...except for the fact that I don't really know how to formally write curriculum for a f2f course! One of the requirements that I had for a good online teacher was that they would have experience with f2f courses to draw upon. The same goes for curriculum writing as well. I guess I'm failing my own criterion...
Since I have never formally taught in a school system, I have always had the freedom to alter instruction, lesson plans, and style as radically and immediately as needed as long as there were net gains. With formal curriculum writing however, there's a sense of finality to it that slightly scares me.
Things that keep jumping into my mind include:
- How can you clearly define goals, but keep them open ended enough, so that you can adapt to the strengths, weaknesses, and interests of the students?
- Should courses be finalized or living and breathing works-in-progress?
- How can you keep the pace flexible yet realistically bound?
- How can you keep students motivated?
- How can you keep technology inconspicuous and in the periphery?
- How can you better involve parents?
- How do you deal with the divergence in thinking between what kids should learn and what and how the governing bodies want the kids to learn?
- How do you make the course inexpensive to both create and maintain?
- How do you avoid reinventing the wheel and NIH (Not Invented Here) syndrome?
- How do you decide on the target audience?
- How do you decide on the target platform and requirements? Will the course work on a decade old computer?
- How applicable will one curriculum model be toward other subjects or courses? Can things be reused?
- How do you balance synchronous/asynchronous communication?
- etc...
Does the course have to run on this?
Don't worry. Developing curriculum is an iterative process and it may take several revisions before you declare it "final". Below are some insights for your questions:
ReplyDelete* How can you clearly define goals, but keep them open ended enough, so that you can adapt to the strengths, weaknesses, and interests of the students?
>> Using an instructional design model (like Gagne) to guide the course development. You can differentiate the course if you gather individual student information upfront.
* Should courses be finalized or living and breathing works-in-progress?
>> The development is a process. It changes based on student skills and background knowledge and the available tools. Since web2.0 tools are changing rapidly, I would expect courses created in 2010 to be radically different in only a few years.
* How can you keep the pace flexible yet realistically bound?
>> The initial pace is set by the teacher, who "takes" the course too calculate time requirements. An even better approach is to give parts of the course to students to try.
* How can you keep students motivated?
>> It's all about the content and scaffolding. I am optimistic that our simulations are open-ended enough where students can "play". Although they are a fare cry from a video game, I think that simulations are still high on Bloom's taxonomy.
* How can you keep technology inconspicuous and in the periphery?
>> Since most students are taking online courses for the first time, this will be difficult.
* How can you better involve parents?
>> Provide an aspect of the course that requires information from parents. In addition, web2.0 tools are often public, so parents can review their son/daughter’s work.
* How do you deal with the divergence in thinking between what kids should learn and what and how the governing bodies want the kids to learn?
>> Pay attention to relevant state standards, but don’t take them as gospel unless standardized test scores are central to your school.
* How do you make the course inexpensive to both create and maintain?
>> Use web2.0 products and leverage what other teachers have created. Teachers have a tendency to re-invent the wheel.
* How do you avoid reinventing the wheel and NIH (Not Invented Here) syndrome?
>> Develop a Personal Learning Network of teachers. I have worked hard to ramp up mine after feeling inadequate at a conference two years ago. Now, I have lots of excellent resources and can get questions answered within 24 hours.
Thanks! AND, I still don't understand how you can be so productive on sand!
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