The teams who engage in curriculum design processes are comprised of people with diverse areas of expertise. Typically, a curriculum design team will include subject matter experts e.
Depending on the nature of the curriculum, this can also include information technology specialists, organizational development specialists, data and research specialists, and senior leadership. Curriculum design, when done well, is a process that is collaborative, results-oriented and transforms diverse ideas into a focused vision for learning. The primary goal of curriculum design is aligning learning strategies, materials, and experiences to defined outcomes.
From this standpoint, good curriculum should be results-focused and efficient. To accomplish this, curriculum designers often use tools such as learner personas, needs analysis, and existing assessment data to determine the scope of a project. From there, it becomes important to develop learning strategies that connect to the characteristics of the intended learners to help them reach the desired outcomes. Designing curriculum with the end in mind involves managing, designing, and organizing learning objectives, competencies, and standards within a curriculum.
The major concept important to curriculum designers is that instead of starting with content or topics common historical practice by many educators , backward design starts with the outcomes and then works backwards to address the content, topics, strategies, and materials. One of the key tools important to backward design is the use of learning objectives taxonomies.
These levels describe cognitive learning processes that are demonstrated through various forms of behaviors. For example, a learning objective at the understand level will likely be designed far differently than an objective at the evaluate or create levels. This not only influences the types of strategies used, but also the alignment of curriculum elements and appropriate level of learner i.
Standards and competency frameworks are common resources curriculum designers use in the process of conducting their work. Curriculum design can be a complex process that includes many different forms of data, information, and goals. On a practical level, curriculum designers often use forms of representations or diagrams to help manage the complexity and decision-making processes.
Curriculum representations provide a method for communicating and collaborating with others during the curriculum design process. This often includes representing plans for how curriculum will be organized and made available to the learner. When mapping curriculum, there are several major and interdependent variables of curriculum that can be important to visualize.
While there can be many different aspects important to represent in curriculum design processes, the following list outlines major considerations, or design variables. Each of these layers are interdependent and should be considered in concert with one another and not independently. For example, both outcomes and content should align to ensure the content being presented supports learners as they work towards achieving specified learning outcomes. In the process of designing curriculum layers, curriculum designers often use representation tools and methods to organize ideas and communicate this information to stakeholders.
While there are many different approaches to representing curriculum, the following list highlights common frameworks used in the curriculum design field.
Conceptual illustration of a Canvas Curriculum Planning Tool. The following video explains the elements of the Learning Experience Canvas. Selecting the most appropriate curriculum mapping method is often determined based on the current phase and goals of the curriculum design process. The following table compares the curriculum mapping tools discussed in this chapter and presents selection considerations.
A particularly critical challenge faced by many curriculum designers is the lack of a generally accepted design language and system in the field Gibbons, For example, many design professions have a language to represent their work so that the audience versed in the language can easily understand and build from their work. Architects, engineers, and software programmers are all examples of professionals that use design languages to communicate ideas. These language elements are combined together in a blueprint that shows how the curriculum is to be organized and implemented.
Over the previous several years, a number of digital platforms have become available on the market to manage curriculum design processes.
While these platforms vary in strategy, most seek to increase efficiency and provide a common digital hub for managing information and communication about curriculum processes. These platforms are currently distinct from content authoring tools used for creating materials, in that they focus solely on the curriculum organization and design, rather than content development and delivery. In addition to standalone curriculum design platforms, many learning management systems are incorporating similar features as part of their capabilities.
Curriculum design is largely concerned with issues such as what to include in the curriculum and how to present it in such a way that the curriculum can be implemented with understanding and success Barlow et al. Curriculum design is concerned with issues of choosing what the organizational basis or structural framework of the curriculum is.
The choice of a design often implies a value position. As with other curriculum-related concepts, curriculum design has a variety of definitions, depending on the scholars involved. For example, Doll says that curriculum design is a way of organizing that permits curriculum ideas to function. She also adds that curriculum design refers to the structure or pattern of the organization of the curriculum. The curriculum design process results in a curriculum document that contains the following:.
