University of People
Master of Education
EDUC 5220 - Curriculum design and Instructional Decision Making
Curriculum reform – a guide to implementing positive changes in curriculum
Instructor: Dr. Rochelle Massingill
Group 0005B: Dewald Alberts, Ekaterina Chshyogoleva
Syeda Areeb Fiza Bukhari
July 26, 2022
Curriculum reform – a guide to implementing positive changes in curriculum
Learning to learn is the process of acquiring knowledge and is a continual activity.
Functionally, learning has been defined as changes in behavior brought on by experience, and mechanistically, learning has been characterized as changes in the organism brought on by experience. It was even the subject of the most serious research throughout the majority of the preceding century. In almost every aspect of life today, questions about learning are addressed.
Therefore, it is astonishing to observe that rarely do scholars define "learning" in a clear manner. Even influential learning textbooks don't always include a definition of their subject matter (e.g., Bouton, 2007; Schwartz, Wasserman, & Robbins, 2002). The pupils will lose interest in learning and be unable to apply their knowledge in real life if the same topics are covered in class for years or decades. Because of this, changing the curriculum is a crucial component of education with a purpose. Particularly in this technologically evolved society, new ideas are constantly developing while also superseding a lot of established information and beliefs (Ahmed, 2021). Reforming the curriculum has always been crucial for education because it is the fundamental cause of the learning process' ongoing evolution and periodic, significant modifications therefore, it is always very vital to evaluate the learning impacts when making curriculum changes. Countries view curriculum reform as a significant and essential step toward bringing schools into the 21st century and preparing them to occasionally respond to a rapidly changing global environment.
Reflection
The curriculum redesign group assignment for EDUC-5220-01, Curriculum Design, focused on modernizing an existing curriculum. Participants in the initiative came from 4 different nations, including 4 educators. We thoroughly loved the assignment despite having different locations, accessible to employees, cultures, and environments. The group used a WhatsApp Group for communication, and they also prepared the report using MS Word and Google Docs. The group members would like to thank the University of People for giving them the chance to collaborate on a global scale, the instructor for setting up such a did think project, and their classmates, whose comments in each unit have improved their report. The following are the educational reflections:
Syeda Areeb Fiza Bukhari:
I'm a Pakistani woman named Syeda Areeb Fiza Bukhari. I've been employed in the field of education for the past few years as a Science teacher in a public elementary school in China. The government frequently allows our school to work with them on curricular and educational reforms Speaking of educational reforms and my experience with them while taking the need for the reform into account, I can state that this group project has helped me to clearly understand curriculum reform and the need for periodic revision. As I've worked in several nations, I've had the chance to work in a variety of environments. Sometimes the lessons taught in the classroom and the information published in them have little to do with real-world situations. In these instances, reform is required to free oneself from the constraints of mainstream wisdom and teaching systems. I now have a clear understanding and approach to the reforms and their strategies thanks to the group project.
Dewald Alberts:
I am a South African teacher, currently employed in Thailand. My background is primarily in TESOL education and ELA, with my bachelor’s degree being in TESOL. I have been working in Thailand for roughly four years at the time of writing and primarily teach sixth-grade, although I do have experience teaching across K-12. My experience with curriculum design is very low, as my milieu does not allow the teachers to adjust or adapt the curriculum. Due to this, I hope on completing this M.Ed course so I can move on to teach in more progressive environments.
Ekaterina Chshyogoleva:
Allow me to introduce myself Ekaterina Chshyogoleva, originally from Kazakhstan, who moved to Russia for permanent residence last year. My main professional activity is teaching English, but I also teach Russian to foreigners, as I am a native speaker of Russian and know the techniques of teaching. I also have another profession as a psychologist. Over time, I have started to use psychological methods of work to improve the climate in the classroom and to solve problems of intercultural and interpersonal communication. The main language spoken by my students is Russian, so I sometimes have to draw parallels between the two languages so that my students can speak one of them and not translate from their native language to a foreign one verbatim.
This work gave me the opportunity to realise my wildest dreams and ambitions for Russian language teaching against the genuine demand in the field of education. And teamwork, understanding the general idea and structure of the resulting document will help me in the future. With enormous gratitude to my colleagues.
Case: The national eighth-grade curriculum of nation X needs revision. The current curriculum is designed about 30 years ago, so it is incompatible with contemporary technology and institutional influences. The government appointed a commission to revise the curriculum and focus on three subjects: 1: General science, 2: English Language Arts 3: Russian languge. The committee finalized the issues and created a framework to address the following significant research. Below is a picture of the structure:
Mind map of Curriculum Reform Process
Figure 1: Mind map of curriculum reform (Reis, 2018)
Presented below is the research work of the participants of this group.
