Chapter I

( Introduction )

A. Background
Definition of curriculum development or also called curriculum development or
curriculum planning refers to the activity generating the curriculum. This activity is more
conceptual than material shall mean the activity of this development is the preparation,
implementation, assessment and improvement. Curriculum as one of the instrumental
input process is a means of realization of educational activities, and means also the means
to achieve the goal of education itself has clearly stated in the curriculum.

In this paper, curriculum design includes consideration of objectives, intended

learning outcomes, syllabus, teaching and learning methods, and assessment. Each of
these elements is described briefly below.

This paper aims to give you the opportunity to explore their own and other people
your ideas about teaching and being a teacher, and to deepen your understanding of
learning and teaching, primarily because of inter-related activities. The nature and
interdependence of learning, learners, learning contexts in higher education, and effective
instruction will be systematically addressed.

B. Research Questions
1. what is curriculum design?
2. what the aims of curriculum design?
3. what are the principle of curriculum design?
4. what is the processes involved in course design?

C. Limitation
In this paper presenter only present about curriculm design, overview and analysis.

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 Chapther II

( Discussion )

A. CURRICULUM DESIGN

A curriculum is a planned sequence of learning experiences.In designing a curriculum,

whether for a whole degree programme or for a particular unit, you are planning an
intellectual 'journey' for your students - a series of experiences that will result in them
learning what you intend them to learn.

Typically these experiences will include attendance at lectures and classes, work in small
groups, private study, preparing work for assessment and so on.Curriculum design includes
consideration of aims, intended learning outcomes, syllabus, learning and teaching methods,
and assessment. Each of these elements is described below.

It also involves ensuring that the curriculum is accessible and inclusive, i.e. that students
with disabilities, and from all backgrounds, can participate in it with an equal chance of
success.Guidance on these topics can be found in the 'Students with additional support needs'
section of the Manual of Academic Procedures (MAP).

B. PRINCIPLES FOR CURRICULUM DESIGN

The principles will assist teachers and schools in their practice and as a basis for
continuing review, evaluation and improvement. They apply to the curriculum at national,
education authority, school and individual levels and must be taken into account for all
children and young people

Although all should apply at any one stage, the principles will have different emphases as
a child or young person learns and develops.The curriculum should be designed on the basis
of the following principles:

1. Challenge and enjoyment

Children and young people should find their learning challenging, engaging and
motivating. The curriculum should encourage high aspirations and ambitions for all.

At all stages, learners of all aptitudes and abilities should experience an appropriate level
of challenge, to enable each individual to achieve his or her potential. They should be active
in their learning and have opportunities to develop and demonstrate their creativity. There
should be support to enable children and young people to sustain their effort.

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 2. Breadth

All children and young people should have opportunities for a broad, suitably weighted
range of experiences. The curriculum should be organised so that they will learn and develop
through a variety of contexts within both the classroom and other aspects of school life.

3. Progression

Children and young people should experience continuous progression in their learning
from 3 to 18 within a single curriculum framework.

Each stage should build upon earlier knowledge and achievements. Children should be
able to progress at a rate which meets their needs and aptitudes, and keep options open so that
routes are not closed off too early.Progression in the experiences and outcomes

4. Depth

There should be opportunities for children to develop their full capacity for different
types of thinking and learning. As they progress, they should develop and apply increasing
intellectual rigour, drawing different strands of learning together, and exploring and
achieving more advanced levels of understanding.

5. Personalisation and choice

The curriculum should respond to individual needs and support particular aptitudes and
talents. It should give each child and young person increasing opportunities for exercising
responsible personal choice as they move through their school career.

Once they have achieved suitable levels of attainment across a wide range of areas of
learning, the choice should become as open as possible. There should be safeguards to ensure
that choices are soundly based and lead to successful outcomes.

6. Coherence

Taken as a whole, children and young people's learning activities should combine to form
a coherent experience. There should be clear links between the different aspects of children
and young people's learning, including opportunities for extended activities which draw
different strands of learning together.

7. Relevance

Children and young people should understand the purposes of their activities. They
should see the value of what they are learning and its relevance to their lives, present and
future.

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 C. THE AIMS OF THE CURRICULUM

The aims of the curriculum are the reasons for undertaking the learning 'journey' - its
overall purpose or rationale from the student's point of view.

