AIOU Assignment BEd 1.5 Year 2.5 Year 8603 Curriculum Development Assignment 2

AIOU Assignment BEd 1.5 Year 2.5 Year 8603 Curriculum Development Assignment 2

Note: For Other Assignment of BEd 1.5 Year or 2.5 Year Please click on the Links Below:

• BEd 1.5 Year
• BEd 2.5 Year

Q 1: Define the concept of “Curriculum Organization”. Select and examine the two textbooks of grade X and determine the procedure of content selection used by the authors.

Answer:

Curriculum organization

In the research literature various useful evidences can be found to help to design a good curriculum organization. However, there are no standard solutions. The effectiveness of certain ideas depends on the particular context of the curriculum: the discipline, the type of instruction, the culture in the teachers’ team, the aims etc. (Dearn, 2010). A number of research-based evidences that are relevant in making decisions about the organization of a curriculum in higher education are presented below.

Berkvens and Van den Akker (2013) have identified six quality criterions which should be met when (re)designing a curriculum:

• Relevance: The curriculum is based on state-of-the-art academic knowledge and understanding of contextual need and wishes
• Consistency: The structure of the curriculum in logical and coherent
• Practicality: The curriculum is usable in the context it is designed for
• Effectiveness: The curriculum leads to the desired outcomes
• Scalability: The curriculum is successfully implemented scale
• Sustainability: The curriculum remains successful over extended periods of time

1. An important result of learning research is that mastering the relevant learning objectives depends on the amount that the students are involved in activities that are likely to result in their achieving those outcomes. (Dearns 2010 and Shuell, 1998)). Learning in higher education is considered to be an active learning process. From the research into learning specific principles are formulated how the teacher can engage the study to study actively in order to master the learning objectives or aims. (Shuell, ….). In the other posts a detailed insight is given of the available evidences form the research into learning. 
2. According to Dearn (2010) and Van Merriënboer and Kirschner (2013) complex learning is a crucial component of the curricula of modern higher education. Professionals have to learn complex skills and competencies during their studies and they will never stop learning throughout their careers. The authors stress the importance of a holistic design approach. ‘Often complex content and tasks are continually reduced to simpler or smaller elements’. ‘Holistic design approaches attempt to deal with complexity without losing sight of the separate elements and interrelationships between those elements’. The learning and testing activities should be focussed on the complex learning of the students. Besides the professional competencies or complex skills, the metacognitive learning skills should have a place in the learning process: how to study, how to profit maximal from a lecture, a working group, a practical, how to prepare a thesis, etcetera.
3. Bovill et al (2011) concludes that in the existing research, the curriculum is identified as a key driver for improving the students’ engagement, and thereby success from the first year onwards’. This means that a good designed and described curriculum is an important condition to realize a good learning process.
4. Gibbs (2003) has formulated an important the principle Constructive alignment that aims, learning objectives, learning and testing activities should be in line with each other.
5. Dearn, 2010; Diamond, 1998; O’Brian, 2015; Verloop and Lowyck, 2003 and the AACU, 2002 stress that the different courses in a curriculum should build on each other. The students develop insight in the content and master the main competencies step-by-step in the consecutive courses. These developments can be described with help of learning tracks for the main competencies and the main content. The learning track in a curriculum can be explained with help of a scheme, or another visualization to show the steps in the learning process in the involves courses. 
6. Possibilities for personal development are important as well. For example, most students need half a year or more to learn and work as a student. They need to learn how to plan, how to study course material (written texts and digital), how to learn from video-presentations, how to work systematically, and how to learn new study skills because of blended learning (Bovill et al, 2011). Also, strengthening of the social bonding with the educational institute is likely to result in better study progress and less dropout (Tinto, 2012).
7. Curriculum models: Various curriculum models are introduced in higher education. Examples of the models are:

• Problem based education, project education, research based education.
• Theme oriented, interdisciplinary oriented, disciplinary oriented, competency based.
• Applying cognitive, constructive, social critical vision

Valcke (2007) and Onstein (2014) describe these models. XXX gives also examples of models for master program.

Which model(s) will be use ,depends strongly on the vision of the curriculum committee. There is not one standard solutions. The models showed possible organisations. Often there are evaluation studies available. How to choose from among the mentioned models and how to design a good curriculum? For this there is no simple solution. The success of a model depends strongly on the context in which the curriculum will be used. The curriculum committee should discuss the possibilities and decide which model or combinations of models will we used. During the development and the implementation of the education the quality of the curriculum should be evaluated.