1. Syeda Areeb Fiza Bukhari’s Work
Subject: General Science for Curriculum reforms
Identification of problem: The deficiencies of the current General Science curriculum are discussed. The approaches covered in the subsequent paragraph were used to conduct the identification research:
• Data analysis: Test scores from the preceding five years were obtained from 100 schools spread across the nation's various regions. The information shared a particularly in the central of poor performance on public tests.
• Survey: Four target groups—employers, teachers, parents, and schoolchildren included with the survey form. The forms were disseminated by many channels, including print, postal, email, and social media. A total of 100,000 questionnaire surveys were sent, and about 60% of the responses were usable.
The panel concluded that perhaps the current curriculum is too out of date in light of the incredibly quick environment and quick experience today and the demands placed on students when they graduate. The survey also revealed that students are getting bored in with the daily duties of learning. It has also become apparent that the curriculum does not incorporate the most recent techniques and technologies.
The Curriculum Reformation: The committee made the following decision to change the curriculum with some set objectives:
● Increasing student engagement in science.
● Improving student performance on open exams.
● Incorporating cutting-edge technology into the curriculum
● Continually Enhance the learning experience.
● Collaborate In real knowledge into practical practice.
The prior curriculum will be revised in the following ways:
• Reducing the final paper-based exam's percentage of the overall assessment from 100% to 50%.
• The addition of a group project, which will account for 30% of the grading. There should be practical consequences for the project.
• The addition of a group discussion, which will account for 20% of the overall evaluation. Social media, in-person gatherings at school, or messaging apps can all be used for conversation platforms. Students from various schools across the nation can create a discussion group so that they can share their experiences with different institutions, societies, and locales (Reis, S. 2018).
• The inclusion of a programming language and essential ICT concepts in the curriculum.
• Simplifying the intricate emergence of scientific laws.
Implementation strategy: The reformation will be conducted using the following strategies, as determined by the committee:
• To begin with, 100 schools will be chosen to test the revised curriculum in a pilot scheme. The committee will list the shortcomings, necessary modifications, and student and instructor preferences.
• Reformation-related teacher training will be conducted. Furthermore, a program of awareness will be organized for parents and children to introduce them to the new curriculum.
• Ensuring that every student has access to technology Interaction between students in different schools will be fostered through group discussions. The debate will be reviewed by the students. Group projects will be selected from a population based on the school's locale and neighboring community. One of the teachers will evaluate the project.
Assessment of reformation: The group chooses to use a few criteria to gauge the performance and acceptance of reformation.
• Teachers, students, and parents will be solicited for feedback regularly regarding any suggestions or grievances.
• Students' participation in class will be watched to see if their interest in science is growing.
• Group discussions will be watched to see if they are sharing their knowledge and thinking more critically.
• To determine whether the performance trend is increasing or downward, the results of the public tests will be compared to those from prior years.
2. Dewald Alberts’ Work
Subject: English Language Arts for Curriculum reforms
Identification of problem: The deficiencies of the current ELA (English Language Arts) curriculum are discussed. The approaches covered in the subsequent paragraph were used to conduct the identification research:
● Data Collection Methods:
○ Interviews with teachers and students
○ Curriculum Analysis
Interviews:
Interviews were conducted with ELA teachers and randomly selected students. The following data was gathered:
● Students
○ Many students did not feel any relevance to the current prescribed material.
○ Students who did take great interest in the subject were voracious readers outside of school.
○ Many minority students did not feel represented in the prescribed material.
○ Students felt that more modern ELA materials would be more relevant to their personal contexts.
● Teachers:
○ ELA teachers felt that the school administration did not support their
attempts to alter the prescribed materials.
○ Some teachers felt that the curriculum was archaic.
○ Teachers felt that assessment requirements were too traditional.
Curriculum Analysis:
By conducting the curriculum analysis, it was concluded that the feedback from students and teachers was warranted. The ELA curriculum currently consisted of literary materials that have not been revised in the last generation.
The Curriculum Reformation: Based on the data collected, it was determined that the curriculum would need to be reformed in order to adapt materials to be more relevant to the students' lives in the modern world, while also being more accommodating to the teaching needs of the ELA staff. The committee made the following decision to change the curriculum with some set objectives:
● Objectives:
○ Adapt curricular materials to be more relevant to the modern world.
○ Introduce students to literature that will foster a love of the subject by being relevant to their personal contexts.
○ Include more diverse prescribed materials.
○ Train teachers to be able to teach the new prescribed materials.
○ Adapt assessment requirements in the curriculum to be more student-centered.
Implementation strategy:
● Adapt curricular materials to be more relevant to the modern world:
○ Prescribed learning materials will be updated to include more contemporary arts.
Some classical texts will still remain in the curriculum to serve as a tool to juxtapose how the subject has evolved, along with how social norms have changed throughout time.