For example, a degree programme may aim, among other things, to prepare students for
employment in a particular profession. Likewise a unit within the programme may aim to
provide an understanding of descriptive statistics. The stated aims of a curriculum tell
students what the result of studying it is likely to be.

Note that the aims are the educational purposes of the curriculum. To attract more
students to study may be one of your aims in offering the programme or unit, but it is not an
aim of the curriculum you offer.

Further guidance on writing aims for programmes and units is available in the 'Guide to
writing aims and intended learning outcomes' section of the MAP.

D. PROCESS IN COURSE DESIGN

1. Curriculum Development .

Once progress has been made toward setting curriculum goals, identifying
designconstraints, and selecting a design concept, the main task of developing a full-fledged
design can proceed. Curriculum design calls for making decisions on what the content and
structure of a curriculum will be. Because the task is a complicated one, it is well for the
school district’s curriculum-design team to consider what strategies it can useto facilitate the
process.

2. Situation Analysis

The firts or perhaps among the first steps in course design is an analysis of the writting,
the audience, and needs of the student, otherwise known as a situation analysis ( Richards,
2001 ). Every effectiv course is undergirded by a consideration the following factors :

a. Educational setting. Within what societa and cultural norms is the course situated?
What is the instituational framework into which the course must be integrated? What
are the broad instructional, goals of the programs? In general what is the structure of
the program? What are the physical conditions ( e.g. , Classrooms ) and resources
(labs , Computers, AV, materials)? Who are the learners, in very general terms?
Basic questions here look at the larger educational context whitin which a course is
placed
b. Class characteristics. How would you describe the class in terms of the homogeneity
of learners, the size of the class, and its relationship to others that learners are taking?
c. Faculty characteristics. What are the worqualifications of teachers-training
experience, methodological biases? What are the working conditions (hours of

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 teaching, support services) for the faculty? To what extents is there collaboration
among teachers?
d. Governance of course content. Who determines course content? To what extent can
teachers choose content and/or adapt content as they perceive the need to do so ?
e. Assegment and evaluation requirements. What stipulation are in force for assesing
students for placement, diagnostic, or achievement purposes? What grading norms are
in place? How, if at all, are course evaluated and revised?

This preliminary but important step in course design takes a sweeping look at the
broad parameters of the curriculum. If it’s a new course you are about to design, or one that is
in need of revison, or simply a course you’re teaching and you need some background
information, a situation analisys allows you to lay some foundation stones for either further
development or for understanding the nature os a course.

3. Needs Analysis

A secondstep in the processof developing or understanding a course centers on the

needs that the course presumes to address. Richards (2001) is quick to point out that needs is
not an easy concept to define. Depending on whom you ask, they are “wants, desires,
demands, expectations, motivations, lacks, constraints, and requirements” (p.45). aneeds
assessment is an important precursor to designing the goals of a course in that it can identify
the overall purpose of the course, “gaps”that the course is intended to fill and the opinions of
both course designers and learners about their reasons for designing/taking the course. As
such, it is important to identify at least two types of needs: objective and subjective.

Objective needs are those that can be relatively easily measured, quantified, or
specified with egreement by administrstors (and possibly teachers) on what constitutes
defined needs. Typically, objective needs are analyzed through test data (including learner
language samples), questionnaire results, teacher reports, observations, and interviews of
teachers and students. Information gathered will include:

 Demographic data on learners, including language ability, interests, etc.

 Needs expressed in terms of proficiency levels.
 Language skills to be addressed.
 What learners need to do in English (target contexts for English use)

Subjective needs are often of equal or greater importance as they focus on needs as
seen through the eyes of the learners themselves. Granted, sometimes learner’s perceived
needs do not match their actual needs. For example, students often feel that they should spend
lots of time studying grammar in a class, when in reality they may actually need more time in
communicative activities. But it still is wise for a curriculum developer to ascertain all
subjectively perceived needs in order to address them in some way in the course itself.
Subjective needs are more difficult to gather, but are typically sought through interviews,
from these procedures, the following information may emerge:

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  Learners attitudes toward the target language and culture
 Expectation that students have of themselves and of the course
 Purposes that students perceive for studying English
 Specific language skills that students which to focus on
 Preferences (styles, strategies ) that students have about their learning

4. Problematizing

Graves (1996,p.5) suggests that an important feature of course design is the careful
consideration of the potentially large number of things that can go “wrong with” one’s best-
laid plans for a course. With all the societal, institutional, and pedagogical consraints already
implied in simply preparing to design a curriculum, it may be obvious that problems are
going to appear, and the better prepared you are to respond to such problems, the less likely it
will be that insurmountable impediments will prevent the project from reaching its fruition.

