Final Thoughts

The curriculum development project was an invigorating one because I was able to select my own topic instead of choosing from a bank of subjects provided by the professor. Providing students with information about comprehensive sex education is my passion and there is such a huge need for it within Texas' public school systems, therefore having to conjure up relative information to use for my revised curriculum was not difficult at all. By having had undergraduate course work through the Health Studies program may have really helped because writing goals and objectives were simple and preparing lesson plans were simple to me as well. I guess I feel that they were simple to me because these are things that 1) I have had experience with and 2) I enjoy preparing curriculums. I think that I may have added a new interest to my future employment search :) The portion of the project that I did not favor was making the chart and I believe that this was due to the fact that Dr. Bailey had difficulties opening the chart and I am such an anal retentive person that this really annoyed me. It wasn't her or my fault, we had compatible computer programs, it was just one of those things that sometimes happens with computer software.

Having taken all of my classes online and using Blackboard, I did miss the accessibility of it. Preparing our own blogs and using it exclusively for communication was fine, but I wish that it had a different format. Such as seeing posts and comments immediately on the face page, I think this hindered students from being able to comment on more postings like they would have using Blackboard.

The class overall was well planned, very organized with lots of open communication. I always enjoy taking classes with Dr. Bailey. It has been a pleasure.

Module 6 Reflection

"Digital Storytelling" is something that could definitely be used in a classroom that I may teach in the future. It is very similar to "photovoice" but with digital storytelling, you hear the person telling the story along with looking at the pictures digitally. Photovoice uses only pictures with a description of what's going on in the picture. Digital storytelling provides you with an in depth look at what the person's story or report is about. Instead of either just reading a person's paper or listening to them at the front of the classroom, digital storytelling is more involved and lets the reader emphasize things that normally would be read in a boring manner. This would be really cool to do and fun for students as well. I had a very positive experience with photovoice as I was able to express myself with pictures and show what I was talking about, but I believe digital storytelling would be much more enduring for students and professors alike.

Module 5 Reflection

In the pedagogic model, teachers assume responsibility for making decisions about what is learned, and how and when something will be learned. Ragogy, by contrast, is the art and science of helping adults learn. In the andragogical model there are five assertions: 1) Letting learners know why something is important to learn, 2) showing learners how to direct themselves through information, 3) relating the topic to the learner’s experiences. In addition, 4) people will not learn until they are ready and motivated to learn. 5) This requires helping overcome inhibitions, behaviors, and beliefs about learning (Pew, 2007).

I definitely believe that it would be more beneficial for adult learners to shift to androgogy simply because adults learn differently and at different paces. Adults are usually motivated and are learning new things because they want to learn them, not because they have to learn them like children. The internal motivator alone is enough for the adult learner to become a lifelong learner and be able to shift as needed to andragogy. Personal motivation is key for the adult learner to want to acquire new knowledge. Adult learners learn new skills that will assist them with a new job or training for a new position, unlike with pedagogy, learning new things because of a requirement. Pew (2007) states that in andragogy, the educational focus is on facilitating the acquisition of and critical thinking about the content and its application in real-life practical settings.


Pew, S. (2007, January). Andragogy and Pedagogy as Foundational Theory for Student Motivation in Higher Education. InSight: A Journal of Scholarly Teaching, 2, 14-25. Retrieved March 22, 2009, from Education Research Complete database.

Module 4 Reflection

A Revision of the Abstinence-Only Sex Education Curriculum for Middle and High School Students in Texas

In order for all middle and high school students in Texas to receive the same instruction of the newly revised sex education curriculum, the curriculum will become mandatory for all, starting in 2011 with the newly incoming sixth graders and will continue to be required curriculum throughout their senior year of high school. This way, if students move or transfer to another school within Texas’ school system, they will remain on the same curriculum track as their peers and not miss any lessons. By building upon each lesson and providing repetitive information in the next course, this will enhance the learning experience of the students. Final grades of the students will be used as the course evaluation and will be indicative of their learning. Summer school will be available for all students that fail the course.

6th grade
1st semester- Biology 1 course
2nd semester-Biology 2 course

7th grade
1st semester- Why Choose Abstinence? Course
2nd semester- High Risk Behaviors and the Consequences Course (this course will include information on both viral and bacterial sexually transmitted infections)

8th grade
1st semester – Anatomy 1 course (human body introduction)
2nd semester- Anatomy 2 course

9th grade
1st semester – Teenage Parenting Course (Parenting skills will be tested)
2ns semester – Contraceptives and the Benefits Course

10th grade
1st semester – Physiology 1 course (Info on how the body works)
2nd semester- Physiology 2 course

11th grade
1st semester- Understanding Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Persons and Their Relationships
2nd semester- Dating Violence and Learning to Say NO

12th grade
1st semester- Abstinence vs. Comprehensive Sex Ed
2nd semester- Comprehensive Course of all Sex Education Curriculum

Describe the experience of creating your diagram. This curriculum diagramming took more thought than I would ever expect. I thought it would be quick and easy. But once I got started, I found that there were many times that I redesigned and continued to rearrange courses as I saw fit. I guess this is really how it works. No one curriculum for any area of study will ever be perfect; there is always constant change.

How could diagramming serve as a resource in your course/curriculum development process? It allows you to visualize the course content and the sequence that has been chosen and makes it easier to make changes and plug in new items where needed.

Module 3 Reflection Blog

My project is geared towards revising the abstinence-only based sex education curriculum that is currently available to Texas middle and high school students. The revised curriculum will include comprehensive sex education plus abstinence.

My philosophy for this program is:
Every student has a need for and a right to obtain sexual health education in order to make healthy decisions in an environment that is safe, non-judgemental and respectful.

Module 2 DB

My experience with developing curriculum has been totally for my undergrad and graduate level courses that I've taken in the past. To date, I have not had any experience with accreditation. Although, my experience is limited to the classroom, there are several lessons and challenges that I have learned while developing curriculum. Lessons learned: 1) One must be precise with what you would like to cover in your lesson, and 2) make sure that the lesson is detailed enough so that any instructor can follow easily. Challenges: 1) It is very easy to get off task and ramble about a subject; you must stay focused, and 2) It is also very easy to provide too much information in a short time period; you must not overwhelm your students by giving them too much information to learn at once.