Chapter 3 – Step 3 in the Process
Step 3 – Designing an Aligned and Approvable Curriculum
Designing an aligned curriculum requires collective effort.
Sequencing the work and maintaining the vision can be highly engaging – and challenging.
Key questions answered in Step 3:
- What do we need to know about learning to design an educationally effective curriculum?
- What do we need to understand about our existing program in order to make decisions?
- How will we sequence the learning activities to achieve the program outcomes?
- How can we be successful in the approval process(es)?
Who is involved?
In Steps 1 and 2, a few leaders or core team may have done most of the work, that likely included reaching out to stakeholders and faculty for important input. At Step 3, typically, a larger group prepared to do the work of curriculum design, comes together as a committee, or subcommittees, or breaks into working groups.
How long does this take? 4-24 months.
Again, depending on the size of the change and the frequency and effectiveness of meetings and other work, Step 3 can require significantly more time than Steps 1 and 2 as this is when the design itself is created. Faculty joining the process in Step 3 needs to understand why a curriculum is not designed first, around content. Thorough completion of Steps 1 and 2 makes understanding the work of Step 3 more likely.
This step involves Actions 7, 8, 9 and 10.
