Topic 3

Curriculum Development

 Advantages of open and distance learning 

Overview

Source materials for this topic

Terminology

Curriculum

Curriculum planning

Instructional development

Initial information gathering

Stakeholder analysis

Identifying learning and training needs

Planning curriculum structure

On-campus or at a distance?

What will be taught?

Adapt or adopt existing curriculum?

Planning the content of the curriculum

Intuitive approaches to content

Analytical approaches to content

Structuring the curriculum

Pedagogical structure

The structure of events

The metaphorical structure

The structure of ideas

Evaluating your curriculum

Why evaluate?

What to evaluate?

Preliminary evaluation

Developmental testing

Continuous monitoring

Summative course evaluation

Practice exercise

    Applying the principles of curriculum design

 1. Overview 

These materials support a discussion on the topic of developing and evaluating curriculum for a programme of studies.

1.1 Source materials for this topic

Posner, G., and A. Rudnitsky. Course design: a guide to curriculum development for teachers. 4th ed. London: Longman, 1994.

Rowntree, D. Developing courses for students. London: Paul Chapman, 1985.

 2. Terminology 

2.1 Curriculum

A curriculum is the total structure of knowledge, skills, and educational experiences that make up any one educational system or its component parts.

2.2 Curriculum planning

Curriculum planning is the global term we apply to any systematic process intended to develop this structure.

Curriculum planning is usually carried out by the open and distance learning course development team and includes:

·      decisions on the structure as a whole;

·      the formulation of aims and objectives;

·      decisions on the content to be included;

·      the teaching strategy and methods to be used;

·      media choice;

·      assessment techniques; and

·      evaluation.

Discussion: What are your participants’ experiences of curriculum planning? How would they define these terms?

2.3 Instructional development

Instructional development, also known as ‘instructional design’, is a process of designing instruction that usually includes the stage of curriculum design and development. Development is a process of several phases: the initial phase is needs analysis, followed by programme identification, then design of the overall curriculum for the programme, and then by course design and development. Several courses will be designed as part of the curriculum for any given programme.

In designing a course, instructional designers follow a series of steps very similar to those discussed in Curriculum Planning in order to design and develop a programme. The only difference is that they begin not with the structure of the programme as a whole but with the structure of one particular course as a whole.

 3. Initial information gathering 

3.1 Stakeholder analysis

A curriculum or programme must ensure as far as possible that the range of topics covered, the structure of the courses, their length, level, workload, teaching approach, and format are what is needed and wanted by the potential learners and other stakeholders. These stakeholders can include:

·      the providing institution;

·      the funding agency;

·      employers;

·      writers and designers;

·      tutors and course support staff;

·      existing learners or trainees; and

·      potential learners.

Discussion: You will want to add other stakeholders to this list in relation to the programmes offered in your own and your participants’ contexts.

3.2 Identifying learning and training needs

The methods that are available for identifying learning and training needs — often called needs analysis — include:

·      task group or working party representing the spectrum of interests;

Example: A small group of key people are typically charged with developing a plan. In the case of the development of a primary teacher upgrading programme, for example, the group is likely to involve Ministry of Education officials and the district supervisors, teacher training colleges, teachers, and community representatives.

·      consultation of experts, clients, and target audiences;

Example: This approach generates high quality information and plenty of it, but those consulted may not be typical of the people whose views and opinions you seek. For example, experts in teaching at the tertiary level may not be appropriate experts to consult even though they are readily accessible.

·      quantitative analyses of knowledge and skill shortage areas;

Example: A researcher may be contracted to conduct a desk study of national trends, other training opportunities, and related developments, using documents that are available from government ministries, think tanks, research institutes, and libraries.

·      monitoring and analysis of demand for existing courses;

Example: You may have data on trends in registration and learner profiles over time available in your own records.

·      studies of employers to identify current and anticipated training needs; and

Example: Existing case studies may be available, or you can conduct your own focus group discussions or surveys, depending on the resources and time you have available.

·      studies of existing and potential learners to identify their current and anticipated needs.

Example: Again, depending on the time and resources you have available you can collect case studies, or conduct focus group discussions or surveys.

