Curriculum Infusion is the process of integrating substance abuse prevention content into courses that are regularly offered across the curriculum. Because faculty are responsible for development and delivery of curriculum, this strategy requires the participation of faculty who design prevention content for their courses. Curriculum Infusion is not a program that provides speakers on substance abuse for courses, nor is it a program where drug prevention staff or student peers speak in classes when faculty are absent. However useful these activities may be, they do not engage the faculty in the design and delivery of prevention content for their courses which are essential elements of Curriculum Infusion. Faculty designed prevention content may comprise a two or three week unit of a course, or the substance abuse prevention content may wind thematically through a course.
Curriculum Infusion as an Essential Strategy
At the commuter college/university where students have little time for extracurricular activities, drug prevention must be brought into the classroom if significant numbers of students are to be reached. On both commuter and residential campuses there is respect for faculty in the learning process. In the classroom faculty have substantial potential for impacting student attitudes and behavior, including attitudes and behavior toward alcohol and other drugs. Usually substance abuse prevention programming is the work of the Student Affairs division of the college/university. Involving faculty to bring prevention into the classroom through Curriculum Infusion allows campus wide prevention programming. Campus prevention coordinators involved in Curriculum Infusion note that in the classroom students are more focused and attentive than outside the classroom and that in the classroom they are less subject to peer influence. A successful Curriculum Infusion program can also provide important benefits to substance abuse prevention staff who work out of the student affairs side of a college or university. Faculty referrals of students with substance abuse problems should increase. Faculty can become active supporters of alcohol/drug awareness days and other prevention activities sponsored by student affairs. The NDCI stresses the value of involving students as active learners as prevention is integrated into a course because this is good pedagogy and because we want students to become engaged with the prevention information and apply it to themselves. The classroom provides opportunities for discussion, research, writing and other assignments which present students with a forum for exploring substance abuse issues. The NDCI also stresses the importance of incorporating evidence-based prevention strategies into classroom content and activities. These strategies include correcting misperceptions of norms, promoting pro-social norms, increasing perception of risk, enhancing life skills, and engaging students in community prevention activities.
Examples of Curriculum Infusion
Prevention content can be readily integrated into courses across the curriculum. As examples:
Click here to see modules for various courses developed by faculty at Northeastern Illinois University.
Additional examples of how substance abuse prevention content may be integrated into courses can be found in the resource materials cited at the end of this section. Development of the prevention curriculum involves the creative efforts of faculty who design prevention content to more effectively deliver an existing course. In all cases the prevention curriculum should seamlessly fit into the course, maintaining or strengthening the scholarship on which the course is built. Also, in all cases, the prevention curriculum should incorporate evidenced-based strategies that have proven to be effective in changing attitudes and behaviors.
Steps Involved in Building Curriculum Infusion Programs
Experience indicates that the following steps are involved in successful development of Curriculum Infusion programs for substance abuse prevention:
1. Support and involvement from the academic side of the college/university is secured.
It is essential that early support for Curriculum Infusion come from the Academic side of the college/university. Which administrators and faculty from the academic side to involve is a question that needs to be determined on each campus. On some campuses where Curriculum Infusion has been successfully implemented the Academic Vice President is a principal advocate for the program; on other campuses an academic Dean or department chairs are the key allies among academic affairs administrators. Besides administrators, it is highly desirable that influential faculty become early supporters of Curriculum Infusion programs. They will legitimize the program among their peers. The involvement of influential faculty will also attract support from Academic Affairs Administrators.
2. Identification and Recruitment of Faculty
A faculty recruitment program needs to be designed with the participation of partners from Academic Affairs. Some schools have established selection committees and sent out request for proposals (RFP's) to all faculty; other schools, especially when the Curriculum Infusion program is just beginning, have solicited participation of particular faculty who they know are effective and popular instructors. Others may begin with the faculty who already touch on substance abuse in courses, or with faculty who are most responsive to campus substance abuse prevention programming. Once an initial group of faculty integrates prevention content into courses, this group can help recruit and support their colleagues as the Curriculum Infusion program continues.
3. Providing Incentives for Faculty Participation
Faculty members recruited for Curriculum Infusion are asked to spend time as professionals on an important undertaking. They will attend workshops to facilitate development of prevention content and will familiarize themselves with literature on substance abuse as it affects their curriculum. This time and effort needs to be awarded to attract faculty to the program and to acknowledge their work.
