Success Factor 1:
Identify your goal(s) for implementation
|
|
|
|
What is the purpose or end result you want to accomplish?
Being very clear about the goals at the outset can
minimize the confusion, miscommunication and maximize
the use of resources. Curriculum implementation work
is best done methodically, building in appropriate
training, administrative structures and a solid
curricular base.
It is important that all involved constituencies
(faculty, administrators and staff) are clear about
what form the curriculum implementation will take.
Will the curriculum results consist of:
- A new, complete program of study leading to a degree or certificate?
- An update and transformation of an existing program?
- The addition of courses or modules to existing programs (IT or other)?
- The infusion of IT competencies into non IT courses or modules?
|
|
|
Success Factor 2:
Ensure an environment for change
|
|
|
Educational administrators in particular have
responsibility to create an environment that encourages
and fosters appropriate change. What is the model of
skill standard-based curriculum to which you have
committed? What form of implementation is needed and
at what rate should you move? Who is responsible for
managing the changes? Plant (1987) suggests there are
six characteristics of successful change:
- Providing assistance to accept change
- Avoiding over-organization or over-management
- Communicating effectively
- Ensuring early involvement of appropriate staff
- Converting perceptions of "threat" into opportunities
- Working at developing commitment
|
|
Source - Success Factor 2: Plant, R.
Managing Change and Making it Stick.
Fontana/Colins, 1987.
|
|
|
Success Factor 3:
Identify and commit needed resources
|
|
|
One of the key reasons that institutional changes or
initiatives fail, is the lack of resources. Resources
include:
- staff time
- administrative support
- funding for development, training, implementation, equipment, etc.
Too often, the key people who can provide the
leadership for the changes are expected to do so
without adjustments to their other work responsibilities.
Administrative commitment acknowledges the time,
effort and expertise it takes to make the major
changes in curricular content and learning approaches
involved in competency-based curriculum.
|
|
|
Success Factor 4:
Identify and address key questions
|
|
|
|
- Are we basing the curriculum on industry skill standards?
- How is competence defined in the skill standard?
- Are there examples of skill standard-based curriculum available in the program area in which we are interested?
- What strategies will we use to initiate the changes?
- What is our schedule for development and/or implementation?
- Do we have the appropriate local business partnerships necessary?
- Who will have the primary responsibilities for designing, implementing and managing the program(s)?
- How will we document that learners have achieved competence?
- What barriers/constraints exist in the institution?
- What resources are available to support these changes?
Identify as many key questions as possible early in the
process and identify a plan for addressing them.
|
|
|
|
Success Factor 5:
Identify the elements of implementation
|
|
|
|
Competency-based curriculum founded on industry skill
standards implies a different way to develop curriculum
and organize learning. It is critical to the success of
your goals that all key constituents have the same
understanding and commitment to what that means. It
only takes one or two people on the faculty and/or
administration to provide the leadership and educate
others.
As described in the Overview Section, skill standard-based
curriculum is founded on what industry has described,
endorsed and validated as the competencies needed to be
successful in a given career field and describe the
outcomes derived from the standards. These competency
standards form the key elements for curriculum
development, performance assessment, educational
delivery, and certification.
Harris et al describe three potential areas of conflict
when designing competency-based curriculum:
- Identification of the appropriate balance between
outcomes and the process of attaining them
- The relational balance between the task/technical
skills and the foundation and higher-order thinking
skills
- The tension between the doing/performing and the
cognitive/understanding
It is, therefore, not possible to declare universally
where these balances lie and how to effect them. The
challenge is for each program designer to address the
issues and questions for their own situation.
|
|
|
Note: If you are working with existing IT curricula,
it is most likely that the changes that need to occur
to transform the program(s) into skill standard-based
are not dramatic. Most IT curriculum already has a
primary emphasis on teaching competencies.
|
|
|
Source - Success Factor 5: Harris, Roger; Guthrie, Hugh; Hobart, Barry; Lundberg, David.
Competency-Based Education and Training.
MacMillan Education, 1995
|
|
|
|
|
Success Factor 6:
Provide appropriate and adequate professional development
|
|
|
|
Arguably the single most important factor in the success
of an educational innovation is the staff. They are
the ones who have to implement the new program and
their support and commitment to it are essential.
CBE/T programs which have been successful elsewhere are
those which have developed and provided an effective
initial and on-going staff development program for all
personnel involved.
A successful program of professional development should
include the:
- Involvement of external or internal experts/consultants on industry skill standards and competency-based curriculum
- Development of in-service training/workshops to educate all relevant staff on the characteristics, qualities and requirements of the curricular changes
- Opportunity for each participant to understand and develop skills in the necessary elements of the curricular changes
|
|
|
|
|
Note: It is important to train the administrators
as well as the faculty so that everyone has the same
frame of reference.
|
|
|
|
|
Source - Success Factor 6: Harris, Roger; Guthrie, Hugh; Hobart, Barry; Lundberg, David.
Competency-Based Education and Training.
MacMillan Education, 1995
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Success Factor 7:
Test the results through a pilot project
|
|
|
|
Revising an entire curriculum or developing a new one
that has all the elements of skill standard-based
curriculum can seem overwhelming. You may want to
start with a smaller pilot project in which you convert
one module or course or develop a new course using the
guidelines:
- competency-based
- learner program outcomes
- performance assessment
- integrates technical knowledge and foundation skills
Some faculty have found that an interdisciplinary
approach serves as a good pilot methodology as it
naturally lends itself to these guidelines.
Two sample interdisciplinary pilots are described on
the NWCET web site
|
|
|
|
Success Factor 8:
Evaluate the curriculum after it is implemented
|
|
|
|
Most schools already have program review and
accountability methods in place. A competency-based
curriculum is easier to evaluate as the outcomes are
able to be identified and demonstrated. A curriculum
map can be a very useful tool to confirm where and how
competencies and outcomes are being addressed. There
are many resources that can provide you with useful
program evaluation instruments and recommended methods.
Program Evaluation
|
|
|
|
|
|