Problematizing a course, that is, anticipating impediments, issues, and other potential
obstacles in advance, will save untold hours of effort that may otherwise be spent “patching
up”the shortcomings later on.

A number of immediate problems came up: did the learners perceive their own need to
learn certain skills in English? Were managers supportive of the effort? Would workers
receive paid time to take the course? Would the overall administrator of the grocery store pay
the teacher for her services? Would there be money to pay for materials? Was there a
convenient space available for the class? These and a host of other problems had to be
addressed before the project could go forward, and many of them involved slowly turning
wheels of bureaucracy.

Courses are usually successful because they have anticipated such problems in advance
and have effectively determined realistic answers to them. Consider the following list as just
scratching the surface of the process of addressing the challenges and conflicts of this
particular task faces you:
 What are institutional requirements and conditions that impact on the course?
 What administrative authorities must be brought into the process in order to obtain
approval, budget, space, and staffing?
 What contradictions might exist between what learners want/need and institutional
constraints?
 What budgetary constrains exist and how might a budget be effectively constructed
for maximum efficiency and accomplishing of goals?
 Are there any problems surrounding faculty qualifications and availability that impact
on the course?
 Are there conflicting expectations between administrator(s) and teachers on what the
course can accomplish?
 What requirements for student assessment are in place and how can a teacher
creatively work “within the system” to carry out appropriate assessments?

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 An issue came up in our discussion of budgetary matters. We were informed that the
initial figure that we proposed was too high and a requestwas made for a lower
amount. We eventually agreed on a lower amount, but only by removing the activities
leader and responsibility for the cultural aspects that were initially to be part of the
whole package. We also had to dissociate what we had intended to be an interaction
of language and culture in the course and plan a strictly academic program.

We were now already to tackle the next steps: stating goals, objectives, materials,and
course content.

5. Specifying Design

Goals are rather broadly based aims and purposes in an educational context, and are
therefore more appropriately associated with whole programs, courses, or perhaps sizable
modules within a course. According to Brown(1995,p-71), goals are “general statements
concerning desirable and attainable program purposes and aims”. Objectives are much more
specific than goals, both in their conception and in their context. Objectives usually refer to
aims and purposes within the narrow context of a lesson or an activity within a lesson.

6. Conceptualizing A Course Syllabus

This is the 'content' of the programme or unit; the topics, issues or subjects that will be
covered as it proceeds. In selecting content for inclusion, you should bear the following
principles in mind:

a) It should be relevant to the outcomes of the curriculum. An effective curriculum is

purposive, clearly focused on the planned learning outcomes. The inclusion of irrelevant
topics, however interesting in themselves, acts as a distraction and may confuse students.

b) It should be appropriate to the level of the programme or unit. An effective

curriculum is progressive, leading students onward and building on what has gone before.
Material which is too basic or too advanced for their current stage makes students either
bored or baffled, and erodes their motivation to learn.

c) It should be up to date and, if possible, should reflect current research. In some

disciplines it is difficult to achieve the latter until students reach postgraduate level, but in
many it is possible for even first year undergraduates to be made aware of current research
topics.

7. Selecting Textbooks, Materials And Resources

As noted above, the process of reviewing potential textbook, materials, and resources, beyond
those that youmight design yourself, is one that ideally takes place in concert with
conceptualizing the syllabus.

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There are many different ways of approaching the process of reviewing textbooks and
making a final decision. Richards (2001,p.258), citing Cunningsworth (1995), suggests the
following criteria as a set of guidelines.
1. They should correspond to lerners’ needs. They should match the aims and objectives
of the language program.
2. They should reflect the uses (present or future) that learners will make of the
language effectively for their own purposes.
3. They should take account of students’ need as learners and should facilitate language
and the their learning processes, without dognatically impossing a rigid”method”
4. They should have a clear role as a support for learning. Like teachers, they should
mediate between the target language learner.

