Curricula often contain guidelines for educators to teach materials and skills. There are curricula in the form of roadmaps that are general in nature, others are quite detailed and have instructions for day-to-day learning. Curriculum development can be quite a challenging task, especially if the scope of expectations is wide enough. Whatever the situation, it's important to start with a general topic and include more details at a later stage. Finally, evaluate your work if any changes need to be made.
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Part 1 of 3: Seeing the Big Picture
Step 1. Define the purpose of curriculum development
The curriculum must have clear topics and objectives. Topics should be adapted to the age of the student and the environment in which the curriculum is taught.
- If you are asked to design a course, ask yourself about the general purpose of the course. Why am I teaching this material? What should students know? What will they learn?
- For example, when setting up a vacation writing course for high school students, you should think specifically about what the course participants will get after completing the course. An example of a curriculum goal in this case is to teach students how to write a one-act play.
- Teachers in schools are usually already assigned a particular subject so they no longer need to do this step.
Step 2. Choose the right title
Depending on the learning objectives, determining the curriculum title can be a direct process or even require a broader thought process. The curriculum for students who will face the UAN can be named "The UAN Preparatory Curriculum". Meanwhile, programs designed to support teens with eating disorders may need a name that should be considered more deeply. A name created to appeal to young people and sensitive to their needs.
Step 3. Determine the timeline
Talk to your supervisor about the length of time it will take to teach this course. There are courses that take a full year, some are only one semester. If you are not teaching at a school, find out about the time allotted to your class. Once you know the timeline, begin to organize your curriculum into smaller sections.
Step 4. Determine the material that can be delivered in the allotted time
Use your knowledge of students (age, ability, etc.), and knowledge of the content of the material to formulate what information can be delivered within the allotted timeframe. You don't need to plan activities yet, but you can start thinking about possible activities.
- Consider the number of face-to-face meetings with students. Classes whose frequency is once or twice a week will have different outputs from classes that are face-to-face every day.
- For example, imagine that you are developing a theater curriculum. There was a significant difference between a two-hour class that had face-to-face meetings once a week for three weeks, and the same two-hour class that had face-to-face meetings every day for three months. In three weeks, you might be able to make a 10-minute play. Meanwhile, three months may be enough to make a complete theatrical play.
- This step may not apply to all teachers. Primary schools often follow national education standards, which have outlined the topics to be covered over the course of a year. Students will take exams at the end of the year so there is a lot of pressure to cover everything within the established standards.
Step 5. Brainstorm to establish the desired outcome
Write down all the material students must study and the abilities they must possess at the end of the course. It is very important to have clear goals, which define all the skills and knowledge that will be acquired by the students. Without these objectives, you will not be able to evaluate student or curriculum effectiveness.
- For example, in a playwriting course over the holidays, you might want students to learn how to write screenplays, develop good characters, and create stories.
- Teachers working in public schools must follow the national standard curriculum set by the government. In the United States, most states have adopted the Common Core State Standards which describe in detail the skills and knowledge that K-12 students (kindergarten to high school age) should possess at the end of each school year.
Step 6. Study the existing curriculum for inspiration
Check on the internet for curricula that have been developed in your subject area. If you work in a school, consult with other teachers and supervisors about the curriculum from the previous year. You will find it easier to develop your own curriculum if you already have examples.
Part 2 of 3: Filling in the Details
Step 1. Create a template
Usually a curriculum is laid out graphically to provide space for each component of the curriculum. Some institutions require teachers to use standardized templates. Make sure you understand the expectations of the educational institution of you. If no templates are provided, find them online or create your own. Templates will help keep your curriculum organized and presentable.
Step 2. Identify the units in the curriculum
Units, or themes, are the main topics that fall within the scope of the curriculum. Organize the results of brainstorming or national education standards into whole parts and follow a logical order. In general, the unit raises big ideas such as love, planets, or equality. The number of units in the curriculum may vary depending on the curriculum. Furthermore, the learning time can last for one week or eight weeks.
The unit title can consist of a single word or a short sentence. A unit on character development, for example, could be titled, "Creating immersive characters."
Step 3. Prepare an appropriate learning experience
Once you have a well-organized set of units, start thinking about the type and content of the material, as well as the experience students will need to understand each theme. This can include textbooks to be used, texts to be read, projects, discussions, and trips.
