Curriculum Review Book

Margaret McNay
Western Guide to
Curriculum Review
Tea c h in g S u p p or t Ce n t re Pu rp le G u id e s
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Western Guide to
Curriculum Review
Margaret McNay
©
The University of Western Ontario Teaching Support Centre, 2009
Teaching Support Centre Purple Guides
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Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
McNay, Margaret, 1944-
Western guide to curriculum review [electronic resource] / Margaret McNay.
(Teaching Support Centre purple guides, ISSN 1916-6893)
Includes bibliographical references.
Also available in print format.
ISBN 978-0-7714-2703-9
1. Curriculum evaluation.
2. Teacher participation in curriculum planning.
3. University of Western Ontario--Curricula. I. University of Western Ontario.
Teaching Support Centre II. Title. III. Series:

Teaching Support Centre purple guides (Online)
LB2361.M34 2009a 378.1’99 C2009-900838-6
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Contents
(Click entries to follow links)
Introduction........................................... 1 How will you teach it?....................21

Curriculum Assessment, Alternative Pedagogies....................21
Evaluation, and Review..................... 1
A Reminder about Coverage...........22
OCAV’s University
Undergraduate Degree Level Pedagogies of Engagement3..........22
Expectations (UDLEs).......................... 2 Intents, Aims, Goals,
Getting Started.................................... 3 Objectives, Expectations,
and Outcomes. ...................................24
What Process?....................................... 3
Values, Beliefs, & Attitudes...............25
The Role of Metaphor......................... 3
Abilities & Skills...................................26
Mission, Vision, Values....................... 6
Bloom’s Taxonomy............................26
A Philosophy of Education................ 7
Expected Learning Outcomes........28
Gathering Information.................10
Tips for Writing Learning
Asking Questions about Outcomes.............................................30
Curriculum...........................................10
How will you know you
Concerning the Hidden have taught it?. ..................................31
Curriculum...........................................11
Assessment & Evaluation.................31
Sources of Information for
Curriculum Review............................12 One More Metaphor and
Some Encouragement:
Curriculum Maps...............................13
Curriculum as Conversation......33
What will you teach?. .....................15
References.............................................34
Knowledge: Facts, Concepts,
Enduring Understandings...............15 Appendix A...........................................37
Habits of Mind....................................17 Appendix B. ..........................................42

Notes.........................................................44
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Introduction
C u r r i c u l u m Ass e ss m e n t, E v a l u a t i o n , a n d R e v i e w
The need to examine a curriculum may arise for any number of reasons:
• A new program is needed to meet a new need;

• Priorities within the department have changed;
• A new dean or chair has arrived;
• The original focus has been lost, and years of untamed growth need to
be rationalized;
• The curriculum must meet newly articulated criteria and standards;
• Students are frustrated or dissatisfied;
• Faculty members have a sense that things could or should somehow
be better.
Curriculum Assessment, Evaluation, and Review can help to
• Demonstrate the strengths of a program;

• Evaluate recent changes in a program;
1 • Identify aspects of the program that should be reconsidered or changed;
• Provide a basis for renewing or reforming components of a program;
• Enhance student learning, engagement, and satisfaction;
• Ensure professional accreditation standards are met;
• Align a program with the Ontario Council of Academic Vice-Presidents
(OCAV) Guidelines for Ontario University Undergraduate Degree
Level Expectations;
• Move towards renewal and reform.
Your reasons for raising questions about curriculum as well as the specific
questions you ask and what exactly you want from the process will determine
how you proceed.
Strictly speaking, assessment refers to the gathering and analyzing of information,

and evaluation to the making of a judgement about worth or quality. In simply
deciding upon a focus for assessment, however, or on what kinds of information
should be gathered for a review, your values have come into play. It is best to
recognize this up front, and return to them frequently during the curriculum
review process.
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Here are some of the steps outlined in this guide:
• Consider the process you will use — top-down administrative fiat or

something more democratic?
• Identify, define, and clarify the values, beliefs, and desires that inform and
direct your course or program.
• Define your mission, your raison d’être, your vision for the future, and the role
your values play in your course or program.
• Consider the current program, its structure, context, resources, strengths,
unique features, and accomplishments. Identify the challenges facing you.
• Consider your beliefs about the nature of knowledge and learning, your
notions of what a curriculum is or should be, your philosophy of education.
• Consider your goals, what you want to teach, what you want students to
take away from your course or program.
OCAV ’ s U n i v e r s i t y U n d e r g r a d u a t e D e g r e e L e v e l
E x p e c t a t i o n s ( UDLEs )
Because Canada is one of the only countries that lacks a clear declaration of its
common graduate attributes for undergraduate degrees, Ontario decided to
preemptively clarify its own quality measures. The OCAV developed Guidelines
for University Undergraduate Degree Level Expectations. These guidelines
take into account the Council of Ontario Universities (COU) mandate of
2
Undergraduate Program Review Audits to be undertaken every seven years.
In 2005, OCAV requested compliance with six outcome statements from all its
member universities beginning in the June 2008 review cycle. The Guidelines
provide a set of broad criteria against which an undergraduate degree can
be measured:
1. Depth and Breadth of Knowledge

2. Knowledge of Methodologies
3. Application of Knowledge
4. Communication Skills
5. Awareness of Limits of Knowledge
6. Autonomy and Professional Capacity
The document that describes the rationale and criteria for the guidelines is
reprinted in Appendix A. Note OCAV’s assurance that institutions are free to use
language that reflects its own mission, ethos, values and culture.
Most faculties at Western will find their existing degree programs mapping on to
these guidelines reasonably well, and that the degree level expectations can in
fact be used as a framework within which to review a program or construct a
new program.
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Getting Started
W h a t P r o c e ss ?
In a study of how a number of Canadian faculties approached programmatic
change, Cole (2000) described four kinds of approaches to the making of change:
Administrative Fiat: The administrative head makes unilateral changes within

the program, often to accommodate financial cutbacks.
Authority Delegated to a Committee of Faculty Members:

A committee is charged with the responsibility of consulting among their
peers and preparing a strategy for change. Sometimes a dean or chairperson
endorses a pilot project followed by an invitation to those involved in the pilot to
propose more widespread changes. Some deans made a point of dismissing this
approach as a recipe for failure.
Democratic Process: A relatively large committee is created with stakeholder

representation from the university and field (if relevant) in a lengthy (two- to five-
year) process of consultation and design usually followed up by a coordination or
implementation committee to oversee and monitor program changes. One dean
described this approach as a “sure-fire way to preserve the status quo.”
Full Faculty Involvement: The dean or chair initiates a process of discussion

3 and planning usually in a series of retreats or extended sessions involving the
whole faculty or department. Faculty-wide commitment to substantial change
is non-negotiable in this approach and much effort has to be invested in
encouraging that commitment. This approach is the most demanding of faculty
and administrators alike but holds the most promise for effecting substantial
and systemic change.
• To begin the process of discussion and planning and to encourage full

faculty involvement, consider the topics and questions on the next
few pages.
• Consider a faculty or departmental retreat.
• Talk about renewal, revitalization, incremental vs. radical change.
• Encourage discussion of “what we are all about”, “why we are here”, and
“what we really want to do for our students.”
The Role of Metaphor

It may seem odd to begin a discussion of curriculum with a focus on metaphor.
But if it is true that metaphors are an integral part of the way in which people
conceptualize the world, and if it is true that people’s actions reflect metaphorical
conceptualizations (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980), then this is the only place to start.
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Metaphors help to create realities. Thus, North Americans have learned
over recent decades to be more inclusive in the use of language, and more
careful about the labels attached to people. Just so, the metaphors we use in
conceptualizing educational institutions, curricula, and approaches to teaching
help to determine the reality of those institutions and curricula, and the reality of
ourselves as teachers.
Metaphors abound in educational discourse. Take curriculum, for example. The

very origin of the word — from the Latin, currere, the running of the [race]course
— connects it to our notions of program outlines and course syllabi, and the
paths students follow through educational institutions.
One of the most popular of teaching metaphors is the journey metaphor, in

which new worlds and new adventures await students guided by instructors
who have preceded them on this or similar journeys.
Education critics invoke the factory metaphor, charging that educational

institutions put unique individuals through one-size-fits-all programs and turn
out unthinking widgets at graduation.
Paulo Freire’s banking metaphor is one of the most widely known metaphorical
condemnations of education:
A careful analysis of the teacher-student relationship...reveals its fundamentally

