Course: Curriculum and Instruction (6503)

Semester: Spring, 2020

ASSIGNMENT No. 2
Q.1 What is meant by curriculum design? What is the desirable criteria and also identify the problems
faced by the curriculum designer in the process.
Curriculum design is a term used to describe the purposeful, deliberate, and systematic organization of
curriculum (instructional blocks) within a class or course. In other words, it is a way for teachers to plan
instruction. When teachers design curriculum, they identify what will be done, who will do it, and what
schedule to follow.
Purpose of Curriculum Design
Teachers design each curriculum with a specific educational purpose in mind. The ultimate goal is to improve
student learning, but there are other reasons to employ curriculum design as well. For example, designing a
curriculum for middle school students with both elementary and high school curricula in mind helps to make
sure that learning goals are aligned and complement each other from one stage to the next. If a middle school
curriculum is designed without taking prior knowledge from elementary school or future learning in high school
into account it can create real problems for the students. 
Types of Curriculum Design
There are three basic types of curriculum design:
 Subject-centered design
 Learner-centered design
 Problem-centered design
Subject-Centered Curriculum Design
Subject-centered curriculum design revolves around a particular subject matter or discipline. For example, a
subject-centered curriculum may focus on math or biology. This type of curriculum design tends to focus on the
subject rather than the individual. It is the most common type of curriculum used in K-12 public schools in
states and local districts in the United States.
Subject-centered curriculum design describes what needs to be studied and how it should be studied. Core
curriculum is an example of a subject-centered design that can be standardized across schools, states, and the
country as a whole. In standardized core curricula, teachers are provided a pre-determined list of things that
they need to teach their students, along with specific examples of how these things should be taught. You can
also find subject-centered designs in large college classes in which teachers focus on a particular subject or
discipline. 
The primary drawback of subject-centered curriculum design is that it is not student-centered. In particular, this
form of curriculum design is constructed without taking into account the specific learning styles of the students.
This can cause problems with student engagement and motivation and may even cause students to fall behind in
class.
Learner-Centered Curriculum Design
In contrast, learner-centered curriculum design takes each individual's needs, interests, and goals into
consideration. In other words, it acknowledges that students are not uniform and adjust to those student needs.
Learner-centered curriculum design is meant to empower learners and allow them to shape their education
through choices.
Instructional plans in a learner-centered curriculum are differentiated, giving students the opportunity to choose
assignments, learning experiences or activities. This can motivate students and help them stay engaged in the
material that they are learning. 
The drawback to this form of curriculum design is that it is labor-intensive. Developing differentiated
instruction puts pressure on the teacher to create instruction and/or find materials that are conducive to each
student's learning needs. Teachers may not have the time or may lack the experience or skills to create such a

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Semester: Spring, 2020
plan. Learner-centered curriculum design also requires that teachers balance student wants and interests with
student needs and required outcomes, which is not an easy balance to obtain.
Problem-Centered Curriculum Design
Like learner-centered curriculum design, problem-centered curriculum design is also a form of student-centered
design. Problem-centered curricula focus on teaching students how to look at a problem and come up with a
solution to the problem. Students are thus exposed to real-life issues, which helps them develop skills that are
transferable to the real world. 
Problem-centered curriculum design increases the relevance of the curriculum and allows students to be creative
and innovate as they are learning. The drawback to this form of curriculum design is that it does not always take
learning styles into consideration. 
Curriculum Design Tips
The following curriculum design tips can help educators manage each stage of the curriculum design process.
 Identify the needs of stakeholders (i.e., students) early on in the curriculum design process. This can
be done through needs analysis, which involves the collection and analysis of data related to the learner.
This data might include what learners already know and what they need to know to be proficient in a
particular area or skill. It may also include information about learner perceptions, strengths, and
weaknesses. 
 Create a clear list of learning goals and outcomes. This will help you to focus on the intended
purpose of the curriculum and allow you to plan instruction that can achieve the desired results.
Learning goals are the things teachers want students to achieve in the course. Learning outcomes are the
measurable knowledge, skills, and attitudes that students should have achieved in the course. 
 Identify constraints that will impact your curriculum design. For example, time is a common constraint
that must be considered. There are only so many hours, days, weeks or months in the term. If there isn't
enough time to deliver all of the instruction that has been planned, it will impact learning outcomes. 
 Consider creating a curriculum map (also known as a curriculum matrix) so that you can properly
evaluate the sequence and coherence of instruction. Curriculum mapping provides visual diagrams or
indexes of a curriculum. Analyzing a visual representation of the curriculum is a good way to quickly
and easily identify potential gaps, redundancies or alignment issues in the sequencing of instruction.
Curriculum maps can be created on paper or with software programs or online services designed
specifically for this purpose. 
 Identify the instructional methods that will be used throughout the course and consider how they will
work with student learning styles. If the instructional methods are not conducive to the curriculum, the
instructional design or the curriculum design will need to be altered accordingly. 
 Establish evaluation methods that will be used at the end and during the school year to assess learners,
instructors, and the curriculum. Evaluation will help you determine if the curriculum design is working
or if it is failing. Examples of things that should be evaluated include the strengths and weaknesses of
the curriculum and achievement rates related to learning outcomes. The most effective evaluation is
ongoing and summative. 
 Remember that curriculum design is not a one-step process; continuous improvement is a necessity.
The design of the curriculum should be assessed periodically and refined based on assessment data. This
may involve making alterations to the design partway through the course to ensure that learning
outcomes or a certain level of proficiency will be achieved at the end of the course.
Q.2 Discuss the formulation of curricular objectives and the importance of situational analysis.
Part I: Situational Analysis of the School Situation

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 Course: Curriculum and Instruction (6503)
Semester: Spring, 2020
Broad Contours of the Curriculum Design

The broad contours of the curriculum design project were as follows:

1. Setting: Wesley Intermediate is situated in central Auckland and is a small intermediate school with a roll of
just over 150 students. The school is situated in a state housing area and, accordingly, has a low socio-economic
intake.

