Curriculum Requirements Document Template



Instructional Design Job Aid

Tool for Course Instructional Designer

|Document Overview |

|The Instructional Design (ID) Job Aid is to be used by the Course Instructional Designer to assist in writing the Design Document and parts|

|of the Course Script. The ID Job Aid provides guidance on SCANS objectives, Bloom’s Taxonomy, acceptable course activities, ideas for |

|online activities, time on task estimates, credit hour assignment, and guidelines for identifying the 12 core topics and 6 optional topics |

|for each course. |

| |

|Read through the entire document once, and use it thereafter as a reference while creating the Course Requirements Document and the Design |

|Document. |

SCANS Objectives

In addition to Course Objectives and Lesson Objectives, IDs for this project must also identify the core SCANS Objectives for each course. This section provides a definition and history of the SCANS skills, guidance for using the SCANS objectives in the Course Overview Document and Design Document, and the list of SCANS objectives.

SCANS Definition and History

(This information has been edited from the 21st Century Education Foundation website found at )

In May of 1990, the United States Secretary of Education charged the Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) to identify the level of skills required to enter employment. In order to learn the level of skills needed, the Commission first identified what skills were required for employment in America's current workplaces. These results were published in June of 1991 in a report called What Work Requires of Schools. In this report, the Commission identified 36 “SCANS” skills (subdivided into a Three-Part Foundation and Five Competencies) considered to be essential skills for success in the current and future workplaces.

Guidance for using SCANS Objectives

Refer to the SCANS objectives found in the table below and identify each SCANS objective that relates to the particular course you are developing. If necessary, modify the wording of the SCANS objective to match what is required for your course. Once you have identified the relevant SCANS objectives,

1. Copy the Skill Category, SCANS Skill, and SCANS Objective into the appropriate table in the SCANS Skills section in the Course Overview Document Template.

2. List the SCANS objectives for your course in the Objectives section of the Design Document.

SCANS Objectives

|Skill Category |SCANS Skill |SCANS Objective |

|Basic Skills |Reading |Locates, understands, and interprets written information in prose and in documents such as |

| | |manuals, graphs, and schedules. |

| |Writing |Communicates thoughts, ideas, information, and messages in writing. |

| | |Creates documents such as letters, directions, manuals, reports, graphs, and flow charts. |

| |Arithmetic/ |Performs basic computations and approaches practical problems by choosing appropriately from|

| |Mathematics |a variety of mathematical techniques |

| |Listening |Receives, attends to, interprets, and responds to verbal messages and other cues |

| |Speaking |Organizes ideas and communicates orally |

|Thinking Skills |Creative Thinking |Generates new ideas. |

| |Decision Making |Specifies goals and constraints, generates alternatives, considers risks, and evaluates and |

| | |chooses best alternative. |

| |Problem Solving |Recognizes problems and devises and implements plan of action. |

| |Visualizing |Organizes, and processes symbols, pictures, graphs, objects, and other information |

| |Knowing How to Learn |Uses efficient learning techniques to acquire and apply new knowledge and skills. |

| |Reasoning |Discovers a rule or principle underlying the relationships between two or more objects and |

| | |applies it when solving a problem. |

|Personal Qualities |Responsibility |Exerts a high level of effort and perseveres towards goal attainment. |

| |Self-Esteem |Believes in own self-worth and maintains a positive view of self. |

| |Sociability |Demonstrates understanding, friendliness, adaptability, empathy, and politeness in group |

| | |settings. |

| |Self-Management |Assesses self accurately, sets personal goals, monitors progress, and exhibits self-control.|

| |Integrity/Honesty |Chooses ethical courses of action. |

|Interpersonal |Participates as |Contributes to group effort. |

| |Member of a Team | |

| |Teaches Others New Skills |Teaches and assists others. |

| |Serves Clients/Customers |Works to satisfy customers' expectations |

| |Exercises Leadership |Communicates ideas to justify position, persuades and convinces others, responsibility |

| | |challenges existing procedures and policies |

| |Negotiates |Works toward agreements involving exchange of resources, resolves divergent interests |

