Team approaches to curriculum design and delivery

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Team approaches to curriculum design and delivery

• Anthony Rossiter
• Linda Gray

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Issues transition and cohesive curriculae

• Modularisation and student choice has encouraged
  more flexibility, but hence curriculum delivery
  and content has become increasingly disjointed.
• There is a need to see and deliver the curriculum
  as a whole. Modules/learning outcomes
  inter-relate and should be delivered as such.
• There is increasing understanding of the
  transition issues faced by new students and the
  need to manage student expectations.
• A key learning outcome is for students to
  assimilate the independent learning style needed
  in university and thereafter.

Delivery
interelate
Curric design
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Confused?

• How do we best tackle all these interacting
  issues? Have we got a joined up approach?
• The embedding or achievement of learning outcomes
  relates back to curriculum design and effective
  student learning/participation.
• Can we achieve this due through regulations with
  staff having personal ownership of modules?
• Who has the overview for the programme and how do
  they ensure quality control?
• There is a danger that the student experience and
  learning is disjointed and full of gaps.

Effective assessment of learning outcomes
assumes good curriculum design.
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Overview

• Effective methods for initiating and taking
  forward curriculum design,
• and hence improving student learning and
  experience.
• How do we best handle transition issues?
• How do we promote more independent learning and
  encourage students to buy in to this key learning
  outcome?
• How do we maintain effective quality control and
  ensure (assessment?) students acquire the desired
  skills?

Here we focus on year 1 only and assume that
effective assessment of desired learning
outcomes are embedded in curriculum
design/delivery issues.
5
Methodology

• Create a year 1 teaching team comprising all
  staff contributing to year 1.
• the solution has to be broad based, cutting
  across the whole curriculum and therefore all
  staff needed to be involved.
• staff tend to be more enthusiastic when they
  develop the solutions (as opposed to being told).
• as the entry point to the curriculum, the first
  year needs to be addressed before subsequent
  years.

Many heads are better than one
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How did the team help?

• To create a cohesive curriculum, a cohesive staff
  group is required.
• The remit of the team was simple but vague to
  create and emphasise links in the curriculum and
  thereby improve the student learning.
• The main methodology was to encourage staff to
  attend short meetings to talk brainstorming and
  propose solutions.
• The authors paid members for attending meetings
  during the first year.
• After the first year, the majority (and HOD) were
  sufficiently convinced of the benefits to
  continue.

Ive got some good ideas!
Critically, staff proposed innovations well
beyond those the team leaders had anticipated.
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Issues/modularisation

• How to change the culture and engage staff in
  team work, especially where this could be viewed
  as interference and extra work.
• Modules treated as the property of the staff
  member responsible
• Outside of the original programme design there
  was little co-ordination of delivery,
• Modularisation encourages independence as opposed
  to inter-dependence between modules.
• Convince reluctant staff of the benefits of
  change to their modules and/or to participate in
  co-ordinated delivery.
• Co-ordination of approaches to transition issues
  such as promoting more independent learning,
  balancing assessments (type/timing), etc.?

Solutions coming from a team have a better chance
of implementation
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Benefits
Lets work together on this.

• Team leaders allowed proposals to come from
  other members and consequently there was more
  group enthusiasm to take these forward.
• Some members who had to be dragged to meetings,
  subsequently offered to do the most work.
• Technicians, who in the past had felt excluded
  from decision making, felt empowered, in the
  team, to make suggestions and again be proactive
  in developments.
• Where the need for new projects became apparent,
  the team became a natural testing ground before
  developing ideas further many heads are better
  than one.
• The team has a good critical mass which means it
  has much greater influence on departmental
  strategy/decisions.

My ideas count!
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Evidence of Success

• The first year teaching team has been used
• through the authors institution as an example
• of good practice.
• The team has proposed significant changes and
  persuaded the department to agree
• stopping service teaching of mathematics.
• a total redesign of year 1, then year 2 in
  incremental steps.
• removal of some programmes.
• projects on transition and independent learning.
• The perception of staff is that the curriculum
  has been made more cohesive.
• The aim of specifically targeting independent
  learning skills in year 1 and mathematics has had
  an impact on students as noted by student
  questionnaires.

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Can Other Departments Reproduce This?

• Main requirement is a change of culture so staff
  see themselves as part of a team rather than
  individuals.
• Staff accept the need to negotiate the content,
  assessment and timing of modules this implies
  meeting together at key points in the year.
• Requires a combination of strong management
  backed up by enthusiastic and convincing
  leadership.
• Once staff are convinced that significant
  benefits can be obtained with relatively low
  input, they are usually happy to join in.
• An enthusiastic champion required to ensure
  sustainability.

Wait a moment while I copy that down.
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Reflections

• Begin from where your department is and not where
  you would like it to be. In our experience many
  facets help
• a vision for a cohesive curriculum with
  well-defined learning outcomes.
• an enthusiastic champion to provide impetus and
  to take responsibility for day to day management.
• persistence and patience.
• good quality evidence staff will respect.
• good persuasion skills to get initial engagement
  from senior staff
• the ability to see and use the contributions from
  enthusiastic colleagues.
• most of all, stay positive! Not everything will
  work out as you hope or expect, but that is
  teamwork.

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Examples of activities

• Intro week redesigned to include a pre-arrival
  task and two independent learning activities
  encouraging transition, student bonding, etc..
• A laboratory module and professional skills
  module covering transferable skills, careers and
  integrating tasks bringing together knowledge
  from several other modules.
• A table showing the timing, topic and type
  (essay, quiz, report, presentation, programming,
  etc.) of assignments.
• Assignments in one module draw on knowledge from
  a parallel module. This encourages students to
  apply their knowledge across a range of
  applications.

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Conclusions

• You need the right structures to deliver the
  desired learning outcomes.
• You need to engage sometimes reluctant staff.
• Modularisation is a big barrier.
• Facilitating team work helps with effective
  curriculum design/delivery this underpins any
  learning outcomes.