2. Teachers: The teachers working at Wesley Intermediate are predominantly European, although at the current
time 40% of the teaching staff are Polynesian.

3. School level: Students aged eleven and twelve year’s olds, or years 7 and 8.

4. Teaching period: All week

5. Overall subject area: Science.

6. Specific topic: Weather.

Maxwell’s (1981) Guidelines for Situational Analysis

Maxwell (1981) discussed a framework for analysing and appraising any educational situation. The purpose of
the situational analysis is to generate useful data that can assist in the curriculum design process. The internal
and external factors selected below are adapted from Maxwell’s framework and represent those that are more
relevant to my own school context.

External Factors

Key external factors are::

Community Values

The Wesley Intermediate School Charter (2003) reflects the national and local educational goals. It was
compiled through the guidance of educational acts, community discussion and management/staff discernment.
The mission statement says that the school’s mission is:
“To provide quality education for life- long learning”.

When developing curriculum for Wesley Intermediate the under-girding learning objectives and outcomes need
to reflect and revolve around all of the educational goals outlined below. School policy states that this method
of development will help ensure that the curriculum aides in training students to understand and achieve the
learning objectives/outcomes and become a reflection of the values and social change that the school and
community are trying to achieve.

Local educational goals from the Charter are:

· Excellence in learning areas.

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· Celebrating our cultures.
· Programmes to promote literacy.
· Programmes to promote Numeracy.
· Excellence in the arts.
· Excellence in sport.

School Goals are listed as follows:

· A safe, caring environment for all.
· High expectations of all people.
· “Best” practice in all we do.
· Supportive structures [pastoral care].
· Innovation in all areas.
· Inclusive environment.

School values and Social Goals include respect for self, others and property, specifically:
· Valuing our differences.
· Caring, compassion, aroha, kia kaha.
· Life long learning.
· Non-violence.
· Biblical moral values.

Parental Involvement

The first part of community involvement in Wesley Intermediate is parental. Until recently, this has largely
been non-existent as Polynesian parents generally hold the teacher in very high esteem. This acknowledgement,
although it sounds very admirable, does not help teachers in New Zealand schools that are governed by very
different rules and societal expectations. In pacific cultures, it is expected that the teacher would chastise the
student in place of the parent. This understanding hinders development of teacher parent relationships and
fosters a ‘hands off’ approach to education from the parents. Involving the parents in the life of the school is a
very important necessity for curriculum development at Wesley Intermediate if progress is to be made, in this
area.

Wider community Involvement

The next part of our threefold community is the people living and working in the local area. These people make
a huge impact upon the life of the school. They are the ones who talk about the people involved with the school.
They make assumptions and formulate opinions that can have a positive or detrimental effect. Involving these
people in the learning process is not often done but is vitally important to the overall success of the school.

Involvement of Other Agencies

More and more we are seeing increased community and governmental agencies becoming involved. The
coming year’s curriculum will have to change to integrate these agencies’ input into the developmental process.
Communication between these three facets of community is imperative for the successful amalgamation of them
into a holistic approach to education and community/society.

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 Course: Curriculum and Instruction (6503)
Semester: Spring, 2020

Multiculturalism

Multiculturalism is a major factor when looking to develop curriculum at Wesley Intermediate. The school
community is made up of three dominant cultures. These are Tongan, Samoan and Maori with another three of
four other minority cultures also: Cook Island, Nuean, Samalian, Japanese and European.

Because of the cultural diversity there are many cognitive problems that can occur over the course of a lesson.
The traditional practice or understanding of an excerpt of curriculum can cause a melting pot of confusion to
occur amongst the students. This diverse understanding can be looked upon as an unassailable problem or it can
be looked upon as a means of bringing a multileveled fully rounded kaleidoscopic view of the excerpt of
curriculum. Using diversity, as a strength not only enhances the learning environment, it moulds, fashions and
sharpens the curriculum developers ability to provide unique life changing curriculum.

Economic Change

As we know that in our times economics plays a big part of most processes. Curriculum development at Wesley
Intermediate is one of these such processes. Over the past 40years Wesley Intermediate has gone from having
one of the highest decile ratings to now having the second to lowest decile rating. This has a very definite effect
upon curriculum development as it changes the presuppositional understanding of the families and students who
access the school. Curriculum must be relevant to the learner’s outlook on life. The students at Wesley
Intermediate have very different life experiences than students attending a decile 10 school. The curriculum
needs to identify and redress these issues that are different for every school.

Community Involvement

A curriculum developer is always trying to develop relevant life preparing curriculum. Community involvement
should be a paramount desire of any learning establishment where education for not only life but also eternity
takes place. The community needs to be looked upon as a huge mostly untapped resource that can bring
understanding and reason into many facets of the curriculum.

