Fall 2017 Online Course- Content Knowledge for Teaching: Histories, Perspectives, and Methods

INSTRUCTOR: Deborah Loewenberg Ball

This course will examine the idea of teachers’ “knowledge of content” and the ways in which it has been conceptualized and used over time, in different subjects and contexts, and by whom.

We will investigate the consequences of these conceptualizations for different groups, in and through policy, research, and practice, and how these interact with broader struggles for democracy and justice through public education. Three sets of questions will guide our work:

• What is the nature of teaching practice and what are its content-understanding demands?
• What have been different arguments for the importance (or not) of professional understanding of content and what has been meant by “knowledge”?
• How do particular ways of naming and attending to teachers’ content knowledge interact with the reproduction or disruption of historical patterns of marginalization and inequity in schools?

We will look at specific efforts to assess content knowledge, evaluate classroom practice, prepare teachers, and study teaching and learning. Students will consider these questions in ways relevant to their own work.

EDUCATIONAL STUDIES ONLINE
Attendees will participate online in this non-credit, fee-based professional development course. Registered participants will have access to live streamed video of class meetings. They will have access to course readings and be able to pose questions to be considered by the professor, teaching assistant, and U-M students through live instant messaging. Registered participants may also access recorded class sessions and engage in asynchronous forum discussions.

The course will be taught on Mondays from 9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. Eastern U.S. The cost of registration is $1,000. Doctoral students may register for $750. The course will run every Monday starting on September 11, 2017 through December 11, 2017. There will be no course session on October 16th.