Week 10

  1. What have you learned this week regarding designing online curriculum?

Today I am recalling 10th week’s learning. Although, we learned about curriculum in 8th week but in this week there was an advancement in our learning. The hybrid curriculum which we developed in 8th week was scheduled with the formula of Cambridge Education Group research frame work. The wisdom of CEG when applied with our online curriculum the results were quite interesting. The new outlook of curriculum binds a teacher to follow certain activities within a period of time to get a better overall understanding. The idea is to make the concept of hybrid e-learning more scientific and general for teachers to practice. “Practical benefits, particularly convenience, also attract students to online programs. Learners who work well on their own, are computer literate (or can quickly develop the required computer skills), and have access to the Web are likely to be interested in online education. Because these learners can take classes anywhere, at almost any time, the convenience factor attracts new students who want to try online courses (Demirdjian, 2002).”

It should be taught in our curriculum to learn knowledge from wherever, you can but the reference of knowledge should be given and regard should be given to the original writer. There are many things which are taught in institutions but are not mentioned in the curriculum but the successful curriculum should mention things are imperative as written thing will benefit more and cannot be left from evaluation. “As Kennedy summarized in a recent E-Learning article (2002), the copyright law is often confusing or unclear, especially in an international forum. One reasonable solution is to develop a contract with the institution that spells out who owns course or other academic materials. A good rule of thumb is to learn your institution’s policies regarding
academic integrity, fair use, copyright, and trademarks before you decide
which outside materials you need to use in your course”.

  1. Where and how did you learn this, during your work for this course this week? What particular activities or prompts helped you?

An organization is successful if the people are integrated and have a same goal. This holds true for a blended e-learning class. The gap comes when the vision and execution of goals are not coherent. Whether it is about understanding CEG six step approach or proper teacher training. If a teacher is trained about CEG practically, then the understanding level of our students jumps high. This point is novel this week. “Teachers can only create a supportive, creative environment if they are given the tools and time to develop meaningful materials and activities, as well as, learn how to teach online. Administrators and technical specialists must provide this support, which requires a high-level institutional commitment not only to the infrastructure of online programs, but to faculty training and development. Many teachers are concerned that they
may not have this support, because course development, facilitation, and maintenance are time-consuming activities that involve a team of technical and pedagogical specialists. Making sure that teachers develop course materials and are “actively engaged” in creating programs is imperative for successful, beneficial online programs (Charp, 2001)”.


Convenience is the point which is in the mind of students when comes the word blended e-learning. Our customers are our students and by proper planning it, in the curriculum, we can achieve our goal. This convenience is increasing day by day as technology is advancing so, curriculum should be ready to match the challenges otherwise it is difficult to catch the trend. “Practical benefits, particularly convenience, also attract students to online
programs. Learners who work well on their own, are computer literate (or
can quickly develop the required computer skills), and have access to the
Web are likely to be interested in online education. Because these learners
can take classes anywhere, at almost any time, the convenience factor
attracts new students who want to try online courses (Demirdjian, 2002)”.

  1. What did you learn from applying the example CEG framework for curriculum design, for your own course(s) and teaching context?

I think online curriculum of blended e-learning was simple but CEG framework made sure that there should be rationale of anything that should be taught. It places checks on the need on the choice of content and allocates six indicators and steps for the curriculum inclusion. The significance of CEG is that inputs time management in the insurance of certain cognitive skills to be delivered during the learning session. It needs practice to adopt any new framework like CEG. In CEG framework an approximate ratio of 70:20:10. The 70% time is allocated to the enquiry, practice and production of the lecture, 20% of time is reserved for discussion/collaboration and rest of the time is consumed for acquisition of knowledge. This is an approximate distribution for stressing the need of cognitive skills for students by giving proportionate time according to their need. So, I think I really learnt a lot by understanding CEG for the first time. This time division depends on the need of the level of class and subject of the lecture. 

There are 6 phases of CEG pedagogic framework.

