Page 230 - Crisis in Higher Education

10

Redesigning Curriculum and Pedagogy

Curriculum and pedagogy are the instructional elements of education.
Curriculum is determining learning content, the substance of the degree,
and pedagogy is designing the method for teaching and delivering
content. When curriculum and pedagogy are combined with assessing
performance, which is discussed in Chapters 4 and 7, an instructional and
learning paradigm is established. As shown in Figure 10.1, curriculum
content should determine pedagogy with success or failure being mea-
sured by assessment. The results of assessment drive changes in content
and pedagogy, and the cycle repeats.
Although the focus of this discussion is undergraduate education, many
of the points apply to certificate programs, two-year degrees, and gradu-
ate education. Certificates are typically short programs that concentrate on
specific subjects such as health information systems or supply chain man-
agement. They may require as few as three to five courses but could be much
longer, and they are often taken by individuals who already have a degree in
higher education and wish to gain knowledge in a specific field to advance
their careers. Associate degrees can provide the first two years of a bache-
lor’s degree or specific skills that lead to employment. Graduate education is
more challenging, tends to have a tighter topical focus, and has smaller class
sizes, especially doctoral courses where five or six is a common size. In 2014,
graduate enrollment was about 15% of the enrollment in higher education. 1,2
Curriculum is packaged in courses that are usually three-credit hours,
although others sizes are used. A three-credit course typically meets three
hours per week for 14 or 15 weeks. To graduate in four years, students must
complete 15 credit hours each semester, or 30 credit hours per year (excluding
summers) for a total of 120. A small percent of colleges and universities use the
quarter system, which contains three 10-week terms, for a total of 180 credit
hours in four years. Semester-hour and quarter-hours are mathematically

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