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Hello, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome, and congratulations. You have completed the unit on applying competencies, outcomes, and standards in curriculum development. Today what we are going to do now that we're at the very end is just summarize everything that you encountered within this unit, pull it all back together, and say goodbye.
As we began every tutorial with a quote, so we will begin this final summary with a quote, this one from Pliny the Elder which states, "From the end spring new beginnings." I love this quote, and it is absolutely true for us today. Even though this is the end of our time together, this is just the beginning for all that you will be able to do with your newfound knowledge and newly acquired skill set.
What I'd like to do now is go ahead and summarize those objectives that now by the end of the unit you have been able to reach. First, you now have been able to analyze the differences between standards and competencies, really distinguishing between knowledge and skills. You've been able to evaluate the deeper learning theory and its connection to competency-based instruction.
You've been able to develop a unit plan using the Understanding by Design templates and mapping, so that you can align those competencies to the standards and outcomes. And finally, you've had an opportunity to reflect on how competency-based approach really increases the authenticity and deeper learning within the curriculum unit.
What I'd like to do now is go back through each of these objectives in a little more detail, so that we can really remind ourselves of all the different ways we were able to meet these. So the first objective is that you can analyze the differences between standards and competencies, distinguishing between knowledge and skills.
So what that looks like-- there is a real emphasis put on the foundations of competency-based instruction, really understanding all of the different pieces of vocabulary that go apart and with that. So you'll look at those various elements of what learning goals are in relation to skills, in relation to competencies. And this has a vast array of applications within your classroom, as well as things that you can do as a professional in aiding those around you.
We then look at the standards and the competencies, how closely they're linked, and some tips on how those standards and competencies can be integrated into curriculum development. And then finally, there are tons of examples. So taking a look at all of the different avenues and the different subjects that you could be using these elements within in your teaching practices, and seeing real life examples so that it doesn't seem as far away. Obviously, you can take elements of these examples and directly apply them to your teaching.
The next objective states that you can evaluate the deeper learning theory and its connection to competency-based instruction. You'll notice here that there was a huge emphasis put on the history of deeper learning, really understanding where these various ideas come from. That's super helpful for us as educators, because we live in a world where new ideas are thrown our way every single day. So understanding the foundations behind them are really important.
Next, there are a lot of practical approaches to deeper learning, so really looking at the various ways that you can infuse deeper learning into the classroom. What I love about this is there's a direct application to what you do in your classroom. But there are so many ways that you can apply these learning approaches to other areas of your life.
And then finally, really connecting a lot of the competency-based education with various elements of deeper learning, really looking at how all of that connects back to the standards, reminding us that we are always focusing on those standards and what students need to know.
The third objective is that you can develop a unit plan using Understanding by Design template and mapping the aligned competencies to the standards and outcomes. This is where everything goes from theory into practice, really looking at the different ways to use all of these ideas to create a curriculum map, a unit of study, specific lesson plans.
So you'll notice that there is a huge emphasis on Understanding by Design and the stages of design, so that you can really make that much more manageable, rather than one broad, overarching statement-- now apply this to all of your curriculum development. That's a little less helpful rather than breaking it down, which is what we do. Then you were provided with many different Understanding by Design unit templates and other materials that are available to you to be able to put this into practice with your specific teaching elements.
And then there are a lot of tips as we go through, so planning tips, just things to remember. Because a lot of this is going to be so individualized to what is done in your specific classroom, a lot of these tips are helpful to remember as you go through and apply what you've learned in your specific situation.
The final objective is that you can reflect on how competency-based approach increases the authenticity and deeper learning on the curriculum unit. So here, we are going through the number of different ways that you can reflect on competency-based education-- looking at what went well, what didn't go well, and really reflecting on changes that you want to make. I always say that the reflection is the most important part of what we do both in the classroom and out, because it really gives you that opportunity to stop, to breathe, and to look back over what it is that you are doing.
You'll really begin to reflect specifically on how competency-based education and deeper learning work together, and the things that you want to consider as the benefits for those two approaches, and how they are very similar ways to use both of them to help increase the learning in your classroom.
And there you have it. There are all of the learning objectives that you have met now that you have completed this overarching unit. As you look back over these objectives, you'll notice they really built on each other to give you that strong foundation. You were first able to understand all of the vocabulary behind standards and competencies, distinguishing the knowledge from the skills, and then apply that vocabulary into the theories of deeper learning theory and competency-based instruction.
Once you understood all of those elements and you had that strong foundation, you were able to actually develop a unit plan using the Understanding by Design template. You were able to take all of that and put it into practice in a way that's going to be very practical and helpful for you.
And finally, you were then able to reflect on that competency-based approach. What are the benefits to it? What are some things that will be difficult as you try to implement it into your teaching? And what are things that you want to begin to change using that reflection to really better all that you do in the classroom?
Thank you so much for joining us in this learning journey. I really enjoyed it. And I hope you have many new things that you can take with you back into the classroom. Goodbye.
(00:00-00:49) Intro
(00:50-01:44) Objectives
(01:45-03:06) Objective 1 Explained
(03:07-04:16) Objective 2 Explained
(04:17-05:38) Objective 3 Explained
(05:39-06:32) Objective 4 Explained
(06:33-07:53) Review