Always remember your students. Understand that there are many ways that students can help acquire skills and knowledge. Try to choose books, multimedia, and activities that can get students involved in them
Step 4. Write down the basic questions for each unit
Each unit requires two to four general questions that must be explored once the unit has been taught. Fundamental questions will guide students to understand the more important parts of the theme. Such questions are often larger questions, which cannot be answered in a single lesson.
For example, the basic question for a high school curriculum unit on math fractions is, "Why isn't the result of a division always less than the number that is divided?" The basic question for a unit on character development might be, “How can a person's decisions and actions reveal aspects of his or her personality?”
Step 5. Create learning objectives for each unit
Learning objectives are specific things that students must understand or be able to do at the end of the unit. You've already thought about some of it when you first brainstormed about teaching and learning in the classroom, now you need to be more specific. As you write your study objectives, keep these important questions in mind. What does the state require students to know about? How should students think about this topic? What will students be able to do? You can often pinpoint learning objectives from national education standards.
Use the "Student Will Be Able To Do" rule. If you find a deadlock in the process, try starting each learning objective with the rule "Students will be able to do…" This rule can be used in the context of expertise or mastery of the material. For example, “Students will be able to make a two-page written analysis of the reasons behind the American Civil War.” This requires students to understand the information (various causes of the Civil War), as well as process the information (written analysis)
Step 6. Include an assessment plan
Student learning performance must be evaluated. Evaluation aims to let students know if they have succeeded in understanding the content of the material, as well as assisting teachers in knowing if they have succeeded in conveying the content of the material. In addition, the assessment helps teachers to determine whether there are changes to be made in the future to the curriculum being taught. There are many ways to assess student learning performance. Assessment must also be in each curriculum unit.
- Use formative assessment. Formative assessment is a smaller and more informal assessment to generate feedback in the learning process. Although formative assessment has become part of the daily lesson plan, it can also be included in the curriculum unit description. Examples include journal entries, quizzes, collages, or short written responses.
- Use summative assessment. Summative assessment is carried out after a full topic has been delivered. This kind of assessment is appropriate to be given at the end of a unit or at the end of a series of teaching and learning activities. Examples of summative assessments are exams, presentations, performances, papers, or portfolios. Summative assessment includes approaching specific details to answering basic questions, or discussing a larger theme.
Part 3 of 3: Applying the Curriculum
Step 1. Use the curriculum to plan lessons
Learning planning is usually separate from the curriculum development process. Although many teachers write their own curriculum, this is not always the case. Sometimes the person who writes the curriculum is different from the person who will teach it. Regardless of the circumstances, ensure that the guidelines in the curriculum are used to guide lesson planning.
- Transfer the required information from the curriculum to the lesson plan. Include the unit title, basic questions, and unit objectives being taught during the teaching and learning process.
- Ensure that the objectives of teaching and learning activities are able to guide students in achieving various curriculum unit goals. The objectives of teaching and learning activities are similar to the objectives of the curriculum unit, but must be more specific. Remember that students must be able to complete these objectives at the end of the teaching and learning activities. For example, "Students are able to explain the four causes of the Civil War" is specific enough to be implemented in one teaching and learning activity.
Step 2. Teach and observe the learning
After completing the curriculum, implement the curriculum. You won't know if the curriculum is successful or not if you don't try it with real teachers and students. Always pay attention to how students respond to topics, teaching methods, assessments, and learning.
Step 3. Make revisions
Reflect on how students respond to the material. Reflection can be done in the middle of the process, or after the entire learning series is complete. Some schools wait up to several years to revise the curriculum. However, revision is always needed because standards, technology, and students are always changing.
- Ask the key questions why you are revising the curriculum. Did the students succeed in achieving the learning objectives? Are they able to answer basic questions? Do students meet national standards? Are students ready to learn outside the classroom? If not, consider revising the content, teaching style, and order of the material.
- You can revise any aspect of the curriculum, but then all aspects must be aligned. Remember that all revisions you make to general topics will also be reflected in other sections. For example, if you change the topic of a unit, remember to write down the basic questions, objectives, and assessments.
