Written by Kyle Massey, Coordinator of Curriculum, the Curriculum Chronicle is a regular column that is published in the newsletter, OurSpace. The purpose of this column is to engage readers with curriculum-related issues, with an emphasis on delivering insight and guiding reflection on curricular matters concerning the TSTC community. Your comments about the column are always welcome. Additionally, if you have a suggestion of a topic that you would like to see featured in an upcoming issue, please submit your requests. You can contact the author at firstname.lastname@example.org
Issue 16 | 01/14/13
It's the time of year when we begin asking instructional departments to submit any curriculum revisions they would like to make for the new academic year beginning in the fall. Working collaboratively with their faculty, each Department Chair should carefully review their programs' degree plans,... | Read more.
Issue 15 | 12/06/12
Rules of playing the curriculum game center on these pieces: legal or regulatory constraints and administrative structure. Who is the decision-maker in the institution – an administrator, the faculty or a more remote body? How does the proposed curriculum fit with other curricula? | Read more.
Issue 14 | 11/05/12
The results of a recent survey conducted by the EDUCASE Center for Applied Research (ECAR) indicate that students are giving their instructors high marks for using technology effectively. But what does it mean to use technology effectively in the classroom, and are we doing this at TSTC? | Read more.
Issue 13 | 10/22/12
Importantly, this continual process of identifying possible curriculum changes and implementing these changes is not carried out in a haphazard manner; rather, we follow an orderly annual review process to ensure efficiency and effective implementation. The following discussion highlights some of the important elements of this process. | Read more.
Issue 12 | 9/24/12
Are we reflecting on our teaching practice and our classroom experiences with a willingness to augment our philosophy of teaching, if necessary? And when we do commit to a teaching philosophy, does our practice always reflect it? | Read more.
Issue 11 | 9/10/12
Research has shown that learning is enhanced when students are made aware of the mastery expectations for their courses. One of the main functions of student learning outcomes, or course outcomes (COs) when speaking about outcomes at the course level, is primarily to guide students' learning. | Read more.
Issue 10 | 8/13/12
I'd like to use this issue of the Curriculum Chronicle to introduce the new website of the Curriculum Office: https://www.waco.tstc.edu/curriculum. This new section of the main TSTC Waco website gives the Curriculum Office web presence that I think will be helpful for the TSTC community. | Read more.
Issue 9 | 7/30/12
If TSTC is about technical vocational training, then why do we bother with general education ("academic") courses? Don't these courses just needlessly prolong our students' time to graduation, or take up valuable time that could be spent on additional technical courses? | Read more.
Issue 8 | 7/16/12
Most faculty work hard to make each individual course they teach the best learning experience it can be. They learn with each semester and make revisions based on what worked and where the course stumbled. If done correctly, it's a continuous improvement process ... | Read more.
Issue 7 | 7/2/12
Prerequisite courses are those that students are required to complete before enrolling in subsequent courses. Normally, there is really only one reason that can justify the imposition of a prerequisite course: to significantly increase the likelihood of success in the subsequent, target course. | Read more.
Issue 6 | 6/4/12
This issue features a self-assessment activity that we can all do to help us reflect on our teaching methods, characterizing them as teacher-centered or learner-centered, or somewhere in between these two extremes. | Read more.
Issue 5 | 5/14/12
As we all should know well by now, the learning outcomes vision of placing learning first has become the universal thrust of educators, educational professional organizations, business leaders and policy makers. | Read more.
Issue 4 | 4/23/12
If you're looking for a new resource to help inform your approach to curriculum, I highly recommend Lattuca and Stark's (2009) revised edition of "Shaping the College Curriculum: Academic Plans in Context." This book serves as a resource for individuals and groups ... | Read more.
Issue 3 | 4/2/12
Gerald Graff, author of the 2010 article, Why Assessment?, asserts that we know very little about each other's courses. He's not writing so much about the instructional strategies we use (although we may not know much about these either), but about what we teach, including those policies and practices that govern conduct in the classroom and set learning parameters for students... | Read more.
Issue 2 | 3/12/12
Given the importance of advisory committees and the value of their input, this week’s issue of the Curriculum Chronicle seeks to explore one way we can make even better use of these groups of industry experts — by equipping them to fulfill one of their most significant stated functions: evaluating program goals and objectives. | Read more.
Issue 1 | 2/13/12
Whether we are instructors, department chairs, administrators or industry partners, we all play a role in the design and implementation of curriculum here at TSTC, and it is the author's belief that this is perhaps our most important role of the many we have within the educational enterprise. | Read more.