TCA Lectures Suggest means of improving B.Ed 1.5 curriculum development process of Allama Iqbal Open University in the light of the evaluation of the program. BEd

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Answer:

The CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT MODEL on the next page (Figure 1) shows how these components relate to each other and to the curriculum development process. It begins when an issue, concern, or problem needs to be addressed. If education or training a segment of the population will help solve the problem, then curriculum to support an educational effort becomes a priority with human and financial resources allocated.

The next step is to form a curriculum development team. The team makes systematic decisions about the target audience (learner characteristics), intended out-comes (objectives), content, methods, and evaluation strategies. With input from the curriculum development team, draft curriculum products are developed, tested, evaluated, and redesigned -if necessary. When the final product is produced, volunteer training is conducted. The model shows a circular process where volunteer training provides feedback for new materials or revisions to the existing curriculum.

An Example: In the case of population education, a need rural out-of-school youth with information on how population relates to the total environment as well as their personal lives.

(Insert Curriculum Development Model here)

Figure 1

Figure 2

PHASES AND STEPS IN CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT (See Figure 2 on the previous page) further illustrates how the 12 essential steps progress from one to the next. It also shows the interaction and relationships of the four essential phases of the curriculum development process: ( I) Planning, (II) Content and Methods, (III) Implementation, and (IV) Evaluation and Reporting. It is important to acknowledge that things do not always work exactly as depicted in a model!

Each phase has several steps or tasks to complete in logical sequence. These steps are not always separate and distinct, but may overlap and occur concurrently. For example, the curriculum development team is involved in all of the steps. Evaluations should occur in most of the steps to assess progress. The team learns what works and what does not and determines the impact of the curriculum on learners after it is implemented. Each step logically follows the previous. It would make no sense to design learning activities before learner outcomes and content are described and identified. Similarly, content cannot be determined before learner outcomes are described. 

In the experience of the author, and confirmed by other curriculum specialists, the following curriculum development steps are frequently omitted or slighted. These steps are essential to successful curriculum development and need to be emphasized.

Essential Curriculum Development Steps Needing Emphasis

1. Needs assessment: if not conducted, wonderful curriculum could be developed, but the appropriate needs of the target audience may not be met.
2. Involving youth: the target audience and volunteers (or staff) who will be the implementors of the curriculum must be involved (i.e., they participate as full members of the curriculum development team).
3. Recruiting and training volunteer facilitators: competent and skilled curriculum implementors are critical (the printed word cannot teach experiential group process, it doesn't provide feedback).
4. Evaluating and reporting on the impact of the curriculum: is critical for securing human and financial support from key policy decision makers and for assessing whether the curriculum has achieved the intended outcome.

Two types of evaluation are included in the Phases and Steps illustration: (1) Formative provides feedback during the process of developing the curriculum, and (2) Summative answers questions about changes (impact) that have occurred in learners because of their learning experiences. Summative evaluation provides evidence for what works, what does not work, and what needs to be improved. In every step of the curriculum development process, the most important task is to keep the learner (in this case, youth) in mind and involve them in process. For example, the curriculum team members, who have direct knowledge of the target audience, should be involved in conducting the needs assessment. From the needs assessment process, the problem areas are identified, gaps between what youth know and what they need to know are identified, and the scope of the problem is clarified and defined. The results may prompt decision makers to allocate resources for a curriculum development team to prepare curriculum materials.

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