See the case study for the Southern Africa Extension Unit, included in this kit, for an example of an institution that worked closely with its stakeholders in designing its curriculum for councillors in local government.

Discussion: How have your participants conducted stakeholder analyses in their own contexts? What examples can you provide from your own experience of curriculum planning?

 4.1 Planning curriculum structure 

4.1 On-campus or at a distance?

Open and distance learning courses mean that

·      learners do the bulk of their learning through pre-prepared learning materials; and

·      learners have little face-to-face contact with tutors or other learners.

On-campus courses mean that

·      learners (in theory) meet regularly with their teacher; and

·      learners have the advantage (in principle) of being able to learn from each other.

On-campus programmes are increasingly incorporating distance modes. See the case study included in this kit for the University of Lincolnshire and Humberside for an example of such an institution.

Discussion: You may want to refer back to earlier sections for reminders about the advantages of open and distance learning, as a contribution to a discussion of whether face-to-face or distance modes are more appropriate for a particular curriculum.

4.2 What will be taught?

Useful distinctions can be made among:

·      knowledge-oriented content;

·      skills-based content; and

·      mixed courses.

Examples: A course on the history of open and distance learning is primarily knowledge-oriented, whereas a course on how to repair telephone lines is primarily skills-based.

A course on instructional design may be mixed, however, combining learning theory with its application in designing effective pieces of instruction.

4.3 Adapt or adopt existing curriculum?

Out of your needs assessment may emerge the existence of an existing curriculum that you could adopt or adapt.

Rather than give into the ‘not-invented-here’ syndrome, ask the questions from the following checklist about this curriculum.

Checklist for Evaluating an Existing Curriculum

q    How suitable is it? Are its objectives, methods, and outcomes appropriate to your learners?

q    How effective is it? Does it achieve satisfactory results?

q    How big is it? How much time, staff, and resources does it need? How many subjects? What range of learners?

q    How complete is it? Does it need extra supporting material?

q    How flexible is it? Is there room for innovation and adaptation by teachers and learners?

q    How repeatable is it? Do any special factors such as unusual teachers or local resources hinder repetition elsewhere?

q    How compatible is it? Would it interfere or fit in with the rest of the existing system?

q    How ready is it? Can it be started this week, this term, or this year?

q    How testable is it? Could you give it a trial run and abandon it if unsuccessful? Or would the decision have to be all-or-nothing (for example, if it requires a new computer system to run it, adopting the curriculum is an all-or-nothing proposition)?

q    How economical is it? What are the initial costs, installation costs, and running costs?

Discussion: You may wish to supplement this discussion by referring to the tables on strategies for producing course materials that appear in this kit in Topic 10 (Managing Materials Development, Production, and Distribution).

 5. PLanning the content of the curriculum 

Instructional designers use a variety of approaches to plan curriculum with the development team.

5.1 Intuitive approaches to content

Intuitive approaches are relatively informal, unstructured, and non-systematic. Nonetheless they may be highly productive.

They can take many forms:

·      sitting and reviewing one’s own knowledge of the proposed subject;

·      asking other teachers and subject-matter experts;

·      analysing similar courses elsewhere;

·      reading textbooks aimed at learners working at about the same level as yours will be;

·      reading more advanced books and scholarly articles on the subject;

·      reviewing films, radio and television tapes, and other media relating to the proposed subject;

·      asking prospective learners what topics they would like the course to include;

·      discussing with learners their existing conceptions of and attitudes to the key concepts;

·      choosing books or other materials around which the curriculum will be organised;

·      thinking of essential activities that learners need to engage in as part of the curriculum;

·      considering how learner attainment on the course might be most sensibly assessed; and

·      studying an examination syllabus, question papers, and examiners’ reports from previous years.

5.2 Analytical approaches to content

Analytical approaches are ways of examining, extending, and organising ideas that one has arrived at intuitively by the foregoing methods.

There are three main approaches here:

·      analysis by objectives: stating as clearly and unambiguously as possible what learners should be able to do as a result of working through the programme;

·      competence analysis: asking what people competent in the subject matter do; for example, master performers; and

·      concept analysis: analysing or mapping the concepts that are key to the programme and courses within it.