narrative character... Narration...leads the students to memorize mechanically
the narrated content. Worse yet, it turns them into “containers,” into
“receptacles” to be “filled” by the teacher. The more completely she fills the 4
receptacles, the better a teacher she is. The more meekly the receptacles
permit themselves to be filled, the better students they are.
Education thus becomes an act of depositing, in which the students are the
depositories and the teacher is the depositor. Instead of communicating, the
teacher issues communiqués and makes deposits which the students patiently
receive, memorize, and repeat. This is the “banking” concept of education,
in which the scope of action allowed to the students extends only as far as
receiving, filing, and storing the deposits. (Freire, 1970, p. 57)
The worlds of business, economics, and politics offer metaphors for curricula.
Strategic plans, outcomes, accountability, and notions of students as consumers,
a natural resource, and “products” are ubiquitous in education. But business
metaphors do not work for people who prefer to construct education as a service
rather than a business, and students as people rather than resources or products.
Why does metaphor matter? Because if we talk about education, students, and
curriculum in technical and reductionist ways, it is difficult not to think about
them in those ways, and to construct and create them in those ways.
If some of the more popular metaphors are uninspiring, even negative, what
other metaphors might one use in talking about curriculum?
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I like the notion of metaphors from the arts, culture, the humanities —
metaphors that have aesthetic and transformational aspects to them. I am
inspired by the notion of curriculum not as something to be delivered or
implemented, but as something more like a musical score to be performed,
a script to be interpreted, a work of art to be created, a relationship to be
developed — for and with my students.
Some metaphors suggest that the most important feature of a curriculum is that
it gets students somewhere. Aesthetic and transformational metaphors suggest
that the experience of getting there — the experience of beauty, timelessness,
inspiration, transcendence — may be even more important.
Educators may not be able to avoid thinking about outcomes, accountability,

teaching strategies, and so on — and shouldn’t avoid thinking about exactly
what they are doing and how they are doing it — but it may be just as important,
if not more so, to think about the aesthetic qualities of curriculum — so that
curriculum might become timeless, inspiring, beautiful, and transcendent, as well
as implemented.
Below are my own favourite metaphors for curriculum:
“Good novels, if we are ready for them, transform us. Good curricula
should have the same effect.”
(Overly & Spalding, 1993)
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“Cultures need outlaws to challenge, and push, and prod them into
defining and redefining themselves...Curriculum...is a task
for outlaws.”
(Molnar, 1991)
“Curriculum...is a design of events that brings about conversion.

Curriculum...is not worth the journey if it does not convert those who
participate in it into something better.”
(Schubert, 1991)
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M i ss i o n , V i s i o n , V a l u e s
If you don’t know where you’re going, or why, it is difficult to figure out the best
way to get there. If you don’t know what kind of building you are constructing, or
what its purpose is, it will be difficult to know how to begin or what materials to
choose. So with education. When you begin to think seriously about curriculum,
whether at the level of a course, a module, or an entire program, you will find
yourself asking some basic questions — What do we want students to get out of
this course (or module or program) anyway? What do we want our graduates to
know and be able to do? How can we make it happen?
Answers to such questions are not always readily agreed upon. That is why
curriculum renewal is best begun with discussion of foundational issues.
Before a meaningful and cohesive curriculum can be planned and put into place,
everyone should be clear about the unit’s mission, vision for the future,
and values.
Mission: why the department exists, its raison d’être, its unique role and
contribution to the academy, the profession, society.
Vision: an image for the future of the department; a realistic, credible,

attractive future that is better in important ways than what exists.
Values: the priorities that shape the actions of everyone in the department
with respect to students, learning, relationships, the profession, society.
Discussion of questions such as the following can start the visioning process: 6
• What are our current strengths? Of what are we proud?
• What attracted us to this department? Why do we stay?
• What challenges do we face as we consider the future of our program?
• What are our deepest concerns?
The Mission, Vision, and Values statement of Schulich Dentistry (2005) is a good
example of a clear and comprehensive statement:
Mission: We will develop in dental professionals the knowledge and skills to

provide exemplary care to the diverse communities that we serve. We will
influence the future of undergraduate and postgraduate dental education
through scholarly inquiry, innovation and research.
Vision: International recognition through excellence in dental education,

research and patient care.
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Values: As leaders who are committed to exceptional results, we embrace the
following core values:
• Compassionate, patient-centred care
• Commitment to professionalism and integrity
• Nurturing leaders through life-long learning, problem-solving skills and

critical inquiry
• Teamwork and collaboration
• Respect for diversity in culture and perspectives
• Accountability to our community of scholars and to the public
A Philosophy of Educ ation

Whether or not you have ever articulated them, you have personal ideas and
beliefs about what education is all about (or what it should be all about). You
have your own ideas about the role of the university, your role within it, and what
you want to offer the students you encounter.
The following questions and the characterizations of educational philosophies

and views of curriculum on the next two pages, are intended to help you identify
some of your own foundational ideas. Doing so can help to ensure your beliefs
7 and values are aligned and consistent with your goals, and that your goals are
consistent with your actions and methods.
What, why, and whom do you teach?
• What is the purpose of education?
• What is your role as an educator? What do you hope to accomplish?
• What do you want for your students?
• What do you teach? Why is it important?
• Why will your students want to learn it?
• Whom do you teach? Why are your students there? What are they
hoping for?
• What will interest and engage them?
• What do they already know about your subject?
• What will help them learn?
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Who are you?
Education is not to
Educators are often asked about what they teach reform students or
and how they teach it. Sometimes they are asked amuse them or to
about why they teach what they do. Rarely if ever make them expert
are educators asked about who it is that teaches
technicians. It is to
— who they are as people, as educators, and what
they are teaching their students just by being the unsettle their minds,
people they are (Palmer, 1998). widen their horizons,
inflame their intellects,
• Who are you when you teach? and teach them to
• What contributes to your identity as think straight,
an educator? if possible.
R. Maynard Hutchins
• What is your gift, as a person, to your students?
To explore these questions further, please fill out

a short questionnaire developed by University
of British Columbia researcher Dan Pratt to help
faculty members recognize their philosophical
stance towards teaching. Go to the Teaching A liberal education...
Perspectives Inventory (TPI) website at frees a [person] from
www.teachingperspectives.com the prison-house of...
class, race, time, place,
Your Philosophy of Education background, family
and even...nation.
8
Perennialism
The purpose of the
university is nothing
The highest priority in education is the less than to procure a
development of the rational mind and cultivation moral, intellectual, and
of the intellect. Curriculum should focus on spiritual revolution
classical subjects, great books, and the great ideas
through-out the world.
of Western civilization — on knowledge that is
timeless and unchanging. R. Maynard Hutchins
Essentialism
Education must prepare students to become

valuable and productive members of society,
skilled and competent workers who will help
us maintain global economic competitiveness.
Students need the basics — knowledge and
“skill sets” that will enable them to function
successfully and usefully in life.
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Progressivism
Education must address the needs and interests of individual students who learn
best when the curriculum relates to real-life problems and emphasizes problem-
solving. Universities should offer inter-disciplinary programs and opportunities
for individual growth, human development, and personal fulfillment.
Social Reconstruction/Critical Theory

The purpose of a university is to educate students to engage in social reform
and ultimately create a better society. The curriculum must emphasize social,
economic, and political issues, and the abilities needed to identify and solve
social problems.
Three Perspectives on Curriculum

Perennialists and essentialists hold a view of curriculum often characterised
as transmissive; progressivists hold a view characterized as transactional; and
social reconstructionists and critical theorists hold a view characterized as
transformational.
Transmission: focus on technique and product
Foundation: realism, essentialism, behavioural psychology

Goal: to transmit knowledge, attitudes, and skills
9 Curriculum: skills, knowledge, and attitudes

Teaching methods: presentation, demonstration, modelling
Evaluation: acquisition of prescribed knowledge, attitudes, and skills
Transaction: focus on practice
Foundation: realism, progressivism, developmental psychology

Goal: to promote learners’ growth, development, and ability to think
Curriculum: real-life issues and problems related to students’ interests
Teaching methods: projects, interactive learning, problem-solving
What to evaluate: development of inquiry and other thinking processes
Transformation: focus on praxis
Foundation: transcendentalism, existentialism, humanistic psychology

Goal: to improve and reconstruct society
Curriculum: social, economic, political issues and problems largely identified
by students
Teaching methods: projects, interactive learning, problem-solving
What to evaluate: ability to identify social problems and issues, and to work
for social change
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“There is only one justification for universities.. .
They must be centres of criticism.”
R. Maynard Hutchins
Gathering Information
As k i n g Q u e st i o n s a b o u t C u r r i c u l u m
While clarifying your mission and vision, and perhaps giving thought to your
values, beliefs, and philosophy of education, begin gathering information about
where you are now. You might want to ask questions such as these:
About Strengths, Weaknesses, Constraints,

and Opportunities:
• Why do we think we should review, evaluate, renew, or reform our program?