| |Works with Diversity |Works well with men and women from diverse backgrounds. |

|Participatory |Teamwork |Functions effectively as a contributing member of a team. |

|Management | | |

| |Teaching |Teaches and assists others. |

| |Serving customers |Interacts pleasantly and helpfully with those they serve. |

| |Leading |Assumes leadership roles. |

| |Negotiating |Works toward compromises when necessary and negotiates differences. |

| |Working with Diversity |Works with/respects others from different racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds. |

|Skill Category |SCANS Skill |SCANS Objective |

|Resources |Time |Selects goal-relevant activities, ranks them, allocates time, and prepares and follows |

| | |schedules. |

| |Money |Uses or prepares budgets, makes forecasts, keeps records, and makes adjustments to meet |

| | |objectives. |

| |Material and Facilities |Acquires, stores, allocates, and uses materials or space efficiently. |

| |Human Resources |Assesses skills, distributes work accordingly, evaluates performance, and provides feedback.|

|Information |Acquires and Evaluates |Acquires, evaluates, organizes, and maintains information. |

| |Information |Interprets and communicates information. |

| | |Uses Computers to process information. |

|Systems |Understands Systems |Knows how social, organization, and technological systems work and operates effectively with|

| | |them. |

| |Monitors and Corrects |Distinguishes trends, predicts impacts on system operations, diagnoses deviations in |

| |Performance |system's performance and corrects malfunctions. |

| |Improves or Designs Systems |Suggests modifications to existing systems and develops new or alternative systems to |

| | |improve performance. |

|Technology |Selects Technology |Chooses procedures and tools including computers and related technologies. |

| |Applies Technology to Task |Understands overall intent and proper procedures for setup and operation of equipment. |

| |Maintains and Troubleshoots |Prevents, identifies, or solves problems with equipment, including computers and other |

| |Equipment |technologies. |

** Source: The Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills, What Work Requires of Schools **

Bloom’s Taxonomy

One common way to think about the various levels of learning is by looking at Bloom’s Taxonomy. This section describes what Bloom’s Taxonomy is, the different levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy, and guidance for using Bloom’s Taxonomy as you write the course and lesson objectives and design the course.

(Note: The information below has been edited from the OfficePort website found at )

History

In 1956, Benjamin Bloom developed a classification of intellectual behaviors important in learning. He found that over 95% of test questions students encountered required them to think only at the lowest possible levels. Bloom went on to identify six levels within the cognitive domain, from the simple recall or recognition of facts, through increasingly more complex and abstract mental levels, to the highest order which is classified as evaluation.

The Six Levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy

[pic]

Bloom identified 6 levels of learning, level 6 requiring utilization of a higher cognitive domain than level 1:

1. Knowledge

2. Comprehension

3. Application

4. Analysis

5. Synthesis

6. Evaluation

The table below identifies the key verbs for each of Bloom’s levels to use for writing objectives.

|Level |Verbs |

|Knowledge |arrange, define, duplicate, label, list, memorize, name, order, recognize, relate, recall, |

| |repeat, reproduce state |

|Comprehension |classify, describe, discuss, explain, express, identify, indicate, locate, recognize, report,|

| |restate, review, select, translate |

|Application |apply, choose, demonstrate, dramatize, employ, illustrate, interpret, operate, practice, |

| |schedule, sketch, solve, use, write |

|Analysis |analyze, appraise, calculate, categorize, compare, contrast, criticize, differentiate, |

| |discriminate, distinguish, examine, experiment, question, test |

|Synthesis |arrange, assemble, collect, compose, construct, create, design, develop, formulate, manage, |

| |organize, plan, prepare, propose, set up, write |

|Evaluation |appraise, argue, assess, attach, choose compare, defend estimate, judge, predict, rate, core,|

| |select, support, value, evaluate |

Guidelines for Using Bloom’s Taxonomy for Writing Objectives and Designing Activities

As you design the course and lesson objectives for this course, consider the learning level that the objective should be. If it is an introductory course or an introductory lesson, the objectives should be at a low-learning level (ie, Bloom’s knowledge or understanding level). For more advanced courses or lessons, the objectives should be at a higher-learning level (ie, Bloom’s application, analysis and evaluation levels).

