Designing Courses and Curricula Clare Bentall, Andrea Creech, Holly Smith

Outline of Monday and Tuesday  Experience and expectations  Models of curriculum  Process of designing courses and curricula  Constructivism and course design  Developing learning outcomes  Structuring a course  Evaluation and quality assurance 2

Opening task In small groups identify and record on flipchart:  The main issues for you in designing courses and curricula  Your expectations for Monday - Wednesday 3

Curriculum Design: Definitions and Models

Definitions Definitions of the word curriculum do not solve curricular problems; but they do suggest perspective from which to view them (1975) Lawrence Stenhouse

Definitions ‘The curriculum will then be that series of experiences which children and youth must have by way of obtaining those objectives. (Bobbitt, 1918) A programme of activities (by teachers and pupils) designed so that pupils will attain so far as possible certain educational and other schooling ends or objectives (Grundy, 1987)

Definitions Curriculum: ‘Learning that is planned and guided’ (Kerr, 1968) ‘Marks the boundary between informal and formal learning’ ‘Should incorporate the whole experience – formal and informal’ (Sargant, 1991)

Definitions  ‘A curriculum is an attempt to communicate the essential principles and features of an educational proposal in such a form that it is open to critical scrutiny and capable of effective translation into practice.’ (Stenhouse, 1975)

 What is a curriculum?  What is its purpose? In groups, share and compare your individual key points. Can you agree on a definition?

Definitions Macro Curriculum The entire learning and support offer made by an institution Micro Curriculum The individual learning or support programmes Hidden Curriculum Unofficial values, beliefs, relationships

Definitions Education and training paradigms: Training - generally speaks to skills development Education - invokes knowledge and understanding and the development of the mind and the development of the mind James McKernan Teaching and curriculum implementation are not separate entities, but rather distinctly interconnected

The secret garden of the curriculum (Ross, 2000)

Models of Curriculum Curriculum as: the process of learning = structured to encourage interaction with and reflection on learning the product of learning = structured to achieve defined outcomes praxis = structured to result in emancipation and changes in our relationship to knowledge and learning

Curriculum Theory & Education Practice PRODUCT MODEL Behavioural Objectives Behaviourism Ivan Pavlov B.F. Skinner Learning Outcomes Vocational Training Competence Based Learning

PROCESS MODEL Heuristic Learning Social Constructivists Lev Vygotsky Humanism Carl Rogers Social Capital Progressive Education Student Centred Learning Curriculum Theory & Education Practice Communities of Practice Adult Learning Malcolm Knowles

Curriculum Theory & Education Practice PRAXIS MODEL Radical Education Critical Pedagogy Antonio Gramsci Karl Marx Paulo Freire Andrea Dworkin Germaine Greer Political Emancipation Human Agency Feminism

Curriculum Values Product model Assumes learning is ‘value free’ i.e. it is the ‘systematic’ transmission of knowledge and skills Praxis model Is political by nature as it fundamentally challenges ‘knowledge’ and changes our relationship to, and ownership of knowledge Process model Recognises the politics of learning and empowers the learners within the learning process, but does not fundamentally change relationships to knowledge

References  Bobbitt, F. (1918) The Curriculum, Boston: Houghton Mifflin  Grundy, S. (1987) Curriculum: product or praxis? Lewes: Falmer Press.  McKernan, J. (2008) Curriculum and Imagination. Abingdon: Routledge  Ross, A. (2000). Curriculum construction and critique. New York: Routledge.  Sargant, N. (1991) Learning and 'Leisure'. A study of adult participation in learning and its policy implications. Leicester: National Institute of Adult Continuing Education  Stenhouse, L. (1975) An Introduction to Curriculum Research and Development. London: Heinemann Education

Process of designing courses and curricula What is the purpose? (Aim?) Who is it for? (type of learners, professional bodies, employers?) What is the starting level of the learners? What is the end result supposed to be? (Objectives / outcomes?) What are the standards it must meet? (National, professional body, institutional?) How much time is available? (a day, a week, a term, a year?) What are the institutional processes to follow? Who should be involved? What are the content areas? (Knowledge, skills, attitudes / values?) What is the assessment? (on-going, formative, summative, written, practical?) How will you know if it is successful? (evaluation?)

Discussion Think of one of your courses and answer the questions above. Compare your answers with a colleague.

Constructivism and course design 21

Constructive alignment There are two parts to constructive alignment:  Constructivist view of learning  Aligning planned learning activities, with learning outcomes

BehaviourismConstructivism Learning involves stimulus and response Correct response from learner is encouraged by positive or negative reinforcement – ‘operant conditioning’ (Skinner) Learning is staged in small manageable chunks, so that response is correct and reinforcement can always be positive Outcome of learning is change in behaviour Knowledge is actively constructed by the individual, in social / cultural contexts Knowledge is not ‘transmitted’ from educator to learner or learner to learner Learners bring previous knowledge / experience which influences construction of new knowledge Learning is a continuous, recursive process of confirming or modifying existing knowledge (assimilation and accommodation - Piaget) The outcome of learning is understanding - learning is the process of developing understandings

Cognitive Development  The growth of knowledge is one of progressive construction.  As we mature from childhood to adulthood we develop more powerful and complex understandings that incorporate earlier understandings.  Child development can be understood in stages Piaget

Sociocultural approach  Emphasized the role of social interaction in individual development  Cognitive development is achieved through the joint construction of knowledge between the child and society  Internalization of meaning plays a key part in cognitive development Vygotsky

Three views of teaching  Learning is result of differences between students – what the student is  Learning is result of appropriate teaching – what the teacher does  Learning is the result of student engagement with learning- focused activities – what the learner does (Biggs 1999)

Aiming for conceptual change Within a constructivist view of learning, teaching aims to get learners to engage ‘deeply’ with the activities and the materials in order to develop their understanding. In order to achieve this, Biggs (1999) suggests:  It needs to be clear to students (and teachers) what is "appropriate", what the objectives are, and where these objectives are buried in the assessment tasks.  Students need to experience a feeling of ‘needing to get there’.  Students need to feel free to focus on the task, not wondering if they are doing the right thing, or how it links to the assessment.  Students benefit from working collaboratively and in dialogue with others, both peers and teachers.

Aligning learning activities and objectives / intended learning outcomes  Saying what the "desired outcomes" are – specifying our objectives in terms of different levels of understanding.  Getting students to "engage in (appropriate) learning activities". In so doing, we use teaching and learning activities that encourage students to go about learning in a way that is likely to achieve our objectives.  Using assessment tasks that align to our objectives – so we know how well students learned what we were aiming for (Biggs 1999)

Task In small groups, present to each other your course outline (using your planning tool) and provide each other with feedback on the following:  Whether the course is constructively aligned.  What changes are needed to make it more constructively aligned. Remember to consider both the constructivist view of learning and also whether the outcomes, activities, assessment are aligned. 29

References  Biggs, J. (1999) ‘What the student does: teaching for enhanced learning’. Higher Education Research and Development, 18(1),  Bobbitt, F. (1918) The Curriculum, Boston: Houghton Mifflin  Grundy, S. (1987) Curriculum: product or praxis? Lewes: Falmer Press.  McKernan, J. (2008) Curriculum and Imagination. Abingdon: Routledge  Ross, A. (2000). Curriculum construction and critique. New York: Routledge.  Sargant, N. (1991) Learning and 'Leisure'. A study of adult participation in learning and its policy implications. Leicester: National Institute of Adult Continuing Education  Stenhouse, L. (1975) An Introduction to Curriculum Research and Development. London: Heinemann Education

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