There are essentially three types of recognition:
Time - Some schools, especially with grants, have provided funds to have a faculty member "released" from one of their courses, the time usually devoted to that course is spent developing the substance abuse prevention content.
Money - Many schools reimburse faculty for the time and affort t hey put into development of substance abuse prevention content. For example, the college/university may provide "professional development" grants of $500.00 to each participating faculty member.
Recognition - Participating faculty may receive recognition in a variety of ways. For example, the President or another high university official may recognize their work at a faculty luncheon.
In addition to these incentives, non-tenured faculty may cite their Curriculum Infusion work as service and innovative teaching in applications for tenure or promotion. A non-material incentive for faculty participation is the opportunity a Curriculum Infusion program provides for faculty to engage in a cooperative activity with other faculty across disciplines as they develop curriculum innovations.
Usually securing faculty participation involves a number of these incentives. Because of the amount of faculty time and work required, it is desirable/necessary to include money as one of the incentives.
4. Development of a Faculty Training Program
Once faculty have been recruited, an effective faculty training program is important for them to successfully integrate prevention content into a course they regularly offer. The faculty training program should include workshops that consider the following items:
Substance abuse on the college campus: Information provided would include national data on substance abuse among college students as well as information drawn from the campus's own needs assessment.
The concept of prevention and prevention strategies: Faculty members are not used to developing course material with the intention/hope of influencing attitudes and behavior. They will need to be familiarized with research-based prevention strategies and discuss how curriculum can be integrated into their course in such a way that students are likely to think about/question their attitudes and behavior.
Active student learning and differing student learning styles: Many educators value active student participation in the learning process. When substance abuse prevention content designed to impact students' attitudes and behaviors is integrated into a course it is especially important that students' not be passive recipients in the learning process. Active learning enhances the chances the prevention information will have impact on the student audience. Similarly, the more the faculty member is aware of differing learning styles, the more likely s/he is to present the prevention material in a way that will have maximum effect. Many faculty members have found training workshops for Curriculum Infusion significant because consideration of subjects like active student learning and student learning styles has made them more effective educators.
Issues of diversity: With student populations that are increasingly diverse by race and ethnicity it is important to include consideration of differing attitudes/practices towards substances as well as differences in styles of learning/relating between groups.
Clear guidelines for developing/writing up prevention modules: It is very useful for faculty to have clear guidelines for writing up the prevention curriculum they design. The guidelines would include the specific readings/assignments/learning activities that would comprise the prevention content as well as the prevention strategy that the faculty member is following.
Ample opportunity for feedback from workshop facilitators and other faculty developing prevention curriculum: The faculty development workshops should provide ample opportunity for faculty to review and provide feedback to one another as the prevention content is designed.
5. Follow up
Once faculty have delivered prevention content into a course they regularly teach it is important to have a plan for follow up and support to maximize the likelihood that they will continue the course innovation. There are a number of ways to encourage continuing involvement including luncheons or workshops related to Curriculum Infusion and development of mentoring relationships between "old" and new faculty involved in Curriculum Infusion.
Steps on the Continuum Leading to Prevention
Across the Curriculum
Steps on the way to a
program of prevention across the curriculum include prevention as part of a
particular course or set of courses (usually these are in the health sciences,
or perhaps substance abuse prevention is incorporated into a freshmen seminar).
Sometimes peer programs have established strong relationships with faculty
who include in their course speakers on prevention and publicity about campus
prevention activities. These are useful activities on their own; they
are good starting points for a program of fuller faculty involvement as prevention
is infused across the curriculum.
Cost of Curriculum Infusion
Costs of the Curriculum Infusion program are moderate; they depend on the incentive
offered for faculty participation and on the costs of facilitating faculty training
workshops and program coordination. As an example, a program coordinated
by substance abuse prevention personnel in Student Affairs that provides a $500
incentive to seven faculty members each year and spends $1000 for faculty development
workshops or luncheons has Curriculum Infusion budget of $4500 per year. These
costs can be scaled up or down depending on the size of the program and the
availability of resources (e.g. possible costs for experts on faculty
development or on drug abuse and its prevention and costs for workshop materials).