● Introduce students to literature that will foster a love of the subject by being relevant to their personal contexts:
○ Students will be involved in the material selection process. This can be achieved by conducting polls and surveys to allow students to select literature based on their interests. Implementing this reform will take time as teachers will need to be trained in the chosen materials.
● Include more diverse prescribed materials:
○ Due to the multicultural world we inhabit, literary materials need to be adapted to include more perspectives from other cultural groups (Doll Jr, 1993). This can help improve cultural awareness and also help develop a more globally minded perspective in the students.
● Train teachers to be able to teach the new prescribed materials:
○ Teachers will need to be trained to effectively teach the new materials being introduced. This can be achieved through the form of professional development courses and seminars.
● Adapt assessment requirements in the curriculum to be more student-centered:
○ Current assessment procedures rely on the use of standardized testing and constructed response questions. The curriculum will be reformed to include more opportunities for assessment diversification and formative assessments such as low-stakes group work that spans the entire teaching term.
Assessment of reformation:
After a trial of one semester, students and teachers will give feedback on the perceived effects of the updated curriculum. The research team will also view assessments to see if any noticeable change in grades has occurred. The purpose of the reformation assessment is to view if attitudes toward ELA have changed since the reform process had begun. The ideal result would be students that are more involved and engaged in their learning of ELA, fostering a love of learning literary arts.
During the reformation trial, researchers will observe classrooms to see if the teachers are making effective use of their new curricular training and implementing more student-centered teaching methods such as classroom discussions, debates, and project-based learning.
3. Ekaterina Chshyogoleva’s Work
Subject: Russian Language for Curriculum reforms
Identification of problem: The shortcomings of the current Russian language curriculum are discussed. The approaches covered in the subsequent paragraph were used to conduct the identification research:
• Information analysis: Russian is the only language of the Russian nation, but it is also the language of international communication in the modern world. The Russian language is gaining more and more international importance. It has become the language of international meetings and conferences, and the most important international treaties and agreements are written in it. Its influence on other languages is increasing. Russian language has been and remains one of the world languages. According to UNESCO, there are 6,000 languages in the world, 75% of the world’s population can speak with just 20 languages (LocalizationLab). In terms of the total number of speakers, Russian ranks among the world's top ten languages, but it is difficult to pinpoint the exact position (Mila Ibrahimova, 2021) .
• Predictive Analysis: The total number of foreign students pursuing higher education in Russia has increased by more than 26 thousand over the last three years. Thus, in 2019 there were 298 thousand foreign students studying in Russia, in 2020 - 315 thousand, in 2021 - 324 thousand (2022). We, therefore, expect interest to only increase in the coming years. Up to 425,000 foreigners will be studying at Russian universities by 2024. At the moment, 70% of students from other countries in Russia are citizens of the former Soviet Union (Maria Naumenko, 2021) .
The largest number of foreigners study at the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, Kazan Federal University, Moscow Synergy Financial, and Industrial University, St. Petersburg Peter the Great Polytechnic University, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Higher School of Economics, Ural Federal State University named after the first President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin, St. Petersburg State University, Omsk State Humanitarian Academy, and Perm State University. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Higher School of Economics, Ural Federal State University named after the first President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin, St. Petersburg State University, Omsk Humanitarian Academy, I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University (Maria Naumenko, 2021) .
Key capabilities of the opportunity:
● The attractiveness of Russian education for foreign nationals
● Availability in Russian educational institutions of higher education institutions in Russia with long-term strategies to attract foreign students
● Increase in the number of students studying on-online programs
● Russian language promotion strategy worldwide
● Global growth in the number of university entrants, going abroad for education education
In addition, in 2017, the government approved a special program called "Development of Export Potential of the Russian Education System" (2018). Part of this program was the development of a special information platform "Study in Russia", which is designed for foreign students and represents more than 500 Russian universities.
The Curriculum Reformation: The committee made the following decision to change the curriculum with some set objectives:
● Develop programs to support Russian-speaking school teachers, who are often the only link between a Russian university and a foreign applicant.
● Increasing student engagement in Russian centers of science and culture.
● Use modern textbooks for teaching Russian
● Introduce common Russian language proficiency tests
● Compare the students' curriculum with the Russian curriculum in key points.
● Develop a Russian language curriculum with which students can be prepared for entry into Russian universities
The prior curriculum will be revised in the following ways (Marina Selina, 2021):
➢ • Analysis of previously used teaching literature and methodologies for Russian language learning.
➢ • Prepare a multi-year Russian language curriculum with formative and summative assessment
➢ • Collect students' feedback more often and use it to actively work with graduates.
➢ • Promote the development of adequate expectations of students before they study.
➢ • Special attention should be paid to the adaptation of first-year students. For this purpose, support clubs should be established.
