Transforming Curriculum Development: Putting An Entire Institution On Line For The Benefit Of Students, Faculty, The Professions And Industry.

In response to current trends in post-secondary education, the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) in Edmonton, Alberta has embarked on an institute-wide initiative dubbed “LOGging Our Curriculum.” The goal of the project is to create outcomes-based, modularized, digital curriculum housed in a database accessible to NAIT instructors via the Internet. The project is designed to assist NAIT to become more responsive to the fast changing requirements of industry; to provide instructors with shared curriculum development tools and resources; and to provide students with more learner-centered learning materials that adhere to a systematic instructional design model. The database created is the intellectual capital of the institution. The segmentation of curriculum into modules (rather than courses) allows for effective and efficient redesign of curriculum and the customization of training. It also provides the foundation for Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR), articulation between programs at NAIT and at other institutions, validation of curriculum with industry and facilitation of the accreditation process. Rather than produce content-rich modules, the decision was made at the outset to produce Learning Outcome Guides (known as LOGs). A LOG is a module that does not (necessarily) embed lecture content, but instead includes pointers to content and activities. A LOG incorporates outcome-based language and instructional design based on Kolb's Experiential Learning Model. Faculty who decide to embed or link to lecture content, notes, audio or video in their LOGs may do so if they wish. To assist program staff to "log" their curriculum by preparing Learning Outcome Guides, NAIT has developed a web-based curriculum development application called MERLIN. This guides instructors by providing online instructional design information to assist in writing learning outcomes and objectives, preparing the LOGs, creating courses, printing student materials and ultimately moving those materials to WebCT. MERLIN allows program areas to search for existing curriculum materials within the LOGging Database and use those materials as needed. A companion project “VALIDATOR” is a web-enabled instrument for convenient validation of outcomes and is used for accreditation documentation and for professional and industrial validation. Collecting curriculum into the LOGging database allows NAIT to respond to many challenges in a timely and effective manner. P ge 6.068.1 Proceedings of the 2001 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright @2001, American Society for Engineering Education Introduction In common with all academic institutions, The Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) is facing the challenges of fulfilling its traditional role in education and training in face of an increasingly global economy that is being transformed by technological innovation. Shrinking government financial support poses a further challenge. The institution serves over 10,000 full time students as well as in excess of 50,000 part-time students who attend 195 separate and discrete programs 1,300 continuing education courses. As well, instruction and other forms of technical and educational assistance are currently offered in 29 other countries. As an undergraduate polytechnic institute NAIT is expected to provide job-ready graduates in engineering, computer, health and communication technologies and in business and hospitality. The required degree of sophistication of these graduates has increased with industry adoption of new techniques and there is a need to continually update both theory and practice expressed in the curriculum. The accreditation systems in Canada are rigorous and, since they are based on current industry standards, impose an additional stress on faculty and staff to maintain curriculum currency. Typically it has been left to individual departments and faculty to undertake almost perpetual curriculum redesign and implementation and to combine this activity with day to day teaching and their own professional development. The keynote of NAIT’s mission, academic plan and business plan is to promote student success in this new global economy. Whilst surveys show that NAIT is maintaining an excellent record of student retention, graduate placement and employer satisfaction, it is clear that true graduate success will depend on preparation for continued learning and development. There must be a change from curriculum that emphasizes the here and now of existing jobs to one which provides a platform for further learning. Traditionally the content of individual programs at NAIT has been set specifically for regional and national industry needs, with very little room for flexibility. Increasingly however NAIT is responding to demands for customized training that may utilize elements of more than one program as well as unique segments. Blending instructional elements from programs and courses prepared by individual (and sometimes idiosyncratic) instructors is not an easy task. Another factor critical to student success and which is forcing change within the institution is the changing nature of student demands. Students are no longer prepared (or even able) to meet the normal program requirement of at least 30 hours of instruction inserted into a Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 schedule. Many institutions are moving to alternate delivery modes but rarely are efforts coordinated across the entire organization. Curriculum design and delivery often becomes inconsistent and, at worst, chaotic. NAIT intends to establish consistency in this area. The LOGging Our Curriculum Project. During the 1998-99 academic year, NAIT made the decision to embark upon an institution-wide coordinated curriculum project designed to meet the educational challenges of the new century. The need to normalize the process of curriculum renewal in face of variable industry dynamics has led to the establishment of an institutional curriculum database. The project was designed to meet a number of criteria and upon completion is expected to: • create a pool of knowledge accessible to all faculty and students via the web P ge 6.068.2 Proceedings of the 2001 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright @2001, American Society for Engineering Education • provide support for curriculum delivery through technology • enhance student learning • express the syllabus of each course or program in terms of measurable outcomes • facilitate program validation and accreditation processes The Learning Outcome Guides (LOGs) In effect this digital curriculum database expresses the intellectual capital of the institution and underpins a strategic initiative to transform all NAIT curricula into outcomes-based modules. Each module relates to the achievement of a specific outcome and is termed a Learning Outcome Guide (LOG). The LOGs then are a product of the database, combining outcome-based language and instructional design based on Kolb’s Experiential Learning Model. Arranging curriculum into smaller units allows for: • Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR) • facilitation of remedial activities for students in academic difficulty • articulation between programs within NAIT and other institutions • efficient redesign of curriculum • sharing of curriculum across the institution • customization of training programs • dynamic web-based curriculum delivery • a uniform look and feel to all of NAIT programming A LOG will contain the following components: Statement of Pre Requisite Skills (optional) Required support materials Rationale Student Self-Assessment (optional) Connection activity Exploration activity Experiential activity Summary Practical activity Student Post Self-Assessment (optional) The LOG typically does not contain lecture material since the main purpose of the system is to facilitate classroom and laboratory activity rather than to create instant distant delivery materials. However, individual lecturers may elect to incorporate notes into their LOGs or use links to the web, a text or CD ROM. Versions of the LOGs created for distance delivery would be expected to be more complete in content and may include links to or embed video or audio lectures. Preparing and Working with a Digital Curriculum Database Typical instructors at NAIT are content experts in their field; however they are usually not pedagogical experts and, left to their own devices, may produce large quantities of technically valid content with little thought to instructional design. Furthermore, not all faculty members are P ge 6.068.3 Proceedings of the 2001 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright @2001, American Society for Engineering Education familiar with the techniques required to prepare web-ready material. The LOGging our Curriculum project includes a provision to generate web pages consistent with the content available in the database. This ensures that a LOG that is printed, displayed on the web, or used to generate web pages will have a consistent “look and feel” and will ensure a pedagogically sound design.