Postgraduate Certificate of
Education
(Further Education)
University of Greenwich
Curriculum Design for a BTEC
HND in Interactive Multimedia
Fionn Ross
Date: 1 May 1998
Unit 7 Curriculum Design
The course plan is designed for a BTEC HND in Interactive Multimedia and covers a period of two years, with the schemes of work for all the first year modules covering one term. This essay focuses on one particular aspect of the course plan, namely, the modular nature of the plan, and an attempt is made to apply Kerr’s Curriculum Planning Model (which was adapted for further education) to this plan.
1.1 Rationale for the course
Multimedia is the fastest growing of the creative industries. It is reported that there are at least 300,000 vacancies in the United States alone. In the UK, the industry is increasing rapidly in terms of the requirements for specialists. Whereas before, it used to be the case that people with computing degrees would be employed as multimedia specialists (even without the design element of their education necessary for employment) companies are now becoming more and more selective. Education and training for multimedia, however, is usually offered at first degree or Master’s level and there are very few BTEC HNC, HND, or even NVQ courses that are wholly given to multimedia education and training. This is the reason for the creation of this course plan.
1.2 The modular approach
The nature of the modular approach used for the course is that a student can study any subject at any time and in any order, as long as the course is completed within two years. If this is done on a part-time basis, the maximum time allowed for completion is five years. Modules are certificated and count towards the full qualification or towards progressing to the BSc Multimedia Technology degree. Course materials are delivered in a flexible manner, enabling students and tutors to communicate via email, as well as in a classroom setting.
2.0 Theoretical Context
The theoretical context for this essay is based on the works of several writers who have addressed different aspects of curriculum planning: Brown & Knight (1994) in Assessing Learners in Higher Education acknowledge that new methods of assessment are required to address the changes in the way courses are delivered. One of those changes is the shift towards competence-based learning as is evidenced in GNVQ and NVQ courses. While the course plan developed for this unit is not GNVQ- or NVQ- based, it does call for an assessment of students’ competencies to complete tasks both practical and theoretical. The issue of quality is discussed by Green (1994) in What is Quality in Higher Education? Another work, The Modular Market, by Theodossin (1986) traces the origins of modular courses and examines the concept of modularity as it was applied in several institutions. The changing nature of higher education, the need for industry to establish and maintain links with HE institutions and the notion of students as consumers are addressed in Higher Education into the 1990s by Harding & Kington (1989), and Phillips (1989).
3.0 Definitions
3.1 What is a module?
A learning module has been defined as a discrete and integrated package of knowledge and skill complete within itself, dealing with one aspect or a number of aspects of vocational education at a given level of understanding or skill performance in accordance with stated aims and objectives. While the module stands on its own, the learning of the modules must be assessable and the programmes capable of being linked to other modules either in the same or a related area. They tend to be task rather than discipline oriented and of variable length depending on the time taken to achieve objectives (Parkinson, 1986:77).
Theodossin (1986) traces the term to its roots in construction based on dictionary definitions which ‘tend to suggest three underlying concepts: (1) measurement, (2) a part of a whole, and (3) repetition’ (1986:9). He goes on to define a module a
A measured part (or course) of
an extended learning experience leading to the attainment of a specified
qualification(s), for which a designated number (and possibly, sequence) of
modules is required, with the group of designated/required modules known as a
programme, a programme of studies, or a modular-course structure.
The modular course system has its origins in the United States and is at least a century old. Along with the increased acceptance of concepts such as student-centred learning and achieving self-realisation through study, there was an increasing demand for practical and ‘real-world relevance’ courses. Its adoption in the UK was pioneered by the Oxford Brookes University (then the Oxford Polytechnic).
3.2 Characteristics of modular courses
McDonald (1982) states that the major difference between modular and subject based courses is that
The latter allow the student to build up skills in various areas and
knowledge in other areas over a long period of time. Only in the final stage of
the course - or perhaps never in the training situation - is the student
allowed to work on a "project" which requires the integrated use of
all skills and knowledge acquired. Modular courses, on the other hand, build up
the ability to perform real-life tasks as a first aim and the acquisition of skills
and knowledge takes second place (p.10).
This is a major reason for using the modular structure in the Interactive Multimedia course.
Modules are also described in terms of primary characteristics (size: width, length/duration, weight; arrangement; assessment) and secondary characteristics (module size; choice; sharing) (Theodossin, 1986:Chapter 2).
Modular systems tend to have some structure built into them, as with the BTEC courses, where students need to complete core subjects (normally compulsory) along with option modules. This is viewed by some educationalists as a hybrid of the linear and modular system, and it may be argued that this is undesirable. On the other hand, having no choice (where the modular-course structure debate is mostly centred) within a modular course is seen as entirely feasible.
