Identifying and changing
key curriculum design
practices
Viewpoints, University of Ulster:
Dr Alan Masson and Catherine O’Donnell
OULDI, Open University:
Dr Simon Cross and Rebecca Galley
Introduction
• Short overview from each project
• Activity led examination of how each institution has identified and then sought to change - curriculum design processes and
practices
• Please ask questions in the chat box as we go
• Further opportunity to ask questions and contribute answers
to an asynchronous discussion over the next few days
• This session complements the main conference session
“What needs to change in curriculum design” at 11.30am 24th
November
Viewpoints Project: Background
Institutional priority – promote greater innovation and creativity in
course design
To support this – new streamlined course approval and validation
processes
Viewpoints Project – provide an “inspiration” layer to the process
Viewpoints Overview
The Viewpoints “approach” uses a card sorting metaphor with
the resources providing semi structured prompts and
suggestions with a learner centred timeline
The tools use a learner timeline with established principles to
help staff consider key interactions of the learning process (i.e.
essence)
1.Assessment and Feedback
2.Learner Engagement
3.Information Skills / Digital Literacy
Inform – Inspire - Plan
Example timeline worksheet
Assessment and Feedback Principles
REAP (http://www.reap.ac.uk/)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Clarify good performance.
Encourage time and effort on task.
Deliver high quality feedback.
Provide opportunities to act on feedback.
Encourage interaction and dialogue.
Develop self-assessment and reflection.
Give assessment choice.
Encourage positive motivational beliefs.
Inform and shape your teaching.
*Implementation ideas for each principle on back of cards.
First Impressions
A (very) quick hands on example of the Viewpoints “method”
using some of the Assessment & Feedback Principles
Look at the good practice principle(s) cards and “vote” for
one which you think would be particularly important
enhance a particular course you have in mind.
A
P
C
B
P
P
Task 2 – Mapping of principle(s) to the
student timeline
“Vote” for which of the following would provide the best impact for
the use of your chosen principle.
A – induction
C – mid semester
B – first few weeks
D – final phase
In less than two hours………
By students – for students…………
Key findings to date
Information framework benefits
A. Structured use of data – inform / inspire / plan workflow;
B. Curriculum design informed by outputs of robust research
and best practices
C. Tactile - encourage experimentation / enquiry;
D. Customisable - promotes creativity;
E. Data “lite” / information rich outputs.
Information Framework Benefits
“It offers a structure and prompts that colleagues might not
otherwise consider”
“…it starts with an intuitive structure and ‘allows’ creativity
from there – much of the direction is hidden in the
assumptions and design”
“Invaluable in breaking a module up into manageable chunks”
“The cards are brilliant as they identify solutions to problems
and help you develop effective teaching practices”
Social Context Benefits
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
Informal environment
Shared meanings*
Consensus building*
Shared vision*
Meaningful conversations*
*: facilitated by resources / process
Social Context Benefits
“Allows open/honest discussion and reflection. Brings all staff
together”
“Can stimulate discussion, collaborative team working and
initiate new ideas for curriculum design. It also prompts
teams to be mindful of the student learner”
“It has allowed a space for creativity to be shown in a group of
peers”
“The opportunity the process brings to discuss teaching
processes with peers”
“Invaluable in creating a team”
Poll: Which of the following do you believe to be the most
important benefit to Curriculum Design in your personal
context?
A. Institutional use of formal sets of Principles (i.e. REAP)
B. Better articulated course strategies
C. More “effective” course teams
D. Use of learner relevant language / concepts
E. Strategies and practices described in a shareable format
www.wordle.net
Viewpoints Project Information
Project Staff:
• Alan Masson (Director), Catherine O’Donnell, Vilinda Ross,
Karen Virapen, Jill Harrison, Fiona McCloy, James Gheel
Web Presence:
Blog - http://viewpointsproject.blogspot.com/
Re-usable resources - http://wiki.ulster.ac.uk/display/VPR/Home
Slideshare - http://www.slideshare.net/Viewpoints
Flickr – http://www.flickr.com/photos/viewpointsproject/collections/
JISC Design Studio –
http://jiscdesignstudio.pbworks.com/w/page/29227748/Viewpoints
%20project
Open
University Learning Design
The Open
Initiative
(OULDI)
University
Learning
Design
Initiative
(OULDI)
Overarching questions
1. What does a quality design process look like? and what
needs to change to get there?
