It is important to keep a program’s goal in mind from concept to delivery. As a course moves through the curriculum development process, teams of designers, analyzers, thinkers, and editors must remain focused on “implementing the skills and knowledge that students need for successful careers” (Neese, 2018). Just as an Olympic baton is passed between athletes, curriculum development is passed between creative designers in order to cultivate engaging and lively programs.
Curriculum development stretches beyond elementary and secondary teachers creating lecture plans, worksheets, assignments, and exams. In both online and in-classroom learning, “curriculum development is an important part of the education process, ensuring that classes at all levels, . . . are best designed to help students be successful in learning the material and gaining the skills needed to continue to advance” (Top Education Degrees). Overall, curriculum development involves an organized process in the creation of informational content into engaging courses. For online programs, the curriculum can travel between content experts, instructional, and multimedia designers.
In any eLearning business, the focused audience is what drives curriculum development and instructional design. While curriculum development focuses on what the students learn, instructional design focuses on how they will learn. However, the key goals in curriculum development are under the responsibility of instructional designers. As they receive information from content experts, their improvement of learning objectives, goals, and engaging features are all vital to the curriculum development. Content experts are responsible for the research and knowledge of the subjects. Their expertise ranges across topics as the needs of growth involve many future and current professionals looking for certification and other training programs that provide completion of advancing specific skill sets (Top Education Degrees).
Without curriculum development, eLearning programs can be messy, confusing, and difficult to navigate. The target of a curriculum development team must provide the latest research, grow essential learning goals, and create engaging interactives. In organizing an educational program, there are three different ways curriculum can be focused:
Each of these styles have both positives and negatives in the audience delivery. Subject-centered involves a focus on the content rather than the learner, leading to possible disengagement. Yet, a program that is subject-centered, can highlight the importance of sharing the latest research findings. Learner-centered involves a focus on the learners’ needs and goals over the content. While this method is engaging and tailored to learners’ specific needs, there remains a risk in missing important content within delivery. Problem-centered involves the focus of real-world problems and asking learners to formulate a solution. This model provides an essential growth for soft skills and professional development. Between each curriculum focus, the blending of all three elevates online programs to best capture audiences’ needs and expectations. Here at BCI, combining each style for the best program outcomes is vital in curriculum development. See how we elevate our programs.
As stated within the video, BCI keeps students in mind while cultivating empowering and fun online programs that promote individual achievements. We collaborate with worldwide experts to provide the programs students need in the format they want. In our partnership with Colorado State University – Global Campus, we draw from experiences and successes to produce qualitative online courses.
For more information on how BCI can help your team in Curriculum Development, contact us.
References
Beyond Campus Innovations, director. (2020, March 10). Curriculum development. Retrieved from youtu.be/3uBmhwSkcrc
Neese, B. (2018, July 9). Curriculum development and the instructional design process. NDMU Online. Retrieved from online.ndm.edu/news/education/curriculum-development-instructional-design-process/
Top Education Degrees. (n.d.). What is curriculum development? Retrieved from www.topeducationdegrees.org/faq/what-is-curriculum-development/
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