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Q 2: Suggest means of improving B.Ed 1.5 curriculum development process of Allama Iqbal Open University in the light of the evaluation of the program.

Answer:

The CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT MODEL on the next page (Figure 1) shows how these components relate to each other and to the curriculum development process. It begins when an issue, concern, or problem needs to be addressed. If education or training a segment of the population will help solve the problem, then curriculum to support an educational effort becomes a priority with human and financial resources allocated.

The next step is to form a curriculum development team. The team makes systematic decisions about the target audience (learner characteristics), intended out-comes (objectives), content, methods, and evaluation strategies. With input from the curriculum development team, draft curriculum products are developed, tested, evaluated, and redesigned -if necessary. When the final product is produced, volunteer training is conducted. The model shows a circular process where volunteer training provides feedback for new materials or revisions to the existing curriculum.

An Example: In the case of population education, a need rural out-of-school youth with information on how population relates to the total environment as well as their personal lives.

(Insert Curriculum Development Model here)

Figure 1

Figure 2

PHASES AND STEPS IN CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT (See Figure 2 on the previous page) further illustrates how the 12 essential steps progress from one to the next. It also shows the interaction and relationships of the four essential phases of the curriculum development process: ( I) Planning, (II) Content and Methods, (III) Implementation, and (IV) Evaluation and Reporting. It is important to acknowledge that things do not always work exactly as depicted in a model!

Each phase has several steps or tasks to complete in logical sequence. These steps are not always separate and distinct, but may overlap and occur concurrently. For example, the curriculum development team is involved in all of the steps. Evaluations should occur in most of the steps to assess progress. The team learns what works and what does not and determines the impact of the curriculum on learners after it is implemented. Each step logically follows the previous. It would make no sense to design learning activities before learner outcomes and content are described and identified. Similarly, content cannot be determined before learner outcomes are described. 

In the experience of the author, and confirmed by other curriculum specialists, the following curriculum development steps are frequently omitted or slighted. These steps are essential to successful curriculum development and need to be emphasized.

Essential Curriculum Development Steps Needing Emphasis

1. Needs assessment: if not conducted, wonderful curriculum could be developed, but the appropriate needs of the target audience may not be met.
2. Involving youth: the target audience and volunteers (or staff) who will be the implementors of the curriculum must be involved (i.e., they participate as full members of the curriculum development team).
3. Recruiting and training volunteer facilitators: competent and skilled curriculum implementors are critical (the printed word cannot teach experiential group process, it doesn't provide feedback).
4. Evaluating and reporting on the impact of the curriculum: is critical for securing human and financial support from key policy decision makers and for assessing whether the curriculum has achieved the intended outcome.

Two types of evaluation are included in the Phases and Steps illustration: (1) Formative provides feedback during the process of developing the curriculum, and (2) Summative answers questions about changes (impact) that have occurred in learners because of their learning experiences. Summative evaluation provides evidence for what works, what does not work, and what needs to be improved. In every step of the curriculum development process, the most important task is to keep the learner (in this case, youth) in mind and involve them in process. For example, the curriculum team members, who have direct knowledge of the target audience, should be involved in conducting the needs assessment. From the needs assessment process, the problem areas are identified, gaps between what youth know and what they need to know are identified, and the scope of the problem is clarified and defined. The results may prompt decision makers to allocate resources for a curriculum development team to prepare curriculum materials.

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Q 3: Design a curriculum of educational program which is relevant to your community?

Answer:

The process of designing a curriculum program that includes components that meet the criteria described in the preceding section requires considerable time and commitment. Fortunately, the process does not have to be considered completely implemented for improvements in mathematics and science teaching and learning to be realized. Each stage of the process makes a contribution to these goals.

This report assumes that a curriculum program design committee, with representatives of various stakeholders in the school system or district, will be responsible for the design process. This process — described in this section — will be a major professional development experience for the committee members.

The process described in this section and illustrated by Figure 6 is not intended to be prescriptive but, rather, to suggest how to design a curriculum program. The boxes in Figure 6 represent key steps in the process. Factors that influence the process are represented by ovals.

