Role of a Curriculum Designer

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A curriculum designer plays a crucial role in education by creating structured and effective learning experiences. The role involves developing a comprehensive plan that outlines what students will learn, how they will learn it, and how their progress will be assessed. Here are some key aspects of the role of a curriculum designer:

  1. Identifying Educational Goals and Objectives:
    • Define Learning Outcomes: Curriculum designers work to articulate the goals and objectives of the educational program. They specify what students should know and be able to do upon completion of the curriculum.
  2. Content Selection and Sequencing:
    • Selecting Curriculum Content: Designers choose the topics, themes, and skills that will be covered in the curriculum. This involves considering the relevance, importance, and appropriateness of the content.
    • Sequencing Content: They determine the order in which content is presented to facilitate a logical and developmental progression of learning.
  3. Instructional Methods and Strategies:
    • Choosing Teaching Methods: Curriculum designers decide on the instructional methods and strategies that will be employed to facilitate learning. This may include lectures, group activities, projects, or hands-on experiences.
    • Incorporating Technology: They may integrate technology tools and resources to enhance the learning experience.
  4. Assessment and Evaluation:
    • Designing Assessments: Curriculum designers create assessments to measure student understanding and mastery of the curriculum objectives. This can include exams, projects, presentations, and other evaluation methods.
    • Feedback Mechanisms: They establish systems for providing feedback to students and teachers to support ongoing improvement.
  5. Adapting to Diverse Learners:
    • Inclusivity: Consideration of diverse learning styles, abilities, and backgrounds is essential. Curriculum designers aim to create inclusive materials that address the needs of a broad range of students.
  6. Professional Development:
    • Supporting Educators: Curriculum designers may provide training and professional development opportunities for teachers to effectively implement the curriculum. This can include workshops, resources, and ongoing support.
  7. Staying Informed and Adapting:
    • Continuous Improvement: Curriculum designers should stay informed about educational research, best practices, and emerging trends. They need to be flexible and willing to adapt the curriculum based on feedback and changing educational needs.
  8. Collaboration:
    • Working with Stakeholders: Collaboration with teachers, administrators, parents, and other stakeholders is vital. Effective communication ensures that the curriculum meets the needs of all parties involved.
  9. Alignment with Standards:
    • Ensuring Compliance: Curriculum designers often align their work with educational standards and regulations to ensure that the curriculum meets established criteria.

Overall, the role of a curriculum designer is dynamic and requires a combination of educational expertise, creativity, and a commitment to facilitating meaningful and effective learning experiences for students.

Storytelling Part Three

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Welcome back! When last we met, we defined our “Hero’s Journey” term. Now let’s begin our “hero’s journey” using storytelling as a strategy in instruction and training.

Instructional storytelling is a method to teach objectives and skills. By pairing content with storytelling, we increase emotional buy-in which creates emotional output. When our audience connects to our content through our story, they engage at levels that can result in change, memory, and action.

Most recent writings about storytelling focus on how to express a personal story or convey a message that relates to an emotion. As an educator/trainer we use stories to teach our students about something. Making a story that communicates a message is not the same thing as delivering a story so the listener can use what they see or hear. As educators/trainers we strive to deliver stories through the right channel, at the right time, for just-in-time learning.

Presenting content in a narrative (story) format is a means of conveying information so it is exciting and unforgettable. Stories are a natural mode of thinking; we begin our discovery and learning from Aesop’s fables, fairy tales, or family history. Within the storytelling community some believe that all knowledge comes in the form of stories.

Stories serve many functions in education/training, including sparking interest, aiding the flow of content, making material memorable, overcoming resistance and/or anxiety, and building rapport between the instructor and the students, or among students themselves.

As an educator/trainer, we capitalize on the inherent narrative structure of stories as a powerful strategy for organizing and transmitting information.

Storytelling Part Two

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In part one I invited you on a “hero’s journey”. 

What I left out is the explanation of what a hero’s journey is.  Please allow me a moment to define the phrase “hero’s journey”. The “Hero’s Journey” is a pattern of narrative that developed by scholar Joseph Campbell.

What is the premise of the hero’s journey? Hero is introduced; hero encounters trials; hero meets a mentor; hero rises triumphant. It’s the classic story pattern from all your favorite childhood fairytales, superhero movies, and other stories.

Think of your favorite story, movie, song. How did that author create the emotional response they wanted to convey to you the consumer of the content. Using the hero’s journey, we as authors and storytellers elicit an emotional response. Humans have used storytelling to warn, educate, and inspire since, well, humans were around. Cave paintings are an example of storytelling passing down useful information from generation to generation.

When crafting your story, your presentation, your training courses, your website matching the emotion to the topic will keep your audience engaged. Stories resonate with people, help people connect with a topic, and have the power to inspire and motivate. Stories enhance the experience. As a result, people are far more likely to remember the knowledge they have learned.

What does this all mean? By following the steps of the hero’s journey, you are creating a powerful narrative that allows you to challenge your audience. It also assists in designing activities that are engaging your audience, also providing them with a clear path to completion and success.

Part Three we will continue our hero’s journey.