4.0 Literature review
In this section Kerr’s Curriculum Planning Model will be applied to the course plan and its modular nature with a discussion of the relevant literature.
4.1 Industry and higher education
There have been reports in the press in recent times about the attitudes of employers to graduates particularly from the new universities, who are seen as not having a standard similar to Oxford or Cambridge (representative of the old ‘guard’). Nevertheless, in a world that is constantly changing in terms of values, technology and employment needs, these attitudes cannot (and, indeed, do not, hold water, although with the bid for a ‘super-league’ by several universities, including the older ones, may reinforce these attitudes). Indeed, Harding and Kington (1989) argue that industry must get involved with higher education (regardless of the type of institution, that is, old or new: author’s emphasis), as well as schools, because of the rapid changes in the external environment: an increasingly ageing population made possible by the advances in science and medicine; a requirement for better-qualified and skilled personnel; government intervention in terms of the University for Industry and the National Grid for Learning initiatives (in more recent times); and the rapid and ever-chaotic technological advances and the accompanying socio-economic implications of the use of such technology.
There have been some recent initiatives put in place to address industry’s needs for a qualified workforce. For example, the Shell Technology Enterprise Programme (STEP) programme actually rewards students for using their brains whilst also enhancing their work experience and confidence. It harnesses undergraduate knowledge and technological expertise for the benefit of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) who have identified specific business development projects. Each student placement lasts for eight weeks during the summer vacation, for which they receive a wage or training allowance. The experience of companies and their student placements in the STEP initiative adds some useful insights to discussion about the reciprocal development of capability for employers and universities.
Several universities, such as the Manchester Metropolitan University have also set up job recruitment agencies for their graduates.
4.2 Students as consumers
The ‘massification’ of higher education is a reflection of, not only government’s educational and equal opportunities policies, but also of market trends, where consumers (in this case, students) have become increasingly sophisticated and individualised. They are therefore demanding courses that are practical, convenient, high-quality and relevant to their individual needs (Eggins, 1994). Philips (1989) has noted that it is traditional for higher education (and further education) not to see students as consumers. Indeed they are seen as unit costs and products. Ten years on, this situation has changed somewhat, and with the recent Dearing Report, HE institutions are becoming increasingly aware of the consumerist nature of students. Ironically, it is the new institutions that are responding to their needs with market-led strategies, and one of the ways in which this is being done, is through the offering of modular courses.
4.3 The question of values
The term ‘values’ means ‘a standard or idea which most people in a given society have about the worth of good qualities: One way of judging a society is to consider its values (i.e., the worth which its members think that justice, kindness, freedom, etc., have)’.
A person is the sum total of their thoughts, experiences and expectations and their values are usually formed by indoctrination, observation and personal experiences. Expectation (in terms of study) leads to experiences and thus denies or confirms the value system. A student coming on to the HND course would expect to be taught how to use a particular piece of software. However, in an environment that tends towards student-centred learning (the experiential model, Kohonen [1992]) as opposed to the traditional chalkboard approach, the student will find his/her values being challenged (if indeed he/she originally came from a traditional educational background) and may eventually become an active participant in their own learning.
The course is geared to adults who would, normally have completed secondary education. These adults have general characteristics. Rogers (1986) describes them as follows:
· They are all adults by definition
· The are in a continuous process of growth
· They bring with them a package of experience and values
· They come to education with intentions
· They bring expectations about the learning process
· They have competing interests and
· They already have their own set patterns of learning.
The tutor’s role in this respect would be to identify at the outset most, if not all of these characteristics (apart from the fact that they are all adults) and, by negotiation, come to an arrangement that is satisfactory to both parties and which would be in keeping with the spirit of the modular-course structure.
4.4 Specific objectives
The specific objectives of the course which would contribute to the shaping of these values can be summarised as follows:
· Cognitive: students need to know what multimedia is and how it is shaping our society for good. They may not necessarily understand how it works in terms of the intricate technologies and, in most cases, don’t need to. However, this latter statement may not be applicable to some students and there will need to be mechanisms in place for providing explanations of technical issues.
· Affective: multimedia is a device that affects the senses: to a greater extent, seeing, hearing, speech and touch; to a lesser extent, smelling. It also affects the emotions and thus provides an enriching experience for the student, or whoever else is using a multimedia package. In terms of creating it, there is immense satisfaction in seeing one’s creative ideas come to fruition. There is also immense satisfaction when learning has occurred between tutor and student.