Internal Factors

The most important internal factors for my particular educational setting are as follows:

Student characteristics

1. Numbers of students: 154

2. Age: 11-13yrs

3. Ethnic background: The majority of Wesley Intermediate is made up of Polynesian students with the major
contributors being Tongan then Samoan, Maori, Cook island, Nuiean, African and Asian.

Students’ Ethnic Background

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 Course: Curriculum and Instruction (6503)
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Ethnicity plays a large part in what presuppositions under-gird our eventual worldview. All ethnic groups have
certain traditions and cultural glitches that are always presumed in their worldview presuppositions. Wesley
Intermediate is a school community that consists of multiple ethnic groups as mentioned earlier. This is the
issue that needs to be dealt with at the curriculum development stage. Any curriculum development will need to
take into account that some ethnic groups cannot always take part in certain parts of the curriculum. However,
this is an ideal time for us to use these situations to deal with the immense diversity that exists amongst human
beings whether at a religious, cultural or personal level.

Emotional and Social Development

One of the most critical issues curriculum development needs to address in my school situation is the area of
emotional and social development. I am continually astounded at the lack of emotional stability and social
response that exist amongst the children that I come into contact with at Wesley Intermediate. In general,
common societal-values no longer exist, a survival of the fittest mentality combined with selfish indulgence
seems to be the ruling the masses at the moment in the school – a reflection, perhaps, of society on the whole.
Curriculum development at Wesley Intermediate has to take into account the abnormal behavioural issues faced
and the fact that many of our students come from dysfunctional families. Dealing with these issues
inadvertently steers the curriculum into certain areas and away from others.

State of Bodily development:

The students at Wesley Intermediate develop much faster than students from other cultures, because most of
students are Polynesian. It is not unusual to find a 11-12yr old boy weighing on average around 70kg and
standing at 1.60m tall. This rapid development at an early age can give them the appearance of being much
older than they are. Because of this there needs to be an understanding of developmental issues that need to be
dealt with which might not exist in other schools.

Physical Needs and Health

Low socio-economic areas are always areas of concern where issues of health and physical needs are
concerned. Because the students’ bodies grow so rapidly they need to obtain good healthy food unfortunately
when finances are tight, which is more often the case than not. Accordingly, food sometimes becomes a lesser
priority. A lot of our students would start the day off with the purchase of a pie and a can of coke. This is a real
concern and must be dealt with constantly at a curriculum development level. A whole part of the students
understanding of what it is to be physically healthy needs to be change as it directly effects their ability to
function in the classroom

Intellectual Development

On average, Wesley Intermediate pupils are two to three years behind their peers nationally. This fact is a major
influence upon curriculum development as learning outcomes have to factor in the gaps in ability of the
learners. There are many reasons for these gaps occurring.

· The first major reason why students at Wesley Intermediate have gaps in their learning is that many of them

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have come from other countries where English is not spoken or is a second language. Some of these students
parents can only speak very broken English and would mostly speak their native language at home.

· A lack of ambition is also evident and possibly responsible for the slow development intellectually. The drive
to get a good education, or to educate oneself is not inherent in the upbringing of the students, and, while there
are always exceptions, it is simply not present in their general home culture. There is a lack of understanding of
what it takes to push the boundaries of understanding not just for intellectual development but also for the
“wow” factor of learning. Students seem to lack the awareness that with understanding there comes an opening
of many doors, not simply in the mind, but in society and later in the workplace.

· There is often no reading material in the homes of these children at these early critical developmental stages.
This means that the students lack two to three years of formal reading and comprehension of texts. Parents are
unaware or are simply not interested the evidence supporting the idea that reading to children at home when
they are very young will reap the reward of extremely literate children.

Personal Characteristics

Because the over-riding drive for success is very much focused on the achievement of the family and
community, rather than the individual, in most Polynesian cultures, the students find it very difficult to come to
grips with the Western, Greek-influenced style of education. Their personal characteristics are often swallowed
up by the characteristics of the extended family. This in the ideal world would seem to be a fantastic notion.
However, when a family is dysfunctional and lives in a way that is detrimental to a student’s health, hopes and
aspirations then it turns out to be a very destructive influence upon that student’s life. This is important to
understand with regards to the curriculum development process, that not all cultural influences are good ones.
Discussion and learning outcomes need to deal with issues such as this because the student’s culture is a very
integral part of the student’s lives.

Material Resources

Resources are always a major influence upon curriculum development and like any school Wesley Intermediate
has a limited number of resources, ranging from 1950’s to current day. This can be looked at as an inadequacy
or it can be viewed as a bonus. It is always a struggle to provide curriculum that is up to date and relevant for
the time or even the sub culture that is found at Wesley Intermediate and many schools like it where the
clientele are low socio-economic. The resources found at Wesley Intermediate require the curriculum developer
to be a creative and lateral thinker, taking the view that there are many ways to take an out of date resource and
use it to bring the desired cognitive response, even at a depth and level that was not initially planned for.

A Model for Curriculum Design

Each year the board of trustees through the principal and staff will develop, revise or confirm its curriculum
plan. The plan will set out specific objectives for curriculum delivery and content, and matched against the
strategic plan priorities (school charter 03). At Wesley Intermediate School we work on a two-year rotation to
cover the necessary strands of the New Zealand national curriculum. Once we have decided on the strands we
brainstorm ideas as to what topic will be taught. From here, the Head of Department and their teams will put a
unit together and give to classroom teachers to adapt to their programme. If a classroom teacher wishes to teach

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a different topic they can, but the unit will need to planned and written by themselves.

