what is a course work

what is a course work

Exploring the Meaning and Significance of Coursework in Education

1. Introduction to Coursework in Education

If significant improvements in education are to occur, it becomes crucial to have a fairly firm foundation for necessary reforms aimed at undergraduate teaching and learning and for the design and administration of programs to evaluate the effectiveness of implemented changes. This requires deeper and more complete knowledge of the meaning and significance of the undergraduate education of our students and of the roles that extracurricular activities play in that education. Because that foundation is essential, we observe that it exists only in rudimentary form today and offer this report as an effort to assist in the building of this component. With that goal in mind, the present discussion is largely introductory. Its goal and intent involve exploring the character of undergraduate education at the present time and are aimed at providing a deepened understanding of that experience and the many worthwhile elements that can come out of it.

In this chapter, we provide an in-depth exploration of what coursework generally, and education-related coursework in particular, means in terms of its significance in structuring major goals for students in college. We examine what goals the structure of the undergraduate experience subsumes, identify the elements of personal, social, and professional development that it comprises, and consider the means and the sources for attaining those goals. All of our analyses are aimed at contributing to an overall understanding of the extent to which undergraduate education in general, and college in particular, are succeeding in meeting longer-term educational, social, and professional development goals. In a society of rapid scientific advancement, the importance of science and the critical roles played by colleges and universities in guiding the educational policy of the nation will become increasingly crucial.

2. The Purpose and Benefits of Coursework

Coursework is an essential qualification requirement for courses of education leading to registration to teach, that is, to enter the teaching profession. In the final year of their courses, teacher students are expected to pursue a third-year or honours degree programme in education by extending their studies, using a variety of knowledge sources, engaging in theory-informed decision-making, and reflecting in and on action in situ. Undertaking coursework in education is an important instrument of professional education, not only for the knowledge outcomes of their work but also for the learning experiences conferring significant benefits upon the students. The purpose of this article is to explore these ideas, which I argue are significant, yet overlooked in the vast literature on teacher education and educational research.

I introduce the idea of work which is not individually centered but which is done within a framework of collective endeavoring for common meaning, particularly as it might be appropriate to coursework in education. Coursework, I argue, represents symbolic work, the focus of which is discourse. This focus is shared by teachers and students, and they are energized by a ‘learning spirit’ which courses through the collaborative meaning-making process. It is suggested that the course administrator is vital in its promotion.

3. Types of Coursework and Their Role in Learning

A consequence of this analysis is the realization that coursework should be of various kinds. Some work is generative of or tied in with the urge to perform. Other work is in preparation for later knowing. Still, other work is necessary for the formation of habits, attitudes, and work skills. The problems set for students, and the preparation that they make in consequence, cover a diversified horizon, and this diversity of work should appear in all phases and facets of learning.

In order to understand the importance of coursework, it is instructive to consider the nature of school work. Regrettably, much of what has been written about schools, curriculum, and instruction is based upon the byproducts of student learning – upon examinations and ratings of written work by both students and critics. Consider the typology of school tasks with relation to time perspective and urge to perform. It seems permissible to classify the coursework in schools as originating from three sources: they may be the product of the stimulus-responsitivity factor of education, analyzable from the point of view of probability theory; they may occasion search, study, and insight directed toward long-range goals, an expression of the existential factor; or their characteristic is repetition, and they may be recognizable as learning for tomorrow.

4. Assessment and Evaluation of Coursework

Failure to distinguish between grading and describing has hindered a lot of work on evaluating the products, processes, or outcomes of course outcomes. Even advanced students coming out of the classrooms of earlier generations may think the main reason to look at their papers or tests is to see what grade they received. Assessment of student work is considered by some more important than the work done on individual papers or tests. Researchers have been upgraded and pilots labeled with national symbols, and buildings have been closed and permanently programmed in response to student work described and discussed in terms of marks for a “first draft” of something called a new set and new types “as”, and what capabilities (among other things) they might be “introductions”, “examples”, and “summaries” into work samples that principals or traveling reviewers would recognize and approve in determining compliance with the state or national reform agenda. Can this sort of work describe learning well enough to first influence grades and then practices and lives?

Assessment Myths

Preparation of teachers as professionals occurs not only through the talk that goes on in courses, but through the activities that students perform, especially the activities pointed to as the evidence of learning – quizzes, tests, papers, and presentations. Performance on these activities may function to control access to the professional role and the institutions at will and reason to take them. Coursework appears necessary for entry to many teacher education programs, and for transfers from one program to one with a better reputation. Other possibilities should be considered as qualifications for college life and success, but two key issues are worth considering in their suggested applications. Do these pieces of work go beyond merely establishing qualifications for entry into an instructional setting and assist in meaningful preparation for the lives teachers are led to expect?

Assessment and Coursework

5. Conclusion and Future Directions in Coursework Research

Coursework in and about a discipline involves a range of activities including seminars, lectures, workshops, and in the case of education, action orientation or internship. Each of these forms of coursework implicitly or explicitly presumes a set of purposes, practices, cultures, and communities of engagement. Crucial elements of these apprenticing activities include their purposes, venues, faculty and peers, sequences, goals, and the assignment of academic credit or some other dividend or emblem of the enterprise. In conclusion, coursework is not simply a body of arbitrarily assigned tasks aimed at consuming time, efforts, or money. However, its significance is deeply rooted in apprenticeships that are vital to the work of professionals in a given field, particularly in the education sector. Rapid transformation of the nature of work leads to the blurring of the distinction between work and learning, especially in coursework.

Coursework or academic study in education research and other fields is a type of work with neither a clear consensus on its meaning nor its significance. Coursework, particularly in education, is often debased and labeled a low priority for science. This defilement stems in part from a misunderstanding generated by fragmentary visions of the nature, purpose, and practices of coursework. In part, it is nurtured by scholars who have had limited experiences with either enacting or facilitating someone else’s engagement in scholarly coursework. In set, the nature and internal experiences of academically oriented learning activities varying at upper levels reflect collective social practices shaped by the values, problems, and contexts of knowledge generation.