  • Scope:   Phase 1 is the first step of your learning design process. During this phase, we discuss the scope of the learning treatment at course / programme / module level. We consider our needs, technology capacity and identification of learning outcomes.
  • Learning outcomes:  Our goals of the course are discussed in this phase.
  • Descriptors: In this phase we ask ourselves the following questions about blended e-learning course.
  • The percentage of online or blended course (online / face-to-face)?
  • The viability of learning activity work for individual or group work or both?
  • Can the learning activity be delivered via a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) or Learning Management System (LMS), such as Canvas / Blackboard / Moodle?
  • Does the learning activity require access to an external online tool or platform, such as YouTube?
  • Learning types:  In this phase which type of learning is to be planned and its time in the total learning process is planned .i.e., enquiry, acquisition, discussion, practice and production. Higher education academy HEA input is also applied in our curriculum in the following areas.
  • Areas of Activity (A1-A5);
  • Core Knowledge (K1-K6);
  • Professional Values (V1-V4).
  • Five-step process:  introduction, guided practice, challenge activity, reflection and webinar are the five steps used in the development and structuring of weekly learning activities. A table is made in which time is allocated in this step.
  • Analyze: The learning activities selected in Phase 5 are analyzed in this last phase. It also asks you to calculate the time assigned to the different components of the 70:20:10. This proposed proportion is not fixed and gives you an example to follow your own requirements. All the process of CEG was novel to me and I learned a lot from it.

All the process of curriculum development should be aimed at students because it is students for which we are teaching so, curriculum should be flexible enough to attain our goals of learning and development of students. “Through a dialogue between you and learners about a written assignment, and as you review and assist in the preparation of drafts, trust develops between you and students (Bauer & Anderson, 2000)”.

  1. How useful and/or appropriate did you find the framework for this? How and why? What could you do to make it more so?

This process of CEG was very useful in the sense that it showed us some novel ways of delivering lecture and in this way we realized that I lecture should have these learning outcomes to be considered and how can I   fulfill these goals? I we don’t have any goals in an organized way then outcomes is also not possible. So, a useful activity was performed this week. It helped me in my blended e-learning class, as I was more aware of my goals than before. I am learning each week as the learning is progressing. This blended e-learning is the need of the time and this course activity has definitely helped us in our way. “Depending on the amount of interaction required for an effective learning situation, some highly automated classes may be able to accommodate many more students in one session than could possibly fit into an on-site classroom
guided by one teacher (Demirdjian, 2002)”.“Most learners who want online degree programs live far away from the physical campus. Their peace of mind and career planning depend on the institution having a well-designed curriculum that will be
around for a long time (Fuller, McBride, & Gillam, 2002)”.

  1. How has your understanding of designing an online curriculum changed from what you have learned this week? How has it stayed the same, or has your existing understanding and perspectives about this been reinforced and confirmed?

Teachers understanding as a teacher has deepened in this week. It is not same and assessment criteria has increased and as new variables have entered in my mind thirst for more knowledge has come into my mind to learn more and more about it. “Savenye, Olina, and Niemczyk (2001) suggested that teachers initially should select courses that they have successfully taught on site as those that are later offered online.”

A teacher’s vision about one class should be a part of strategic or long-term thinking and he/she should look at the bigger picture of career and all-round development of student other than only class at the moment. In this way, teacher’s personal growth as a human and his student’s growth will start. “Downey (2001) stressed the importance of strategic planning. Whether you are one of the team members responsible for this planning or working on your own, you need a clear map and an effective vision of where you are
headed. Downey suggested that the strategic planning team consist of technologists, administrators, content delivery experts, end users, and external representatives, such as members of the community or business leaders”.

  1. What has this suggested regarding your current strengths in your practice that could help you design an online curriculum?

A teacher should start to learn how to make video podcasts in blended e-learning. Communication skills should be updated and telling between the lines and constant and intelligent feedback is the need of time in blended learning. “Students have noted that the feedback they receive online is more often positive and supportive. Comments like “good point,” “I never would’ve thought of that,” or “great idea” are often more common online. Even if learners in a traditional classroom agree with a speaker, chances are that they will not speak up to make a positive comment. A nod here or there is more likely to be the only positive reinforcement given to in-class speakers. Seeing several written positive comments gives online learners a boost in morale (Porter, 2001a, b)”.

This is a teamwork and the courses which are derived collectively will boom in this blended skills industry. “Downey (2001) stressed the importance of strategic planning. Whether you are one of the team members responsible for this planning or working on
your own, you need a clear map and an effective vision of where you are headed. Downey suggested that the strategic planning team consist of technologists, administrators, content delivery experts, end users, and external representatives, such as members of the community or business leaders”.

  1. What has this suggested regarding what you might do to further develop with this in the future? How might you do that (specifically)?

The process of video podcasts should be given specific attention as disturbance and other noises can be removed from proper training and efficiency of blended e- learning can be increased by teacher training of video making. It is a suggestion from myself. “Strom (2001) reminded teachers that video must be viewed as a continuous feed of information. The images have to appear in the proper order, and the viewed series of images must be smooth and uninterrupted”.