Follow these general principles when developing course and lesson objectives and activities:

• The course objective should be at the appropriate learning level. If you want students to be able to apply what they have learned, the course objective should not start with a knowledge or understanding verb (eg, “state” or “identify”.)

• Scan the course objectives to make sure that the learning level is appropriate for the course level and content area.

• Each lesson objective should be at a level at or below the course objective. The course objective should be achieved once all of the lesson objectives are achieved. The lesson objectives should build up to the course objective.

EXAMPLE:

• Course objective “Write a business report following the writing process” (Bloom’s level 3)

• Lesson objectives:

← List the steps of the writing process (Bloom’s level 1)

← Identify the components of a business report (Bloom’s level 2)

← Use the appropriate research methods to gather data (Bloom’s level 3)

← Write a business report applying the research gathered and following the writing process. (Bloom’s level 3)

• Each activity should be written to meet the level of the lesson objective which it is aligned to. For example, if the lesson objective is to “Identify the 6 levels of Bloom’s taxonomy,” the activity should be designed to measure if the student can identify the 6 levels. Appropriate activities may be a quiz or a matching assignment. Inappropriate activities for this lesson objective would be application assignments, classification assignments, analysis assignments, etc.

Assigned Acitvities

Definition of Assigned Activities

An assigned activity is any activity, graded or ungraded, completed outside of the onscreen content presentation and the readings. The purpose of the assigned activities is to ensure the accomplishment of the course objectives. When designating assigned activities for your course, ensure each activity can measure the lesson objective and is at or below the Bloom’s level of the lesson objective. Try to include a variety of assigned activities to keep the student engaged.

List of Assigned Activities

(Not all-inclusive)

• Discussion Forums

• Evaluations

← Quizzes

← Mid Terms

← Final Exams

• Practice Exercises

← Question/Answer Assignments

← Problem Solving

• Written Assignments

← Article Summaries

← Book Reports

← Opinion Papers

← Paragraph or Essay Assignments

• Case Studies

• Lab Assignments

← Lab Exercises

← Lab Reports

• Research Projects

• Course Project

• Learning Logs

Online Course Activities

Online Course Activity Definition

During the onscreen presentation of content, numerous interactive exercises should be designed to ensure the content is being absorbed and to present a sort of “speed bump” to give students time to process the information they just learned. These activities are called online course activities. These activities are not graded and they are designed to be fun and interactive.

In the Design Document stage, the Course Instructional Designer and Course SME document ideas for online course activities. Because these activities are embedded in the online content presentation, they are not written at the Design Document stage, but rather at the Script stage. The section below outlines suggestions for online course activities, though new ideas are encouraged.

Description of Online Course Activities

Listed below are examples of course activities. If you have ideas for other online activities, feel free to talk to your project manager to see if it can be programmed. Descriptions and screen samples are provided below for each online course activity type.

|Activity Type |Screen Sample |Description |

| | | |

|1. Beat the Clock |[pic] |Student answers as many questions as possible before the clock |

| | |runs out. The exercise may have one round, or multiple rounds.|

| | | |

| | |Requirements |

| | |Question Type: Fill-in-the-blank, T/F, or multiple choice. |

| | |Question Length: 180 characters max. |

| | |Number of Questions: Unlimited. |

| | |Answer Feedback Required? No. |

| | |Hints: Provide a hint, including a page reference where the |

| | |answer is. |

| | | |

|2. Matching |[pic] |Student matches the appropriate answer to each question by |

