Curriculum development and curriculum assessment TEMPUS: Second consortium meeting, Koblanz Landau, Germany, March 2013 Dr. Roxana Reichman Working team leader for Curricular Development and Assessment March, 2013

The three states of the curriculum (Prideaux, 2003) The planned curriculum – what is intended by the designers? The delivered curriculum – what is taught by the teachers? The experienced curriculum – what is learned by the students?

Curriculum development Who should be involved in the development of curriculum? What are the expectations for the course curriculum? How can these expectations be accommodated in this course? What do potential graduates need? What is the educational aim of the course? (What should it do?) What level is the course intended to be? Where does the course fit in the curriculum of the university/college? What knowledge and skills should a graduate of the course display?

The six steps approach to curriculum development ( Sheephan, O.O & Kirklaud, R. ) 1. Problem identification and general needs assessment. 2. Needs assessment of targeted learners. 3. Goals and specifically measurable objectives. Educational strategies (content and method) which provide the means by which curriculum objectives are achieved. 5. Implementation (identify sufficient resources and support in order to successfully implement the curriculum). 6. Evaluation and feedback - describe the plan to evaluate the effectiveness of the curriculum - provides information about content quality improvement

Assessment affects people's lives ( Boud and Falchikov, 2007 ) ) Assessment is a central element in curriculum development : it is the critical link between learning outcomes, content and learning and teaching activities. Assessment needs to focus on encouraging learning and measuring progress towards intended learning outcomes. Assessment can serve both summative and formative purposes. Boud and Falchikov (2007) argue for the development of schemes of assessment tasks that progressively promote the development of students' abilities to make increasingly sophisticated judgments about their own learning. Such approaches to assessment place assessment as a crucial element in developing students' capacity to learn for the longer term. Assessment should always be judged in terms of its consequences for learning (Boud, 1998). “ Students can, with difficulty, escape from the effects of poor teaching, they cannot escape the effects of poor assessment." (Boud, 1995)

Questions to be asked by lecturers who design an assessment task ( Brown, 2001) What are the outcomes to be assessed? What are the capabilities/skills (implicit or explicit) in the outcomes? Is the method relatively efficient in terms of student time and staff time? What alternatives are there? What are their advantages and disadvantages? Does the specific assessment task match the outcomes and skills? Are the marking schemes or criteria appropriate?

Conclusions Practical curriculum change can’t be effective without change in the institutional culture. No curriculum development should be done without teacher development. Don’t underestimate the external and the internal influences (look for stake holders who can become partners). Provide help during the implementation. Evaluate student learning !

Questions ??? Thank you !