The reality of the situation is that there is no particular “model” of curriculum development in sight, apart from
perhaps certain pragmatic principles relating to how we interpret the vagueness of the national curriculum
strands. There may be particular models in operation at a national level, models which are adhered to by the
education bureaucrats in Wellington, when they devise policy and curriculum documents, but these are not
made explicit to us. If they exist, they will be based on secular humanist principles, rather than a biblically
informed model.

For myself, I am interested in developing a Christ-centred approach to curriculum design that allows me to
operate as a Christian, but within the mission field of the non-Christian curriculum framework and school that I
have chosen. I intend to explore this in the next assignment in more detail, but the most useful model at this
point seems to be Dreckmyr’s (1997) adaptation of another earlier model whereby Christian presuppositions
and worldview issues can influence and impact the learning content. While I am unable to influence the broader
objectives and content, which are set nationally, thinking about curriculum in this way, at least enables me to
think more carefully about how I can work to subvert the secular humanist system with more biblically
informed teaching, on a local level anyway. This is particularly true with regards to my own teaching
methodology and in-house materials design.

Part II: Curriculum Design Task

Weather Unit: A Summary

The unit described below relates to weather:

· There is no feature of our environment that has such far-reaching effects as the weather. In fact, the weather
often rules the choices that we all make everyday. Whether we are planning a day at the beach, a walk in the
park, or even what clothes to wear, the weather is always a consideration.

· This unit has been designed in a way to facilitate fun and informative ways of discovering and unravelling the
mysteries of weather. At the start of each lesson, there is an outline containing all the information you would
need, to feel comfortable teaching the material that is intended to be covered.

· Each lesson has been designed to cover the proper learning strands and achievement objectives outlined in the
National Science Curriculum Document.

· Incorporated in the unit are the achievement objectives as well as the levels of achievement. It is up to
individual teachers to determine at which of these levels students are operating.

In terms of outcomes, students will:

· Identify and investigate the factors that affect our weather e.g. wind temperature, air pressure and moisture,
landforms, distance from sea.

· Develop skills in using and constructing instruments such as thermometers, barometers, rain gauges, and wind

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 Course: Curriculum and Instruction (6503)
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meters to investigate and record weather conditions.

· Use standard units of measurement for temperature, rainfall, wind speed, wind and water content.

· Explore the major features, including the water cycle, that characterise Earth’s water reserves, e.g. oceans,
rivers, ice caps, clouds.

· To extend and enrich language development through oral and written expression.

· Demonstrate and develop an understanding of general scientific terms.

· Attitudes fostered could include creativity, co-operation, tolerance, and evaluation.

Two Relevant Points from the Situational Analysis

Personal Characteristics

By incorporating a lot of interaction between the students in discussion times and through doing physical
construction or scientific evaluation, I am trying to get the students to develop personal and corporate
understandings of who they are in relation to others. This unit fosters healthy interaction and co-dependence, it
requires students to change or develop there opinions to incorporate an understanding of others views, while
being able to hold their own views at arms length enabling them to maintain a healthy discussion environment.
This kind of critical thinking is a start to helping students examine the world around them.

Intellectual Development

By making this unit hands on task orientated I am trying to inspire the student and address the issue of literacy
development. This unit helps the learner achieve success through many tactile scientific processes. It works
through the learning objectives systematically and enables the learner to access information in small bite sized
chunks.

Connecting to the School

Wesley Intermediate has as its mission statement that in everything we are striving to provide quality education
for life long learning, to see excellence in all learning areas and foster respect for self, others and property.
During the development of this unit, I have tried to incorporate a safe learning environment where students can
achieve excellence, where they learn respect for their peer’s ideas, and are able to think constructively about the
things they believe and the reasons why they believe them. This unit has been developed to foster, recognise
and support the values and educational goal of Wesley Intermediate.

Worldview Issues

Wesley Intermediate is a secular state school. With this in mind, I have had to develop this unit omitting an
overt Christian ethos. However, because a high percentage of the school are Polynesian and would profess to
being Christian and the fact that the majority of the teaching staff are Christian, I have designed this unit to be

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taught by Christians bringing their unique worldview to bear on the curriculum fostering the “wow” of creation
and the majesty of a creator God. With this in mind, there is much scope for individual teachers to bring their
own Christian teaching biases into the classroom as they use and reinterpret the unit. I see this as one way that
we can be seen to be using the secular curriculum at a state level, but really be using a more organic Christian
curriculum at the local classroom level.

Interaction and Collaboration

While undertaking this situational analysis and designing this unit I have had substantial interaction with
colleagues in my syndicate and school community. We have discussed some of the key factors that should be
incorporated into curriculum development at Wesley Intermediate, and had insightful discussions of the
significance that culture plays on worldview understanding and development of Wesley Intermediate students.

Insights Gained

One of the key insights I have gained through the study of this unit is that the link between school and the life of
the community has become frail and in some places non-existent. In order to make learning a life long process,
this will need to be ratified at the curriculum development level. School and community are not separate
entities; they are one in the same. Community needs really need to be better incorporated into the curriculum
design process. It may be possible to achieve this with more highly focused situational analysis, however, closer
personal relationships is possibly a another way of achieving this in an informal sense.

