Research Networks on Higher Education Curricular Design

Background

In 2002, the University of Alicante (UA) started a teacher education project with the goal of designing new curricular in a scientific and iterative way. The reason for this approach is that reform can often mean compromise for all parties. By creating communities of teachers and a space for research and reform to take place, curricular redesign can take place in an iterative way and involve all actors in working to a common goal. The curricular design in the Bologna framework is an opportunity of change for traditional university structures and habits. At the same time, this process engages with the teaching staff to design and implement the reform using their experience and skills.  The evidence shows that collaborative and research-based projects produces less resistance to change, strong sense of collegiality and, above all, design quality. The profile of the degrees have been chosen to fit the Bologna Framework with the goals of  improving employability, mobility, and learning outcomes.

This policy is an example of how coordination, collaboration and consensus in the process of curriculum design can facilitate the process of reform. These university teaching and learning research networks are developing new learning models more consistent with the principles of Bologna and in consonance with the development of a common European Higher Education Space.

Aims and targets

• Performing adequate and transparent curricular designs in the frame of the Education Higher Education Area.  
• Selecting instructional methodologies focused on the student learning support.
• Coordinating the curricular design between departments, areas, and subjects in order to increase coherence and consistence in the degrees learning outcomes.
• Setting up teachers networks as a way of teacher professional development in the context of their own practices and didactics problems. 
• Constituting an assurance quality system for curricular design.

The opportunities for professional learning depend less on external and individual activities, as attending courses and conferences, and more on the collaborative analysis of the curricular and teaching processes.   The UA has opted for creating spaces of interaction between the teacher staff -novels and experts-, and also for integrating and giving voice to students in the networks.

Strategy and actions

The design strategy emerges, in part, from Design-Based Research theories (The Design-Based Research Collective, 2003*) with the intention of creating usable knowledge (Lagermann, 2002).   In this process, the curricular design always starts with the identification of a degree profile. This includes, professional and academic competences and objectives, coupled with a description of learning outcomes. The subjects design must be contextualised in the degree framework of competences to avoid duplications and gaps. The subject design must be a coherent and aligned frame in which competences, contents, learning activities (directed teaching, autonomous learning and tutoring) and assessment system (criteria and instruments) are strongly intertwined.

The methodological process has several steps:  
1. Open project call to all university members;  
2. Constitution of the networks as collaborative spaces;  
3. In the initial orientations phase, we stress the importance of participation, collaborative work and reflection as methodological strategies in the curricular design;  
4. Constitution of continuous seminars of orientation and coaching and, also, supply of personal tutoring to cover the participants needs. In the seminars, we explain the computer application that supports the curricular design. The software “Redes-ICE-UA”, has been programmed in Delphi. It is similar to a data base that permits, through an interface, the introduction of information in the different boxes of categorization and relations of the curricular design –profiles and subjects. The file generated is compatible with computers that having this application installed and, besides, exportable to doc end pdf formats.  Additionally, it is able to provide a printed version;
5. The last phase is focused in the realization and presentation of the final memory, that is revised by experts from the Institute and then given back to networks for the final corrections and checking;
6. Finally, the Institute of Education prepares the edition and diffusion of CD and books.

Monitoring and evaluation

Assessment of the reform is conducted by experts from the Institute of Education with the help of external experts and specialists. The specialist staff manage the curricular guidance, orient the collaboration and resolve problems and demands. The Institute has a website with references, materials and resources.

Funding/Cost effectiveness

The design programme has turned out to be low cost (publication expenses, networks support, and so on) compared to the financial benefit that the decrease of the students who staying years at the university supposes.

Sustainability/Transferability

Outcomes/impacts

Achievements

• Graduation: the implementation of a good curricular design practice has a series of benefits. The first one is the increase of teaching quality. A well planned and structured teaching implies a better practice. There are evidences that in the new design subjects, the students abandon ratio has decreased and there is a higher percentage of success in marks. The general learning satisfaction is patent;
• Employability: a degree profile and their corresponding subjects designed from a competence-based point of view, coherently produce more professional learning outcomes;
• Mobility: as the subject designs are more transparent and contain more information, it supposes a benefit for mobility and qualifications recognition.
  Cost –effectiveness: The design program has turned to be low cost (publication expenses, networks support, and so on) comparing with the financial benefit that the decrease of the students staying years at the university supposes.

Success factors

Unintended impacts

Positive impacts: the spread of good practice has been very wide in the university community. The Institute and the UA has needed any forms of pressures to increase participation. There has been great demand from teaching staff to be integrated into the project.

Negative impacts: there are increasing demands for coaching and orientation; and more and more networks, from different faculties and qualifications, ask to be included in the project; having the opposite effect, the UA has not enough number of experts and specialists to supply the demand.

Strengths and weaknesses

Involving teaching staff in the process of curricular reform through research projects gives them a feeling of ownership and also the capacity to work together towards new courses which will work for everyone involved. It is empowerment that leads to results. In the future, it remains important to promote further reflection on design, avoiding a closed methodology, because curricular design is an open inquiry strategy to encourage improved learning and to attract students to knowledge.

Curricular reform

• Three cycle system
• Flexible learning paths
• Employability
• Recognition
• Mobility
• Enhance inter-disciplinarity and trans-disciplinarity
  
  
  
  

Funding reform

Governance reform

• Innovation and knowledge transfer
  

Management reform