Curriculum Design
Section 1: What is Curriculum Design?
Curriculum design within the context of contemporary Higher Education is no longer synonymous with designing a syllabus. This latter concept focuses attention too narrowly on the ‘content’ of what is taught, and ignores how it is engaged with by the learner or how learners will achieve the learning intended. Contemporary concepts of ‘curriculum design’ take a more learner-centred approach and a more holistic view of the design process.
Curriculum Design may be defined as a strategic process of informed and deliberate construction of learning opportunities to enable learners to achieve the appropriate level and scope of discipline skills, knowledge and understanding on completion of a unit of study.
Therefore when modifying a curriculum or designing a ‘new’ curriculum, programme and module teams need to take into account a complex set of dimensions concerning both the learning they wish students to achieve (what is variously termed: syllabus or content; skills, knowledge and understanding) and how learning will be facilitated (supported, structured etc). These dimensions may include for instance:
- What is the scope and level of learning which is to be achieved? Attention here needs to be paid not only to QAA Subject Benchmarks but also critically to the Scottish Credit & Qualifications Framework at both a programme and module level - how learning outcomes are articulated within modules and mapped across a programme.
- How will students learn? Here attention needs to be paid to a variety of types of learners to be recruited to the programme (e.g. part-time, mature, UK or foreign, and their learning styles and experience), and the delivery methods appropriate to the learners and the discipline context (including face to face, online learning, work-based learning, the role of peer to peer and collaborative learning etc.).
- How will the achievement of student learning be demonstrated? That is issues of assessment design, including concepts such as assessment for learning, as well as recording the learning achieved by students on completion of study.
Curriculum as Learning Process
Contemporary concepts of learning and the expectations on learners once in the world of employment has shifted attention away from the curriculum as a specific content or body of knowledge towards the notion of the curriculum as more developmental process of empowering the learner to learn – the ongoing development of skills, knowledge and understanding.
Social constructivism argues that meaning and knowledge are created through social interactions, and new skills, knowledge and understanding derive in significant part from what people already know and believe (their prior experience and learning). Therefore, in this conception the learner is not a blank sheet but comes to engagement with learning already with experience and expectations, and what they gain from the engagement, or what they learn, is to a significant extent predetermined by this on-going dynamic of a process of lifelong learning (formal and informal learning in education, employment and life). For the social constructivist perspective learning is a process of identifying, challenging and changing these beliefs.
Learning through reflection: Cognitive science research has demonstrated that individuals who have the opportunity to reflect on information, to evaluate their own learning process and self identify new directions for study, are more effective. This concept of learning is central to the UK concept of Personal Development Planning. This is often a solo activity but can be enhanced through interaction with others, and especially through dialogue and feedback. Curriculum design is not merely about a specific body of knowledge, but how it relates to the experience and prior knowledge of the learner, the skills the learner has in reflection and interpretation of that knowledge, and understanding derives from this interactive and iterative process.
Learning by ‘doing’: This has a long tradition in vocational and professional disciplines, and in the sciences. There is much evidence that when learners actively engaging in processes of designing their own learning, researching and collecting information, sorting and ordering, making or building, testing and applying their (developing) skills, knowledge and understanding through practical tasks their learning is enhanced. This learning can include group and solo activities. Curriculum design involves not only a knowledge base, but also the skills to acquire and apply that knowledge base (and expand it), and so develop understanding.
Learning through conversation: Ever considered the learning model of the gossip or the model of the ancient Greek philosophers? This is learning from active discussion with tutors, mentors, peers and ‘any one interested’. We learn by gaining feedback on our attempts to articulate (orally, written or by other means) and share our skills, knowledge and understanding with others. The seminar and the group project are well established tools for promoting learning through conversation and collaboration. Curriculum design need also to pay attention to a dynamic and emergent process of ‘negotiating’ understanding.
These three core learning styles are mutually reinforcing, each involves active rather than passive learning, and a concept of the curriculum as process rather than product.
Phil Race (2002 revised) Never mind the teaching feel the learning SEDA Paper 80, Staff & Educational Development Association Ltd.
Barr, R and Tagg, J (1995) A new paradigm for Undergraduate Education: From Teaching to Learning. Change, November, p13-25
Scottish Executive (2003) Life through learning: Learning through life
The life long learning strategy for Scotland, Scottish Executive. Edinburgh