• Are we achieving our goals? What are our goals, anyway?
• What are the strengths of our current programs?
• What are the weaknesses? What do we think we can do better? 10
• What are the constraints to our development?
• Are there existing opportunities from which we might benefit (e.g.,
collaborations with other departments, the field)?
• What gifts have we, as individuals and as a group, to offer our students?
About Students, Learning, and Levels of Satisfaction:
• Are our students learning what we intend them to learn? How do we know?
• What should be the nature of the first-year experience for our students?
• Are students satisfied with our program?
• What strengths do our students bring to the program?
• Should degree requirements mandate that each student have a variety of

learning experiences, some of which take place outside the classroom?
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About the Place of the Program in the Bigger Picture:
• Is the profession or workplace satisfied with our program?
• Are we satisfied?
• Has the program responded appropriately over the years to changing

external, social, or workplace needs and challenges?
• What resources and infrastructure will enable us to offer our curriculum

effectively and meet the learning needs of our students?
• What kind of contribution to society should our graduates be prepared

to make?
• Do we want to internationalize the curriculum?
• How will we ensure the curriculum is equitable in terms of access, content,

pedagogy, and outcomes?
Concerning the Hidden Curriculum

Questions about what students do in a course or program, how they experience
it, and what they read between the lines and hear between the lectures are as
important as questions about the knowledge and skills explicitly ‘covered’ in
the course or program. The hidden curriculum is often learned more readily,
11 understood more thoroughly, and remembered longer than is the official
curriculum.
What habits of mind, for example, do students learn in a particular course

or program? The written curriculum may encourage critical mindedness. Do
instructors and teaching assistants model critical mindedness? Are students
rewarded for displaying critical mindedness in classes and tutorials, and on
assignments and examinations?
What messages about the nature of the discipline are subtly (or not so subtly)
sent to students by the approaches to instruction used in a course, the kinds of
knowledge and understanding emphasized, and the thinking processes required
by assignments and examinations?
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Sources of Information for
Curriculum Review
After deciding upon the questions you want to investigate, you are ready to
consider how to gather the data you need.
Consider the potential sources of information and the methods of gathering that
information listed below:
Methods: Test Results:

• Surveys • External/professional
• Questionnaires exams
• Focus groups • Standardized tests
• Interviews • Class tests
• Open forums • Final year projects and

comprehensives
• Interviews and surveys:
Informants: Course evaluations
• Faculty members • Exit interviews
• Current students • Surveys of graduates 12
• Graduated students • External review:
external examiners
• Graduate students
• Peer review
• Employers
• Field partners
• Professional partners
Curriculum Maps:
[see next section]
Student Artefacts:
• Collections of student
work (portfolios,
projects, art pieces,
other products)
• Performance/exhibits/
demonstrations
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Curriculum Maps
Curriculum maps are graphic portrayals of the relationship between program
elements—usually courses—and program goals and outcomes. Curriculum
maps are helpful sources of information about an existing program and helpful
organizers of information when planning a new program.
As a source of information about your current program, a curriculum map can

help to show what is being done in the program and when, where, and how.
To keep a map from becoming unwieldy and overly detailed, it is often advisable
to begin with one or two questions or a single focus.
A department might, for example, want to know if a commitment the members

had made to teaching particular content or particular skills was in fact being
honoured in the actual teaching of actual courses. A curriculum map can show
which courses are including such content or skills in the course outlines; can
show which courses include assignments in and evaluate that content or those
skills; and can map what instructors in different courses believe they are doing
about the relevant content and skills. Examining the completed map should help
to answer questions about what precise skills are being focused on and how, and
whether there is an overall structure and rationale to the teaching or if it is hit
and miss.
A curriculum map cannot answer all these questions but it can answer some.
It will show where attention is heavily focused, and where there are gaps
13 or overlap.
Information for curriculum maps should be gathered from a number of sources.

To help ensure consistency in use of language and concepts across courses, one
person should gather and organize the data.
Course outlines, surveys of instructors, and instructor interviews are the primary
sources of data for curriculum maps. Students who have taken the courses may
be interviewed about their experience to provide yet another perspective on
what is taught and what is learned in particular courses.
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Example 1
Curriculum What In what kinds of Are students

Map communication learning activities evaluated on
skills are focused are students communication
on (a) explicitly? engaged? skills?
(b) implicitly?
Year 1
Course A
Year 1
Course B
Year 2
Course C
Year 2
Course D
Year 2
Course E
Year 3
Course F
Example 2
14
Program Outcomes / Expectations
Courses Knowledge: Skills: e.g., Habits of Mind:
concepts related written and oral e.g., critical
to the discipline presentation thinking
skills
Introductory Concepts a, b, c One short paper Critical thinking

Course in the are introduced required every encouraged
Discipline and evaluated; week; one report although not
d, e, f introduced and one oral taught or
but not presentation per evaluated as
emphasized and term; all written such
not evaluated work evaluated
Senior Course Advanced Presentation Explicit

in the Discipline analysis of skills practiced discussion of
concepts a to f; regularly in class criteria required
concepts g to k seminars; all are for critical
also examined; evaluated analysis of
all concepts concepts a to k
evaluated
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Example 3
Primary Knowledge Habits Skills & Beliefs,

Focus, “Big Ideas” of Mind Abilities Attitudes,
Essential Enduring Professional
Topics, standings Identity
Key
Questions
& Issues
1. 1. 1. 1. 1.
2. 2. 2. 2. 2.
3. 3. 3. 3. 3.
4. 4. 4. 4. 4.
5. 5. 5. 5. 5.
Course
Course
15 Course
Course
Course
Please see Appendix B for additional resources and more curriculum map templates.
What will you teach?

K n o w l e d g e : F a c ts , C o n c e p ts , E n d u r i n g U n d e r st a n d i n g s
Facts are discrete pieces of information that are believed to be true or real,
existing or having once existed. Facts can be memorized.
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Concepts are mental constructs, generalizations,
ideas formed by organizing pieces of knowledge “The acquisition
that are somehow related and share common of knowledge is
features. The definition or description of a concept the key feature
can be memorized but, more importantly, concepts that distinguishes
can also be understood. education (general
Enduring Understandings are the “big ideas,” or vocational) at any
the “take-home messages,” the principles that tie level from all
concepts together and that have value beyond other activities.”
the classroom. A description of an enduring (Young, 2003, p.553)
understanding can be memorized, but real
enduring understandings involve meaning.
Criteria: How will you decide what facts, concepts, “Whether in

and enduring understandings are relevant or
astrophysics or
important, and which should have priority in a
course or program?
literature, there is a
body of knowledge
Scope: Exactly which facts, concepts, and enduring to be learned and
understandings will you teach? To what depth? renewed. Most would
Sequence: How will you order, schedule, and like [it] to be useful
sequence the knowledge to be taught? Is there a and many would like it
hierarchy of concepts, a progression of complexity to be easy. However it
or difficulty? is not often the former
and rarely the latter. 16
What really matters
A Note About Coverage
about knowledge is
As you consider what to teach, be particularly that...we can learn
careful about how much you decide to include or find the truth or
in your course or program. The overstuffed truths as best we can,
curriculum wreaks havoc with student
in any field. This is
understanding. As Howard Gardner states:
what education and...
[You] have to decide what to leave out, what’s universities are for.”
[less important right now and can be left (Williamson, 2002)
for later]...and then really focus on...tackling
important questions and reaching deep
understanding...Understanding takes time, and
the greatest enemy of understanding is coverage. “There is a knowledge,
If you are determined to cover everything, you
which is desirable,
guarantee that most [students] will not understand.
though nothing
[emphasis added] (Steinberger, 1994, p. 26)
come of it, as being
For a discussion of the dilemma about “how to of itself a treasure,
‘unstuff’ the curriculum in order to achieve quality and a sufficient
learning” (Fox & Radloff, 1997), see lsn.curtin.edu. remuneration of
au/tlf/tlf1997/fox3.html
years of labour.”
(Newman, 1859, p.158)
 