Substance Abuse Prevention Course Modules Developed by Northeastern Illinois University Faculty
College of Business and Management
"Organizational Behavior" -
Hamid Akbari
This "Organizational Behavior" module will ask students to think of themselves
as future managers in organizational settings where they will be expected to
be knowledgeable about issues of and competent in recognizing and preventing
alcohol and drug use and dependency in employees. The module uses film,
slides, small group discussions, readings, interviews with managers and employees,
and student oral presentations.
"Personnel Administration" - Allen
Shub
As opposed to a module that is covered in only one segment of the course, this
module covers material that can be infused throughout the Personnel Administration
course. The module will infuse material into the
course units on Recruitment, Selection Devices, Performance Appraisal, Work
Stress, and Termination. The format will combine a lecture, discussion,
and case approach to providing knowledge of the cost of substance abuse on one's
present or future employment and that the user had best get help to eliminate
the problem. Also, since drug and alcohol use is
a perceived consequence of stress, some material will be presented on reducing
daily work stress through more acceptable means.
"Financial Management" - Rasoul
Rezvanian
Financial Management is a course in the College Of Business and Management.
The prevention module will enhance the students' awareness of substance
abuse within the context of business and economics. The message will be
delivered through a combination of short lectures, library research and small
group discussions. This module will encourage alcohol and drug prevention
by 1) examining the magnitude of productivity loss at both macro-economic and
form levels, and 2) analyzing the negative effect of dependency on individual's
productive efficiency.
"Management Information Systems" -
Andy Chen
Management Information Systems (MIS 350) is an introductory course for all students
who want to major in business. These students will be in the business
of serving or managing people. Thus their knowledge of alcohol and substance
use/abuse may enable them to prevent development of alcohol/drug dependency
in them or in their employees. This course will utilize computers, decision
support systems, and group problem solving techniques for implementing the module.
By the end of the semester, the students should know about the negative
impact of drug dependency on a person's job security, promotion opportunities,
and general health.
"Principles of Marketing" - Anil
Pandya
Principles of Marketing is a core course in the College of Business and Management.
The course provides a unique opportunity to infuse drug and alcohol prevention
messages in the curriculum. As a discipline marketing teaches how to design
products and messages and create and mold opinions about a vast range of products,
services, ideas and people. The drug and alcohol prevention module provides
an active opportunity to instruct students how to infuse value based ideas (anti
substance abuse messages) in the target segment.
College of Education
"Health Education in the Secondary School" - Eleanor Prueske This course is required for teacher certification and is also a required core course for health education minors. Students will be taught methods of teaching about drugs that incorporate involvment on the part of high school students; they will design teaching units related to drug education; they will visit health related agencies that disseminate information related to drugs or treat teenagers with substance abuse problems; they will review resource materials including current audio visual aids that cover the topic of drugs; and they will learn how drug abuse prevention programs relate to the total school health program.
"Method of Teaching Elementary Science"
- Harvey Barrett
After these pre-student teaching students
were introduced to the need for preventive units in the lower grades and
information about substance use and abuse, they were asked to design drug
prevention units for grades K-4.
"Instructional Techniques and Technology"
- Donald Stepich
This course is required of all majors and minors in the
undergraduate Human Resources Development (HRD) Program. Students will
be given a scenario describing abuse as an existing or potential problem in
the organization. They will then be asked to develop a training program
that solves the problem. The premise of this approach is that teaching
others about substance abuse provides the teacher with a safe context within
which s/he can become informed about the issue and use that information to examine
her/his own attitudes and behaviors.
"Principles and Practices of Human Resource
Development" - Diane Ehrlich
As the culminating project for this module,
students are asked to design and present a model for an Employee Assistance
Program. The module uses a mix of activities including lecture and
panel discussions to present information, small and large group discussions
to develop activities and programs, role plays and other structured experiences
to help the adult learner practive the skills learned.
"Functions of School Library" -
Christine Swarm
This substance abuse prevention module was
utilized to construct integrated print and non-print learning/curriculum prevention
units for use in the schools of the students attending class. These substance
abuse units were also designed as selection guides for students' school library
media centers. We covered all types of purchasable sources from government
documents, video technology, CD ROM technology, comupter software, computer
software to a vast selection of print materials, as to how these types may also
relate to the prevention materials.
