Course Title: New Learning and Popular Culture

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: New Learning and Popular Culture

Credit Points: 12


Course Code

Campus

Career

School

Learning Mode

Teaching Period(s)

TCHE2123

Bundoora Campus

Undergraduate

360H Education

Face-to-Face

Sem 2 2006,
Sem 2 2007,
Sem 2 2008,
Sem 2 2009

Course Coordinator: Dr Jennifer Elsden-Clifton

Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 9925 7915

Course Coordinator Email:jennifer.elsden-clifton@rmit.edu.au

Course Coordinator Location: 220.04.009


Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

None


Course Description

This course is based on the premise that young people now have access to a wide range of popular culture in their homes and daily lives – such as books, comics, computer games, clothing, games and other artefacts – and this will have an impact on your classroom. In this course you will explore why educators should pay particular attention to popular culture. As such, you will explore how young people interact with various forms of popular culture. You will also examine how educators have used popular culture in their classroom to engage students. This course takes a postmodern and contemporary perspective, utilising alternative theories, such as critical theory and poststructuralism to understand the complexities of popular culture and its place within the new learning framework.


Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

Reflect critically on your teaching philosophy
• Develop a critical understanding of the nature of popular culture and its relationship to contemporary issues of identity, cultural studies and social identities.
• Expand on skills in researching issues related to popular culture and its place in education.
• Come to an understanding of how popular culture influences learning.
• Become aware of the influences that technology, media, and popular culture have on children’s behaviour and learning.
• Come to an understanding of how popular culture influences the social, historical, political, and cultural construction of identities.


Reflect critically on your teaching philosophy
• Develop a critical understanding of the nature of popular culture and its relationship to contemporary issues of identity, cultural studies and social identities.
• Expand on skills in researching issues related to popular culture and its place in education.
• Come to an understanding of how popular culture influences learning.
• Become aware of the influences that technology, media, and popular culture have on children’s behaviour and learning.
• Come to an understanding of how popular culture influences the social, historical, political, and cultural construction of identities.


Overview of Learning Activities

Lectures and tutorials will provide students multiple opportunities to discuss and critically reflect on course readings, personal experiences, theoretical perspectives, and teaching practices with each other. The mode of delivery involves a combination of formal lectures, informal tutorials, small group work across subject areas, discussions, one-to-one consultations, on-line discussions, observations and skill development through self-paced study.


Overview of Learning Resources

Prescribed Reading Guide. This may be purchased at the RMIT Bundoora Campus book store.


Overview of Assessment

Assessment tasks will combine both hurdle and assessed tasks. Hurdle tasks include active participation in the course program and on-line learning. There will be two assessed tasks that engage in tpopular culture on and focus  co-constructing your knowledge and skills with peers within the popular culture contexts and how the arising issues influences children’s learning.