EDG 6931 EC: Trends and Issues in Early Childhood Education
Instructor:
Telephone:
E-Mail:
Office:
Required Text:
1) Jensen, M., & Hannibal, M. (2000). Issues, advocacy, and leadership in early education (2 nd ed.
Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
**Attendance is one indication of your commitment and professionalism: therefore, attendance will be
taken and absences will be seriously considered when assigning final grades. “Students who anticipate
the necessity of being absent from class due to the observation of a major religious observance must
provide notice of the date(s) to the instructor, in writing, by the second class meeting.
Course: rationale: in order to advance the filed of early childhood education, professionals must work
toward knowing the trends and resolving issues that beset and beleaguer the field. Lack of awareness of
or insensitivity to such destines our field at best to the status quo and at worst to mediocrity.
Consequently, this course is designed to create an awareness of the directions the field is taking and of
the myriad troubles early education faces and to encourage their confrontation and resolution.
Course Objectives: Upon successful completion of this course students will be able to:
1) identify extant trends and issues in early childhood education.
2) analyze trends issues to gain a better understanding of their impact and factors that seem to
impede the resolution of the issues.
3) develop the ability to use trend/content analysis as methodology.
4) present informed points of view convincing in both oral and written form.
5) become familiar with the resources needed to inform decision-makers.
6) understand the social, political and professional forces influencing early childhood education
programs.
Course Outline
A. What constitutes a trend, issue
B. Why identify such?
C. How to identify:
1. Trends
2. Issues
D. What is content analysis?
1. What is its methodology?
2. What are some examples of content analysis?
3. What are some potential sources for content analysis in early childhood education?
E. Topics for discussion
1. Child Development and learning
2. Curriculum development and implementation
3. Family and community relationships
4. Assessment and evaluation
5. Professionalism
6. Field Experiences
7. Special Topics
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a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
Abuse and neglect
Poverty
Financing early care and education
Quality care
Long-term outcomes of early education programs
Media and Technology
Evaluation:
1) written papers
2) oral presentations
3) class participation
Assignments:
1. Trends paper (5 points)
2. Issues Paper
(5 points)
3. Problems paper (5 points)
4. Content analysis paper ( 5 points)
5. Mid-term exam (5 points)
5. Discussion leader for one class (5 points)
7. Weekly one page discussion notes (5 points)
8. Final paper (10 points)
9. Participation
(45 points)
ADA Statement: Students with disabilities are responsible for registering with the Office of
Student Disabilities Services (974-4309) in order to receive special accommodations and
services. Please notify the instructor within the first week of classes if a reasonable
accommodation for a disability is needed for this course. A letter from the USF Disability
Services Office must accompany this request.
USF Policy on Religious Observances: All students have a right to expect that the University
will reasonably accommodate their religious observances, practices and beliefs. Students are
expected to notify the instructor in writing by the second class if they intend to be absent for a
class or announced examination, in accordance with this policy.
Academic Dishonesty: Plagiarism is defined as “literary theft” and consists of the unattributed
quotation of the exact words of a published text, or the unattributed borrowing of original ideas
by paraphrase from a published text. On written papers for which the student employs
information gathered from books, articles, or oral sources, each direct quotation, as well as ideas
and facts that are not generally known to the public at large must be attributed to its author by
means of the appropriate citation procedure. Citations may be made in footnotes or within the
body of the text. Plagiarism also consists of passing off as one’s own, segments or the total of
another person’s work.
Punishment for academic dishonesty will depend on the seriousness of the offense and may
include receipt of an “F” with a numerical value of zero on the item submitted, and the “F” shall
be used to determine the final course grade. It is the option of the instructor to assign the student
a grade of F or FF (the latter indicating dishonesty) in the course.
Detection of Plagiarism: The University of South Florida has an account with an automated
plagiarism detection service which allows instructors to submit student assignments to be
checked for plagiarism. I reserve the right to 1) request that assignments be submitted to me as
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electronic files and 2) electronically submit assignments to Turnitin.com. Assignments are
compared automatically with a huge database of journal articles, web articles, and previously
submitted papers. The instructor receives a report showing exactly how a student’s paper was
plagiarized. For more information, go to www.turnitin.com and
http://www.ugs.usf.edu/catalogs/0304/adadap.htm#plagiarism.
Schedule
Jan. 10
Overview of course
Jan. 17
Issues/Trends/Problems discussion
Jan. 24
Content Analysis
Jan. 31
Feb. 7
Feb. 14
Feb. 21
Feb. 28
March 7
March 14 Spring Break
March 21
March 28
April 4
April 11
April 18
April 25
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