Curriculum Philosophy and Concept
The curriculum at AWU for all programs and at all levels is integrative and competency based. At most universities, programs have a series of courses that seem unrelated to the student, even when a capstone course is added to "pull it all together." This seldom works and from the student's perspective when one course is completed it is generally forgotten and you move on to the next course. We have all experienced that in one form or another.
At AWU all courses begin the same. Our first responsibility is to relate, in a practical way, how this course is important to the career goals that you developed in a structured format in the first module. Thus, we integrate this into the competencies for that particular study module that you will need to reach your goals. Every class after that relates to those goals.
This is accomplished in two ways. First, it is built around the total curriculum. Second, one of your assignments, under the direction of your professor for that module, will work with you individually to direct the course into areas that will directly benefit you. There are no "canned" programs where you are made to fit into a course that has no direct meaning to your goals and to your career objectives.
The bottom line is just that, you take ownership and are empowered to take the course in a direction that you have chosen with information we provide for you. We will work with you every step of the way in achieving this objective. And we will relate it and integrate it into your own career path plan that you developed in you first module.
How does this work? First, everyone in the class will be given what is known in academic circles as a "common body of knowledge." There is always some knowledge that everyone needs to know to be accomplished in a particular subject. After that mission is achieved we will then work with you to customize the course to meet your professional needs to help you reach your already stated career goals. For example, if you are a nurse and the course is utilizing cases as the teaching method, only cases that are directly related to nursing will be used. You will be provided options to focus your cases toward your career goals even more. Someone else in the class, for example, who works in a lab, may choose a path very different from you.
In short, this is your class and it will develop around your career goals, not some arbitrary ones set by some one else.
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