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Tony Mays reports on a curriculum and materials development
project recently completed with the University of Pretoria’s
Distance Education Unit.
One of the key findings of the CHE investigation into Enhancing
the Contribution of Distance Higher Education in South Africa (CHE
2004) was that in general, South African institutions’ investment
in the design of programmes and materials seemed to be well below
international norms. SAIDE was therefore delighted to be approached
by the University of Pretoria’s Distance Education Unit to
facilitate the reconceptualisation of the programme design and materials
development for its ACE in Education Management.
The ACE in Education Management had already been scheduled for internal
review in 2007 and needed to be redesigned to take cognisance of
the HEQC Review and of the fact that the University is also a provider
for the Department of Education-led ACE in School Leadership. With
the ACE in School Leadership targeting existing School Management
Team members with aspirations towards becoming school principals,
it was felt that there was a need for an ACE in Education Management
that would assist Post-Level One, Classroom-Based Educators to enhance
their classroom management practices and to develop the competences
that could in future assist them to play more of a leadership role
in their schools, perhaps as lead teachers or as Heads of Department.
The process facilitated by SAIDE, through a number of workshops,
was informed by the three levels of planning and development that
have been advocated by the distance education community through
the NADEOSA guidelines for Designing and Delivering Distance Education
(Welch & Reed eds 2005). The three levels are:
- Programme design; (for details of issues discussed at the workshops
see
attached.)
- Course design; and
- Materials development.
Some time was allowed after the first two workshops for further
reflection and refinement of this thinking ahead of a third workshop
that focused on the transition from programme design to materials
development. During the time away from the workshop setting, the
programme manager and module coordinators were busy developing revised
module outlines that would break-up the learning experience into
manageable and coherent blocks and modules of learning and teaching.
The third workshop provided an opportunity for module coordinators
to present their draft revised module plans and to explain how they
contributed to the achievement of the overall purpose of the programme.
This discussion allowed the team to identify gaps and overlaps against
the programme outline and to agree on a logical re-sequencing of
the six modules into three blocks of learning, with each block of
learning building on the work that had gone before. An opportunity
was also provided for a critical engagement with the existing programme
materials and examples of materials developed in other programmes
that had been made available through the SAIDE Resource Centre.
Key materials development activities in the workshop included development
of draft assignments and in-text activities. Content required for
the activities which demonstrated a clear link with the exit level
outcomes of the programme, the module and the draft assignment was
developed. Work was also begun on developing tutorial letters for
students that would introduce them to the new programme design and
the purpose and nature of each module. The workshop culminated in
the development of an action
plan for subsequent materials development/re-development.
The journey from programme design through to completed materials
took 11 months, from April 2007 to February 2008. It required a
lot of concerted effort on the part of all those involved but team
members felt that the end result had been worth the effort. In fact,
the UP Distance Education Unit have initiated similar processes
for the redevelopment of both their ACE in Special Needs Education
and their Hons BEd in 2007 and plan to replicate the process with
all new programme development.
In March 2008, the new ACE in Education Management at the University
of Pretoria received full accreditation from the HEQC.
References:
Council on Higher Education (CHE). 2004. Enhancing the contribution
of Distance Higher Education in South Africa – Report of an
investigation led by the South African Institute for Distance Education.
Pretoria: CHE.
South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA). 2005. Guidelines
for Integrated Assessment. Pretoria: SAQA.
Welch, T. & Reed, Y. (Eds.) 2005. Designing and Delivering Distance
Education: Quality Criteria and Case Studies from South Africa.
Johannesburg: NADEOSA.
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