Decision Making

ACED 7030

Curriculum Issues in Adult and Career Education

When developing curriculum, decisions must be made regarding…

Strategic planning

Long-range planning

Delegation of authority

Scope of the curriculum

Sequence of the curriculum

Balance of the curriculum

Let’s start withStrategic Planning

Strategic planning is… The method by which an

organization identifies relevant trends in its environment, analyzes their potential implications and projects an integrated strategy to address these events and their contingencies.

Strategic Planning consists of three primary groups of information

Internal Scanning Looking at internal factors Self examination Personal attributes

External Scanning Things outside the organization Present and future influences Generally controlled from outside

Mission Development (strategies, plans) Implementation Evaluation Revision

See page 46 in the text for a nice description of strategic planning.

During strategic planning, we develop strategies.

These are…

The best route to get you to your destination (reference points) after considering all of the obstacles and influences.

How does this differ from traditional long-range planning? Take a look at the next slide.

Traditional Long-Range Planning

Strategic Planning

What are the differences here? Go to the discussion board and tell us what you think.

Let’s try it!

Imagine that you are in a Master’s-level class working toward a research presentation in a few weeks. You really want to make an “A” on it and the related paper. Of course, this will take some planning to ensure that everything gets done in time, at standards high enough to meet the grade. You decide to sit down and chart out barriers and obstacles that may interfere with reaching this goal, along with solutions to overcome them.

Keep going to the next page

The goal: You will be prepared to deliver your research presentation by the date assigned by the instructor and will make a grade of “A” on it and the related research paper.

Here is what I want you to do.

List obstacles and barriers that may be identified through an internal scan.List obstacles and barriers that may be identified through an external scan.Discuss ways that the reference point may change during the course of the semester.Select one internal and one external barrier and discuss possible strategies for lessening the negative effects.

See this lesson’s Concept Paper Assignment for complete details!

Another concept that is important in the decision-making

process is the idea of Site-based Management

SBM is grounded on the premise that those who work in a local school or organization are the ones who can best

provide the input to sound decision making and thus should be involved in the management role in that school or organization.

A key player in SBM is the principal or other key

administrator. He or she must be able to:

Accept authority

Delegate responsibility

Accept responsibility for outcome

Defend actions to policy makers

A critical concept in SBM isEMPOWERMENT. This is the

specific authority to make decisions and to take

appropriate action.EMPOWERMENT relates to

EFFICACY.

Site-Based Management Requires...

Involvement of stakeholders

conduction of environmental scans

ID of factors related to a program’s success and failure

Development of vision and mission statements

ID of current and future resources\constraints

Development of realistic goals and objectives

Formulation of plans of action

Monitor and follow up of activities

Levels of Planning in School Districts

Used to answer the following questions…

•Where are we going?

•How do we get there?

•What do we do to get there?

See page 48 in Crunkilton and Finch

Some of the major decisions that must be made concerning

curriculum include...

Scope

Sequence

Balance

Keep in mind that some decisions are irreversible or at least precedence-setting for future decisions and action. See page50 (C&F)

Scope of the Curriculum

Several questions come to mind

Who should decide on the content?

What content should be included?

Tyler offers a ModelSource Source Source

Student Society Subject

Tentative General Objectives

Screen Screen

Philosophy of Education

Psychology of Learning

Precise Instructional Objectives

The components of Tyler’s Rationale include…

Source/StudentDoes the unit meet the needs of the

student?

Source/SocietyDoes the unit meet any societal need?

Source/Subject Is the unit consistent with the subject in

which it is being offered?

Tyler’s Rationale Continued…

Supposing that a unit meets all three of the “source” tests, General Objectives are formulated.

Next, curriculum developers must consider Philosophy of Education Faculty’s philosophy School’s philosophy

Psychology of Learning Within range of learner Within learner’s motivational limits

Tyler’s Rationale Finished…

Having met these tests, Precise Instructional objectives are developed and the unit is implemented into the curriculum.

Put this to the test using Tyler’s Rationale…

Is a unit on gun safety appropriate for inclusion in keyboarding class? What about in an agriculture class? Go to the discussion board and share your findings.

Sequence of the CurriculumWhat is the best order to arrange the curriculum and it’s related components?

How do we determine sequence?simple proceeds complexmust match maturation level of students immediate needs come firstaims, goals,and philosophy of facultychronological or sequential orderorganization of textual materials

Balance of the Curriculum Considers...

general education and specialized education

academic and career preparation

immediate application and long-range application

learner-centered and subject-centered

After all of that, consider this...

Mr. Zelek, a technical educator, decided on rainy afternoon that it would be nice to have his class work on a new unit. Gazing out of the window of his classroom, he came up with an idea. “I think we’ll have a unit on problem solving through brainstorming,” he said to himself. “The students will like it and maybe it will do them some good.”

What do you think?What do you think of the method that Mr. Zelek used to select the unit topic?

Was it necessarily a poor choice?

How should he select his unit topics?

This is another good chance to give us your opinion. Go to the discussion board one more time.

And that’s it!Be sure to

visit the “Decision Making page

on the website to view your assignments for this lesson.Contact me if you have any

questions.