"School Law for Teachers and Administrators"
- Dick Brewer
This is a required course leading to certification for public school principals
and also for the Masters in Educational Administration at Northeastern. Abuse
of alcohol and other drugs by students, administrators, teachers or other school
employees can lead to injuries, and to destruction of property. It can
involve prosecution and law suits. The course clarifies the stress and
expense of litigation whether one is a plaintiff or defendant. The student
is thus encouraged to consider alternatives to the legal process when addressing
problems of substance abuse, including the most desirable approaches to the
problem: prevention, intervention, and treatment.
"Human Development and Individual Differences"
- Nancy Fellows
The purpose of
EDFN 306 is to help students learn and understand the various kinds of individual
differences in human development that they will encounter in school settings.
The emergence and significance of these differences will be examined through
the study of major developmental perspectives. The course also focuses
on describing the characteristics and meeting the needs of exceptional children
as designed by Public Law 94-142 and its updates. The
substance abuse focus will infuse alcohol and drug use/abuse awareness within
the context of human development and individual differences. Through lecture,
audio/visual presentations, writing reflections, and small group discussions,
students design a teaching project aimed at elementary, middle school or high
school students and /or new parents about the effect of alcohol and substance
use and abuse on developing children and their families. The
effectiveness of the course is evaluated through the use of a student written
survey, differences in pre-test and post-test scores, and changes students indicate
occurred in their use of drugs/alcohol or their attitudes reflected in writing
and speaking.
"Introduction to Adventure Education"
- Dan Creely
The Adventure Education course involves the students as active learners utilizing
problem solving and critical thinking techniques to successfully complete challenging
activities in an emotionally supportive environment. A three day prevention
module unit will be implemented in this course. Generally,
strategies will be employed to raise the students' awareness concerning the
abuse of alcohol and use of illegal drugs. The specific strategies include:
1) each student will be asked to survey ten Northeastern students on their
personal use of drugs and alcohol; 2) students will be asked to repeat the foregoing
survey with five of their personal friends; 3) students will complete a survey
on family use of drugs and alcohol; and 4) and a speaker from Northeastern will
be brought in to inform students where they can receive help on campus.
College of Arts and Sciences
"Sociology of Drug Abuse" --Ron Glick
This course examines the leading sociological explanations of drug abuse,
including consideration of the social basis for the current drug epidemic
which began in the 1960's. In the "prevention module" students are
asked to examine the implications for prevention of substance abuse.
Individual class sessions will address peer pressure, family issues
and adult children of substance abusers. Lecture, discussion, films,
outside speakers, and small groups and dyads will be used as methods of
presentation.
"Mass Media and Society" - Karla
Berry
In the module for this course students
are asked to examine the message about substance use and abuse conveyed by
television, radio, periodicals in their program and advertising. Students
will keep logs of programs and compare advertisements from different kinds
of media.
"Regional Geography (Latin America)" -
Bill Howenstine
This module adds another means for understanding the role of drugs in the global
society and, hopefully, will add some motivation for controlling the use of
them. The consequences of drug use are felt not only by those close to
the users, but also by many in far away lands. Just as knowledge about
apartheid resulted in efforts at change, ranging from social investments funds
to sanctions on athletes, it is hoped that knowledge about the negative impacts
of the drug trade on our Latin American neighbors will help students with a
social conscience to live free of drugs and to express their disapproval of
drug use. Basic to this prevention module is
the assumption that a citizenry that is educated and socially conscious establishes
a "climate" that discourages behavior deemed socially undesirable. Apartheid
and segregation in general flourish in a society blinded to the social efforts
of such policies on the oppressed. Air and water pollution are tolerated
when people do not realize their sinister and far- reaching effects. In
a similar vein, it is hoped that greater understanding of the impacts of our
drug use on the less developed countries of Latin America will help people "say
no to drugs."
"Practicum in Criminal Justice" - Shelly
Bannister
Awareness of the connections between parents' and children's behavior, of the
links between crime and drug and alcohol abuse, and the importance of a positive
sense of self to the development of a healthy career are all important steps
in the prevention of drug and alcohol abuse. The students will be in a
stronger position intellectually, in the field, to explain to their clients
the dangers of drugs and alcohol which will hopefully assist in the prevention
of alcohol and drug abuse in the criminal justice system population served by
our graduates. Most important, however, will be
imparting to the students an awareness of their own abilities to refrain from
alcohol abuse and drug usage either as a means of social acceptance or as a
relief from stress. This will be done through the discussion of the hazards
involved, including possible law violations.