Early in the process of developing or revising a curriculum program, the committee should study the 

mathematics and science education context of the

local community, community priorities, state mandates and assessments, local and state educational system structures, and local history of educational practices and programs. It is important for the committee to become familiar with this context, particularly with local, state, and national standards. Other policy documents, such as goals, mission statements, course requirements, and curriculum guides, should be considered carefully in the initial part of the design process. In addition, the committee should not only study current practices, customs, and beliefs about education in the local schools but should compare these to the educational research literature on best practices in teaching, learning, and curriculum design.

ESTABLISHING GOALS AND STANDARDS

As the starting point in the development of an improved curriculum program, a district needs goals and a set of standards to guide the work of the curriculum program design committee, particularly in the important areas of creating a framework and selecting the core instructional materials.

The previous section of the report, "Components of Coherent Mathematics and Science Education Curriculum Programs," lists criteria for goals and standards and indicates how national standards provide guidance for districts that are writing their own. In recent years, most states have adopted mathematics and science goals or standards (CCSSO, 1997). It is important for the design committee to base its work on state policy since that policy determines the extent to which state goals and standards must be used locally. Some states require local districts to follow the state standards, while others expect the standards to be used as guidelines only. In some cases, state content standards guide a state's assessment program. In these cases, districts — and their curriculum program design committees — will likely choose to focus on those standards so that their students will perform well on the state assessments.

Where local or state-level standards do not exist or where state standards are optional or do not meet the criteria for high-quality standards given in the previous section of this report, design committees may want to use national standards. Many districts and states have used the following national standards as the basis for their own standards:

• The Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for Mathematics (NCTM, 1989);
• The Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics (NCTM, 1991c);
• The Assessment Standards for School Mathematics (NCTM, 1995);
• The National Science Education Standards (NRC, 1996b); and 
• The Benchmarks for Science Literacy (AAAS, 1993).

BUILDING A COMMON VISION

Even with the availability of goals and a comprehensive set of standards, the curriculum program design committee needs to agree upon and articulate a common vision for the district in its own language. Teachers, administrators, and others on the committee should translate what is called for in national, state, and local standards into administrative and classroom policy and practice for their district. The committee will want to consult research literature and other sources on best practices in teaching and learning science and mathematics. Creating a common vision of what and how students will learn mathematics and science is an important component of the development of the curriculum program, regardless of whether most of the program's components are adopted or adapted from other programs or developed independently. A common vision helps focus all stakeholders on what the school district believes is important. The vision is critical for good communication, as it will help the committee describe what the practices and behaviors of students, teachers, administrators, and parents should be when the curriculum program is in place. In building a common vision, the design committee should describe what would be observable when the curriculum program is fully developed and implemented in terms of

• what students are learning and how they are learning it;
• what teachers are doing to support, encourage, and expect learning;
• the evidence to be used during assessment of student performance; and
• activities parents, administrators, businesses, and colleges and universities are engaged in to support and encourage high levels of student performance.

Many approaches to this part of the design committee's work are possible as long as members engage in intellectual and focused discussion regarding issues of teaching and learning. One such discussion might include tracing the development of a particular concept or strand across several grade levels, and correlating this development with national and state standards documents.

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Q 4: Evaluate the curriculum development process of USA. Recommended suitability of various ideas and processes of curriculum development for adaption of USA curriculum in Pakistan.

Answer:

The development of curricula can be thought of as the process by which specific information is transferred to a student or group of students. Curriculum development in the United States has an interesting history that follows the trends and patterns in population, industrial development and economic globalization. As a candidate pursuing a master’s degree in education in curriculum and instruction, it will benefit you to understand how curriculum has developed in the United States.

Early Education in the United States

In the 1700s and 1800s, apprenticeships were the primary form of education. Apprentices trained with experts in specific vocations, such as a blacksmithing or textile production. But as industry has evolved, education has moved away from apprenticeships. In the early 1900s, curricula maintained a strong agricultural focus, which reflected a thriving agricultural sector demonstrated by many families making their living by growing farm products. But as domestic agriculture has declined, education has begun to evolve into a study of broader subjects.

Introduction of Technology

As computers and other technologies have become available, they have become a cornerstone of curriculum development. Education has widely supported the learning of technology in order to maximize students’ success in a technology-driven world. If we consider that one of the purposes of school is to prepare students for entry into the workforce, it makes sense that encouraging systems-based learning and technological literacy would become a priority.