H a b i ts o f M i n d
“Thinking Skills” as a Focus for the Curriculum

References to thinking skills are ubiquitous in education and provide the focus
for many educational goals and objectives.
Skill sets such as those listed below are popularly considered to be broadly
useful not only in academic pursuits but in work and life generally, and to be
transferable from one field to another.
For intellectual activities such as problem-solving and critical thinking, I prefer

the designation “habit of mind” to either “thinking skill” or “skill set.” Strictly
speaking, a skill is discrete and perfectible through practice; large skill sets such
as problem-solving, communication, and critical thinking are clearly not discrete,
and even the notion of a set of skills is problematic in this respect. As well,
thinking skills tend to be highly context dependent and content dependent. One
might be able to think critically about English literature and less able to think
critically about the use of statistics in a field of study; able to think critically about
theories of mental illness, and less able to think critically about events leading
to World War I. Only in the very broadest sense can thinking skills be considered
generalizable and transferable; a habit on the other hand — an inclination to
behave in a certain way — is another matter.
Habit of mind refers to “a pattern of intellectual behavior that... [is] a composite of

17 many skills, attitudes and proclivities.” A habit of mind involves:
• a dispositional element — a tendency, inclination, predilection

• a values element — a choice, mind set, commitment
• an intellectual element — knowledge of what the process is and what
it involves
• a strategic element — the capability to adopt suitable strategies
• a contextual element — knowledge of the subject area within which one
is working.
(Barrow & Millburn, 1990)
I highly recommend the website of The Critical Thinking Community -

www.criticalthinking.org - a U.S. based Foundation for Critical Thinking, as the
best source I have found for practical and theoretically sound guidance on the
teaching of critical thinking. I have found the essential intellectual traits and the
universal intellectual standards identified by this foundation to be helpful in
developing my own ideas about habits of mind:
Universal intellectual standards are standards which must be applied to

thinking whenever one is interested in checking the quality of reasoning about
a problem, issue, or situation. To think critically entails having command of
these standards. To help students learn them, teachers should pose questions
which probe student thinking; questions which hold students accountable
for their thinking; questions which, through consistent use by the teacher in
 


the classroom, become internalized by students as questions they need to ask
themselves. (Paul & Elder, 2006).
Critical Thinking is “the careful, deliberate determination of whether

we should accept, reject, or suspend judgment about a claim, and the
degree of confidence with which we accept or reject it.”
(Moore and Parker, 2005)
A Disposition to Think Critically requires:

• Open-mindedness
• Willingness to challenge and be challenged
• A tendency to question the given, and to probe assumptions
and biases
• A tendency to pursue and demand justification, to discover
underlying grounds and sources
• A tendency to be deliberate and reflective rather than impulsive
and intuitive
18
“Essential” Intellectual Traits1
Humility vs. Arrogance
• Being conscious of the limits of one’s knowledge

• Being sensitive to bias, prejudice, and limitations to one’s viewpoint
• Recognizing that one should not claim more than one actually knows
Courage vs. Cowardice
• Fairly addressing ideas, beliefs, or viewpoints toward which we have strong

negative emotions and to which we have not given a serious hearing
• Recognizing that ideas considered dangerous or absurd are sometimes
rationally justified (in whole or in part) and that conclusions and beliefs
inculcated in us are sometimes false or misleading
 


Empathy vs. Closemindedness
• Imaginatively putting oneself in the place of others in order to genuinely

understand them
• Remembering occasions when we were wrong despite an intense conviction
that we were right, and imagining being similarly wrong again
Autonomy vs. Conformity
• Rationally controlling one’s beliefs, values, and inferences

• Analyzing and evaluating beliefs on the basis of reason and evidence
Integrity vs. Hypocrisy
• Holding oneself to the same rigorous standards of evidence and proof to

which one holds one’s antagonists
• Honestly admitting discrepancies and inconsistencies in one’s own thought
and action
Perseverance vs. Laziness
• Using intellectual insights in spite of difficulties, obstacles, and frustrations

• Adhering firmly to rational principles despite irrational opposition of others
• Struggling with confusion and unsettled questions
19
Fairmindedness vs. Intellectual Unfairness
• Treating all viewpoints alike, without reference to one’s own feelings

or vested interests, or the feelings or vested interests of one’s friends,
community, or nation, and without reference to one’s own advantage or the
advantage of one’s group
Confidence in Reason vs. Distrust of Reason and Evidence
• Maintaining confidence that one’s own higher interests and those of human-
kind at large are best served by giving the freest play to reason, and by
encouraging people to come to their own conclusions through developing
their own rational faculties
• Believing that people can learn to think for themselves, to form rational
view-points, draw reasonable conclusions, think coherently and logically,
persuade each other by reason and become reasonable persons, despite
deep-seated obstacles in the character of the human mind and in society as
we know it
 


Universal Intellectual Standards2
Clarity Breadth
• Could you elaborate • Do we need to look
further? Give me an at this from another
example? perspective?
• Could you illustrate
what you mean? Logic
• Does all this make
Accuracy sense together?
• How could we check • Does your first
on that? argument fit in with
• How could we find out your last?
if that is true? • Does what you say
follow from the
Precision evidence?
• Could you be more Significance

specific? Give me 20
more details? • Is this the most
important problem to
Relevance consider?
• Which of these pieces
• How does that relate of information are
to the problem? most important?
• How does that help us
with the issue? Fairness
Depth • Do you have any
vested interest in this
• What factors make issue?
this a difficult • Are you
problem? sympathetically
• What are some of the representing the
complexities of this viewpoints of others?
question?
 


How will you teach it?
A lt e r n at i v e P e d ag o g i e s
How you organize for teaching and learning, what teaching strategies you
choose, how you interact with students, and how you ultimately evaluate
student learning is intimately connected to the goals, objectives, and outcomes
you have identified for your course or program.
Some organizational formats impose severe restrictions on the pedagogical

choices instructors have; many approaches suitable for small groups are not
possible with large groups, or in on-line or distance education situations.
All the following pedagogical approaches have a place at the university level:
• Lectures, tutorials • Interdisciplinary study

• Seminars • Experiential learning
• Inquiry-based learning • Cooperative learning
• Problem-based learning • Journals & logs
• Project-based learning • Narrative & reflective writing
21 • Case-based learning • Laboratories
• Service-learning • Demonstrations
• Self-directed learning • Clinical or field placements
Some of the approaches listed here, notably lectures and tutorials, are often
used to justify a transmission model of curriculum, which is further justified by
arguments about covering the necessary content in a course or program. Other
approaches in this list support a transactional model of curriculum, and some will
also support curriculum as a transformational experience. If you are interested in
including any of these teaching methods in your courses you can seek assistance
from the staff in the Teaching Support Centre. In addition to knowledgeable staff,
they have a comprehensive library of books and journals to support your needs.
The approaches you should choose depend upon what you want
to accomplish.
 


A Reminder about Coverage
An instructor’s concern for coverage — of what has always been taught in a
course or what has been taken for granted as necessary for the next course —
tends quickly to shut down discussion about alternative pedagogies. There is no
doubt that many approaches to teaching and learning require more time than
does lecture and tutorial. There is a degree to which a choice must be made
— a choice between coverage and understanding; between transmission and
transaction or transformation. Howard Gardner’s admonition is worth repeating:
[You] have to decide what to leave out, what’s [less important

right now and can be left for later]...and then really focus on...
tackling important questions and reaching deep understanding...
Understanding takes time, and the greatest enemy of understanding
is coverage. If you are determined to cover everything, you guarantee
that most [students] will not understand.
(Steinberger, 1994, p. 26)
Pedagogies of Engagement3
“Pedagogies of engagement” (Shulman, 2005) engage students — in thinking,
discussing, reading, researching, arguing, debating, defending, presenting,
experiencing, reflecting, inquiring — in activities that promote the development
22
of concepts, deep understanding, and, possibly, transformation.
Interactive Pedagogies
Emphases: growth and development in inquiry and other ways of thinking
and learning
Requirements: rich environments in which students interact with tasks,

concepts, principles, and situations of interest to them
• Collaborative learning
• Cooperative learning
• Problem-based learning
• Inquiry learning
• Service-learning
• Case studies
• Community-based research
• Internship & practicum experiences
 


Formative Pedagogies
Emphases: developing personal and professional identities; articulating beliefs
and values
Requirements: supportive environments conducive to reflection and dialogue
• Narrative
• Autobiography
• Service learning
• Reflective journal writing
• Case studies
Critical Pedagogies
Emphases: developing a critical consciousness; recognizing and evaluating
power structures; understanding oneself as an active agent in society; identifying
and creating conditions for a more just society
Requirements: inclusive, empowering environments; opportunities to

develop autonomy and participate in choosing topics, themes, and questions
to be studied; critical social theory, feminist theory, post-modern and
post-colonial theory
23
• Student-centered dialogue
• Collaborative learning
• Narrative and biography
• Service learning
• Reflective journal writing
• Case studies
 


Intents, Aims, Goals,
Objectives, Expectations,
and Outcomes
Intent/Goal/Aim: a statement about the larger, general intentions of a program
or course of study
Objective/Outcome/Expectation: a specific description of what students will

know, be able to do, or otherwise gain from a program or course
Concerning the words in the title of this section, I very much agree with David
Prideaux of the School of Medicine at Flinders University in South Australia:
I usually find it difficult to explain the difference between a significant

and worthwhile objective and a well-written and well-defined outcome,
and...I ask myself whether such fine distinctions really matter. After all,
it is not the statements of objectives or outcomes in themselves that are
important but the questions that must be posed and answered in
arriving at their definition. [emphasis added] (2000, p. 168)
24
The terms outcomes and expectations have been introduced into the educational
literature over the last 20 years or so in part to help educators move away from
the notion that the only good objective is a behavioural objective. Objectives
should be specific and clear, and should focus on what students will learn — on
expectations and learning outcomes for students — but they need not focus on
specific, observable, measurable behaviours. A good objective is student-focused
and learning-focused.
Begin your thinking about goals, objectives, outcomes, and expectations by

going back to your mission and values statements, and your philosophy
of education.
• Why are you here? Why are you offering this course and this program?
• What should students know and be able to do at the end of the program?
• What lasting effects should this course or program have on them?
 