2. In what ways can the efficiency and effectiveness of time
spent designing be improved?
Project aims
FORMAL STRUCTURES
Institutional
Process change
INFORMAL STRUCTURES
5
Tools for design 2
and representations
Design methods,
practices and discipline
1
3
Design
Communities
Resources 4
and representations
How do we identify the need to
change?
What exactly is ‘learning design’?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
a methodology (self-discipline or process dictated)
a role or stage in a process
an object or artefact
a support to decisions on resource
a means to promote new pedagogic approaches and tools
an aspiration
an interpretation suitable for reuse
How can we capture the formal and
informal process?
Survey
The advent of elearning is making the
process of creating courses more
complex:
A: Agree
B: Agree Somewhat
C: Neither agree nor disagree
D: Disagree somewhat
E: Disagree
Results
The advent of elearning is making the process of creating
courses more complex
70
Teaching (23)
60
Non-Teaching (26)
50
%
40
30
20
10
0
No response
Agree
Agree
somew hat
Neither agree
nor disagree
Disagree
somew hat
Disagree
Survey
It is becoming harder to understand how
all the parts/components of planned
learning and teaching fit together
A: Agree
B: Agree Somewhat
C: Neither agree nor disagree
D: Disagree somewhat
E: Disagree
Results
It is becoming harder to understand how all the
parts/components of planned learning and teaching fit together
60
Teaching (23)
Non-Teaching (26)
50
%
40
30
20
10
0
No response
Agree
Agree
somew hat
Neither agree
nor disagree
Disagree
somew hat
Disagree
OULDI visualisation tools
• CompendiumLD
• Icon sets (SVG and
sticker sheets)
• Excel spreadsheets
• Paper templates
“Drawing the diagram really helps me think about all the elements and features.
Once familiar with method, it informs my mental imagining of a design even if a
diagram is not actually drawn… It helps me think about what instructions are
required, what resources are required, and how to bridge gaps…”
OULDI representations
Four views:
•Module/ course Map
•Learning Outcomes
view
•Pedagogy profile
•Design sequence/
‘Swimlane’
Pedagogical features card sort
Conceptual tools and frameworks
•
•
•
Primarily drawn from the OULDIJISC work but also include
related useful tools and resources
produced by others working in the
learning design field
All of the tools have been
rigorously tried and tested across
a variety of learning and teaching
contexts
All of the tools are openly
available in the Learning Design
Toolbox in Cloudworks
Conceptual tools and frameworks
Conceptual tools and frameworks
Design communities
When asked what they think would
most help improve their practice,
practitioners often say they want
examples from others and access
to a network of practitioners to
share and discuss ideas
“Thank you for running a whole
day event. I think we needed this
time to really become familiar with
the motivation and nature of the
course and to develop close crosscurricular links with other
colleagues, a secondary but
immensely valuable side product”
Take the virtual field trip
Who, what, where, when?
Links to all the tools introduced today, including the four views
and CompendiumLD, have been added to the asynchronous
discussion space under the thread:
‘Who, what, where, when?’
You can visit the discussion thread after this session and
review the tools. Consider for each:
– Who is it useful for?
– What level of expertise is required?
– When in the process might it be used?
Where is the most potential for
improvement in your institution?
A: Staff design practices
B: Staff support and development
C: Monitoring and feedback
D: Institutional policies
E: Other
Useful links and further reading
Project blog http://www.open.ac.uk/blogs/OULDI/
Design Studio http://jiscdesignstudio.pbworks.com/w/search?q=ouldi
Cloudworks http://cloudworks.ac.uk/
Simon Cross s.j.cross@open.ac.uk
Rebecca Galley r.galley@open.ac.uk
Cross, S. and Conole, G. (2008), Learn about learning design, Learn
about guides series, The Open University: Milton Keynes, available
http://www.open.ac.uk/blogs/OULDI/wpcontent/uploads/2010/11/Learn-about-learning-design_v7.doc
Conole, G. (forthcoming). Designing for learning in an open world.
New York: Springer.
Questions
Next steps: Asynchronous activity
• Links to all the activities and resources introduced in this
session will be added to the asynchronous space and any
questions we haven’t answered will be added there. We hope
that you will also be able to contribute answers...!
• In particular we would like to explore:
‘What are the key issues in curriculum design processes
and practices, how do we know and how can we
overcome barriers to change?’
• Please join us 