I have begun to realise that when developing curriculum at Wesley there needs to be a dominant theme of
values based action and cognitive response. While its possible to talk about this using words and vocabulary
borrowed from secular education, at our local level the learner needs to be viewed as if they have not received
what most would say are fundamental the rights of every person to be raised surrounded by a loving family in
the biblical sense. They have not been trained and admonished to understand the consequences of actions, being
able to respond to life situations in a rational, mature manner. This is the challenge to which we must rise.
During this assignment, I have had my eyes opened to the power of reflective practice, good planning and
understanding the mountain that we are trying to move. A situational analysis is a great starting point for any
curriculum developer, although I would add that closer community relationships need to be developed at the
same time. The situational analysis enables the developer to maintain a clear focus on the issues and learning
objectives that the curriculum is addressing. Meeting ones, aims, goals or objectives is paramount in all spheres
of life. During this assignment, I have been able to foster an understanding of school, community, and personal
Goals/ideals. This knowledge has helped me to develop an understanding of curriculum development that
brings hope, inspiration and most importantly a sense of “wow”.
Q.3 How would you select and organize content? What teaching strategies can be used for teaching the
content?
People who create online learning get involved in many types of content development tasks. In addition to
researching and developing content for courses, you may find yourself creating training manuals for webinars or
the classroom, writing web copy, making reference materials, and developing Electronic Performance Support
Systems, Help documentation, presentations and so on.
During all of these tasks, you will be organizing content at a high level to give it a meaningful structure. A
meaningful structure is logical, helping people to comprehend and retain the content as well as helping them
quickly find the content they need.

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Assuming that you’ve sufficiently wrapped your mind around the content, use the list below to find the most
effective strategy for organizing it. Sticking to one high-level strategy will help streamline the design process
and it helps learners and users understand the larger framework of a course, website or document. The content
on this page is organized alphabetically.
1. Alphabetical
A conventional but important organizing principle for content is alphabetical order. Because most people learn
how to use alphabetical order in childhood, it’s nearly intuitive. Alphabetical order allows for quick and easy
access to information. Example: Help documentation, glossaries, lists like this.
2. Categorical
Some content has a flat structure. There is no hierarchy, no sequence and all of the topics are more or less at the
same level of difficulty with no prerequisites. In this case, you can organize the content by category in a
nonlinear structure. For example, content can be organized by tasks (e.g., teaching all of the editing functions in
Word) or by products (e.g., information about cell phones with high-end cameras).  Example: A course for
teachers presenting the rules of various children’s games might be organized by games for preschoolers, games
for early elementary years and games for older children.
3. Cause and Effect
Organizing content by cause and effect may not be the first approach you think of, but it can be effective when
used for the the right purpose. When the content presents problems and solutions, then a cause and effect
structure is appropriate. Example: A course on troubleshooting a network for IT professionals could be arranged
by problems and solutions.
4. Inherent Structure
Often content has its own structure that is cognitively natural to the subject. If the content presents events in a
time line, then a chronological order is self-evident. If the content revolves around various geographical areas,
then organization by location is natural. Example: A course teaching agriculture extension agents about soil
could be organized by soil layers, starting with the topsoil.
5. Order of Importance
In a flat structure without hierarchy, the most effective approach for organizing content might be by the order of
its importance. Because learners usually pay the most attention to the beginning and end of a topic, you have
quite a few options for arranging the content. You can either: 1) place the most important content at the start
AND the end or 2) proceed from the least important to the most important content or 3) go from most important
to least. This last approach is my favorite. An analysis of your content will help you figure out which approach
to choose. Example: In an online presentation for new employees, Human Resources might first want to
introduce critical security issues and how to safeguard company information prior to discussing less important
issues, such as the office holiday party.
6. Simple to Complex
Instructional content can be organized from the simple to complex even when the simpler content is not
subordinate or prerequisite to the complex content. This strategy provides a slow initiation into a subject,
building the learner’s confidence and knowledge base. Example: A course on personal finance might teach how
a savings account works prior to teaching how to balance a checkbook. Although the savings account content is
not prerequisite for balancing a checkbook, it’s an easier concept to grasp.
7. Sequential
When you’re presenting a process or procedure, it’s often most effective to structure the content as a series of
steps. The structure of sequential content provides hooks for learners to remember the steps of the
procedure. Example: A course that teaches how to draw blood from a patient would require a sequential
structure.