 There are several issues in which a curriculum developers need input from students’ needs as first hand research. “The best way to misread or misunderstand a curriculum is from a catalogue. It is such a lifeless thing, so disembodied, so unconnected, sometimes intentionally misleading Rudolph (1977)”.

Socializing is the need which can be fulfilled by blended e-learning. “Not only is the classroom a relatively stable physical environment, it also provides a fairly constant social context. Behind the same old desks sit the same old students, in front of the familiar blackboard stands the familiar teacher (Philip Jackson. 1968)”.

  1. What has challenged or surprised you, during your learning this week?

My ignorance surprised me when I looked at the CEG framework and I thought that how useful it is to me in my learning and I thought if it is implemented in its true sense it can uplift the teaching of many educators. “A behaviorist approach provides students with materials through which learners gather the important concepts. This approach is often pictured as the teacher imparting information through lectures or notes and is generally more passive for learners than a constructivist approach. With a behaviorist teaching approach, learners are given links to other Web sites, notes, lectures—whether in print or multimedia—and other materials as a framework of knowledge necessary to understand a subject ( Makkonen, 2002)”.

  1. To what extent do you think you have achieved each and all of the learning outcomes for this Week 10? If you think there is room for you to achieve these more fully, what could you do to help yourself achieve that?

As I said in my previous CRJ’s that I learn new in every week but this week CEG framework leapfrogged my learning disposition. Now, there is a lot of room of implementing it in my classroom. I need practical training of making video podcasts and I hope I will also learn it. “Within the curriculum, early (lower-level) courses may involve less complex thinking, but as mastery of knowledge and skills increase, students should demonstrate higher levels of thinking, such as synthesizing information and applying concepts. Throughout the online curriculum, as students’
progress within a course and from course to course, a variety of experiences must be provided to stimulate students’ higher-order mental processes (Aguilera, Fernandez, & Fitz-Gerald, 2002)”.

This is the time of innovation of creativity and we should follow a new paradigm of continuous learning in our curriculum development, and in this way we will match and surpass our goals. “Shank (2001) explained that creativity should be a key
element in course design, and you can come up with innovative materials
and interesting presentations. Going beyond the same old design is
important for keeping online courses fun, educational, and interactive”.

The curriculum should be flexible enough to meet the needs of individuals as individuals are important for us. “Williams, Paprock, and Covington (2000) noted the difference in the teacher’s ability to troubleshoot problems when learners use materials in
on-site classrooms and when learners work with online materials on their
own. Teachers who want to change the day’s lecture notes or add a new
transparency, PowerPoint slide, or handout can easily integrate these
materials into that day’s lesson plan. Last-minute changes are possible.
Teachers also can explain any problems that arise as students work in a lab
or collaborate on an assignment in class”.

  1. What specific sources of scholarship were helpful for your learning this week? How and why?

I this week I followed the official e-library and every good e-book available from anywhere and I used every legal resource to make this CRJ.  “Williams, Paprock, and Covington (2000) admitted that developing high quality materials for distance learners is therefore time-consuming and requires much planning; the materials must be educationally sound, as well as diverse and innovative. In addition, they must fit into the structure of the institution’s other online courses, plus respond to the interests and
expectations of increasingly sophisticated online learners”.

It was very difficult for me to find the genuine relevant material this week as my thirst demanded more and more knowledge so, I surfed a lot this week. “Parlangeli, Marchigiani, and Bagnara (1999), for example, concluded that
learners often have problems when they are unfamiliar with the way to use
the system and with the subject matter. When students have to concentrate
on how to find information and move around the course site, they cannot
focus on learning the subject information at the same time. Simply plopping
information onto a CD or linking Web sites to course readings will not help
learners make sense of the information. Learners may have trouble using
tools to find information or understand in which order topics should be
covered. Clear organization of topics and prior instruction in using course
tools and navigating information are as much a requirement of good
content as having innovative, educational sources”.

All around learning is the goal of any curriculum and our classes should not focus on simple assessment to check our teaching, CEG framework gives us an example of how we can assess ourselves in our class in other domains as well. “The levels of interaction with materials and activities also are important to consider in course design. Rote memorization and repetitive tasks are lower level cognitive activities. Recall or identification of information is the lowest level (Knowledge) in Bloom’s taxonomy of cognitive levels, with the highest level at Evaluation. The mental processes become increasingly complex from the lowest to highest levels (Bloom, 1964)”.