2. Curriculum Definition and Meaning
• 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.
But in broader sense CURRICULUM typically refer to the
• knowledge and skills students are expected to learn (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
• Finally the tests, assessments, and other methods used to
evaluate student learning.
3. Historical Concept of Curriculum
• John Franklin Bobbitt defines curriculum, as an idea, has its roots in
the Latin word for race-course, explaining the curriculum as the course
of deeds and experiences through which children become
the adults they should be to succeed later in life.
• John Dewey has emphasized child-centred education and considered
child’s efforts and his experiential knowledge to be most important for
his all-round development. He also considered social perspectives
useful for the development of child’s education.
• Kerr defines curriculum as all the learning which is planned and guided
by the school, whether it is carried on in groups or individually, inside or
outside of school.
• Braslavsky states that curriculum is an agreement among communities,
educational professionals, and the State. Furthermore, the curriculum
defines "why, what, when, where, how, and with whom to learn.
4. According to Smith Curriculum can be structured as
• Step 1: Diagnosis of needs.
• Step 2: Formulation of objectives.
• Step 3: Selection of content.
• Step 4: Organization of content.
• Step 5: Selection of learning experiences.
• Step 6: Organization of learning experiences.
• Step 7: Determination of what to evaluate and of the ways
and means of doing it.
5. Types of Curricula
• Intended Curriculum: What societies envisage as important teaching and learning.
• Written Curriculum: Since it is presented in official documents, it may be also called the
"written" or "official" curriculum. This is usually expressed in comprehensive and user-friendly
documents, such as curriculum frameworks or subject curricula/syllabi, and in relevant and helpful
learning materials, such as textbooks, teacher guides, and assessment guides.
• Implemented Curriculum: At a classroom level, If this intended curriculum may be altered
through a range of complex classroom interactions, and what is actually delivered can be
considered the "implemented" curriculum.
• Learned Curriculum: What learners really learn (i.e. what can be assessed and can be
demonstrated as learning outcomes or competencies) constitutes the "achieved" or "learned"
curriculum.
• Hidden Curriculum: curriculum theory points to a "hidden" curriculum (i.e. the unintended
development of personal values and beliefs of learners, teachers, and communities; the unexpected
impact of a curriculum; or the unforeseen aspects of a learning process).
Note:
People who are involved in developing the intended curriculum should have all these different
dimensions of the curriculum in view. While the "written" curriculum does not exhaust the meaning
of curriculum, it is important because it represents the vision of the society.
6. What is Curriculum Development?
Curriculum development is the
multi-step process of creating
and improving a course taught at
a school or university.
7. Stages of Curriculum Development
• Analysis
• Building
• Implementation
• Evaluation
Do the curriculum need to be updated?
Yes, Ideally, the curriculum development process should
be one of continuous improvement rather than a linear or
stagnant approach.
Plans for instruction should be frequently reviewed, revised,
and updated as new and different needs arise
8. Why is curriculum development useful for educators?
• A meticulously developed curriculum furnish educators with a
guiding framework to build upon during day-to-day instruction.
• Curriculum development encompasses and takes care of the
big-picture strategy required to successfully teach a course.
Since decisions like course objectives, content alignment and
sequencing, and delivery methods and techniques are made in
advance, instructors can focus on smaller details like planning for
a specific topic or developing effective assessments.
• Additionally, a repetitive curriculum development process gives
educators a design to make improvements to the course after
evaluating student performance and receiving end-of-term-
feedback.
9. Why is a concrete curriculum development strategy
valuable for learners?
• It not only provide benefits for teachers, curriculum
development is a useful formation for learners
• Curriculum development permit teachers to take a
thoughtful and methodical approach to determine what
students will be required to learn. The early stages of the
process involve deep research and analysis to ensure that
students get the best education possible.
• Moreover, the most effective approaches for course
specifically addresses the needs of learners.
