The Objectives of the Curriculum, the Implementation Plan the Feedback Channels of Communication - Research Proposal Example

Curriculum Assessment Plan al Affiliation The Assessment Proficiency in English is an essential element to the successof students in the social, academic and professional life. This is the basic belief for the development of the curriculum for English as a second language (Popham, 2004). The broad objective of teaching English to all students is to ensure that as globalization takes shape, and English develops to become an international language, all the students can effectively communicate in the language and that we also develop future teachers of the language for the continuity of the process. This curriculum assessment plan is developed to assess the planning, implementation and success of the curriculum for English as a second language(Wolf, Hill, & Evers, 2006). This implies that the assessment plan will focus on the objectives of the curriculum, the implementation plan, evaluation criteria and the feedback channels of communication. In the assessment of the curriculum, the following tools will be used. The choice of the tool is an important step in achieving a productive curriculum that will be a vehicle in achieving the objectives of the program (Wyatt-Smith & Cumming, 2003). The selected tool or tools must be applicable to the expected learning outcomes that the plan aims at assessing. In this assessment plan, the expected outcomes are as indicated below. To develop students who can; Use English to impart adequately in an assortment of social settings; Use English to attain scholastically in all branches of knowledge; Assume responsibility of their own adapting, freely and in gatherings; select and use successful learning methodologies (Shavelson et al., 2008). Coordinate unhesitatingly into standard courses; Use English successfully to backer for themselves in all parts of their lives; Make a fruitful move to their picked postsecondary goal (work, apprenticeship, school, college) (Martone & Sireci, 2009). Work successfully in the general public progressively dedicated to the utilization of data innovation; Use discriminating education and basic speculation abilities to decipher their general surroundings (Davis & Krajcik, 2005) (Voogt et al., 2011). Tools The applicable tools in this assessment are; Capstone experience A venture or movement in which students are expected to exhibit accomplishment of extensive learning conclusions that is normally finished toward the end of the course or project. In a project, there may be a capstone course that incorporates the relevant learning conclusions for the system (Tam, 2014). The students in the English class will be required to describe their experience of the program. This will help to assess the effectiveness of the curriculum. In using this tool, it is expected that the curriculum will be assessed from the students perspective and identify the gaps between the actual achievement and the expectations of the students. This will effectively guide the process of meeting the expectations of the students (Kassab & Hussain, 2010). Departmental exam A typical exam created synergistically by a department and utilized in all sections being surveyed. This is reviewed at the end of the course and is assessed independently utilizing a scoring rubric. The tool is expected to create a system of continuous improvement and monitoring of the implementation of the curriculum (Franklin et al., 2007). External certificate Exams created by provincial or national certifying or permitting associations to assess students on particular competencies typically identified with a word related territory. The assessment tool uses internationally recognized English proficiency exams that will help assess the achievement of the expected outcomes. This certification exam will be important in preparing the students for the global expectations. The curriculum should be focused on helping the students achieve good grades in these exams (Tsuei, 2008). Assessment of Post School job performance This tool utilizes the assessment of the competencies of the graduates from the course on the application of the concepts taught in the course. In this particular curriculum, the tool can be used through provision of in internships and job attachments to students and observing their exhibition of the curriculum concepts in communication and work requirements (Tsuei, 2008)(Hafferty, 1998). Portfolio This tool compiles student work, to assess their competency in the concepts that the course develop in them. In this case, the use of language should be compiled as recorded discussion sessions that demonstrate the use of the language (Nation & Macalister, 2010). Pre and post-test A test or other evaluation action that is administered to students both toward the start of the