A Systematic Weighted Factor Approach for Curriculum Design

Curriculum revision and course design efforts are typically started partly as a result of constituent input, such as that from industrial advisory boards, potential employers of graduates, recent employers of graduates, and alumni. This process is often performed on an ad-hoc basis with various constituents who express conflicting opinions. This study offers a more formalized approach to the decision making process applied to curriculum revision by using a weighted factor index method to remove much of the subjectivity. Starting with an existing program, a new program is developed and the presented method is used compare the curriculum and course related options and decisions to evaluate the curriculum. An analysis is performed on the decision making process to determine the extent to which changes in weight assignment affect the final conclusion. It is found that by using this methodology, subjectivity may be minimized and rational decisions may be made during the conflict resolution phase of curriculum or course design.