A More Holistic Approach Based on Research

Research has guided the development of important educational theories, which have deepened our understanding of how children and adults learn. This cognitive, social and cultural research directly affects curriculum development and shapes the way in which we communicate information to students. Today’s teachers can use a wide array of classroom practices and tools to effectively convey information to each student.

Curriculum development in the United States has evolved as trends in demography, economy and industry have changed. This fascinating history is further explored through coursework in a master’s of education program. As a teacher, you will gain perspective on the evolution of curriculum development over the decades as well as curricula in today’s educational systems.

Toward Systematic Curriculum Development

Perhaps one of the earliest forms of systematic curriculum building in career and technical education may be attributed to Victor Della Vos, director of the imperial Technical School of Moscow. At the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition of 1876, Della Vos demonstrated a new approach to teaching the mechanical arts that "became a catalyst for career and technical education in the United States" (Lannie, 1971). Rather than leaning through conscious imitation, the Russian system utilized shops where formal instruction in the mechanical arts could be provided. This system attempted to teach mechanical arts fundamentals

(a) in the least possible time; (b) in such a way as to make possible the giving of adequate instruction to a large number of students at one time; (c) by a method that would give to the study of practical shopwork the character of a sound, systematical acquirement of knowledge; and (d) so as to enable the teacher to determine the progress of each student at any time. (Bennett, 1937)

Using these basic principles, Della Vos set up separate shops in the areas of carpentry, joinery, blacksmithing, and metal turning where students completed graded exercises that were organized logically and according to difficulty (Lannie, 1971). The Russian system, which was noted by many Americans, had a most substantial impact on Calvin Woodward and John Runlke. Woodward initiated a manual training school at Washington University in St. Louis that closely paralleled the system developed by Della Vos. Runkle, who served as president of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, favored the Russian system to the extent that practical shop instruction was initiated for engineering students, and a secondary school of mechanical arts was established on the M.I.T. campus. These pioneer efforts served as important precursors of the contemporary career and technical and technical curriculum.

The successes of Runkle and Woodward generated great interest in this form of instruction, and soon manual training began to spring up in a number of schools around the United States. Shopwork was even introduced into the elementary schools and, by the late 1800s, it was a formal part of many grammar schools across the nation. However, this progress did not serve as the best substitute for apprenticeship. Manual training and other forms of practical arts such as domestic science represented course work 'of a career and technical nature but these courses were incidental or supplementary to the primary function of the school" (Roberts, 1971). In response to this deficiency, schools began to organize so that students could be prepared to enter work in a variety of occupational areas. During the late 1800s and early 1900s, technical institutes, trade schools, commercial and business schools, and agricultural high schools began to flourish. Many of the offerings provided in these schools were similar in scope to those found in today's comprehensive high schools and community colleges. However, the standards associated with these programs were quite tax or even nonexistent. Quality was at best a local matter and, more often than not, did not extend beyond the concern of the individual instructor. The result was a considerable amount of inconsistency in quality among programs across the nation.

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Q 5: Write short notes on the following?

i. Characteristics of curriculum planning

Answer:

Curriculum Development Planning

Curriculum refers to running; a course; race-chariot and is derived from the Latin word currere which means to run for attaining the goals of education. (Billings & Halstead, 1998:70-71; Brown, 1993:574). 

Within the educational context, curriculum refers to a course of study at a school, university; the subjects making up a course; an educational journey that the learner embarks upon (Brown, 1993:574; Lovat & Smith, 1995:8-9; 18-19).

Curriculum Development Planning

• The curriculum is what happens, what actually takes place among teachers and students, students and students so that learning occurs. Even though curriculum cannot be entirely preplanned and prescribed, to a great extent a curriculum that satisfies the need of the students as well as the society can be developed. The construction of nursing curriculum is the responsibility of the faculty of the nursing institute, but the minimum requirements which are prescribed by statutory bodies like nursing council or university in the name of syllabus has to be followed by all institutes.
• A process in which participants at many levels make decisions about the purposes of learning, teaching- learning situation.
• It is process of gathering, sorting, selecting, balancing and synthesizing relevant information from many sources in order to design those experiences that will assist learners in attaining the goals of curriculum.
• It is the orderly study and improvement of schooling in light of stated objectives.

Characteristics

• It is a continuous process.
• It takes place at many levels.
• It involves many groups, decisions about a variety of planning and issues.
• It is ultimately concerned with the experiences of the learners.