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8. Spiral
A spiral approach might be difficult to implement in a single course, but it is certainly appropriate for a
curriculum. A Spiral structure revisits each topic in a systematic way at a more detailed and complex level each
time. Example: A typical mathematics curriculum uses the spiral approach.
9. Subordinate to Higher Level (Hierarchical)
When the content requires that a learner master subordinate skills or knowledge to advance to a higher level
skill, a hierarchical structure is effective. This is one of the most well-used structures for courses because much
of what people learn is based on prerequisite knowledge and skills. Example: As a prerequisite to learning how
to handle difficult customers at a call center, learners would first need to know the basics of effective customer
communication.
10. Whole to Parts
An excellent approach to organizing content is to introduce the big picture or system view first and then to
delve into the parts of the system. Providing the big picture helps adult learners make sense of information. It
also provides a framework for fitting information together in memory. The whole to parts organization is
similar to a general to specific structure. Example: In a course or in documentation about computer repair, first
present the higher-level systems of the computer and then present the components of each system.
Q.4 How can educational curricula and processes improve in the light of evaluation of the programmes?
The purpose of curriculum evaluation is to determine whether or not the newly adopted curriculum is
producing the intended results and meeting the objectives that it has set forth, and it is an essential component in
the process of adopting and implementing any new curriculum in any educational setting. Another purpose of
curriculum evaluation is to gather data that will help in identifying areas in need of improvement or change.
There are several parties, or stakeholders, interested in the process and results of curriculum evaluation.
 Parents are interested because they want to be assured that their children are being provided with a
sound, effective education.
 Teachers are interested because they want to know that what they are teaching in the classroom will
effectively help them cover the standards and achieve the results they know parents and administration
are expecting.
 The general public is interested because they need to be sure that their local schools are doing their best
to provide solid and effective educational programs for the children in the area.
 Administrators are interested because they need feedback on the effectiveness of their curricular
decisions.
 Curriculum publishers are interested because they can use the data and feedback from a curriculum
evaluation to drive changes and upgrades in the materials they provide.
In the end, the goal is always to make sure that students are being provided with the best education possible.
Because the curriculum is a huge part of this, curriculum evaluation is a means of deciding whether or not the
chosen curriculum is going to bring the school closer to that goal.
Let's take a closer look at several of the models available for curriculum evaluation:
The Tyler model, a curriculum evaluation model that takes into account information from the active learner and
pays close attention to how well the goals and objectives of the curriculum are supported by the experiences and
activities provided, was named after its creator, Ralph Tyler, and focuses on four main areas:
 The purpose of the curriculum being evaluated (the objectives)
 The experiences that are provided to support that purpose (the strategies and content)
 How these experiences are organized (organization of the content)
 How the outcomes are evaluated (assessment)

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It has been criticized, however, for its simplicity and because assessment is a final step rather than an ongoing
part of the process.

The Tyler model has several advantages: It is relatively easy to understand and apply. It is rational and
systematic. It focuses attention on curricular strengths and weaknesses, rather than being concerned solely with
the performance of individual students. It also emphasizes the importance of a continuing cycle of assessment,
analysis, and improvement. As Guba and Lincoln (1981) pointed out, however, it suffers from several
deficiencies. It does not suggest how the objectives themselves should be evaluated. It does not provide
standards or suggest how standards should be developed. Its emphasis on the prior statement of objectives may
restrict creativity in curriculum development, and it seems to place undue emphasis on the preassessment and
postassessment, ignoring completely the need for formative assessment. Similarly, Baron and Boschee (1995),
in their book Authentic Assessment: The Key to Unlocking Student Success, stress that “we are encountering
fundamental changes in the way we view and conduct assessment in American schools” (p. 1).
The Taba model, a curriculum evaluation model emphasizing inductive reasoning, was created by Hilda Taba
who believed that true curriculum should be developed by the teacher, rather than decided upon by
administration or another authority. The Taba model, also called the ''Inductive Approach,'' uses a series of
stages or steps, which can be applied in both the development and evaluation of curriculum.
These stages are:
1. Deciding on objectives
2. Selecting content
3. Organizing content
4. Selecting learning experiences and activities
5. Organizing learning experiences and activities
6. Deciding what and how to evaluate
That broader perspective mentioned above requires a less constricting view of both the purposes and foci of
curriculum evaluation. In reviewing the literature and acquiring a broader understanding of purpose, two
concepts delineated by Guba and Lincoln (1981) seem especially useful: merit and worth. Merit, as they use the
term, refers to the intrinsic value of an entity—value that is implicit, inherent, and independent of any
applications. Merit is established without reference to a context. Worth, on the other hand, is the value of an
entity in reference to a particular context or a specific application. It is the “payoff” value for a given institution
or group of people. Thus, a given English course may seem to have a great deal of merit in the eyes of experts:
It may reflect sound theory, be built on current research, and embody content that experts deem desirable. The
same course, however, may have relatively little worth for a teacher instructing unmotivated working-class
youth in an urban school: It may require teaching skills that the teacher has not mastered and learning materials
that the students cannot read. In this sense, then, curriculum evaluation should be concerned with assessing both
merit and worth.
The innovative practices to which many educators aspire can accommodate and build on more traditional
mandates (Ferrero, 2006). Although the models above seem sharply distinct from one another, some evidence of
congruence exists in current theories of evaluation. This congruence is quite evident in the ASCD monograph
Applied Strategies for Curriculum Evaluation (Brandt, 1981), in which seven experts in evaluation were asked
to explain how their “evaluation model” would be used in evaluating a secondary humanities course. While the
models proposed by the experts (Stake, Scriven, Eisner, and Worthen) differed in many of their details, several
common emphases emerged in the approaches: Study the context, determine client concerns, use qualitative
methods, assess opportunity cost (what other opportunities the student is missing by taking this course), be
sensitive to unintended effects, and develop different reports for different audiences. By using these common

