Choosing Technology Education Curriculum

Are Computer Textbooks Any Good Without our Help?

Much of the time, technology educators teach out of the book.  Often, we use a computer textbooks’ table of contents to prepare our lesson plans (Fink, 2005). This is such an easy method that we commonly use it to help make up time while we scramble to keep up with ever-changing technology.

However, I feel that we need to take the time to evaluate the true needs of our students and prepare our technology education curriculum accordingly. We often have to redesign our courses from the ground up (Stout, 2001). Small changes to a textbook’s table of contents are not quite sufficient and it does not work effectively in the classroom.  I know… I have tried it.  You must go through a proper instructional design process as explained below.

Wiggins & McTighe (1998) have devised an instructional design model that works well for technology education; they call it the “Backward design process.”

The backward design process

The backward design process is so described because most often teachers start with textbooks, favorite lessons, and time-honored activities rather than using these methods as tools to reach the goal or standard. Wiggins & McTighe advocate doing the reverse: start with the end–the desired goals or standards–and then develop a curriculum based on evidence of proper performance seen when students have learned.

Step 1 -  Identify Desired Results

We should consider the final, enduring skills that our students will need when they return to work.  Wiggins & McTighe state that we need to take a closer look at our curriculum priorities. We need to look beyond the general idea of our students being familiar with discrete skills in the software.   We need to ask ourselves, “what are the end goals for our students’ learning”?  Are we going beyond the general idea of “I want my students to learn how to use the software”?  Do we consider what is worth knowing versus what is important to do versus what is to be learned so it endures?

Wiggins & McTighe posit that you first choose “big ideas” that you want your students to learn. You then need to boil this down because you cannot possibly teach it all in a finite time. You then figure out the skills that should endure throughout real-life tasks. The following image is a graphical example of how you go from large big ideas to smaller ideas that are “enduring” knowledge.

In order to boil down your big ideas to manageable, transferable tasks you need to filter out what is not worth teaching. Wiggins & McTighe give a recipe for filtering out unimportant information:

1. “To what extent does the idea, topic, or process represent a big idea having enduring value beyond the classroom?”
2. To what extent does the idea, topic, or process reside at the heart of the discipline?”
3. “To what extent does the idea, topic, or process required uncoverage?”
   1. Uncoverage is the clarification of a concept or process that students have difficulty grasping.”
   2. Students may harbor a misconception about a big idea
   3. This may be an important topic to include in your instruction
4. “To what extent does the idea, topic, or process offer potential for engaging students?”

Use these filters to help you make the selection of curriculum priorities that are important for your students.

Step 2 – Determine Acceptable Evidence

How can you know if your students have achieved the desired results and met the standards if you have not created checks of understanding?  Assessments can be either formal or informal, such as quizzes and observations.

You must work performance tasks or projects into your curriculum so that you can help your students clear up misperceptions, strengthen weaknesses, and go beyond the normal teaching outline. If you devise assessments before creating teaching methods, you will create a lesson plan that is more learner-centered  than content-centered.

Step 3 -  Plan Learning Experiences

At this point you have created instructional goals and assessments, and you can now plan instructional activities and methods. You must ask yourself several important questions (Wiggins & McTighe, 1998):

1. What facts, concepts, principles, and procedures will learners need to effectively achieve desired results?
2. What activities and projects will teach students required knowledge and skills?
3. What concepts will need to be taught, based on goals?
4. How should concepts be taught, based on performance goals?
5. What materials and resources are required to meet goals?
6. Finally, test your design to see if it is coherent and effective.

Summary

Use these steps when you are preparing your technology education class.  Any educated instructional designer will tell you that you should start with goals and evaluate learner needs before you create teaching methods.  I especially like the backward design model in that you must base instruction on assessible performance tasks and projects; this model is well suited to technology education because we spend so much time having our students work on disparate projects.  Maybe we should work on creating holistic projects where students work on a part-whole task that meets our learning goals.

References

Fink, L. D. (2005). Integrated course design [Electronic Version]. IDEA Center

Stout, J. C. (2001). Radical course revision: A case study. The National Teaching & Learning Forum, 10(4).

Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (1998). Understanding by design. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.