Skip links menu. Some links may not be available on all pages, for example section navigation may not be available on the home or landing pages.
Curriculum design tasks form the basis for teaching and learning activities in every educational institution. It is therefore difficult to understate its level of importance in the success of the institution and its graduates.
In Higher Education curriculum design has two distinct levels: Program and Course Design.
Effective Program design provides a list of essential knowledge, skills and attributes that graduates will possess at the completion of the program (course of study). These learning, or graduate outcomes are stated in broad terms and are meant to describe the graduate requirements.
These requirements are drawn from a number of sources that can include:
Once the Program design is accepted, the Course design process can begin.
Courses are designed in a way that provides the students with the skills. knowledge and attitudes that will allow them to achieve the graduate outcomes stated in the Program documentation.
One way of thinking about Course design is to imagine that the Program is a jigsaw puzzle and the Courses make up the pieces of that puzzle.
Once you have identified the skills, knowledge and attributes that your Course will require to contribute to the Program, you will need to write these as objectives.
Your objectives are always written with assessment in mind. Remember that these objectives will form the basis of how you measure the students' performance.
Also, objectives need to be written to the level and cognitive domain that you want the students to achieve.
Your objectives need to be written in a way that provides clear direction as to what needs to be achieved. Bloom's Taxonomy provides a guide to the different levels of intellectual behaviour and also provides some examples of "action verbs" with which to begin your objectives.
Skills objectives have an emphasis on doing--the student performance; the conditions; and the criterion (accuracy). For example, you would often begin a skills objective with the words
"The student will be able to .. " and go on to specify under what conditions they would achieve this and to what level of accuracy.
Attribute, or attitudinal objectives apply to the way in which students conduct themselves and their business. Ethics and professional behaviour are probably the best example of these types of objectives.
While these are among the easiest objectives to write, they can be quite difficult to test objectively. If you wish to assess these objectives it is often done subjectively, and in these cases, a panel of assessors may be required to limit subjectivity and bias.
Once we have developed all the objectives it is time to design the Course assessment.
Assessment
For some it might seem a bit strange to design the assessment before you develop the learning materials, but it is the best way to ensure that we assess the objectives we have developed and ensure that the Course learning materials are targeted to the required learning outcomes.
Your assessment needs to be as engaging as your learning materials and be woven into the fabric of Course.
It is always best to make your assessment as authentic as possible and provide opportunities for students to measure their own ability and performance where possible.
Assessment can be formative or summative. For more information about assessment click on the assessment section of this Website portal.
Once you have written your assessment and confirmed that they meet all of the Course objectives, its time to design and develop the learning experiences for your students.
Designing and developing the learning experience
This, for most educators, is the most enjoyable and rewarding aspect of curriculum design. This is where we are able to conceptualise and plan the students' learning experiences.
These experiences need to be based on a student-centred approach and should motivate and engage the learners.
You'll need to think about using a range of media to cater for individual differences in learning styles and exploit the features of each media you choose.
CQUniversity has a number of specialists who would be happy to assist you with your design task.
For additional information see the Curriculum Design and Development Unit website.
CQUniversity CRICOS Provider Codes: QLD-00219C; NSW-01315F; VIC-01624D