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emphases, along with insights generated from analyzing other models, it is possible to develop a list of criteria
that can be used in both assessing and developing evaluation models. Such a list is shown in Exhibit 12.2.
Districts with sufficient resources to employ an expert consultant can use the criteria to assess the model
proposed by the consultant; districts developing a homegrown process can use the criteria to direct their own
work. The criteria will obviously result in an eclectic approach to evaluation, one that draws from the strengths
of several different models. Such an eclectic process has been used successfully in evaluating a field of study;
this same process also can be used to evaluate a course of study with the scope of the evaluation reduced.
Leadership and Evaluation
Quality leadership is a key component in the success of any evaluation process. One of the most important
aspects of that leadership role is for educational planners to understand the process of evaluation and how it
should be administered. Understanding the evaluation process means leaders will have to convey knowledge of
curriculum as well as instructional strategies. They will also have to convey their expectations of how teaching
and learning can be enhanced via the curriculum. There is a special need for leadership and more understanding
as to the process of evaluation and how it relates to the development of effective curriculum.
Technology and Evaluation
The rapid changes occurring in computer technology also pose a challenge to establishing effective evaluation
programs. Technology capabilities have continued to change faster than educational researchers can sustain. For
example, initial evidence on the use of computers in the classroom showed that “drill and practice” activities
were successful in reinforcing skills. Now, with continued advances in software and technology, teachers are
using computers in classrooms in entirely different ways. It therefore has been difficult for researchers to
complete large-scale, controlled studies that lead to solid conclusions because by the time their research is
published, new technologies are providing new opportunities for teachers and students. With the exception of
National Educational Technology Standards and the International Society for Technology in Education, the lack
of correlated state technology standards and guidelines at times creates a barrier to providing quality
assessment. Currently, a limited number of districts in the country have established formal guidelines for
evaluating the effectiveness of technology in their schools.
Preparing for the Evaluation
Preparations for the evaluation include three major steps: setting the project parameters, selecting the project
director and the evaluation task force, and preparing the evaluation documents. In setting the project parameters,
district administrators in consultation with the school board should determine both the purpose and the limits of
the project. They should, first of all, be clear about the central purpose of the review, because purpose will
affect both issues to be examined and methods to be used. In identifying the limits of the project, they should
develop answers to the following questions:
• How much time will be allocated, and by what date should the evaluation be completed? • What human, fiscal,
and material resources will be provided? • Which fields will be evaluated? • What constituencies will be asked
for input? Specifically, will parents, community representatives, and students be involved? With those
parameters set, the project director and evaluation task force should be selected. The project director should be a
consultant or a member of the district staff who has considerable technical expertise in curriculum evaluation.
The task force should function as an advisory and planning group, making recommendations to and monitoring
the performance of the project director. It should probably include a total of 10 to 20 individuals, depending on
the size of the district, and have adequate representation from these constituencies: school board, school
administrators, teachers and other faculty members, and parents and community organizations. If administrators
wish, and if it is felt that their input can be useful, secondary students can be included. The project director and
the task force can then begin to assemble the documents necessary for the program review. The following
documents will typically be needed: • A statement of the curriculum goals for that field • A comprehensive

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description of the community and the student body • A list of all required courses in that field, with time
allocations and brief descriptions of each course • A list of all elective courses in the field, including time
allocations, course descriptions, and most recent enrollment figures • A random selection of student schedules •
Syllabi or course guides for all courses offered • Faculty schedules, showing class enrollments Other materials,
of course, will be required as the review gets under way, but the abovelisted materials are important at the
outset.
Q.5 What are the dynamics of curriculum change? Elaborate the process of curriculum change.
Curriculum change is a learning process for teachers and for their schools. Good understanding of change and
clear conception of curriculum are necessary conditions for im‐proved implementation of new curriculum into
practice. The key message of this presentation can be crystallized into three conclusions. (1) Successful
curriculum development requires better use of ‘change knowledge’ ‐ failure is often a result of neglecting it.
Policy‐makers, education leaders and teachers need to know more about the drivers of successful curriculum
change in schools. There‐fore, learning about educational change and its key features should become inte‐gral
elements of any serious curriculum reform process. (2) Re‐conceptualizing curriculum. Many curriculum
reforms are based on how the curriculum has traditionally been organized. As a consequence, many curricula
have become overloaded, confusing and inappropriate for teachers and students. Therefore, curriculum
orientation should shift from a curriculum as product model to a curriculum as process model. This would also
transform the role of the curricu‐lum from a purely technical document into a more comprehensive idea that
also serves as guideline for school improvement. (3) Changing the way teachers teach and students learn
requires specific approaches. In‐service training of teachers is not enough. If curriculum reform aims at
changing the ways students learn and teachers teach, more sophisticated implementation strategies are required.
Therefore, helping teachers to create professional learning communities and schools to learn from each other are
recommended approaches. The myth of change Curriculum reforms are all about change. Nations, states, local
communities and schools renew their curricula because their existing ones are not what they should be, or
simply because there is a belief that changing the curriculum will also bring expected improve‐ments into
classrooms. Whatever the drivers for the global curriculum reforms are, every reform architect is facing the
question of how change eventually will happen. Only a few of those who initiate and authorize these reforms
will be asked later on why the intended change didn’t happen as expected. Change is learning. Undermining this
characteristic of change – or learning – has led many education developers in general and curriculum reformers
in particular to adopt over‐simplistic approaches in trying to change the existing practices and modes of
thinking in schools. Curriculum change efforts are typically labeled as implementation or transmission of
intended curriculum into classroom practice in schools. A common means of this transmission is the diffusion
of information to raise the awareness of re‐form, in‐service training of teachers to improve their knowledge and
relevant skills and dissemination of support materials, such as teachers’ guides and educational pamphlets to
parents, to back‐up the intended change. In many ways the problem of curriculum change is similar to the
problems related to understanding human learning through be‐haviorist or positivist perspectives. For a long
time human learning was explored and explained using positivist sci‐entific models, especially experimental
behaviorist psychology, as a deterministic and externally observable change (Pinar et al., 1995). This means that
by knowing and ma‐nipulating the stimuli, or input of the learning process, we are able to control the re ‐sponse,
or output of the learning process. In this way, complex learning was reduced to a simple sequence of stimulus
and response, in other words, learning was explained through multiple linear stimulus‐response sequences.
What is significant in these concep‐tions of learning as deterministic and reductionist change is that very little
or no attention was devoted to the learner – or organism as it was called in this model – or intellectual,
emotional or social characteristics of the organism. The learner and the mental processes of her mind
constituted a ‘black box’ that was beyond the reach of the methods of positiv‐ist science. Later in the 20 th

