Course documents – for example, course or module outlines, pre- and post-enrolment information for learners, statements of learner entitlement, guidelines on the assessment framework and opportunities for progression – are produced and disseminated in digital or hard copy. Information is communicated outwardly to learners and external agencies and inwardly to colleagues, course validation panels and marketing teams.

Component processes: documentation, marketing, recruitment, module selection and enrolment

Enabling systems: Standards such as XCRI and MLO can help to rationalise the management of course related information among its many users

Baseline reports from the Curriculum Design programme revleaed that frontline staff often consider course documentation a distraction or an irrelevance in relation to the 'real' discussions about learning and teaching. It is essential that course related information is available in ways that support meaningful discussion and decision making, by curriculum teams and by other stakeholders such as learners choosing courses of study, potential employers reviewing options taken by candidates, external stakeholders in programmes, and so on. Projects are experimenting with a range of communication media including video, course simulations, and podcasts. Projects are also exploring how changes to curriculum documentation can promote better discussion of learning and teaching options, leading to more innovative course design.

Relationships within the curriculum team, with members of supporting services or directorates, with partners (professionals, employers, collaborating departments and colleges) and with students (though these were rarely cited!) are crucial to an effective development process and a valuable outcome. While many projects are quite rightly focusing on the role of technology in supporting effective use of curriculum related information, there is a subsidiary role for technology in supporting good communication around the curriculum development process. At present this is typically limited to use of e.g. google docs, Moodle forums, and shared drives. Better use of collaborative technology becomes more relevant as partnerships in curriculum development becomes a more normal part of universities' core business.

Representing the curriculum

Resources on the design studio

Resources relating to course-related information

Resources relating to documentation

Resources tagged with 'communicate'