Managing the Curriculum for Competent Professionals

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Managing the Curriculum for Competent
Professionals

• Feedback
• Prof Dr. Wim Gijselaers
• Maastricht University
• The Netherlands

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Agenda

• 0900 1030 Small group work
• 1030 1100 Break
• 1100 1200 Plenary presentation feedback

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Curriculum Organization
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Assignment

• Assume you are member of the Studienkommission
• Assume a blueprint containing a list of Lernziele
  is available
• Your committee has to develop a plan for self
  evaluation
• Part of the plan is you have to develop a
  checklist to identify key processes in the
  curriculum
• Discuss the importance of these Key Elements for
  your checklist
• Define operational criteria for these elements
• Give each aspect a mark (1 10)
• Decide how you will monitor the curriculum in
  educational practice
• Decide what action needs to be taken as response
  to your self assessment

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Example

• List of key processes / key elements
• Mission, objectives, goals
• Contents, method, outcome
• Xxx
• Select one or more processes / elements
• Define them in a criteria list
• How would the committee proceed in educational
  practice to ensure the assessment process shows
  curriculum improvement or working towards the
  goals?

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Example Criteria Definition
Assessment

• Mission, Objectives and goals
• Academic Objectives of the curriculum by
  international standards
• Envisaged profile of the graduate
• Embedding of the objectives in the mission of the
  university
• Operationalisation of the goals in the curriculum

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Key Processes / Elements

• Mission, Objectives Goals
• Structure content of the program
• Learning Teaching Environment
• Intake
• Curriculum Organisation
• Succes rates
• Quality of graduates
• Effectiveness of the Organisation Staff
  Qualities
• Facilities
• Internationalisation External Contacts
• Internal Quality Assessment

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Example Criteria Definition
Assessment

• Mission, Objectives and goals
• Academic Objectives of the curriculum by
  international standards
• Envisaged profile of the graduate
• Embedding of the objectives in the mission of the
  university
• Operationalisation of the goals in the curriculum

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Structure Content of the Program

• Level and contents 1st year
• Orientation selection function of the 1st year
• Level scope of electives
• Academic Standard of the program
• Attention paid to professional academic skills
• Cohesion internal coordination of contents

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Learning Teaching Environment

• Effective concept for the educational and
  teaching environment
• Suitability of contact hours, independent study,
  and other study activities
• Examination assessment methods
• Quality of the supervision and assessment methods

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Intake

• Quantity of student intake
• Quality of student population
• Secondary recruitment (part-time, )
• M/F Ratio

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Curriculum Organization

• Counselling Supervision
• Completion of curriculum parts according to plan
• Study progress assessment system
• Balance between actual planned load
• Obstacles for specific students

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Success Rates

• 1st year success rate
• Overall success rate
• Average length of study
• Policy

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Quality of Graduates

• Academic Qualities
• Professional Qualifications
• Content Standard of graduation papers
• Job Market prospects
• Alumni ratings

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Organizational Effectiveness Staff Qualities

• Communication
• Academic standard of the staff
• Distribution of expertise
• Involvement of full professors in the program
• Personnel Policy

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Facilities

• Size quality of teaching rooms
• Practical and laboratory facilities
• Library
• Computers ICT
• Financial constraints

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International Contacts

• Institutional Contacts
• Facilities for studying abroad
• Exchange students
• Individual staff contacts

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Internal Quality Assessment

• Structure organization of the internal quality
  assessment system
• Use of information by the curriculum committee
• Improvements actions in response to assessment