of the Course

You will:

• understand human development within the framework of education
• recognize individual variations within the classroom environment
• apply learning theory and practices
• address the five general groupings of exceptionalities outlined by the Ontario Ministry of Education
• use assistive technology to meet the needs of students
• be comfortable and confident working with students with exceptionalities.

Required Textbook

Smith, T.E.C., Polloway, E. A., Patton, J.R., Dowdy, C. A., McIntyre, L. J., and Francis, G. C. (2007). Teaching Students with Special Needs in Inclusive Settings (3rd Ed.). Toronto, ON: Pearson.

Required Documents

Ontario Ministry of Education. (2004). The Individual Education Plan (IEP): A Resource Guide. Queen’s Printer for Ontario. Available at

Special Education: A guide for educators

Individual Education Plans: Standards for development, program planning, and implementation

Policy/Program Memorandum 140

Learning for All:

Caring and Safe Schools in Ontario:

Assignments

Professionally Preparing Assignments:

Assignments must reflect approved form (margins, double spaced, pagination, headings, sub-headings, correct grammar, and mechanics). Supporting references and documentation should be given where appropriate. It is not necessary to type assignments, but they must be professionally presented, using only one side of a page. Please double space and use an appropriate font size (12 minimum). Assignments should have a title page containing the following information:

title and name of assignment

your full name

course name and number

instructor’s name

date submitted

The information should be written twice on the page so that one-half of the page can be signed by your professor and torn off as a receipt. Be sure that you keep a copy of all assignments that have been submitted for your own records. It happens rarely, but assignments can get lost.

Submitting Assignments

Assignment criteria are specified on the course outline that will be distributed by the instructor(s) during the course. Read carefully to be sure that you have fulfilled all aspects of the requirements. Assignments are due on the specified dates. Late assignments will be accepted with an assigned penalty of 5% per day.

The course instructor may grant extensions in justified circumstances. To receive an extension, the relevant instructor must receive a written request at least 24 hours prior to the due date of the assignment. The Dean of Education may also grant extensions under special circumstances.

Assignments should be submitted directly to the course instructor or the designated alternate.

All assignments are due in class. For each day (including weekends) that your assignment is late 10% will be deducted from your assignment. Extensions will only be considered provided that the student contacts me prior to the assignment due date. Students wishing to be considered for an extension must come prepared with valid reasons (not excuses) and/or valid documentation.

Plagiarism

from:

Essentially, plagiarism involves submitting or presenting work in a course as if it were the student's own work done expressly for that particular course when, in fact, it is not. Most commonly plagiarism exists when:

1. the work submitted or presented was done, in whole or in part, by an individual other than the one submitting or presenting the work.
2. parts of the work (e.g. phrases, ideas through paraphrase or sentences) are taken from another source without reference to the original author.
3. the whole work (e.g. an essay) is copied from another source and/or
4. a student submits or presents a work in one course which has also been submitted or presented in another course (although it may be completely original with that student) without the knowledge or prior agreement of the instructors involved.
5. plagiarism should be noted and reported to the Dean.
6. students should be informed of the University's definition and policy on plagiarism at the beginning of each course.

Instructor’s Responsibility

The initial responsibility for punitive action lies with the Instructor. The Instructor may assign a grade of zero for that particular assignment, test or exam, or may assign a grade of zero in the course.
The Instructor will advise the Department Chair, the Dean, and the Registrar of the action taken.

Assignment 1. SQ4R Chapter Readings 10%: (SQ4R Reading Method. Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Relate, Review. SQ4R method improves both comprehension and grades).

This is an individual assignment and is not to be completed in pairs or groups. You will read all of the assigned textbook chapters and complete a SQ4R response for each chapter. You will submit five of the completed SQ4R responses.Each worksheet must be submitted in hardcopy only at the start of each class for which the chapter was assigned. Your mark will be based on peer review, my review, and thoroughness and completeness. The due dates for each SQ4R are indicated on the course time table.

Assignment 2.Educational Psychology Lesson 15%:

Lesson:10%of mark: Your group of 4 or 5 will prepare a 20 minute interactive lesson that you will teach at the date and time indicated on the course time table. Your group will demonstrate the importance of your assigned theorist by demonstrating how your assigned theorist can be used to explain why Sara is failing in school and the solutions/strategies/activities that the theorist would recommend to meet Sara’s needs.

