14008 Curriculum Development and Implementation

Credits: 4 graduate credits in Education: Technologies and Learning Systems

Prerequisite: Admission to the graduate program in Education: Technologies and Learning Systems

The course is based on Key Concepts for Understanding Curriculum, by C.J. Marsh (Routledge Falmer, 2009); and on a reader edited by Sarah Guri-Rosenblit and Dvora Ben-Shir. Some of the tutorial sessions are devoted to guided reading of academic materials in English.

The course presents theories, research and models, classic and contemporary, in the area of curriculum planning, and examines the myriad approaches and influences that shape this complex and dynamic area. It discusses curriculum development and implementation processes in varied learning systems: formal and informal educational settings as well as training and learning systems in the private and public sectors.

Objectives: To present a broad overview of the field of curriculum: definitions, alternatives, bounds and limitations, and the spirited research debates revolving around these issues; To acquaint students with the complex considerations underlying goal-setting in educational and learning systems; To familiarize students with key trends and concepts relating to processes of curriculum planning, their stages and implications, as the basis for further study; To offer a variety of models and applications of curriculum design, development, evaluation and implementation on various levels and in varied educational and learning settings; To delineate the relationship between the field of curriculum development as an academic discipline and the various overt and hidden ideological and political influences that every curriculum necessarily reflects, expresses, preserves and promotes.

Topics: The field of curriculum – definitions and key concepts; Early stages in curriculum planning – framework, needs analysis, goal setting; Curriculum development – principles, methods and contents; Curriculum – implementation and evaluation; Between curriculum and ideology; Critical-political approaches to curriculum planning.