Curriculum and Instructional Design At a Glance

Now let us consider the idea of curriculum design. As indicated by the definitions at the beginning of this book, the term " design " is used as a verb to designate a process (as in " designing a curriculum "), or as a noun to denote a particular plan resulting from a design process (as in " a curriculum design "). Never mind that a curriculum is not a garden or a bridge or a traffic pattern; our purpose in this chapter is to see how things play out when we apply the design practices of architects and engineers to the creation of new curricula. And, for the moment, let us put aside the question of precisely what a curriculum is (a matter to be taken up at the beginning of the next chapter), since the process of curriculum design can be explored without first having agreement on a precise definition of curriculum. The purpose of this chapter is to explore ideas, not to provide detailed step-by-step instructions on how to create an actual curriculum design, let alone an actual curriculum. It is as though, by way of analogy, the chapter deals with how general design principles may seem to apply to designing any kind of buildings, but not to how to produce detailed engineering plans for use in constructing actual buildings. To make the argument easy to follow, the chapter parallels the Prologue section by section. AN INTRODUCTORY EXAMPLE This time, instead of the backyard garden of the Prologue, our desired end is an effective K-12 curriculum. Our approach need not be altogether orderly, but we would surely do these things:

2001

Introduction: The interaction between curricular materials and teacher practice The lure of curriculum reform (the history) Reformers have long been drawn to curricular materials as a mechanism for influencing the practices of teachers, though with limited success Explanations for the continual disappointments of curriculum based reforms abound, focusing on the resiliency of teacher beliefs In recent years, researchers have begun to examine deeply the ways that teachers plan, use, adapt, and learn from curriculum materials. Much of this work has stemmed from a key question posed by Brown & Edelson Teaching By Design p. 3 DRAFT-Do not reproduce or distribute without permission producing "educative" curriculum materials, or the ways in which features in curriculum designs influence instructional practice. This study adds to the current body of research exploring how teachers adapt curriculum materials, but takes a different path to understanding this interaction by viewing t...

Academia.edu, 2018

For many decades during the 20th century, the majority of educational institutions across the United States had imposed prescribed curricula on their curriculum users (teachers, administrators, and students). The users had very little input or feedback in the process. Because of their non-involvement, teachers, in particular, had to implement and follow largely contradicting directives with hardly any conviction. This situation led to an obvious disconnect between curriculum and instruction. Several schools of thought made great strides to deal with this issue, notably, the progressivist-experimentalist thinkers, who called for making teachers not only active participants but also most accountable in the process of curriculum development, from conceptualization, to design, to implementation, to evaluation, to finally, revision and improvement. In what follows, I will allude to the place of the teacher within two major components of curriculum development; curriculum design and instructional design. I will explain the theoretical foundations of curriculum development in my workplace. I will also suggest a few practical implications for teachers to integrate approaches for developing curriculum and managing instruction for all learners. I will then refer to current issues and future trends in the fields of education and curriculum and analyze strategies for improvement in both fields. Finally, I will conclude with my own thoughts and aspirations for fundamental, not superficial, change.

Curriculum design, development and assessment are central to teaching and learning in the classroom. In a number of African countries, teachers may have either a professional teaching qualification or only an academic qualification. However, it is important for all teachers to be knowledgeable about the theory, design and assessment of curriculum. This module provides teachers with information about the basic elements, factors and institutions involved in the design and assessment of school curricula.

The term curriculum refers to the lessons and academic content taught in a school or in a specific course or program. In dictionaries, curriculum is often defined as the courses offered by a school, but it is rarely used in such a general sense in schools. Depending on how broadly educators define or employ the term, curriculum typically refers to the knowledge and skills students are expected to learn, which includes the learning standards or learning objectives they are expected to meet; the units and lessons that teachers teach; the assignments and projects given to students; the books, materials, videos, presentations, and readings used in a course; and the tests, assessments, and other methods used to evaluate student learning. An individual teacher's curriculum, for example, would be the specific learning standards, lessons, assignments, and materials used to organize and teach a particular course. When the terms curriculum or curricula are used in educational contexts without qualification, specific examples, or additional explanation, it may be difficult to determine precisely what the terms are referring to—mainly because they could be applied to either all or only some of the component parts of a school's academic program or courses. In many cases, teachers develop their own curricula, often refining and improving them over years, although it is also common for teachers to adapt lessons and syllabi created by other teachers, use curriculum templates and guides to structure their lessons and courses, or purchase prepackaged curricula from individuals and companies. In some cases, schools purchase comprehensive, multigrade curriculum packages—often in a particular subject area, such as mathematics—that teachers are required to use or follow. Curriculum may also encompass a school's academic requirements for graduation, such as the courses students have to take and pass, the number of credits students must complete, and other requirements, such as completing a capstone project or a certain number of community-service hours. Generally speaking, curriculum takes many different forms in schools—too many to comprehensively catalog here. It is important to note that while curriculum encompasses a wide variety of potential educational and instructional practices, educators often have a very precise, technical meaning in mind when they use the term. Most teachers spend a lot of time thinking about, studying, discussing, and analyzing curriculum, and many educators have acquired a specialist's expertise in curriculum development—i.e., they know how to structure, organize, and deliver lessons in ways that facilitate or accelerate student learning. To noneducators, some curriculum materials may seem simple or straightforward (such as a list of required reading, for example), but they may reflect a deep and sophisticated understanding of an academic discipline and of the most effective strategies for learning acquisition and classroom management. For a related discussion, see hidden curriculum. Reform Since curriculum is one of the foundational elements of effective schooling and teaching, it is often the object of reforms, most of which are broadly intended to either mandate or encourage greater curricular standardization and consistency across states, schools, grade levels, subject areas, and courses. The following are a few representative examples of the ways in which curriculum is targeted for improvement or used to leverage school improvement and increase teacher effectiveness:

This paper searches for an understanding of curriculum as a phenomenon, a field, and a design process. Curriculum is a complex phenomenon. Curriculum is also an “interdisciplinary academic field devoted to understanding curriculum” (Pinar, 2011, ix). In addition, curriculum also refers to the process of design through which the content of schooling is verified. The context of my endeavour is teacher education. In fact, thinking about curriculum becomes even more complex when thinking about how to teach it to future teachers. It seems to me that at this level we cannot avoid to assume a pluralistic view of the field thinking what is its historical legacy, including the major gap between curriculum theory and curriculum development. Therefore, the field of curriculum studies has changed by incorporating different dimensions to the concept of curriculum, making it a layered or multidimensional concept. I argue that a multidimensional concept of curriculum can be a powerful theoretical tool for understanding curriculum, to organized and create knowledge about it, and to inform the process of curriculum design.

British journal of hospital medicine (London, England : 2005), 2009

Clinical teachers may be involved in planning and developing courses and teaching sessions for different groups of students or trainees. Understanding the principles of curriculum development and design can help teachers provide the most appropriate educational interventions for their learners.