Implementation strategy:
● Establishment of a methodological department of practicing teachers of both Russian and local teachers
● Allocation of certain funds for the equipment of special rooms for lessons and clubs
● Market research on teaching materials for Russian language teaching
● Concluding academic exchange agreements between schools (Education First as example)
● Appointment of a responsible tutor who will supervise the marketing department, check plans, participate in exchange work and provide guidance to teachers.
Assessment of reformation:
One of the outcomes of the work should be a methodological framework for teachers. Namely, documents detailing the annual curriculum and detailed lesson plans.
Secondly, there should be assessment criteria on which to base conclusions about progress.
Thirdly, there should be pupils' assessment work showing progress over a certain period, which should be taken into account and analyzed by the methodologists.
Fourthly, there should be at least one academic exchange of students within a set time frame with detailed results and reports.
Conclusion:
It was hard to implement this curriculum reform plan when there were many individuals from racial or ethnic groups, educational and cultural experiences, nations, and time zones, and from various professions and countries. The world has changed, though, and everyone had easy access to social media and sharing tools to help with this effort. The project has demonstrated to all participants that global cohesion is realistically possible if everyone pulls together and plays their part. It has given us a chance to collaborate with educators from all over the world and learn new things in unique ways.
The group project provided members with a clear understanding of curriculum reform and the ability to implement reform regularly. In some cases, the curriculum and learning in the classrooms have no relevance to daily life, and in such cases, reform is needed to break the shackles and break away from traditional ways of thinking and learning (Freire, P.,1970, 1993).
The project has made it clear to all attendees that continuous growth and reform are required to be truly effective and relevant to students.
The primary objective of reformation has always been to break free of the shackles of tradition and to bring forth several changes in the traditional and unproductive ways and styles of daily life (Curriculum (re)design). In the world of education, this is mainly aimed at improving learning methods and outcomes, rules and teaching methods while taking into account the meaningful and affective aspects as well as the application of technology (Kaplan, D.E., 2017). Often, traditional systems and methods of learning are being used, which are unable to polish students' skills and prepare them to cope with the structure of higher educational standards, or of attaining greater exam scores. The authors hope to inspire a great revolutionary change in the field of curriculum reforms by continuously assessing the curriculum and bringing about its reforms to help new learners achieve better ways of learning and an effective curriculum that can help them in daily life and all its aspects.
References:
Ahmed, W. (2021, November 16). The much-needed curriculum reform. The Financial Express.https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/views/columns/the-much-needed-curriculum-reform-1637076944?amp=true
Bouton, M. E. (2007). Learning and behavior: A contemporary synthesis. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates, Inc. Curriculum (re)design – A series of thematic reports from the OECD Education 2030 project. (2020). OECD website. Accessed on 2022-02-18 at
URL:https://www.oecd.org/education/2030-project/contact/brochure-thematic-reports-on-curriculum-redesign.pdf
Development of Export Potential of the Russian Education System 2018 https://fgosvo.ru/uploadfiles/method/other/1_7.pdf
Doll Jr., W.E. (1993). The four R’s – an alternative to the Tyler rationale. In Flinders, D. J., & Thornton, S. J. (Eds.). (2013). The curriculum studies reader (2nd ed.). Routledge.
https://talkcurriculum.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/doll-w-1993-the-four-rs-an-alternative-to-thetyler-rationale.pdf
EF (Education First) Study abroad https://www.ef.edu/pg/study-abroad/
Freire, P. (1970, 1993). Chapter 3. In Pedagogy of the oppressed. The Continuum International Publishing Group. http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon2/pedagogy/pedagogychapter3.html
Kaplan, D.E. (2017). Creative technology in the curriculum in online teacher training. Creative Education 8 (8). http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=77518
LocalizationLab How Many Languages are Spoken in the World?
https://localizationlab.com/how-many-languages-are-spoken-in-the-world/
Maria Naumenko 10.03.2021 The Russian Federation will double the number of places for international students: how to enroll?
https://uz.sputniknews.ru/20191105/V-RF-vdvoe-uvelichat-chislo-mest-dlya-inostrannykh-studentov-kak-postupit-12735438.html
Marina Selina, February 10, 2021 Choosing to Study in Russia
https://iq.hse.ru/en/news/442688322.html
Mila Ibrahimova UNESCO The languages in cyberspace https://en.unesco.org/courier/2021-2/languages-cyberspace
Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation 18.01.2022 The number of foreign students in Russia has increased by 26,000 in three years
https://minobrnauki.gov.ru/press-center/news/mezhdunarodnoe-otrudnichestvo/46158/#:
Reis, S. (2018). Curriculum reform: Why? What? How? And how will we know it works?.Israel Journal of Health Policy Research. 7. 10.1186/s13584-018-0221-4.
Schwartz, B., Wasserman, E.A., & Robbins, S. J. (2002). Psychology of learning and behavior (5th ed.). New York: Norton