Whatever design is adopted depends also on the philosophy of education. There are several ways of designing school curriculum. These include subject-centered, learner-centered, integrated, or broad fields which combines two or more related subjects into one field of study; e. This curriculum design refers to the organization of curriculum in terms of separate subjects, e.
This has been the oldest school curriculum design and the most common in the world. It was even practiced by the ancient Greek educators. The subject-centered design was adapted by many European and African countries as well as states and districts in the United States.
An examination of the subject-centered curriculum design shows that it is used mainly in the upper elementary and secondary schools and colleges. Frequently, laypeople, educators, and other professionals who support this design received their schooling or professional training in this type of system.
Teachers, for instance, are trained and specialized to teach one or two subjects at the secondary and sometimes the elementary school levels.
There are advantages and disadvantages of this approach to curriculum organization. There are reasons why some educators advocate for it while others criticize this approach. It is possible and desirable to determine in advance what all children will learn in various subjects and grade levels. For instance, curricula for schools in centralized systems of education are generally developed and approved centrally by a governing body in the education body for a given district or state.
In the U. Critics of subject-centered curriculum design have strongly advocated a shift from it. These criticisms are based on the following arguments:. Given the arguments for and against subject-centered curriculum design, let us consider the learner-centered or personalized curriculum design. Learner-centered curriculum design may take various forms such as individualized or personalized learning. In this design, the curriculum is organized around the needs, interests, abilities, and aspirations of students.
Advocates of the design emphasize that attention is paid to what is known about human growth, development, and learning. Planning this type of curriculum is done along with the students after identifying their varied concerns, interests, and priorities and then developing appropriate topics as per the issues raised.
This type of design requires a lot of resources and manpower to meet a variety of needs. Hence, the design is more commonly used in the U. Learning in its true sense is an active transaction. This organization is a system of combining and regrouping subjects that are related to the curriculum.
This approach attempts to develop some kind of synthesis or unity for the entire branch or more branches of knowledge into new fields. However, looking at the trend of events in curriculum practice in many states and countries, this may not have materialized effectively. The main reason is that teachers are usually trained in two subjects at the university level, thus making it difficult for them to integrate more areas than that.
For instance, general science might require physics, chemistry, biology, and geology, but science teachers may have only studied two of these areas in depth. The concept core curriculum is used to refer to areas of study in the school curriculum or any educational program that is required by all students. Thus, the core curriculum constitutes the segment of the curriculum that teaches concepts, skills, and attitudes needed by all individuals to function effectively within the society.
The basic features of the core curriculum designs include the following:. The following types of core curriculum are commonly found in secondary schools and college curriculums. Separate subjects taught separately with little or no effort to relate them to each other e. There are a variety of curriculum design models to guide the process.
They are as follows:. Because of its emphasis on the importance of objectives, it is considered an objective-based model. This process starts with analyzing information from various data sources. Data sources for curriculum according to Tyler include:. From these sources, the designer develops general objectives. These are subjected to a screening process, using the philosophy of education and psychology of learning as the major screens. Social values are also used as a screen, but sometimes these are subsumed in the philosophy of education.
Problem-centered curriculum design increases the relevance of the curriculum and allows students to be creative and innovate as they are learning. The drawback to this form of curriculum design is that it does not always take learning styles into consideration. The following curriculum design tips can help educators manage each stage of the curriculum design process. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content.
Create a personalised content profile. Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile. Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. Share Flipboard Email. Table of Contents Expand. Purpose of Curriculum Design. Types of Curriculum Design. A purposeful, deliberate, and systematic organisation of units of instruction within a course.
It specifies what will be taught, the sequence it will be taught in, the learning outcomes, how learning will be assessed, and how the content will be taught. The planning of learning to achieve determined learning outcomes. The design should also include the content, how it is sequenced, the pedagogy, and how the learning will be assessed. The process creating or selecting or reassigning.
A systematic process by which the learning journey is design ed, developed, supported, and delivered. The pedagogy, structure, objectives, and activities associated with teaching and learning within educational establishments.
Find more terms and definitions using our Dictionary Search. Curriculum Design appears in:. Handbook of Research on Competency-Based Search inside this book for more research materials. Recommend to a Librarian Recommend to a Colleague.
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