Consider the possibility that, as central as knowledge is to education, it is not the
only worthwhile kind of learning goal. In some courses or programs, goals other
than knowledge goals may even be the more important goals. Consider the
following four categories of learning goals — and whether identifying objectives
and expectations in some or all of these categories might be important for your
course or program.
• Knowledge: Facts, Concepts, Enduring Understandings (see page 13)
• Habits of Mind (see page 17)
• Values, Beliefs, & Attitudes
• Abilities & Skills
V a l u e s , B e l i e f s , & Att i t u d e s
Values, beliefs, and attitudes may appropriately be represented among your
outcomes for student learning. Indeed, in many fields, certain values help to
identify and define the field, and certain beliefs and attitudes characterize
individuals who work in that field:
• Collegiality & collegial work habits

• Ethical awareness & ethical practice
• Professional accountability
25 • Empathy, caring, compassion, respect
• Social advocacy & social justice
• Rational, logical, objective analysis based on evidence
• Holistic, integrated, inclusive praxis
• Autonomy, transparency, openness
In professional education attention to values, beliefs, and attitudes is essential:
In professional education it is insufficient to learn for the sake of

knowledge and understanding alone; one learns in order to engage
in practice. Professional education involves teaching ideas, facts,
and principles so that they can contribute to skilled professional
practice. Professional pedagogies are continuously attempting to
forge connections between key ideas and effective practice. But a true
professional does not merely practice: he or she performs with a sense
of personal and social responsibility. In the work of a professional, the
performances of practice must not only be skilled and theoretically
grounded; they must be characterized by integrity, by a commitment
to responsible, ethical service.
(Shulman, Spring 2005, p. 18)
 


Identity: Related to the development of values, Elliott Eisner
beliefs, and attitudes is the development of a sense
of identity in the graduates of a program. Identity
(2000) on
refers to a person’s understanding of himself or Educational
herself as a discrete person, an individual — and Objectives:
as, for example, a professional person: a scientist,
writer, therapist, performer, teacher, or athlete.
“As objectives and
standards become
Abilities & Skills
more precise they
In some courses and programs, the development proliferate and when
of particular abilities and skills may be among the they proliferate, they
important objectives. swamp [educators’]
Artistic, musical, & physical abilities may be capacities to deal
developed through the practice of particular with them.”
psychomotor skills relevant to each area. (p. 344)
Technical skills such as the handling of particular
materials or pieces of equipment may have to
become second nature to students in some fields
“There is a kind of
and disciplines.
tension between the
Procedural skills might involve following a desire for clarity that
manual or other protocol or, for example, learning requires specificity and
the steps in developing a film or printing a the degree to which 26
photograph. specificity impairs
the very process it is
Bloom’s Ta xonomy designed to promote.”
(p. 345)
Bloom’s (1956) famous taxonomy (which actually
had five authors — Bloom, Englehart, Furst, Hill,
& Krathwohl) organizes educators’ expected
learning outcomes into a hierarchy from less to
more complex. Research over the last 50 years
“Educators shape
or so has confirmed the taxonomy as a hierarchy students’ conception
although there is some uncertainty about the of what the life of the
placement of synthesis and evaluation in the list. mind is about by our
One revision of the taxonomy placed evaluating own emphasis on
prior to synthesizing. Others suggest synthesis measured outcomes
and evaluation are at the same level because both rather than on the
depend on analysis as a foundational process
quality of engagement
(Huitt, 2004).
or the character of
The taxonomy is helpful as you think about the the journey they
expected learning outcomes for your course have taken.”
or program.
(p. 346)
 


At any level of education, some memorization of information is essential, but
the mere transmission of knowledge is never an appropriate goal for a course or
program. Even in the most basic and introductory of courses, expected learning
outcomes should emphasize, at least, comprehension and application
of knowledge.
Level Definition Sample Student

Activities –
Use These Verbs For
Your Goals, Objectives,
And Outcomes
Knowledge observing and list, define, tell,

recalling information; describe, identify,
knowing dates, show, label, collect,
events, places; examine, tabulate,
knowing concepts & quote, name
major ideas
Comprehension understanding summarize, describe,

information; grasping interpret, contrast,
meaning; comparing; predict, associate,
27 contrasting; ordering;
grouping; inferring
distinguish, estimate,
differentiate, discuss,
causes; predicting extend
consequences;
translating knowledge
into new contexts
Application using concepts, apply, demonstrate,

theories in new calculate, complete,
situations; solving illustrate, show, solve,
problems using examine, modify,
required skills or relate, change, classify,
knowledge experiment, discover
Analysis seeing patterns; analyze, separate,

organizing parts; order, explain,
recognizing hidden connect, classify,
meanings; identifying arrange, divide,
components compare, select, infer
continued on following page


 


Synthesis using old ideas to combine, integrate,
create new ones; modify, rearrange,
generalizing from substitute, plan,
given facts; relating create, design, invent,
knowledge from compose, formulate,
several areas; prepare, generalize
predicting; drawing
conclusions
Evalutation comparing and assess, decide, rank,

discriminating measure, recommend,
between ideas; convince, select,
assessing value judge, explain,
of theories, discriminate, support,
presentations; making conclude, compare
choices based on
reasoned argument;
verifying value of
evidence; recognizing
subjectivity
Expected Learning Outcomes

28
Describing a course or program in terms of what students will do and what
they will learn provides information up front that helps to guide and direct your
planning and their learning. And it helps to determine what to assess during or
at the end of the course or program.
Let’s look at some simple examples.
Example 1:
“My objective in this course,” said the instructor, “is...
• to give you a good set of notes.”

• to get through the text with time to spare.”
• to cover...”
• to get you ready for...”
• to teach about...”
I am sorry to say I heard all these objectives at one time or another over my
years as a student. None of them piqued my interest or inspired me; none told
me anything about what I would do or learn. These were instructor-focused
objectives that made me want to find a different course to take.
 


Example 2:
“At the end of the unit, students will, with 90 percent accuracy, list in order the
elements of the periodic table.”
This objective identifies what students will know and exactly what they will do
to show they know it. The focus is clear and the means of assessment is clear. Is it
a “good” objective? Technically, perhaps, but some would question the value of a
task that for many students will be simply a feat of memorization. As an outcome
for the course or an expectation for students, how important is it and how
worthy of an academic program?
Example 3:
“At the end of the unit, students will understand the periodic table.”
Understanding requires something more than memorization and, certainly,

should be an expectation of learning, an outcome for all students. This
objective, however, requires a little more specificity about what exactly it
means to “understand” the periodic table. What might students do to show they
understand it? Perhaps students who can solve problems using the periodic
table or identify the characteristics of particular elements using their knowledge
of the structure of the periodic table could be deemed to “understand” it.
Example 4:
29
“By the end of the course, students will be able to:
• use, correctly, MLA style for formatting and citations.

• identify and use literary elements that deepen the human experience
of poetry.
• demonstrate a knowledge of the basic organization, structure and function
of the major systems of the body and their relationship to one another.”
These objectives identify expectations for student learning, outcomes of their

participation in a course. An instructor who identifies objectives such as these
can go on to make informed choices about how to teach and how to assess, and
to answer such instructor-focused questions as these:
• what knowledge (facts, concepts, theories, ideas) do I need to teach?

• what approaches, techniques, strategies, in-class exercises, and out-of-class
assignments will promote student learning?
• in the end, what will I ask students to do to show they can use or
demonstrate their learning?
 