·
Psychomotor:
students learn by doing, until it becomes natural. Their mental models are
highly important particularly where information and communication technologies
are concerned. Studies have shown that
users perform better when given a conceptual model before instruction (Halasz,
1984; Mayer, 1981; Moran, 1981; Young, 1981).
4.5 Assessment
Kerr’s Curriculum Planning Model, though quite comprehensive and includes evaluation, does not include assessment. Brown and Knight (1994) argue that assessment is a basic part of learning. Its importance as an area of study is confirmed by Elton (1982) with respect to its ability to influence students' study patterns. The implications of this importance is that assessment needs to be reliable, valid, sufficient and efficient, taking into account issues of equal opportunities and respect of persons. Assessment that is inappropriate can have a negative effect on the quality of students’ learning, as is confirmed by researchers (Elton, 1982; Newble and Jaeger, 1983; and Crooks and Mahalski, 1985, for example).
With respect to modular-course structures, Brown and Knight (1994) express concerns with the assessment of modular courses as follows:
· Assessment will lead to ‘log-jamming’ and bunching of assignments
· A restriction on the range of items to be assessed
· Modularisation will lead to over-assessment
· An increased load on external examiners which will become unbearable
· Students needing increased academic counselling and
· Problems with validation.
They recommend staged assessment at regular intervals of work which will form the basis of the student’s portfolio, an idea which is being looked at with respect to the proposed course plan because of the artistic and creative relevance of the course.
The BTEC course has more practical modules than theoretical, although there are practical modules which require accompanied written work for example, reflective records. What this means in terms of formative and summative assessment is that the former is used in connection with developing knowledge and skills of the student, while providing adequate feedback and collating the results at the end in terms of the portfolio. This is because (1) the multimedia industry is constantly changing and students need to update their skills throughout the course (2) students’ understanding of a subject is not necessarily ensured by purely theoretical study geared towards summative assessment; in fact, some students are not theoretically inclined or able to discuss theoretical issues, finding understanding and satisfaction in practical work.
4.6 Course Content, Structure and Delivery
The Interactive Multimedia course comprises three main units: computing, production and theory. They are intended to follow one of two sequences: concurrent (for full-time students) and consecutive (for part-timers). The latter sequence is less frequent in the UK than in the US but as distance learning, as exemplified by the Open University increases, this mode of study will become more common. At present, the concept of distance learning has not been explicitly built into the course. This would by necessity depend on resources in terms of staffing and technology, the latter particularly for students who may wish to do the course via this mode.
Increasingly, technology is advancing, with the use of electronic mail (which includes voice-mail, text-based mail and multimedia-mail) with the capacity to attach documents; and videoconferencing (including desktop and teleconferencing). The commercial push towards convergence of the telephone, television and computer is changing society’ perceptions of space and time. This has implications for education in general and for the BTEC HND Interactive Multimedia course in particular.
A variety of teaching and learning strategies have been put into place for delivering course material:
· Lectures and presentations: for heavily theoretical subjects. These involve some form of student interaction: discussions, participation in practical work, etc.
· Demonstration: of software packages and other communications technologies.
· Case studies: combining theory with practical examples, particularly from the ‘real-world’.
· Unsupervised directed learning: emphasising the nature of the experiential method.
· Group and individual working: to enable students to build on teamworking skills and other areas of expertise unique to individuals.
The course provides an opportunity for students to obtain work experience. This is in keeping with the above-expressed need for industry and education to establish and maintain good working relationships in order to provide the industry with a better qualified workforce. Employers are not only looking for graduates who have ‘paper’ qualifications, but also for initiative, teamworking skills, problem solving skills, etc.
4.7 Evaluation and issues of quality
Arguments against modularisation tend towards two main issues:
· Lack of coherence
· Lack of timing
(a) Lack of coherence is concerned with modularisation being seen as a fragmented way of learning with parts that are totally unrelated, resulting in a degree that is second rate (Perry, 1986; Gray, 1997). This attitude is deeply embedded in the educational culture (confirmed by HMI views presented to the Review of Vocational Qualifications in England and Wales Working Group). The BTEC 1984 (a) document emphasises the ‘totally integrated programme’ over the modular approach, by which only partial integration…is achieved. Its 1994 document differs somewhat, in that it combines core (6) and option (10) modules. Whether or not the proposed course will conflict with BTEC’s interests and how much conflict would be involved is not clear at present.
(b) Lack of timing is more concerned with summative assessment, such as an examination, which is seen as a way of coping with modularisation. Brown and Knight (1994) challenge this view, based on their work which concludes that examinations would be both disadvantageous to students and demoralising to lecturers.
