The main elements of a curriculum

The main components of curriculum are

i)Aims and objectives
Why should Telecenter managers be taught managerial or ICT skills?
Why should Telecenter practitioners acquire new skills?
(Participants to raise more questions on the whys/purposes related to Telecenter
activities/projects)

ii)Content/subject matter: what should learners, participants be taught so to answer
the why of (i) above; e.g. what skills, knowledge, values do you give/share with
some one to make him/her a good manager or an effective competent Telecenter
staff member?
iii)Methods How will the skills, knowledge, values be developed in the Telecenter
manager, staff or participant? What strategies can be put in place to achieve the
objective(s) stated above?
iv)Evaluation How will you be able to establish that the why (objectives) the
what (content) and the how (methodology) were well covered? Evaluation helps
the in-charge of the Telecenter programme/activities to improve on the other
elements of the curriculum i.e. objectives, content and methods.
iii. Selection of content
Curriculum content is a body of facts, ideas, concepts and skills that are presented,
discussed and involved in the course. The content selected should reflect the pre-
determined curriculum objectives and experiences needed by the learner.

Guidelines for selection
Prioritise: select what is basically needed in specific circumstances. It should
therefore not be overcrowded.
Balance: Ensure that the content is properly balanced in terms of time and
resources available
Completeness: It should properly cater for all the three domains psychomotor (hand
skills), Cognitive (head-knowledge) and effective (heart-attitudes/values)
Sequence: it should be properly sequenced i.e. simple to complex, known to
unknown and spiraled
Comprehensiveness: It should include all the necessary details needed by a specific
learner.

Need for selection
Due to the ever changing society, both local and international, there is needed to
select from the abundance of generated knowledge and skills.
There is need to remain current by replacing content that may be outdated
Quality: There is need to ensure quality
Quantity: There is need to gauge how much to cover on a particular course.
Scope: helps in demarcating or deciding on the breadth and depth of what to cover.

Criteria for selecting content
Selection of contents is always based on the following criteria:
Philosophical: The knowledge we select must be of established value to participants
and the society they are going to serve after learning.

Psychological: This means that what is selected should meet the needs and interests
of the learners. The psychology of adult learners should be learned and applied

Sociological/cultural: What society has achieved, its institutions, aspirations,
traditions, beliefs etc should guide selection of content. This is because some of
these will themselves form the content of courses. For example in Uganda today we
have issues of gender, environment, self reliance, poverty alleviation, addiction,
HIV/AIDS, small scale enterprises e.g. ICT cafes. These are social issues that should
be considered when developing curricula.

Organisation, structuring or sequencing of content/learning experiences
Any curriculum content needs to be properly selected and organized. The following
include the different ways of organizing content;

Content:
i.Chronological order: Selecting and sequencing content in order of how things
happened e.g. what happened first, followed etc.
ii.Causes and effect: The underlying principles resulting into knowledge.
iii.Structural logic: This refers to the use of normal procedure to organize content
e.g. wearing a vest before a shirt
iv.Problem centred: Basing on a problem to learn.
v.Spiral: Continuous re-introduction of the main ideas of a topic as you proceed to
the next topic or level
vi.Psychological: organizing content basing it on the interest of the learners
All these are just some of the ways in which content can be organized. As one
organizes the content you have to determine the learning experiences e.g.
Knowledge experiences- (What will they learn?)
Skills experiences (What do we want them to be able to do?)
Attitudes/values-(What do we want them to feel)