Example 5:
“By the end of the course, students will demonstrate their ability to think critically
about important issues in [the field].”
If thinking critically is worth identifying as an expectation for students, an

outcome of the course or program — it is worth teaching and worth evaluating.
Although there is no agreement on how best to teach students to think
critically — if, indeed, “teach” is the operative word — instructors must answer for
themselves and their students the basic curriculum questions:
• What do students need to know about critical thinking?

• What will help students actually to develop their ability to think critically?
• In the end, what can I ask students to do to demonstrate they can think
critically? How can I evaluate their learning?
Tips for Writing Learning Outcomes

Ensure your learning outcomes focus not on what you will do
but on what students will be able to do at the end of the course.
A phrase such as “students will be exposed to...” is not about
student outcomes.
Avoid vague terms such as know, appreciate, be familiar with, or 30

learn; such terms suggest you have not thought carefully about
what you want students to get out of your course.
Tell your students in your learning outcomes what they will be

expected to do to demonstrate they have achieved the outcome. If
the outcome involves understanding, perhaps students will outline,
explain, describe, model, or apply what they have learned in a
new context. If the outcome involves critical or creative thinking,
perhaps they will synthesize, evaluate, or extend what they
have learned.
 


How will you know
you have taught it?
Ass e ss m e n t & E v a l u a t i o n
I have always found assessment and evaluation to be among the most
challenging parts of an educator’s job. It is enormously complex —
philosophically, theoretically, educationally — and notoriously difficult to do well.
Even done well, the results are at best an approximation of reality at a particular
moment. That does not, of course, mean we need not pay it careful attention or
expend great amounts of time and energy on it.
My basic principles of assessment and evaluation are these:

• All forms of assessment have both formative and summative aspects
to them.
• All forms of assessment have values — your educational values — wrapped
up in them; nothing will speak more clearly to your students about what you
value in education than the forms of assessment you choose to use.
• All forms of assessment, because they require educators to make choices
31 and say something about what is valued, have a subjective component to
them.
• Many important goals and objectives may be difficult to assess and to
quantify, but should nevertheless be addressed in the assessment process.
• Assessment is most meaningful when it is varied, on-going, and integrated
into the teaching/learning process.
My basic guidelines for assessment and evaluation are these:
1. Know why you are assessing and evaluating; it might be because...
• Before you teach, you need to know what your students already know (or
don’t know), and where their strengths and weaknesses lie;
• You need to know where they are now in order to plan what to teach next;
• You changed the textbook or tried a new instructional strategy, and you
want to know if it is “effective”;
• You and your students want to know whether or not they are learning what
you want them to learn (and you need grades at the end of the course).
 


2. Know what you are assessing and evaluating:
• Consider the goals, objectives, and outcomes you identified for

your students;
• Consider the content you taught — information, concepts, “big ideas”;
• If habits of mind, attitudes, beliefs and values, or particular skills were among
your goals, consider which of those you will try to assess — and how.
3. Pause and reflect:
• Look back over your lists of goals, objectives, and outcomes, and think about
the teaching approaches and teaching strategies used in the course
or program:
»» Is there alignment? Did the teaching strategies give students a realistic

and fair chance to achieve your goals, objectives, and outcomes? For
example:
»» Did you simply tell your students critical thinking was important or did
you ask questions in class that showed them you valued critical thinking
and gave them opportunities to practice critical thinking?
»» Did you simply tell your students they needed to understand concepts or
did you create opportunities for them actually to use those new concepts
in analytic and problem-solving situations? 32
»» Did you merely list professional formation as one of your goals or did you
employ formative pedagogies in a substantial way?
4. Choose and design your methods of assessment and evaluation.
• If there is alignment between your objectives and your teaching methods,

your next step is to choose methods of assessment and evaluation that
continue that alignment.
Please see the Additional Resources section (Appendix B) for Internet resources
that address great varieties of assessment methods.
 


One More Metaphor and
Some Encouragement:
Curriculum as Conversation
What is basic [in education] is not a certain set of texts, or principles
or algorithms, but conversation that makes sense of these things.
Curriculum is that conversation. It is the process of making sense with
a group of people of the systems that shape and organize the world
that we can think about together.
(Grumet, 1995, p. 19)
Think about curriculum as a conversation with your students — a conversation

that will help them make sense of the subject at hand. As well, think about
curriculum development and review as a conversation — with all those groups
that have an interest in your course or program — colleagues, administrators,
students, graduates, employers, and professional partners — and with your
discipline or field.
33
All change, even very large and powerful change, begins when a few
people start talking with one another about something they care
about... We rediscover a sense of unity. We remember we are part of
a greater whole. And as an added joy, we also discover our collective
wisdom. We suddenly see how wise we can be together.
(Wheatley, quoted in Stiehl & Lewchuk, 2005)
Curriculum development and review can seem a daunting task—but all it needs
to get started, and to be maintained, is conversation. Good luck.
 


References
Barrow, R., & Milburn, G. (1990). A critical dictionary of educational concepts
(2nd ed.). New York: Harvester/Wheatsheaf.
Bloom, B., Englehart, M. Furst, E., Hill, W., & Krathwohl, D. (1956). Taxonomy of
educational objectives: The classification of educational goals. Handbook I:
Cognitive domain. New York, Toronto: Longmans, Green.
Cole, A. (2000). Toward a preliminary understanding of teacher education reform in

anglophone Canada. McGill Journal of Education, 35(2), 139-155.
Eisner, E. (2000). Those who ignore the past...: 12 ‘easy’ lessons for the next
millennium. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 32(2), 343-357.
Fox, R. and Radloff, A. (1997). How can we ‘unstuff’ the curriculum? In Pospisil, R. and
Willcoxson, L. (Eds), Learning Through Teaching, pp. 118-123. Proceedings of the
6th Annual Teaching Learning Forum, Murdoch University, February 1997. Perth:
Murdoch University. Retrieved December 16, 2008, from lsn.curtin.edu.au/tlf/
tlf1997/fox3.html
Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: The Seabury Press. 34
Grumet, M. (1995). The curriculum: What are the basics and are we teaching them?
In J.L. Kinchloe & S.R. Steinberg, Thirteen questions: Reframing education’s
conversation. 2nd Edition. New York: Peter Lang.
Huitt, W. (2004). Bloom et al.’s taxonomy of the cognitive domain. Educational

Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University. Retrieved July 20,
2008 from chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/cogsys/bloom.html
Lakoff, G. & Johnson, M. (1980) Metaphors we live by.

Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Molnar, A. (1991). The significance of One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest for curriculum
workers. In G. Willis & W.H. Schubert (Eds.), Reflections from the heart of
educational inquiry. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.
Moore, B. N., & Parker, R. (2005). Critical thinking (8th ed.). McGraw-Hill Humanities/
Social Sciences/Languages.
 


Newman, J. H. (1859). The scope and nature of university education. (2nd ed.). London:
Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts.
Ontario Council of Academic Vice-Presidents. (2007). Guidelines for university

undergraduate degree level expectations. Retrieved October 18, 2008, from
www.lib.uwo.ca/files/teaching/OCAV_UDLE.pdf
Overly, N. V., & Spalding, E. (1993). The novel as a metaphor for curriculum and tool
for curriculum development. Journal of Curriculum and Supervision, 8, 140-156.
Palmer, P. (1998). The courage to teach: Exploring the inner landscape of a teacher’s life.
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Paul, R., & Elder, L. (2006). The miniature guide to critical thinking concepts and tools.
Foundation for Critical Thinking.
Pratt, D.D. and Collins, J.B. (2000). The Teaching Perspectives Inventory: Developing
and testing an instrument to assess philosophical orientations to teaching.
Proceedings of the 41st Adult Education Research Conference, Vancouver, British
Columbia, June.
Prideaux, D. (2000). The emperor’s new clothes: from objectives to outcomes.

