Child Development (Moodle)
Career Field: Education
Adult Career Pathway: Early Childhood Education
Type: Moodle (online); for use as part of a face-to-face Bridge course
Prepares Students for: Success in child development bridge course, then entry into first-semester community college child development course
Target Student Population: TABE Reading 6.0+ or CASAS Reading 228+
Access Curriculum: This course has been transferred from Learner Web to Literacy Minnesota’s Moodle online training site. Get more information and access the course in the Courses for Adult Learners folder.
Course Description: Thirteen units cover the four stages of child development, literacy, the role of play, partnering with parents, observing/recording children’s behavior, curriculum development, program management, health and safety, and guidance. Also includes career exploration in the field of child development. Learning activities include videos, readings, vocabulary development, mini-quizzes and writing assignments.
Duration: Approximately 40 hours of self-study
Curriculum Description: Units include an explanation of what will be studied and a set of resources and activities. Resources are other web-based materials including observational and demonstration videos, readings, real-life examples, and more. Activities to demonstrate learning include quizzes, writing assignments, craft activities and sample parent communications. Many activities assume the learner is currently working (or volunteering) in a childcare setting.
Curriculum Pluses: Provides opportunity for independent study when used to augment a face-to-face bridge class. Extensive content covers many areas of early childhood education, broken down into manageable lessons. Videos that demonstrate methods and that show developmental stages are especially valuable. Several Transition skills are covered in the content. Builds skills for website navigation and independent online learning. Instructors may find the resources valuable for use in class as well.
Curriculum Drawbacks: Many of the activities to demonstrate learning require writing, which then requires the instructor to set up a Teacher Portal to access student work within Learner Web. Many of the activities assume that the learner is in a childcare setting and do not fit if a learner is not currently in childcare. Resources for each unit vary considerably and are not all easily navigable with the minimal instructions provided within Learner Web. Lessons lack detailed instructions or tools for gaining knowledge from the various web-based materials provided.
Author: Saint Paul ABE / Saint Paul College FastTrac partnership
Published: 2011 (periodically updated)
Contact:
Susan Wetenkamp-Brandt
Literacy Minnesota
700 Raymond Avenue, Suite 180, St. Paul, MN 55114
[email protected]