Hand-out: 5 % of markYour group will prepare an electronic hand-out to be distributed to your peers and to your professor the day of your presentation. The handout will: (a) summaries the main theory and concepts of the researcher, (b) list 3 helpful websites that review the main concepts of the researcher, and (c) provides 10 review questions in multiple choice format. The multiple choice questions must be application, synthesis or evaluation questions (in other words, the questions should not test factual knowledge. E.g., Vygotsky is best known for . . . )

Your mark for this assignment will be based on the scoring rubric enclosed.

Assignment 3.IEP Critique and Create an IEP 25%

IEP Critique in class Nov 8 and due Nov 15:10%

Create an IEP 15% Nov 22

This assignment may be completed individually or in pairs.

Instructions will be reviewed in class. The assignment is due IN CLASS the week of November 22, 2010.

You will be provided with a case study of a student with an exceptionality. In pairs and using the Ontario Ministry’s IEP template, you will create an IEP based on the information provided in the case study.

To obtain a level 4 (90-100%)

The IEP will be completed with one or two minor errors.

To obtain a level 3 (80-89%)

The IEP Format will be completed with three or four few minor errors.

To obtain a level 2 (70-79%)

The IEP is completed with one major error and/or parts (i.e., learning expectations, teaching strategies, assessment methods) are copied directly from Ministry documents pertaining to IEPs and/or sample IEPs.

To obtain a level 1 (60-69%)

The IEP is completed with two errors and parts (i.e., learning expectations, teaching strategies, assessment methods) are copied directly from Ministry documents pertaining to IEPs and/or sample IEPs.

To obtain R (50-59%)

The IEP is completed with many major and minor errors.

Assignment 4.Putting Theory into Practice 25%

This is an individual assignment and is not to be completed in pairs or groups. The Assignment is due in class the week of January 31, 2011.

Please note, that you are not restricted on the theory(ies) that you use to complete this assignment. You may use thetheories presented in-class, as well as any additional theories you believe to be applicable. Include the use of assistive technology.

For this assignment you will:

1. be randomly assigned an exceptionality.
2. select an existing lesson plan, either one that you created or one that you have foundon-line, in a textbook (etc.).
3. cite where you found the lesson plan (if you created the lesson plan, you must indicate this fact).
4. write an essay using APA format to explain the following:

i - the characteristics associated with your assigned exceptionality

ii - the changes you would need to make to the lesson in order for a teacher to meet the needs of a student with your assigned exceptionality.

iii - the strengths of the lesson based on educational psychology theory(ies).

iv - the weakness of the lesson based on educational psychology theory(ies)

v - based on your knowledge of educational psychology theories, how would you improve the lesson.

To obtain 90-100%

The learner created unique and thorough connections to theory and the exceptionality. The learner developed a thought provoking analysis that demonstrated the creation of new knowledge. The assignment was extremely well organized and exceptionally well written with the writer’s voice being very strong throughout the entire essay.

To obtain 80-89%

The student fully explained the connections to theory and to the assigned exceptionality, but did not demonstrate reflective thought or the creation of new ideas. The assignment was well organized and only contained a few minor grammatical and structural errors. The writer’s voice is apparent throughout the essay.

To obtain 70-79%

The learner developed a passive argument. The student did not fully develop his/her argument, which left the reader with questions. Organization was appropriate but conventional. Inconsistent writing voice. The assignment contained a few minor and major grammatical structural errors.

To obtain 60-69%

The learner developed a partial argument. Main ideas were unclear and cluttered by irrelevant detail. The essay was disorganized which made the arguments hard to follow. There was little or no hint of the writer behind the words. Major errors impeded the readability of the essay.

To obtain 50-59%

The student did not develop an argument. The student merely state the theory and left it up to the reader to figure out the connection between the theory and the lesson plan. The student listed the characteristics of the exceptionality. The student only addressed theory or only addressed the exceptionality. The assignment lacked organization and appeared to be hastily written.

Assignment 5.Final Exam 25%

NOTE: Nipissing University’s Attendance Policy states, “When absenteeism exceeds 20%, the student may be excluded from writing the final examination” ( p. 248).

The exam will be based on the Ministry documents used in class, assigned text book chapters, peer lessons and in-class discussions. The exam will consist of multiple choice and true/false questions. The exam will be closed book. The test will be written during the spring exam week.

MODIFICATION OF COURSE SCHEDULE AND PROCEDURES

The course schedule and procedures are subject to change in the event of extenuating circumstances.

Topics, Presenters & Dates

Assistive Technology In-Class Assignment

Work through the handout. While it may seem long, many of the points are simply instructions and do not require a response. When responding to a question please do so using either bold or a different colour font. This will assist in distinguishing between the question and your response. You may use point form when responding to the questions.