35 Medical Education, 34(3), 168-169.
Schubert, W.H. (1991). Curriculum inspired by Scrooge or “A Curriculum Carol.” In

G. Willis & W.H. Schubert (Eds.), Reflections from the heart of educational inquiry:
Understanding curriculum and teaching through the arts (pp. 284-292). Albany, NY:
State University of New York Press.
Schulich Dentistry. (March, 2005). Mission, vision and values statement. Retrieved
December 16, 2008, from the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at the
University of Western Ontario Web site:
www.schulich.uwo.ca/Dentistry/mission.html
Shulman, L. (Spring, 2005). Pedagogies of uncertainty. Liberal Education, 18-25.
Shulman, L. (2005). The signature pedagogies of the professions of law,

medicine, engineering, and the clergy: Potential lessons for the education of
teachers. Delivered at the Math Science Partnerships (MSP) Workshop:
“Teacher Education for Effective Teaching and Learning.” Hosted by the
National Research Council’s Center for Education. February 6-8, 2005,
Irvine, California. Retrieved on July 30, 2008, from
iw73535.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/shulmanarticle.pdf
 


Smith, K., Sheppard, S., Johnson, D., & Johnson, R. (January, 2005). Pedagogies of
engagement: Classroom-based practices. Journal of Engineering Education, 1-15.
Steinberger, E. (1994). Howard Gardner on learning for understanding. School

Administrator, 51(1), 26.
Stiehl, R. & Lewchuk, L. (2005). Tools for building an outcomes-based college

curriculum. Learning Abstracts, 8(2). Retrieved February 16, 2009 from
www.hawaii.edu/vpaa/system_aa/accreditation/response/Att11.pdf
Williamson, J. (2002, August 6). Forward by degrees with higher education funding.
The Observer.
Young, M. (2003). Curriculum studies and the problem of knowledge: updating the
Enlightenment. Policy Futures in Education, 1(3), 553-564.
36
 


Appendix A
O n t a r i o C o u n c i l o f A c a d e m i c V i c e - P r e s i d e n ts ( OCAV )
Universit y Undergraduate Degree Le vel Ex pec tations
Introduction
The globalization of higher education has led to the need to be able to compare
and contrast the variety of qualifications granted by academic institutions
for credit transfer, graduate study preparation and professional qualification.
Similarly, jurisdictions with decentralized systems are looking for ways to
measure academic equivalencies. In addition, in order to be able to evaluate and
monitor the effectiveness of all aspects of instruction, institutions, accrediting
authorities and funding bodies have begun to clarify the outcomes expected of
graduates. In response to a national initiative to state degree expectations, the
Executive Heads of Ontario’s publicly assisted universities asked OCAV to prepare
a framework to reflect expectations of performance by the graduates of the
Baccalaureate/Bachelor’s programs of Ontario’s publicly assisted universities. The
document, “Guidelines for University Undergraduate Degree Level Expectations,”
developed by the Ontario Council of Academic Vice-Presidents was subsequently
endorsed by the Council of Ontario Universities on December 16, 2005.
37 The degree level expectations in OCAV’s “Guidelines” elaborate the intellectual
and creative development of students and the acquisition of relevant skills that
have been widely, yet implicitly, understood. Here they are explicitly stated.
Ontario’s universities have agreed to use OCAV’s “Guidelines” as a threshold
framework for the expression of their own degree level expectations, which will
be consistent with this document – or may indeed go beyond it. In articulating
its statement of degree level expectations, each institution is free to use
language that reflects its own mission, ethos, values and culture.
Approved: Council of Ontario Universities, December 2005
Updated: May 2006; September 2007
 


1. Depth and Breadth of Knowledge
Baccalaureate/Bachelor’s Degree
This degree is awarded to students who have demonstrated:
a) A general knowledge and understanding of many key concepts,

methodologies, theoretical approaches and assumptions in a discipline
b) A broad understanding of some of the major fields in a discipline, including,

where appropriate, from an interdisciplinary perspective, and how the
fields may intersect with fields in related disciplines
c) An ability to gather, review, evaluate and interpret information relevant to

one or more of the major fields in a discipline
d) Some detailed knowledge in an area of the discipline
e) Critical thinking and analytical skills inside and outside the discipline
f ) The ability to apply learning from one or more areas outside the discipline
Baccalaureate/Bachelor’s Degree: Honours

a) A developed knowledge and critical understanding of the key concepts,

38
methodologies, current advances, theoretical approaches and assumptions
in a discipline overall, as well as in a specialized area of a discipline
b) A developed understanding of many of the major fields in a discipline,

including, where appropriate, from an interdisciplinary perspective, and
how the fields may intersect with fields in related disciplines
c) A developed ability to: i) gather, review, evaluate and interpret information;

and ii) compare the merits of alternate hypotheses or creative options,
relevant to one or more of the major fields in a discipline
d) A developed, detailed knowledge of and experience in research in an area

of the discipline
e) Developed critical thinking and analytical skills inside and outside

the discipline
f ) The ability to apply learning from one or more areas outside the discipline
 


2. Knowledge of Methodologies
• An understanding of methods of enquiry or creative activity, or both, in their

primary area of study that enables the student to:
»» evaluate the appropriateness of different approaches to solving

problems using well established ideas and techniques; and
»» devise and sustain arguments or solve problems using these methods.

• An understanding of methods of enquiry or creative activity, or both, in their

primary area of study that enables the student to:
»» evaluate the appropriateness of different approaches to solving

problems using well established ideas and techniques;
»» devise and sustain arguments or solve problems using these

39 methods; and
»» describe and comment upon particular aspects of current research or

equivalent advanced scholarship.
3. Applic ation of Knowledge
a) The ability to review, present, and interpret quantitative and qualitative

information to: i) develop lines of argument; ii) make sound judgments
in accordance with the major theories, concepts and methods of the
subject(s) of study; and
b) The ability to use a basic range of established techniques to: i) analyse

information; ii) evaluate the appropriateness of different approaches to
solving problems related to their area(s) of study; iii) propose solutions; and
c) The ability to make use of scholarly reviews and primary sources.
 


a) The ability to review, present and critically evaluate qualitative and

quantitative information to: i) develop lines of argument; ii) make sound
judgments in accordance with the major theories, concepts and methods
of the subject(s) of study; iii) apply underlying concepts, principles, and
techniques of analysis, both within and outside the discipline; iv) where
appropriate use this knowledge in the creative process; and
b) The ability to use a range of established techniques to: i) initiate and

undertake critical evaluation of arguments, assumptions, abstract concepts
and information; ii) propose solutions; iii) frame appropriate questions for
the purpose of solving a problem; iv) solve a problem or create a new
work; and
c) The ability to make critical use of scholarly reviews and primary sources.
4. Communic ation Skills
• The ability to communicate accurately and reliably, orally and in writing to a 40

range of audiences.

• The ability to communicate information, arguments, and analyses accurately

and reliably, orally and in writing to a range of audiences.
 


5 . A w a r e n e ss o f L i m i ts o f K n o w l e d g e
• An understanding of the limits to their own knowledge and how this might
influence their analyses and interpretations.

• An understanding of the limits to their own knowledge and ability, and an

appreciation of the uncertainty, ambiguity and limits to knowledge and how
this might influence analyses and interpretations.
6 . A u t o n o m y a n d P r o f e ss i o n a l C a p a c i t y
41 a) Qualities and transferable skills necessary for further study, employment,

community involvement and other activities requiring: i) the exercise of
personal responsibility and decision-making; ii) working effectively
with others;
b) The ability to identify and address their own learning needs in changing
circumstances and to select an appropriate program of further study; and
c) Behaviour consistent with academic integrity and social responsibility.

a) Qualities and transferable skills necessary for further study, employment,

community involvement and other activities requiring: i) the exercise of
initiative, personal responsibility and accountability in both personal and
group contexts; ii) working effectively with others; iii) decision-making in
complex contexts;
b) The ability to manage their own learning in changing circumstances, both
within and outside the discipline and to select an appropriate program of
further study; and
c) Behaviour consistent with academic integrity and social responsibility.
 


