Now let us consider the idea of curriculum design. As indicated by the definitions at the beginning of this book, the term “design” is used as a verb to designate a process (as in “designing a curriculum”), or as a noun to denote a particular plan resulting from a design process (as in “a curriculum design”). Never mind that a curriculum is not a garden or a bridge or a traffic pattern; our purpose in this chapter is to see how things play out when we apply the design practices of architects and engineers to the creation of new curricula. And, for the moment, let us put aside the question of precisely what a curriculum is (a matter to be taken up at the beginning of the next chapter), since the process of curriculum design can be explored without first having agreement on a precise definition of curriculum.
The purpose of this chapter is to explore ideas, not to provide detailed step-by-step instructions on how to create an actual curriculum design, let alone an actual curriculum. It is as though, by way of analogy, the chapter deals with how general design principles may seem to apply to designing any kind of buildings, but not to how to produce detailed engineering plans for use in constructing actual buildings
Curriculum design is purposeful. It is not just to “have” a course of study. Its grand purpose is to improve student learning, but it may have other purposes as well. Whether the purposes are in harmony or in conflict, explicit or implied, immediate or long-range, political or technical, curriculum designers do well to be as clear as possible about what the real purposes are, so that they can respond accordingly.
Curriculum design is creative. Curriculum design is not a neatly defined procedure that can be pursued in a rigorous series of steps. At every stage of curriculum design there are opportunities for innovative thinking, novel concepts, and invention to be introduced. Good curriculum design is at once systematic and creative—feet-on-the ground and head-in-the-clouds.
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