Course Writing And Development |
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| Course Code | BGN107 |
|---|---|
| Fee Code | S2 |
| Number of Assignments | 9 |
| Duration (approx) | 100 hours |
Course Structure
There are 8 lessons in this module as follows:
- Bases for Education
- Course Writing Methodologies
- Level of Study
- Curriculum Documentation
- Course Materials
- Course Material Creation
- Reviewing and Updating Courses
- Recognition and Accreditation
- Application and Implementation.
Aims
- Determine an appropriate basis for developing a course to suit a given need.
- Write course documentation and materials methodically and with clarity.
- Explain differences between levels of study, particularly in post secondary education.
- Write curriculum documentation for a course.
- Identify and evaluate sources for course materials and support services for a course.
- To plan and create a variety of course materials to support learning
- Establish procedures for reviewing and updating established course materials.
- Compare relative values of formal course endorsement systems.
- Plan the implementation of a developed course
Extract from Course Notes
DEVELOPING COURSES
Courses can be developed in different ways, but every course uses written documents that define, describe, outline and detail the direction and contents of that course. Three types of documents that are commonly used to develop a course are course outlines, curriculum documentation and study notes:
a) Course Outlines (or Descriptions)
These describe the course either as a whole, or by breaking it into its components (i.e. modules and/or lessons).
These documents are mostly used in the pre-enrolment phase e.g. for course selection or marketing. For less formal courses e.g. Adult education, hobby classes, the outline may provide a guide for teaching staff to follow as they deliver the course.
A course outline may be seen by both the student and the teaching staff.
b) Curriculum Documentation
These documents define what a course is, in every respect. Their purpose might be:
- As a reference point to be used by anyone writing course notes, study guides, or even delivering lectures or practical sessions.
- As a document to be submitted for accreditation purposes.
They are generally seen and used only by the staff of the school (teachers and administrators).
Curriculum Documentation can be costly to write, and even more costly to maintain up to date. In large education systems (eg. government accreditation systems) they are commonly written before anything else, and their development involves seeking and applying input from designated experts. For example, a curriculum advisory committee commonly sets the framework for writing this documentation then meets periodically with course writers to review their progress.
Curriculum documents are not always necessary, and if they are not required for accreditation, you should seriously consider the cost benefit to be had before deciding to allocate financial or manpower resources to this type of documentation.
c) Study Notes
These are documents such as text books, handouts, accompanying notes, study guides, work sheets or anything else which serves one or another of two purposes:
- To provide a source of information or
- To provide a guide or pathway for the student to follow.
Continuous or Periodic Course Development
The relationship between course development and time has almost always been assumed to have only one option, that being to develop a course, finish development and then deliver it.
Changes to the course have almost always been viewed as something to be done every so many years; the only variable being how often a major review would be undertaken.
There are, in fact, two options:
Periodic Review
Here curriculum documentation (or course outline if there is no curriculum document) is revised using a similar procedure to that used for its original development. Commonly it is reviewed by a committee and a curriculum writer who then makes alterations. The committee is then required to make any adjustments and approve the alterations. The time interval between such reviews is commonly (across the world) every five years.
Continuous Review
This involves seeking input routinely and continuously from teaching staff and/or students (and/or perhaps industry). The course might never undergo a major change at any one point in time, but it could feasibly be altered daily, weekly or monthly; irregularly and as the need is detected.
This approach would have been difficult to manage prior to the widespread use of computers, but in today’s world, it is relatively easy to change curriculum documents, course outlines or study notes, as and when desired.
IDENTIFYING NEEDS
Student Perspective
Students do not always know their needs. To know what is needed in a particular discipline, one first needs to understand that discipline. If a student does not understand the discipline, their understanding of their needs in a course will necessarily be limited. If they do understand the discipline, there may well be little reason for them to undertake a course.
Students will inevitably have wants and expectations that relate to a course they undertake. Every student is likely to have a different set of priorities and expectations, and those expectations are likely to change as they progress through the course.
What will have changed when a student comes to the end of a course?
Their Perceptions
The course should have enlightened them and, with greater understanding and awareness, they may appreciate needs they didn’t see when they started.
The World
The community, industry and the value of knowledge and skills can be very different at the conclusion of a course, compared with what it was at the beginning.
Educator’s Perspective
An effective educator needs to be empathetic, that is, they must have the ability to put themselves in the shoes of the student, not just while the student is studying, but also when they have completed the course.
Family Perspective
Parents and/or families want to see value for education.
Community and Industry Perspective
Community and employers are motivated by their work and profit (or in the case of government or non-profit organisations, achieving more value for the money spent). Some employers will be concerned with-long term benefits from training, but often employers only worry about the short term.
Approaches to education are variable, and development of any course should maintain focus on both aims and delivery method. Some courses are developed to be teacher centred; others to be student centred. Experiential learning such as Delivery methods can also vary (eg.Classroom, Workplace, Online, CD E learning, Blended and PBL) and course development requires a different approach in each instance.
- Learn to develop courses for post secondary or adult education.
- Learn all you need to know about how to successfully write courses in order to meet curriculum guidelines.
