Week 5 Group Task--Explore curriculum in IPPUT: Qi Yang (Carol)

According to English (2000), “curriculum is any document that exists in a school that defines the work of teachers by identifying the content to be taught and the methods to be used”. Curriculum innovation can hardly be successful unless teachers ‘conceptions and beliefs about teaching and learning are taken into account. Teachers and administrators often focus on the Big Three, the written, taught and tested curriculum, in order to maximize the learned curriculum (Glatthorn, 1987).

Improved curriculum types generally include:

-Aligned: use the right methods to bring the written, the taught, the supported, and the tested curriculums into closer alignment, so that the learned curriculum is maximized;

-Concept-Based: the conceptual transfer of knowledge includes the application of concepts or universal generalizations across time, cultures or situations;

-Differentiated: teacher proactively plans varied approaches to what students need to learn, how they will learn it, and/or how they can express what they have learned in order to increase the likelihood that each student will learn as much as he or she can as efficiently as possible;

-Guaranteed and Viable: a sound and viable set of standards which can then guarantee (more or less) that these standards actually get taught can raise levels of achievement immensely;

-Learned: what the students actually learn from the taught curriculum;

-Null: curriculum design has become more an issue of deciding what teachers won’t teach as well as what will teach, what the curriculum neglects is as important as what it teaches;

- Purposeful: learners benefit from and should receive instruction that reflects clarity about purposes and priorities of content;

- Received: each student brings their own background and prior knowledge to the classroom. Student understanding is impacted by each student’s perception of the aligned, hidden, null, spiral, and tested curricula;

- Rigorous: students should have the opportunity to participate in qualitatively different academic environments that build upon their interests, strengths and personal goals;

- Spiral: a curriculum as it develops should revisit this basic ideas repeatedly, building upon them until the student has grasped the full formal apparatus that goes with them;

- Tested: provides valuable feedback about each student’s understanding of essential content, concepts and skills;

- Timeless & Timely: make ongoing decisions about curriculum.

ICT in curriculum innovation: Although  the proliferation of computers has already somehow changed the face of school, educational practice is held to continue the same as before the use of computers (Papert, 2000), at least in its essence, in what is known as school defining features: teacher  ‑ pupil power relations,  the relationship of both with knowledge, the way knowledge and learning are perceived; and  last but not  least  the role of means  in  information  transference  and  knowledge building. The teaching and the processes of learning stimulation continue to be the same as before, in spite of an emerging idea on the meaning of learning and a new rhetoric favorable to the adoption of ever improved alternative strategies, resources and infrastructures. ICT provide variety ways and technologies to integrate and organize teaching & learning content/resources. ICTs help to attach the written, the taught, the supported, and the tested curriculums into closer alignment by offering attractive learning objectives. Accessing plenty learning materials online, the application of concepts or universal generalizations of students are improved, which also stimulate self-learning, help them to gain the opportunity to participate in qualitatively different academic environments that build upon their interests, strengths and personal goals. Virtual materials and online discussion forum provide easier ways for students to share valuable feedback about each student’s understanding of essential content, concepts and skills. ICT change the school not only in teaching & learning styles but also curriculum design or integration. All in all, integration curriculums with ICT or innovation improve these curriculum types mentioned above.

Case: TIE Program at Harvard University

Brief description: From social networking sites to smart phone software, in major media companies and start-ups, and throughout K–12, university, and informal learning environments, graduates of the Technology, Innovation, and Education Program (TIE) are exercising creativity and providing leadership.  Studying in TIE will prepare you to excel in designing media content, developing entrepreneurial innovations in educational practice and policy, and evaluating technology’s impact on learning and development.

Sources: http://www.gse.harvard.edu/academics/masters/tie/description.html

Questions of curriculum innovation from variety perspectives:

Curriculum (policy) development: What roles do teachers, team leaders and school leaders take in curriculum development endeavors at schools (including analysis, design, evaluation and implementation activities)?

Professional development: How do curriculum development processes interact with professional development of all participants’ involved (including teachers, but also policy makers, test developers, educational publishers)?

School development: What kind of leadership roles (formal and informal) contribute to fostering curriculum development at schools and what kind of school cultures facilitates curriculum and teacher development?