Appendix B
Additional Resources
General
• The Resources section on the Teaching Support Centre website
www.uwo.ca/tsc/resources_topicspecific.html contains links to hundreds of
excellent resources on teaching and other topics in higher education.
• The Teaching Support Centre maintains a library of over 600 books, articles,
journals, newsletters, and videos. The library is located on the main floor
of The D. B. Weldon Library, Room 122. To find a book in the TSC collection,
search the Western Libraries catalogue and choose “Teaching Support Centre”
in the “Limit by Library or Collection” drop-down box to perform a search of
our collection.
Assessment methods for higher education

• Alternative assessment in higher education:
Websites for a learner-centered approach
wikis.ala.org/acrl/index.php/Alternative_Assessment_in_Higher_Education
Bonnie Chauncey’s extensive list of Internet resources for alternative 42
assessment approaches, originally published in the November 2004 issue of
C&RL News and updated July 2006
• Internet Resources for Higher Education Outcomes Assessment
www2.acs.ncsu.edu/UPA/assmt/resource.htm
• Authentic Assessment Toolbox
jonathan.mueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/tasks.htm
• For research on evaluation, see the American Journal of Evaluation. These
two articles on evaluation theory are written by two of the most outstanding
education writers of the last half century:
»» A World Larger than Formative and Summative
Michael Quinn Patton
American Journal of Evaluation, Vol. 17, No. 2, 131-144 (1996)
»» Types of Evaluation and Types of Evaluator
Michael Scriven
American Journal of Evaluation, Vol. 17, No. 2, 151-161 (1996)
• The Assessment and Test Construction Resources on the Teaching
Support Centre website lists more resources, including workshop materials,
presentations, articles and books available in the Teaching Support Centre
library: www.uwo.ca/tsc/assessment.htm
 


Instructional Methods
• Barbara Gross Davis’ Tools for Teaching (1993) is an excellent source of in-
depth advice on strategies and suggestions to improve teaching practice.
Excerpts are on-line at teaching.berkeley.edu/bgd/teaching.html and the
full text is available through NetLibrary (accessible via the Western Libraries
catalogue)
• McKeachie’s Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research and Theory for College and
University Teachers (2006) is a handbook of research-supported strategies to
enhance teaching and learning.
Learning Outcomes
• Definitions and web resources about Learning Outcomes on the Teaching
Support Centre website: www.uwo.ca/tsc/learning_outcomes.html
• This University of Windsor document addresses the following: what
learning outcomes are, how to write a learning outcome, how to determine
if students have achieved the outcomes, and contains samples of courses
centred on learning outcomes: tinyurl.com/6a6wkl
• Examples of learning outcomes from several disciplines that correspond
to levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy: ocav.uwaterloo.ca/learning-outcomes-
discipline-e
43 Program Review and Curriculum Map Templates

• Curriculum Development in Higher Education: Faculty-Driven Processes and
Practices is a special issue in Winter 2007 of New Directions for Teaching and
Learning with several excellent articles on curriculum change and review.
• Guidelines for the Appraisal of Undergraduate Programs
www.uwo.ca/univsec/handbook/general/Guidelines_for_the_Appraisal_of_
Undergraduate_Programs.pdf
• The official UPRAC Review and Audit Guidelines (COU):
www.cou.on.ca/content/objects/
UPRACGuidelineswithDegreeExpectationsFinal.pdf
• The University of Waterloo has developed an Excel spreadsheet curriculum
mapping template that is consistent with the categories, subcategories, and
sub-subcategories of the OCAV undergraduate degree level expectations for
Honours degrees: ocav.uwaterloo.ca/curriculum-mapping-template
• A curriculum map from the University of British Columbia Occupational
Therapy program: www.ot.med.ubc.ca/students/prospective_students/
curriculum.htm
• Outcomes-Based Academic and Co-Curricular Program Review (2006) by
Marilee Bresciani is an excellent resource on assessment of learning
outcomes that shares the good practices of forty institutions.
 


• Linda Nilson’s The Graphic Syllabus and the Outcomes Map : Communicating
Your Course (2007) shows instructors how to communicate their course
organization to students using a diagram, flowchart or concept map of the
topical organization, and how to chart an outcomes map. More than two
dozen examples from a variety of disciplines are included.
University Undergraduate Degree-Level

Expectations Guidelines
• Implementing University Undergraduate Degree-Level Expectations
(UUDLEs) in Program & Course Design is a site from York University
designed to share resources and do OCAV-consistent curriculum
development:
degree-expectations.apps01.yorku.ca/wordpress
• OCAV’s UDLEs at UW website contains background information as well as

case study examples and sample syllabi:
ocav.uwaterloo.ca
Small Group Teaching

• The Centre for the Study of Higher Education at the University of
Melbourne provides information about various types of small group
teaching including leading discussions, students presenting seminar papers,
guiding group projects, leading problem-solving sessions, teaching in a 44
laboratory or practical class, problem-based learning, and clinical tutoring.
www.cshe.unimelb.edu.au/bookpages/chap6.html
Notes
1
From The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking Concepts and Tools (p. 16) by R. Paul
and L. Elder, 2006, The Foundation for Critical Thinking www.criticalthinking.org
Copyright 2006 by Foundation for Critical Thinking. Adapted with permission.
2
From The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking Concepts and Tools (p. 10) by R. Paul
and L. Elder, 2006, The Foundation for Critical Thinking www.criticalthinking.org
Copyright 2006 by Foundation for Critical Thinking. Adapted with permission.
3
I owe the expression “pedagogies of engagement” to Lee Shulman who wrote
about “signature pedagogies of the professions” and about “pedagogies of
uncertainty” and “pedagogies of formation” in “The Signature Pedagogies of the
Professions of Law, Medicine, Engineering, and the Clergy: Potential Lessons
for the Education of Teacher” (2005), and “Pedagogies of Uncertainty,” (Spring,
2005). See also: “Pedagogies of Engagement: Classroom-based Practices.” (Smith,
Sheppard, Johnson & Johnson, January, 2005).
 


About the author
Margaret McNay,
B.Ed. (UBC), Ph.D. (UBC),
M.Ed. (Western Washington)
Professor
[email protected]
Margaret’s professional career reflects her

long-standing interests in teaching, science,
and educational studies. After a period as an
elementary school teacher, an occupation
she loved, Margaret went on to explore
other interests. These led her to doctoral
studies in cell biology, a master’s degree
in science education, and faculty positions
in education at St. Thomas University in
Fredericton, at the University of Alberta, and,
eventually, at the Faculty of Education here
at Western where she has taught pre-service
courses in science education and graduate
courses in curriculum studies and teacher
education. Margaret’s research, and that of
her graduate students, ranges over topics
in all these areas, and she has twice led
evaluations of the practicum program in her
Faculty. During two years with the Teaching
Support Centre, her responsibilities were to
support units undertaking curriculum review
and development. She is currently Associate
Dean for Undergraduate and Preservice
Programs in the Faculty of Education.
Teac hing S u p p or t Ce n t re Pu rp le G u i d es

Room 122, The D.B. Weldon Library
The University of Western Ontario
London, Ontario N6A 3K7
T: (519) 661-2111 ext. 80346
E: [email protected]
www.uwo.ca/tsc

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Margaret McNay

The TSC is the teaching ‘heart’ of the

The Purple Guides address key issues in

More information is available on the TSC

Teaching Support Centre

Teaching Support Centre

Teaching Support Centre Purple Guides

Previous Contents Next

McNay, Margaret, 1944-

Western guide to curriculum review [electronic resource] / Margaret McNay.

(Teaching Support Centre purple guides, ISSN 1916-6893)

Includes bibliographical references.

Also available in print format.

Teaching Support Centre II. Title. III. Series:

LB2361.M34 2009a 378.1’99 C2009-900838-6

Previous Contents Next

Introduction........................................... 1 How will you teach it?....................21

Habits of Mind....................................17 Appendix B. ..........................................42

• A new program is needed to meet a new need;

Curriculum Assessment, Evaluation, and Review can help to

• Demonstrate the strengths of a program;

Strictly speaking, assessment refers to the gathering and analyzing of information,

Previous Contents Next

• Consider the process you will use — top-down administrative fiat or

1. Depth and Breadth of Knowledge

Previous Contents Next

Administrative Fiat: The administrative head makes unilateral changes within

Authority Delegated to a Committee of Faculty Members:

Democratic Process: A relatively large committee is created with stakeholder

Full Faculty Involvement: The dean or chair initiates a process of discussion

• To begin the process of discussion and planning and to encourage full

• Consider a faculty or departmental retreat.

• Talk about renewal, revitalization, incremental vs. radical change.

The Role of Metaphor

Previous Contents Next

Metaphors abound in educational discourse. Take curriculum, for example. The

One of the most popular of teaching metaphors is the journey metaphor, in

Education critics invoke the factory metaphor, charging that educational

A careful analysis of the teacher-student relationship...reveals its fundamentally

Previous Contents Next

Educators may not be able to avoid thinking about outcomes, accountability,

Below are my own favourite metaphors for curriculum:

“Curriculum...is a design of events that brings about conversion.

Previous Contents Next

Vision: an image for the future of the department; a realistic, credible,

• What attracted us to this department? Why do we stay?

• What challenges do we face as we consider the future of our program?

• What are our deepest concerns?

Mission: We will develop in dental professionals the knowledge and skills to

Vision: International recognition through excellence in dental education,

Previous Contents Next

• Compassionate, patient-centred care

• Commitment to professionalism and integrity

• Nurturing leaders through life-long learning, problem-solving skills and

• Teamwork and collaboration

• Respect for diversity in culture and perspectives

• Accountability to our community of scholars and to the public

A Philosophy of Educ ation

The following questions and the characterizations of educational philosophies

What, why, and whom do you teach?

“Curriculum...is a design of events that brings about conversion.