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ii. Values based curriculum

Answer:

Values-based Education is an approach to teaching that works with values. It creates a strong learning environment that enhances academic achievement and develops students' social and relationship skills that last throughout their lives.

The positive learning environment is achieved through the positive values modelled by staff throughout the school. It quickly liberates teachers and students from the stress of confrontational relationships, which frees up substantial teaching and learning time.

It also provides social capacity to students, equipping them with social and relationship skills, intelligences and attitudes to succeed at school and throughout their lives

This is for schools looking to develop their curriculum and culture; schools who may be looking to change their curriculum and/or improve how it is delivered. Schools are invited to re-visit and evaluate their formal, informal and hidden curriculum and see how, by underpinning the curriculum and culture with VbE, learning and achievement, motivation and behaviour, enjoyment and interest are all improved. This course details exactly how to embed a values-philosophy and shares many examples of outstanding values-based practice. When a curriculum is values-based, there is significant positive impact for pupils and teachers.

This is ideally delivered as a whole day’s INSET to teaching staff. It may also be appropriate for members of support staff and governors to attend. Flexible arrangements can be made if required (ie, half days, series of twilight sessions etc). The training will take into account the school’s context and desired outcomes for the training and how it will support the next phase of the school’s journey.

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iii. Application of Heuristics Problem Solving Method

Answer:

Heuristic Approaches to Problem Solving

“A heuristic technique, often called simply a heuristic, is any approach to problem solving, learning, or discovery that employs a practical method not guaranteed to be optimal or perfect, but sufficient for the immediate goals. Where finding an optimal solution is impossible or impractical, heuristic methods can be used to speed up the process of finding a satisfactory solution. Heuristics can be mental shortcuts that ease the cognitive load of making a decision. Examples of this method include using a rule of thumb, an educated guess, an intuitive judgement, guesstimate, stereotyping, profiling, or common sense.” (Source: Wikipedia)

“In computer science, a heuristic is a technique designed for solving a problem more quickly when classic methods are too slow, or for finding an approximate solution when classic methods fail to find any exact solution. This is achieved by trading optimality, completeness, accuracy, or precision for speed. In a way, it can be considered a shortcut.” (Source: Wikipedia)

The objective of a heuristic algorithm is to apply a rule of thumb approach to produce a solution in a reasonable time frame that is good enough for solving the problem at hand. There is no guarantee that the solution found will be the most accurate or optimal solution for the given problem. We often refer the solution as “good enough” in most cases.

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iv. Social Skill development

Answer:

Social skills are the skills we use to communicate and interact with each other, both verbally and non-verbally, through gestures, body language and our personal appearance. Human beings are sociable creatures and we have developed many ways to communicate our messages, thoughts and feelings with others. What is said is influenced by both verbal language and the way we use it - tone of voice, volume of speech and the words we choose - as well as by more subtle messages such as body language, gestures and other non-verbal communication methods.

The fact that some people are better 'social interactors' than others has led to detailed investigations into the nature and function of interpersonal interaction. Developing social skills is about being aware of how we communicate with others, the messages we send and how methods of communication can be improved to make the way we communicate more efficient and effective. There are distinct advantages to having well developed social skills. 

Here are three:

1. More and Better Relationships

Identifying well with individuals leads to more relationships and, at times, friendships.

By developing your social skills you become more charismatic, a desirable trait . People are more interested in charismatic people as charismatic people are (or at least appear to be) more interested in them.

Most people know you cannot advance far in life without strong interpersonal relationships. Focusing on relationships will help you get a job, get promoted and make new friends. Well honed social skills can increase your happiness and satisfaction and give you a better outlook on life. More relationships can also help to reduce the negative effects of stress and boost your self-esteem.

2. Better Communication

Relating with people and being able to work in large groups naturally develops one's communication skills. After all, you can not have great social skills without good communication skills and being able to convey one's thoughts and ideas may be the single most important skill that you can develop in life..

3. Greater Efficiency

If you are good with people, you can more easily avoid being with the people you do not like as much as others. Some people dread social interactions because they do not wish to spend time with individuals who do not have similar interests and viewpoints. It is a lot easier to attend a meeting at work or a party in your personal life if you know at least some of the people who will be there. If you are in a social situation and do not want to spend time with 'John' because you don't like him or he cannot help you with a particular issue, a good set of social skills will allow you to.

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