10. Models of Curriculum Development
• Two Models of Curriculum Development :
• Product model. Also known as the objectives model, this model
focuses on evaluations, outcomes, and results. It determines what
learning has occurred. If you need to develop a curriculum that
prioritizes standardized test scores, you'll need to adhere to the
product model. Generally, this model is thought to be more rigid and
more difficult to adapt to your students' unique needs, but it does
provide quantitative learning assessments.
• Process model. This model focuses on how learning develops over
time. There's an emphasis on how the students are learning, and
what thoughts they have throughout the process. This approach is
more open-ended and considers the overall growth and development
of a student rather than their performance on an exam.
12. Difference between curriculum Development and
Instructional Design
What is Instruction Design?
It is the systematic process of designing and creating a
high-quality educational experience. ID is a multi-step
approach that prioritizes the needs of the learner at every
phase.
Difference:
Curriculum development is what students will learn
Instructional design is how students will learn it.
13. What are the steps of Curriculum
Development?
•Analysis
•Design
•Selecting
•Formation
•Review
14. What are the challenges of curriculum development?
Curriculum development is not an easy process. It is difficult and time-consuming.
Some of these challenges include:
• Institutional requirements.
Need to conform to standards set by your state's board of education or by institutional
administration.
Covering material that will be assessed by standardized tests, requiring you to incorporate
product-focused curricular elements.
Including certain types of course objectives.
• Long waits for development experts.
Your institution may have trained curriculum experts on staff to help educators with course
development.
But there is usually a much higher demand than these small teams have the capacity for,
leading to long wait times.
• Gathering relevant required materials.
Once the curriculum is mostly outlined, instructors will need to search for the right required
materials to align with course objectives.
It's difficult (and sometimes impossible) to find an option that is affordable for students and
works well for your course.
This is too often the case with both textbooks and e-textbooks from traditional publishers, but
new options like custom digital course material can alleviate these concerns.
15. Models of C.D: Subject-Centered
This model emphasizes the specific skills and knowledge associated with a
subject area. Most kinds of widely standardized curriculum fall under the
subject-centered approach. It's the most common approach used throughout K-12
schools in the western schools.
• When you hear the term "core curriculum," it's referring to a subject-centered
approach. While this model intends to create equal learning experience across
different schools and classes, it doesn't always work out that way in practice.
• Because this approach is not student-centered, it can lead to a lack of
engagement and potentially lower performance. Additionally, this approach
leaves little room for cross-subject connections.
Example: If you're teaching an introductory history course of a nation, a
subject-centered curriculum may include covering the details and key
players of major wars.
16. Problem-Centered
This approach aims to provide students with relevant real-world
skills. Learners are taught how to look at a problem and come
to a solution.
Some benefits of this approach are an increased emphasis
on critical thinking, a focus on collaboration, and more
innovation in the classroom. Students still learn key skills
and knowledge, but with additional context.
• Example: A problem-centered approach to teaching a public
relations course might involve tasking a group of students with
assessing a real business's PR strategy and developing an
actionable campaign.
17. Learner-Centered
Learner-centered design emphasizes the needs and goals of each learner as an
individual. With this approach, you'll analyze the preexisting knowledge and learning
styles of your students. The needs of your learners will guide your curriculum
development process.
Generally, this type of curriculum development aligns most closely with a
process-focused curriculum.
Example: One way to incorporate learner-centered design into your curriculum is by
inviting students to fill out a pre-course survey to see what they already know about your
subject and what areas they are most interested in learning. This can be especially
beneficial for upper-level courses—hopefully, students are coming in with a solid
foundation of knowledge, but a learner-centered approach uses data rather than
assumptions to determine curricular goals.
18. Now the question arises which Model to be
implemented by the Curriculum Developer?
For a comprehensive curriculum that strikes an ideal
balance for your
Course
Learners and
Subject area
you must include elements of from all of these models
because your C.D(curriculum design) would be fully
customized and comprehensive. Hence, this approach to
curriculum design will yield the best results for your course
over time.
