Week 5 Group Task --- Explore curriculum in IPPUT Yao Ruyan（Abby）

The definition of the curriculum

Jewett, Bain, and Ennis described the physical education curriculum as follows: "Broadly defined, the school curriculum includes all experiences conducted under school auspices, from formal classroom instruction to interscholastic athletics. More specifically, the curriculum is defined as the planned sequence of formal instructional experiences presented by the teachers to whom the responsibility is assigned."（Curriculum Design Basics Harrison,J.M.,Blakemore,etc）

Types of curriculums focus in IPPUT 
After reading some references,other group members' thoughts and combining with my own understanding of the topic,I think there are more types than we mentioned in the course: 


1.students-centered:This kind of curriculums pay more attention to students learning ability,learning independency.Teachers support students with giving outline of the course,introducing ICT can be used and offering suggestions.ICT supports the students with resources,facilities and platforms to exchange ideas with others and observe other learners' learning process and outcomes. 


2.society-centered:ICT supports practices designing in a society view and focusing the learning outcomes can be implemented in the society. 


3.knowledge-centered:The curriculums focus on the concepts and content of the course;ICT facilites with the understanding of the knowledge and help building the structure of the knowledge.

Roles of the Curriculum in IPPUT


1.Providing the whole picture:The curriculum offers the structure of the course and arranges the whole process of the learning and teaching. 


2.The final part for realizing innovation:After all the aspects for innovation are ready,such as new policy;support from the leaders,the parents and the outside society,developed teacher training etc,IPPUT are realized in the class though the curriculum in my understanding.

Week 5 Group Task --- Explore curriculum in IPPUT HU Jiani (Janey)

Types of curriculum focus in IPPUT:
        There are three types have been mentioned in the class last week: Single subject focus,Thematic focus and school-wide focus. As I have searched some cases through the Internet and connecting with my own study experience, I think curriculum focus in IPPUT can also have these types as below:

1. Needs or demands focus - ICT supports pedagogical practices which is suitable to individual demands. This is widely used in distant education area. Online schools which offered distant education courses design the curriculum which can suit individual learning requirement.

2. Area focus - According to the cases given in IPPUT, they also have different types according to the academic areas.ICT is used to improve the learning methodology in different areas no matter economic area or literature area.

3. object focus - ICT used to facilitate the implementation for different people. When the curriculum being designed, it should be considered in the factor of objects.

Roles of curriculum in IPPUT
It is hard to describe. As far as I can consider about, it plays roles as below:

1.Catalyst - the curriculum in IPPUT cannot stay as same as what they are now, it should keep the speed with the requirements or demands current learner will change,and suitable to the future learners. And it should keep developing with the society. It can be a catalyst towards both ICT innovation and learners while it become better and better.

2.Productor or director - as my group mate William said,"Utilisation is the final goal of all the education", curriculum in IPPUT can play as a productor or director who could lead learners to equipt with utilitarian skills,technology or knowledge.

Week 5 Group Task --- Explore curriculum in IPPUT WU Hao (William)

Curriculum, by definition, refers to the course offered by an educational institution or a set of courses constituting an area of specialization (Merriam-Webster Dictionary).

When the types of curriculum focus were mentioned, the categories of curriculum should be firstly discussed.

Types of Curriculum

1.       Traditional

This is the traditional teaching approach with textbooks familiar to the public school attendants. It is comprised of  6-7 unrelated subjects with a different book for each.

Learning Style Match: Visual and Auditory

Advantages: More likely to cover the basic teaching objectives and the lesson planning could be laid out

Disadvantages: Time consuming, difficult to teach students with different grades or learning experiences.

2.       Thematic Unit Study

This is also known as “thematic learning” or integrated learning. Basic school knowledge in school are now studied in light of a particular topic, theme or period instead isolated knowledge segments.

Learning Style Match: Multi-sensory

Advantages: Different grades and ages could collaborate together, specific teaching in relevant area of interest

Disadvantages: Lesson planning tends to be more flexible and requires more structure, lacks test taking skill in content areas.