Course 5: Curriculum Planning and Material Design

The curriculum planning and design course helped me continue to the work that Dr. Binda had done in my previous course, trying to get me to re-define what curriculum is. Dr. Enns reinforced the idea that curriculum is more than curriculum documents that guide instruction. It is about developing a plan to implement change.

For this course the main assignment was to work collaboratively to analyze the effects of a specific change from a variety of perspectives. These perspectives represented the 3 most important stakeholders. This activity taught me the importance of setting goals and involving all stakeholders in the process of curricular change. 

This course was practical for me, as it allowed me to focus on a topic that was relevant to my school, inquiry learning. By focusing on this practical topic, it allowed me to evaluate the methods utilized within my division while implementing their new initiative. I have thought about the importance of stakeholders a number of times since this course, most notably when our division was implementing assessment changes and 1:1 technology programming. From a leadership perspective, understanding the importance of stakeholder involvement has allowed me to see the areas that needed be improved to make these transitions more efficient and effective. My understanding of curriculum planning developed in this course will support my ability to implement changes more effectively in the future.