course or program and the end, with the aim of showing enhanced information or aptitude upon finishing. The pre-test evaluates the students learning needs of the students and hence examine if the curriculum can effectively meet the expectations. The post-test, on the other hand, evaluates the effectiveness of the curriculum (Popham, 2004). Guiding Questions In the assessment plan, there are a number of questions that should guide the process (Martone & Sireci, 2009). These questions include; Does the curriculum provide a realistic objective? The broad objective of the curriculum should be realistic and attainable. It should be expressed in a language that anyone will understand and should not be ambiguous. Does the curriculum identify and describe the involvement of all stakeholders? The success of the curriculum is based on the participation of all the stakeholders. A curriculum must identify all the stakeholders to be involved and describe the part that each of them is expected to play. Does the curriculum give applicable timelines for achievement? The curriculum implementation period should be enough to cover the objectives fully. The time should be dependent on the class size, content depth and the entry level of the students. Too short implementation time produces ineffective training while too long indicates poor time management. Does the curriculum describe the assessment criteria? A good curriculum should propose an evaluation criteria for the students and for itself. This makes it objective and helps in internal evaluation and monitoring. Methodology The assessment plan will use four methods of data collection and assessment. These methods are anecdotal recording, checklist, rating scales, learning log, and rubrics scales. In anecdotal recordings, the plan will focus on a comprehensive description of performance expectations. This will take the form of a narrative of the outcomes of the curriculum, through the capstone experience and external surveys of the achievement of the curriculum objectives and students’ expectations and experiences (Yates & Young, 2010). The checklist method will involve the compilation of the activities that the curriculum originally identifies as quality determinants based on the objectives. The performance and implementation of the curriculum will be assessed using a checklist. The rating scales method will be used in the surveys, capstone and performance tools and will be based on the objectives. The stakeholders will be required periodically to rate the implementation and effectiveness of the curriculum, and these results will be compiled to give a comprehensive report. At the end of the process, a more detailed rubric will be applied as a comprehensive assessment method (Davis & Krajcik, 2005). To complement these methods, informal students learning logs will be issued to assist the students and teachers record a log of important incidences and experiences throughout the curriculum implementation period. This log will assist in the interpretation of the results from the other methods as it will give details of the ratings and comments from the stakeholders (Quinn, 2000). Limitations There are various limitations of these methods. First, there is a problem with the time factor. A comprehensive assessment will probably take more than three months to be complete. This kind of time is not available. This implies that the assessment plan must be structured to fit the available time (Snyder, Bolin, & Zumwalt, 1992). Most of the activities are likely not to be fully evaluated. Secondly, there is a shortage of schools and classes that teach English exclusively as a second language. The mixed level classes mean that the students’ expectations and needs are not uniform (Popham, 2004). The implication of this is that most of the objectives will not be based on the students’ needs and hence the results may not be fully reliable (Yates & Young, 2010). References Davis, E. A., & Krajcik, J. S. (2005). Designing Educative Curriculum Materials to Promote Teacher Learning. Educational Researcher. doi:10.3102/0013189X034003003 Franklin, C., Kader, G., Mewborn, D., Moreno, J., Peck, R., Perry, M., & Scheaffer. (2007). Guidelines for assessment and instruction in statistics education (GAISE) report: A pre-K-12 curriculum framework. … : American Statistical … (pp. 1–112). Retrieved from http://www.amstat.org/Education/gaise/GAISEPreK-12_Full.pdf Hafferty, F. W. (1998). Beyond curriculum reform: confronting medicine’s hidden curriculum. Academic Medicine : Journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges, 73, 403–407. doi:10.1097/00001888-199804000-00013 Kassab, S. E., & Hussain, S. (2010). Concept mapping assessment in a problem-based medical curriculum. Medical Teacher, 32, 926–931. doi:10.3109/0142159X.2010.497824 Martone, A., & Sireci, S. G. (2009). Evaluating Alignment Between Curriculum, Assessment, and Instruction. Review of Educational Research. doi:10.3102/0034654309341375 Nation, I. S. P., & Macalister, J. (2010). Language Curriculum Design. World Englishes (pp. 3000–3000). doi:10.1136/bmj.326.7383.268 Popham, W. J. (2004). Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment: Amiable Allies or Phony Friends? Teachers College Record. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9620.2004.00345.x Quinn, F. (2000). Curriculum theory and practice. In Principles and Practice of Nurse Education (pp. 131–151). Retrieved from http://medcontent.metapress.com/index/A65RM03P4874243N.pdf\nhttp://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=qILGb7xcXFIC&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=Curriculum+theory+and+practice&ots=MuS4sZlKmu&sig=2-a0BmsV34nUfqpi4pFMsFxDSgU Shavelson, R. J., Young, D. B., Ayala, C. C., Brandon, P. R., Furtak, E. M., Ruiz-Primo, M. A., … Yin, Y. (2008). On the Impact of Curriculum-Embedded Formative Assessment on Learning: A Collaboration between Curriculum and Assessment Developers. Applied Measurement in Education. doi:10.1080/08957340802347647 Snyder, J., Bolin, F., & Zumwalt, K. (1992). Curriculum implementation. In Handbook of research on curriculum (Vol. 40, pp. 402–435). Tam, M. (2014). Outcomes-based approach to quality assessment and curriculum improvement in higher education. Quality Assurance in Education, 22, 158–168. doi:10.1108/QAE-09-2011-0059 Tsuei, M. P. (2008). A web-based curriculum-based measurement system for class-wide ongoing assessment: Original article. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 24, 47–60. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2729.2007.00242.x Voogt, J., Westbroek, H., Handelzalts, A., Walraven, A., McKenney, S., Pieters, J., & de Vries, B. (2011). Teacher learning in collaborative curriculum design. Teaching and Teacher Education, 27, 1235–1244. doi:10.1016/j.tate.2011.07.003 Wolf, P., Hill, A., & Evers, F. (2006). Handbook for Curriculum Assessment. Educational Research (p. 26). Wyatt-Smith, C. M., & Cumming, J. J. (2003). Curriculum Literacies: Expanding domains of assessment. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice. doi:10.1080/09695940301690 Yates, L., & Young, M. (2010). Globalisation, knowledge and the curriculum. European Journal of Education, 45, 4–10. doi:10.1111/j.1465-3435.2009.01412.x Please use the information below. This implies that the assessment plan will focus on the objectives of the curriculum, the implementation plan, evaluation criteria and the feedback channels of communication. The expected outcomes of a curriculum should be developed from the purpose of the curriculum. This may not be direct from the website but a critical analysis of the curriculum will lead to the indicated objectives. The curriculum Assessment tools have their sources indicated through the in-text citations. Please check in the document. A comprehensive assessment will probably take more than three months to be complete. Most of the activities are likely not to be fully evaluated. Secondly, there is a shortage of schools and classes that teach English exclusively as a second language. The mixed level classes mean that the students� expectations and needs are not uniform. The implication of this is that most of the objectives will not be based on the students� needs and hence the results may not be fully reliable. A curriculum is by definition the practical interaction between the students and the learning material. It therefore covers a wide range of topics or learning objectives that cannot be met in a short time. To fully evaluate a curriculum, it has to be implemented in more than one cycles and this is a limitation to the assessment plan. In America, English is a widely used language. To find students who have no prior education in English in one class is difficult. This means that in most cases, students learning English as a second language will be taught together with others who have advanced skills in the language. The learning needs and objectives of these two groups are not the same and hence the evaluation criteria and interpretation of outcomes is challenged. Implementation plan refers to the timelines and the objectives for each of the activities in the assessment plan. This means that for the curriculum assessment plan will be undertaken or implemented in a systematic plan. the plan has players and objectives for each. For any kind of assessment to be complete, there has to be the elements of the assessed that are evaluated, the criteria of this evaluation is what is called the evaluation criteria in the plan. The feedback channels refer to how information about the curriculum and its assessment is communicated back to the assessors with the aim of having the plan or the curriculum improved. Thank you. Read More