Curriculum Design in Action is a series of four open online practical workshops rooted in the understanding of curriculum design as a crucial and complex social practice operating within and beyond dynamic higher education contexts. Although fronted by relevant educational theory, this series focuses on practice, and provides hands-on experience of designing theory and evidence-informed module-level curriculum that is fit-for-purpose and inclusive.

The series is suitable for academic and professional services staff working on (re)designing their own module, involved in module design or evaluation, and/or simply interested in learning how to design (students involved in curriculum co-creation/evaluation are welcome too).

Series overview

Workshop 1 | Exploring curriculum as a social practice: Designing aims | Workshop 1 will briefly introduce the concept of curriculum design as a social practice and how it impacts our understanding of module aims. This will be followed by designing our own module aims (real or imagined - depending on your context).

Workshop 2 | Re-imagining curriculum: Designing ILOs and assessment | Workshop 2 will briefly introduce key curriculum design frameworks and invite you to consider how they might impact your module's ILOs and assessment. This will be followed by designing your own ILOs and assessment aligned with the selected framework(s) and underpinned by the understanding of curriculum as a social construct.

Workshop 3 | Crafting curriculum: Designing learning activities | Workshop 3 will briefly introduce an innovative curriculum design framework (waving curriculum) reported to support cumulative knowledge-building and knowledge transfer, as well as inclusive teaching. This will be followed by having a go at your own waving module design.

Workshop 4 | Critiquing curriculum: Evaluating curriculum design | Workshop 4 will look at ways in which to critically engage with curriculum designs (either our own or those designed by others). In this final workshop we will critically reflect on real curriculum designs and have a go at designing our own curriculum evaluation instrument(s).

Intended audience

The workshops are suitable for the academic teaching staff across all academic disciplines/subjects and curriculum design support staff and students who have a keen interest, but little or no experience in higher education curriculum design at a module level. The series is also suitable for more experienced curriculum designers wishing to refresh their design knowledge and skills.