Each of these methods has a sophisticated methodology attached to it. See Posner and Rudnitsky 1994 for further details.

 6. Structuring the curriculum 

The word structure has at least four important meanings for curriculum development:

·      the pedagogical structure;

·      the structure of events ;

·      the metaphorical structure; and

·      the structure of ideas.

6.1 Pedagogical structure

Distance components

·      rely heavily on pre-prepared learning materials;

·      are structured around the individual learner working through the material;

·      use self-assessment and expert assessment techniques;

·      require motivational devices and support systems to motivate and guide learners and increase their chances of success; and

·      use tutors to provide motivational, remedial, and enrichment teaching.

On-campus components

·      place learners in regular contact with each other;

·      enable learners to teach each other;

·      tend to be structured around regular meetings with teachers and other learners; and

·      increasingly incorporate distance modes.

Example: A first-year diploma course in nursing practice that requires a great deal of hands-on work, such as practice in giving injections, is more easily delivered face-to-face. However, a post-diploma course in nursing theory or history can be completed very readily at a distance via self-study.

6.2 The structure of events

An event’s structure is identified by considering the course’s key events or critical happenings:

·      breaks;

·      examinations;

·      field trips;

·      deadlines for learner activity;

·      projects; and

·      laboratory work.

This structure marks the closing and opening of different phases within the course, and more broadly to a programme.

Example: A primary teacher upgrading curriculum could be divided into distance components and face-to-face components on the basis of the ‘events’ that structure the curriculum. So, for example, in an ‘in–out’ teacher training curriculum, learners are brought together for an initial face-to-face session to upgrade reading and writing skills. They then have a break, after which they come together for a number of weeks of face-to-face instruction. They are then sent to primary classrooms to observe master teachers at work, after which they return to campus for more face-to-face instruction. Then they are sent back to primary classrooms to do supervised practice teaching. They may also be expected to work through self-study packages of learning material while they are engaged in their practice teaching sessions.

6.3 The metaphorical structure

How do learners and teachers perceive their relationships within the programme? What metaphors or analogies — mental images — do they use?

Some possibilities include:

·      expressive: personal development;

·      instrumental: getting a good grade;

·      vocational: getting a job;

·      academic: expanding one’s mind;

·      personal: self-development;

·      social: making friends, having a good time;

·      medical: remedying deficiencies or problems; and

·      house-building: teacher the builder and learner the plot of cleared ground.

Discussion: Draw on your own and your participants’ experiences for examples of these metaphorical structures, and additional metaphors for curriculum of which you are aware.

6.4 The structure of ideas

A programme can be structured around a sequence of ideas.

There are several varieties of sequence possible:

·      topic-by-topic: no particular order;

·      chronological: ordered by time;

·      causal: ordered by a chain of causation;

·      structural logic: ordered by the logical structure of the discipline;

·      problem-centred: focused on some issue or problem;

·      spiral: same concept encountered over and over but each time at a somewhat higher level; and

·      backward chaining: returning learners again and again to the ‘big picture’ of the subject or discipline.

Discussion: Again, draw on your own experience and that of your participants for examples of these ideas-based approaches to structuring a curriculum.

 7. Evaluating your curriculum 

7.1 Why evaluate?

In practice, open and distance learning providers carry out evaluation for a variety of reasons, including:

·      to make informed decisions about the effectiveness of the materials and the process that led to their production;

·      to determine whether there is sufficient interest in the course to justify costs; and

·      to determine whether learners are achieving a sufficient standard of performance.

7.2 What to evaluate?

The aspects of a curriculum or programme that are typically evaluated include

·      the planning process by which the programme materials were produced;

·      the proposed aims, objectives, and content of the programme;

·      the proposed teaching strategy;

·      the materials and facilities that might be used by learners; and

·      the institutional setting within which learners will be using the materials.

7.3 Preliminary evaluation

All of these aspects might be evaluated before the learners ever begin studying the programme. It can be valuable to have an outside ‘expert’ look over your programme materials before you finalise them, paying attention to aspects such as academic credibility and likely effectiveness.

Academic credibility

You might want to ask some expert or experts in the subject matter questions such as the following about your materials:

·      Are the aims and objectives sufficiently explicit?