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century this model of learning has come under continuous criticism and contemporary learning paradigms based
on cognitive psychology, cognition science and brain research has increasingly been accepted as a dominant
perspective on learning. Figure 1 illustrates the nature of the behaviorist model of learning.
Curriculum and the legacy of modernism
The organization of schooling has long been associated with the idea of a curriculum. Therefore, another
necessary aspect involved in planning successful curriculum imple‐mentation is to understand what we mean by
the curriculum. Comprehensive analysis of different curriculum theories and their practical implications is
beyond the scope of this presentation. What follows, instead, is a brief narrative on the evolution of curriculum
thinking in order to understand why the curriculum is what it is, and how the broader conception of the
curriculum would be more suitable to contemporary educational knowledge and research on school
improvement. The origin of modern curriculum thinking relates back to the first half of the 20 th century when
two American writers Franklin Bobbitt (1918) and Ralph Tyler (1949) pub‐lished their works on curriculum
that were the most dominant in terms of laying the ground for curriculum theory and practice. Two exerts from
these early authorities in the field of curriculum thinking hopefully show the essence of the modernist
conception of the curriculum. The first exert is from The Curriculum (1918) in which Bobbitt writes that: The
central theory [of curriculum] is simple. Human life, however varied, consists in the performance of specific
activities. Education that prepares for life is one that prepares definitely and adequately for these specific
activities. However numerous and diverse they may be for any social class they can be discovered. This requires
only that one go out into the world of affairs and discover the particulars of which their affairs consist. These
will show the abilities, attitudes, habits, appreciations and forms of knowledge that men need. These will be the
objectives of the curriculum. They will be numerous, definite and particularized. The curriculum will then be
that series of experiences which children and youth must have by way of obtaining those objectives.
This question guide is designed to introduce common questions and steps to curricular change to apply at both
the course or curriculum level.
1. Analyze current teaching practices and learning goals
o What would be one thing you would want to change about student learning in your course?
o In thinking about observations of your classroom, is there a recurring challenge or issue you
would like to address through an adjustment in your teaching or course design?
o What does student learning or student understanding mean in the context of your course within
the discipline?
o What does it mean when a student “gets it”? What does it mean to say that a student is not
“getting it”?
o Where does your course fit into the curriculum, your department, your discipline (thinking about
the course context)?
2. Re-examine the links between goals and course design
o What are your goals for student learning?
o How do your goals for student learning inform the teaching approaches you take?
o How does your course design most emphasize the learning goals you most value?
o Do students have sufficient opportunity to engage in the kinds of intellectual work that you most
want them to transfer to another course experience?
3. Reconsider the role of assessment in the course
o How do you know that students are meeting your stated goals?
o What types of assessments do you use in the course? What feedback do you get from students
about these assessments?

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o How do the assignments map to the goals you have set out for students? What competencies or
skills does each assignment address?
o How many assignments do you consider "authentic" or grounded in true disciplinary practices?
4. Develop teaching strategies and approach
o In thinking about your assignments, where and how might technology support the learning
process?
o Think about how you structure course time. How might technology help shift some of what
currently happens in the class to outside of class?
o If you use group work or peer collaboration assignments, how are they structured? What is your
rationale for having students work together?
5. Explore Curricular Questions
o What do you want a graduate to know or be able to do well?
o What do you value about this discipline?
o What do you want to preserve about the current curriculum?
o What would you describe as the areas in the curriculum that could be strengthened?
o Resources:
 Research resources and support at the University to assist in this project. The Dean of the
College and the Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship are outlets for assistance.
 Review the German Department's Curriculum Renewal site.
6. Gather Data
o Is what you value being transferred to students?
o What are your current questions about student learning?
o What methods and data will help you determine what students are taking away from the major?
o How might you match questions about student learning to particular assessment strategies to
implement in one semester (surveys, focus groups, essays, etc.)
7. Brainstorm the Ideal Major
o What would the ideal major accomplish?
o How and where can the department ensure that the curricular goals for students will be met at the
course level?
o Resources
 Revisit disciplinary association mission statements. Discuss as a department how the
curriculum meets or could meet the mission.
8. Formulate, Deliberate, and Assess Possible Reform Models
o Based on the conversations about the ideal major, which potential change would accommodate
your goals for student learning?
o How would this reform your current curriculum?
o Based on earlier assessment strategies, what are your strategies for assessing this particular
change?

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