Course Description
Paragraph about Course
Course Objectives
- to become acquainted with disabled people and learn from their experiences of education
- to develop awareness of various perceptions of disability and the impact these can have
- To develop positive attitudes and alternative practices that include learners with a range of disabilities, using existing support systems and generating new one.
Course format
The class meets once a week for total of three hours: Thursdays 8.40- 11.30. Class time will be spent on the day’s topic, with discussion relating theoretical concepts or foreign examples to practical situations in Turkey. Most weeks guests will be invited to discuss their experiences as disabled people in Turkey with the class. One weekend we will visit a rehabilitation centre. Students will spend time with disabled people to carry out research and do a small project.
This course is different from others, with less reading (second hand, theoretical, technical) and more experience and reflection (1st hand, personal and at times uncomfortable). Expression and understanding of feelings will be at least as important as information and knowledge. To pass, all participants MUST show evidence of having met several disabled people, the real experts, those whose knowledge is based on first hand experience.
Students
In the FALL semester, this course is offered only to Education Faculty students and will focus on the needs of disabled learners. In the SPRING semester, a similar course is open to students from ANY faculty, so has a broader perspective. As the course involves much discussion with Turkish speaking disabled people, students should have adequate conversational Turkish.
Required Textbook
Oliver Sacks, ‘The man who mistook his wife for a hat’. In Turkish, ‘Karısını şapka sanan adam’ published by Yapi Kredi Yayinlari.
Course evaluation
- Attendance and class participation
- A diary
- A reflection paper
- A photo collection
- Small project, to be presented to the class as a poster, with a report submitted to the instructor.
Attendance
As recommended by previous students, attendance is crucial. All students are expected to attend all scheduled classes (3x13 weeks) because you will learn by meeting our visitors, not from books. Clashes with other courses will not be accepted. Students with more than 20% of the classes (nine (9) hours) of unexplained absences will not receive an evaluation: NA.
Visitors
The backbone of this course is the disabled visitors who come to share their experiences, thoughts and hopes. Before the class, each visitor will give me information (about themselves and what they would like EDS 226 students to think/try/find out about before the meeting) that I will email to all class members. Students are expected to check their emails regularly enough to come to class prepared.
Students
In the FALL semester, this course is offered only to Education Faculty students and will focus on the needs of disabled learners. In the SPRING semester, a similar course is open to students from ANY faculty, so has a broader perspective. As the course involves much discussion with Turkish speaking disabled people, students should have adequate conversational Turkish.
On the first day:
Each student will write answers to the following questions, later to be typed up (One full page printout: half pages, wide spacing or huge fonts not acceptable!) describing:
- Your knowledge about disability, including your definition of ‘disability’
- Any experience of disability you may have had
- Your thoughts and feelings on disability
- Your own definition of disability.
This will serve as the basis for a final paper at the end of the semester, reflecting how your attitudes and awareness have changed during the course. Please save the original electronic version for later.
Project
Each student will carry out a small project. By talking with disabled people, you will identify an issue that they feel is important. You will prepare a brief work plan, and investigate solutions that are practical for the realities of the people you first talked with. You must show evidence of meeting and discussing with disabled people. Problems chosen should be specific and realizable. The results of your mini-project will be presented to the class (with a poster), and a report submitted: evaluating different options and making recommendations. In a sub-section of this project you will describe a disabled adult you met during your project: who is this person, what is their experience, their opinions and preferences, their dreams and hopes; you will see through the ‘disabled’ label and the appearance that others judge.
Diary
You will keep a diary, recording anything that you can relate to disability during the semester, through observation, discussion or experience (such as simulations), with notes about anything you notice or think about disability, visits to schools, meetings with disabled people, somthing in the media, something you saw in the street or heard on the bus, comments by friends, etc. This will be lively, colourful, illustrated, secret, emotional, raw, powerful… In class, your diary will record your thoughts with our visitors
Reflection paper
This paper will reflect on your personal growth over the semester: this final paper will revise and develop points made in your ‘first day’ writing. Comments from this will be analysed in the light of your understanding gained through the course and be supported with notes from your diary.
Photo collection
Pairs of students will prepare a set of photos (digital; 10-15 photos) of disabled people interacting with their environment. This will be presented to the class as an annotated power point presentation.
Grading
| Component | Percentage |
| 100% | |
| Diary | 25% |
| Relfection paper | 25% |
| Project: poster presentation and report | 10%+20% |
| Photo collection | 20% |
| Attendence: If you have any special cicumstances, please come and talk with me as soon as possible. Statistics demonstrate that high grades correlate well with high attendance! |
The table above includes sample data. Edit the table as befits the class being worked on.