J. brown (1995,p.161) lists five major categories to consider in choosing a textbook:

(a)author’s and publisher’s reputation;(b) fit to the curiculum (meeting needs ,goals,etc.).; (c)
physical characteristics(layout,organization,etc.);(d) logistical factors(price,auxiliary aids,
workbooks); and(e) teachability (especialy the usefulness of a teacher’s edition).

A further consideration in reviewing and choosing materials is the extent to which a

curiculum will involve teacher-made materials (additional activities and exercises,
handouts,charts,review sheet,etc.). such personalizing of a ccuriculum is of course highly
recomended in that such material can be specifically gaughed for the particular audience, and
it is motivating factor for teacher and students.

8. Assessment

Learning occurs most effectively when a student receives feedback, i.e. when they receive
information on what they have (and have not) already learned. The process by which this
information is generated is assessment, and it has three main forms:

a. Self assessment, through which a student learns to monitor and evaluate their own
learning. This should be a significant element in the curriculum because we aim to
produce graduates who are appropriately reflective and self-critical.
b. Peer assessment, in which students provide feedback on each other's learning. This can
be viewed as an extension of self assessment and presupposes trust and mutual respect.
Research suggests that students can learn to judge each other's work as reliably as staff.
c. Tutor assessment, in which a member of staff or teaching assistant provides commentary
and feedback on the student's work.

Assessment may be formative (providing feedback to help the student learn more) or
summative (expressing a judgement on the student's achievement by reference to stated
criteria).Many assessment tasks involve an element of both, e.g. an assignment that is marked
and returned to the student with detailed comments.

Summative assessment usually involves the allocation of marks or grades. These help
staff to make decisions about the progression of students through a programme and the award

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of degrees but they have limited educational value.Students usually learn more by
understanding the strengths and weaknesses of their work than by knowing the mark or grade
given to it. For this reason summative assessment tasks (including unseen examinations)
should include an element of formative feedback if at all possible.

9. Program Evaluation

Learning outcomes are what students will learn if they follow the curriculum successfully
(i.e. if they complete the programme or unit and pass the assessment). Sometimes the phrase
'intended learning outcomes' is used to refer to the anticipated fruits of completing the
planned 'journey'.

In framing learning outcomes it is good practice to:

a) Express each outcome in terms of what successful students will be able to do. For
example, rather than stating 'students will understand why....' say 'students will be able to
summarise the main reasons why...' This helps students to focus on what you are expecting
them to achieve and it assists you in devising appropriate assessment tasks (see below).

b) Include different kinds of outcome. The most common are cognitive objectives
(learning facts, theories, formulae, principles etc.) and performance outcomes(learning how
to carry out procedures, calculations and processes, which typically include gathering
information and communicating results). In some contexts affective outcomes are important
too (developing attitudes or values, e.g. those required for a particular profession).

Further guidance on writing intended learning outcomes, together with helpful examples,
is available in the 'Guide to writing aims and intended learning outcomes' in the MAP.

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 Chapter III

( Conclusion )

A curriculum is a planned sequence of learning experiences.Curriculum design

includes consideration of aims, intended learning outcomes, syllabus, learning and teaching
methods, and assessment. Each of these elements is described below.The principles will
assist teachers and schools in their practice and as a basis for continuing review, evaluation
and improvement.The aims of the curriculum are the reasons for undertaking the learning
'journey' - its overall purpose or rationale from the student's point of view.Further guidance
on writing aims for programmes and units is available in the 'Guide to writing aims and
intended learning outcomes' section of the MAP.

Once progress has been made toward setting curriculum goals, identifying
designconstraints, and selecting a design concept. The firts or perhaps among the first steps in
course design is an analysis of the writting, the audience, and needs of the student. A
secondstep in the processof developing or understanding a course centers on the needs that
the course presumes to address (need is not an easy concept to define ).

Problematizing a course, that is, anticipating impediments, issues, and other potential
obstacles in advance. Goals are rather broadly based aims and purposes in an educational
context, and are therefore more appropriately associated with whole programs, courses, or
perhaps sizable modules within a course.This is the 'content' of the programme or unit; the
topics, issues or subjects that will be covered as it proceeds.

the process of reviewing potential textbook, materials, and resources, beyond those
that youmight design yourself, is one that ideally takes place in concert with conceptualizing
the syllabus.Assignment that is marked and returned to the student with detailed
comments.Learning outcomes are what students will learn if they follow the curriculum
successfully (i.e. if they complete the programme or unit and pass the assessment).

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