PEDU 9212: Activities to Develop Accelerated Curriculum

The accelerated curriculum has increased in importance as schools provide advanced and honors courses, scaffolding for students with disabilities or language barriers and, more recently, students with learning gaps created by inconsistent school attendance during COVID-19. This course, designed for all educators in every classroom, provides the opportunity to earn graduate-level credit for developing activities to enhance their curriculum with activities that accelerate learning based on their own travel-related experiences. You can create activities and experiences based on or inspired by your travels that will engage your students and help them learn. For example, you may choose to expand your students’ appreciation of cultural differences, both within America and between their own culture and that of other countries. You may already have ideas for activities from your travels, or can easily research for inspiration: activities may focus on traditions practiced in different cultures, e.g., social, economic, cultural, religious; ways environmental characteristics or geographical features influenced and/or currently affect a culture’s development, etc. Have your students celebrate traditional holidays, festivals, and foods of other countries; conduct video chats with other students in other countries, using teacher- or student-created guidelines for information to be learned; write an article or create a news- or podcast about an upcoming tradition, holiday, or the life of student in a foreign country (can be based on internet research or on a video chat); host a cultural event such as a dance or festival…and these are just a few of the possibilities! 

You might prefer to complete the activities yourself to use in your classroom: a video detailing relevant highlights of your journey; a PowerPoint connecting your travels to specific lesson objectives; a road trip game for students to play…. Immersion into the essence of another land or culture through guided activities puts your students on the fast track to learning and understanding the world around them. To earn credit, you simply submit your travel journal, a 25-30 slide PowerPoint or Google presentation demonstrating the professional outcomes of your travel experience (including proof of implementation of what you have learned into the learning process of your students), and a 1-2 page write-up describing your utilization and/or professional application of the material you have developed.

About University of the Pacific

University of the Pacific, established in 1851, is California’s oldest private chartered university and is fully accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC).

The credits offered are post-baccalaureate, graded, graduate-level semester units of credit, provided directly through University of the Pacific, Benerd College. They are specifically designed to meet the needs of educators for Salary Advancement and Recertification.  The credits/units are acceptable where local districts approve and applicable to state licensing where authorized. We always encourage you to check with your employer for acceptability of these credits/units. Course participants are responsible to determine acceptability of these credits for their intended use. Each graduate-level semester credit is equivalent to 15 hours of academic involvement.