·      Do the aims seem relevant to the needs of the target audiences?

·      Do the objectives support the aims?

·      Should any additional aims and objectives  be included?

·      Is the content up-to-date?

·      Is the content accurate?

·      Are there any important omissions?

·      Do there seem to be any faults of emphasis or sequence?

·      Are the assertions made adequately supported by evidence?

·      Do the materials avoid oversimplification or over-generalisation?

·      Are the materials true to the nature of the subject or discipline?

·      Are the materials balanced, and at pains to present opposing points of view when appropriate?

Likely effectiveness

Here are some questions that can be asked about how educationally effective the materials are likely to be:

·    Does the structure seem sensible and coherent, with introductions of previews, and summaries or reviews used when appropriate, and means available for allowing learners with different needs to use the lesson in different ways?

·    Are adequate steps taken to motivate the learners and make clear to them what they are to do with the material and to get out of it?

·    Are the materials pitched at the right level of difficulty and matched to assumed prerequisite skills and understandings of learners?

·    Is the tone that of a rigorous but friendly tutor, lively and interesting?

·    Is the language plain and straightforward?

·    Are analogies, examples, case studies, and illustrations used when appropriate to develop understanding?

·    Are questions, exercises, and activities properly integrated into the text to encourage learners in self-assessment and practice of relevant skills?

·    Are non-print media effectively built in when more appropriate than print?

·    Is the form of presentation conducive to effective learning?

·    Are learners given sufficient information and practice of a kind likely to help them achieve the objectives?

·    Is the relationship between assessment items and aims and objectives clear?

·    Are assessment items clear in what they demand of learners?

·    Are assessment items likely to result in answers that can be marked with reasonable consensus of agreement among different markers?

·    Is the likely learner workload reasonable for the topic?

7.4 Developmental testing

Developmental testing involves trying out materials with learners in the hope of developing or improving those materials for the benefit of other or future learners.

Methods of developmental testing include:

·    tutorial tryouts: trying the materials out on one learner or a small group of learners; and

·    field trials or pilots: using larger numbers of learners (20 to 30) in circumstances as similar as possible to those in which your eventual learners will work.

7.5 Continuous monitoring

Once the programme is in delivery, you will want to ‘keep an eye on things’ to see what problem areas need addressing, to see the good things that are emerging and should be enhanced, and to prepare for end-of-course evaluation.

Mechanisms available for this kind of formative evaluation include:

·    a log book: used to record the main things you notice in the running of the course and the main in-course corrections you have used;

·    casual evaluation: appraising what is happening in day-to-day situations and responding to it; and

·    deliberate evaluation: actively seeking specific kinds of information, through discussions, interviews, and questionnaires.

7.6 Summative course evaluation

When the course is completed, a summative evaluation of its effectiveness may address questions such as:

·      Did the course attract enough learners?

·      Were they sufficiently qualified?

·      Did most of them complete the course?

·      Why did learners drop out or not complete the course?

·      Was the standard high enough?

·      Was the course cost-effective?

·      Were the learners satisfied?

·      Were other stakeholders satisfied?

·      What needs to be changed?

Typical instruments and sources for obtaining this information include:

·      questionnaires: for learners, for tutors, and for others involved in delivery;

·      interviews: with selected learners, with tutors, and with others involved in delivery; and

·      records: details of course registrations, revenues and expenditures, completions, and passes.

See the case study included in this kit for Deakin University as an example of an institution that uses regular evaluation as part of its quality assurance process.

 

 

 8. Practice exercise 

8.1 Applying the principles of instructional design

Instructions: Divide participants into small working groups (no more than five per group).

Ask each group to go through the exercise of designing a preliminary curriculum of study for some programme area that is of significance to them.

In this exercise, each working group will be required to provide the following information (in point or outline form only), using the categories and definitions provided in the session:

·     the stakeholders;

·     the training and learning needs;

·     the kind of programme (distance? knowledge-based? unique and needed?);

·     the programme content; and

·     the programme structure.

Ask each group to be prepared to present their outline to the group as a whole.

Timeframe: One to one-and-a-half hours.

Materials: Newsprint sheets or overhead transparencies and pens for presentations.