CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT AND RENEWAL

INTRODUCTION

When planning my curricula, I firstly consider the UWC Graduate Attributes guides the planning and renewal of my curricula to shape the type of scholar and citizen that UWC envisage.

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Secondly, I consider students' needs as well as feedback from students are used to inform the renewal of my curriculum. Assessment tasks are designed to see whether these outcomes are reached and inform what I need to teach in my class.

During training, I was introduced to The Critical Elements of Universal Design for Learning in instruction (UDL-IRN, 2011) that I will use to guided the development of this section as well as the development of curricula in the future:

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Element 1: Clear goals

To ensure that the outcomes of my lessons are aligned with the UWC graduate attributes.

Element 2: Intentional planning for learner variability (Discussed thoroughly in Learner's needs section). To recognise that each learner is unique and that meeting  the needs of learners will likely benefit everyone.

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Element 3: Flexible methods and materials (Also see section on integration of technology)

To ensure the use of a variety of media and methods to present information and content.

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Element 4: Timely progress monitoring (Discussed thoroughly in Assessment section).

To ensure that formative assessments are timely enough to plan/redirectr instruction and support intended outcomes and that a variety of formative and summative assessments are used by the learner to demonstrate knowledge and skill.

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The relevance of curriculum development and renewal in my particular context.

Within the field of educational psychology it is very important to stay up to date and be aware of changes that happen within this context, in order to be able to teach contemporary, fresh, new information to students.

How I ensure that my curriculum is contemporary, authentic and contextually responsive in my particular discipline

I stay up to date with newest research, curriculums and the use of technology. As a registered counsellor at the HPCSA I am also oblidged to engage in Continuous Professional Development which further informs my curriculum.

How I manage to align your module/programme with respect to:

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The attached table illustrate how I plan to embed the UWC Graduate Attributes in my future module descriptors. I start each one of my lessons with learning outcomes, i.e. the desired learning outcomes, what students should be able to achieve and what they will ultimately be assessed on.

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Rationale for learning outcomes: It is very important that students understand the relevance of learning content within their field. The moment they understand why it is important, they will be more eager to understand, learn, retain and apply what they have learnt in practice.

Each learning activity is designed to speak to the learning outcomes and to make sure that students know how to apply what they have learnt.