Co-constructing Excellence In Curriculum Design: What Can The Learning Sciences Contribute?

Abstract

Designing learning experiences for and with our university students is a creative, joyful and demanding enterprise. As higher education researchers and practitioners across the globe are responding to the dilemmas of reconciling open access of information, changing student and employer expectations and the imprimatur of degree credentialing, we have seen a revival of integrated, inquiry-based approaches and interest in expanding off-campus, international experiences. While these directions illustrate how we are rethinking both the formal and informal dimensions of the curriculum, as we scale up the design process to the level of course or curriculum/ programme, the complexities seem to grow exponentially. In this talk, I take an interactional focus to examine how the learning sciences can assist us to not only understand the nuances of the situated and social nature of learning in higher education but may also provide some guidance for curriculum leaders as they navigate the complexities of co-constructing excellence in curriculum design.