To ensure quality with respect to modularisation, Brown and Knight (1994) advise staging the work (as mentioned above) with respect to completing a portfolio. Several cases studies are also presented in terms of good practice by Theodossin (1986).
Quality in education has been an on-going issue with successive governments for several reasons (Green, 1994):
· The ‘massification’ of higher education against concerns over public spending
· The general concern over the need for better public services
· Increased competition within the educational market for resources and students
· The tension between efficiency and quality.
She has also identified other issues from the employers’ point of view such as the variability of qualifications in terms of their quality, the lowering in the standard of knowledge and the non-transferability of skills valued by employers.
Stakeholders in the HE process do not only consist of students. They involve the government, employers, parents (to an extent), professional bodies such as the British Interactive Multimedia Association (BIMA) and financial institutions. A truly market-led college or university needs to see quality as a means of satisfying the needs of these stakeholders, particularly students and employers. This is usually done by negotiation and consultation to ascertain needs and wants as well as ‘avoids’.
5.0 Summary
Higher education is in a state of constant flux and institutions needs to be responsive to change. The BTEC HND Interactive Multimedia course is intended to provide a response to these changes, particularly from the employers’ point of view, in order to meet their particular needs. Its modular structure is flexible enough to provide students with relevance, recognition of worth in terms of an industry-specific qualification, challenges of values and ideals, practical challenges and experiences and an opportunity for self-improvement.
6.0 References
Brown, S., and Knight, P. (1994). Assessing Learners in Higher Education. London: Kogan Page.
Crooks, T. J., and Mahalski, P. A. (1985). Relationships Among Assessment Practices, Study Methods and Grades Obtained. Paper Presented at the Annual Conference of the Higher Research and Development Society of Australasia, Auckland, August 1985.
Eggins, H. (1994), in Ball, Sir C., and Eggins, H. (Eds) Higher Education into the 1990s. Society for Research into Higher Education and the Open University Press, pp. 80-88.
Elton, L. (1982). Assessment for Learning, Professionalism and Flexibility in Learning in Bligh, D. (Ed), Professionalism and Flexibility in Flexibility in Learning: Society for Research into Higher Education.
Gray, H. (1997). Guest Opinion: Instruction, Teaching and the Oppression of Learners. Capability, The Higher Education for Capability (HEC) Journal, 3(1), 1997. Internet address: http://www.lmu.ac.uk/hec/journal/3-1/0-1.htm.
Green (1994). What is Quality in Higher Education? Concepts, Policy and Practice, in Green, D. (Ed), What is Quality in Higher Education? Society for Research into Higher Education and the Open University Press, pp.3-20.
Halasz, F.G. (1984). Mental
Models and Problem Solving in Using a Calculator. Doctoral dissertation,
Stanford University, CA, USA. Dissertations
Abstracts International, 45,
1046B-1047B.
Harding, G., and Kington, B. (1989). Industry and Higher Education: A Strategy for Partnership, in Ball, Sir C., and Eggins, H. (Eds) Higher Education into the 1990s. Society for Research into Higher Education and the Open University Press, pp. 69-79.
Kohonen, v. (1992). Experiential Language Learning: Second Language Learning as Co-operative Learner Education in Nunan, D. (Ed), Collaborative Language Learning and Teaching: Cambridge University Press.
Mayer, R.E. (1981). The
Psychology of How Novices Learn Computer Programming. Computer Surveys, 13,
pp.121-141.
Moran, T.P. (1981). The
Command Language Grammar: a Representation for the User-Interface of
Interactive Computer Systems. International
Journal of Man-Machine Studies, 15,
pp.3-50.
Newble, D. I., and Jaeger, K. (1983). The Effect of Assessment and Examinations on the Learning of Medical Students. Medical Education, 17, pp.25-31.
Parkinson, K. (1986). A glossary of terms used in TAFE. Adelaide: TAFE National Centre for Research and Development.
Perry, W. (1976). Open University. Open University Press.
Phillips, V. (1994). Students: Partners, Clients or Consumers? In Ball, Sir C., and Eggins, H., Higher Education into the 1990s: Society for Research into Higher Education and the Open University Press.
Rogers, A. (1986). Teaching Adults. Open University Press.
Theodossin, E. (1986). The Modular Market. Bristol: The Further Education Staff College.
Young, R.M. (1983). Surrogates
and Mapping: Two Kinds of Conceptual Models of Interactive Devices, in Gentner,
D., and Stevens, A.L. (Eds.), Mental
Models. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.