| | |dragging that answer to the target field. The Matching |

| | |exercise keeps track of correct and incorrect answers. |

| | | |

| | |Requirements |

| | |Question Type: Fill-in-the-blank or specific answer. |

| | |Question Length: 250 characters max. |

| | |Number of Questions: 10 questions max. |

| | |Answer length: 50 characters max. |

| | |Answer Feedback Required? No. |

| | |Hints: Provide a hint, including a page reference where the |

| | |answer is. |

| | | |

|3. Crossword |[pic] |Student fills in the crossword puzzle by answering the |

| | |corresponding questions. The Crossword keeps track of correct |

| | |and incorrect answers. |

| | | |

| | |Requirements |

| | |Question Type: Fill-in-the-blank or specific answer. |

| | |Question Length: No more than 180 characters. |

| | |Number of Questions: Unlimited. |

| | |Vertical word: The vertical word appears by default. Select |

| | |words with 10 letters max. Each letter of the word must |

| | |correspond to a horizontal word, a question must be provided |

| | |for each horizontal word. |

| | |Horizontal words: Horizontal words must contain 13 letters max,|

| | |6 letters max to the left of the letter corresponding to the |

| | |vertical word, and 6 letters max to the right. |

| | |Hints: Provide a hint, including a page reference where the |

| | |answer is. |

|Activity Type |Screen Sample |Description |

| | | |

|4. Multiple Choice |[pic] |Student answers a multiple choice question. |

| | | |

| | |Requirements |

| | |Question Type: Multiple Choice. |

| | |Question Length: No more than 200 characters. |

| | |Number of Questions: Unlimited. |

| | |Answer Input: Provide 2 to 7 possible answers of max 50 |

| | |characters each. |

| | |Answer Feedback Required?: No. |

| | |Hints: Provide a hint, including a page reference where the |

| | |answer is. |

| | | |

|5. Strikeout |[pic] |Student selects the letters to form the word that answers the |

| | |question. The student is given three strikes. If the student |

| | |“stikes out”, he must begin the exercise again in order to |

| | |complete it. |

| | | |

| | |Requirements |

| | |Question Type: Multiple Choice or specific answers. |

| | |Question Length: 150 characters max. |

| | |Number of Questions: Unlimited. |

| | |Answer Length: 25 characters max. |

| | |Answer Feedback Required?: No. |

| | |Hints: Provide a hint, including a page reference where the |

| | |answer is. |

| | | |

|6. Word Scramble |[pic] |Student unscrambles the word that correctly answers the |

| | |question. |

| | | |

| | |Requirements |

| | |Question Type: Specific answer. |

| | |Question Length: 200 characters max. |

| | |Number of Questions: Unlimited. |

| | |Answer Input: The answer can be two words max. Each word should|

| | |be 25 characters max. |

| | |Answer Feedback Required?: No. |

| | |Hints: Provide a hint, including a page reference where the |

| | |answer is. |

| | | |

|7. Drag and Drop |[pic] |Student drags the appropriate labels to the correct positions |

| | |on the diagram. |

| | | |

| | |Requirements |

| | |Image: Image must be electronic or easily scanable. Answers (in|

| | |this case, labels) must be provided. |

| | |Answer Feedback Required?: No. |

| | |Hints: Hints are not required. |

|Activity Type |Screen Sample |Description |

| | | |

|8. Ordering |[pic] |Student drags and places information in the correct order to |

| | |complete it successfully. |

| | | |

| | |Requirements |

| | |Question Type: Single or multiple word/numerical entries. |

| | |Question Length: 30 characters max (including spaces). |

| | |Number of Questions: Between 1-5 or 1-10 (2 different layouts |

| | |offered). |

| | |Answer Input: No answers needed (ordering exercise) |

| | |Answer Feedback Required?: No. |

| | |Hints: Provide a hint for each question, including a page |

| | |reference for the answer. |

Designating Time on Task

Time on Task Definition

Time on Task refers to the amount of time it takes the average student to complete any given activity, whether it is working through an online presentation of content, completing an assignment, participating in a discussion, or taking a quiz. Total time on task for a course equals the amount of time to complete the reading, complete on-screen presentations, and to prepare for and complete all outside activities and evaluations.

Time on Task Guidelines

The table below identifies the major activity categories and the associated time on task estimates for completing the activity. These are estimates—each student’s actual time to complete the task will depend on their skill level. Use these estimates to complete the Time on Task section in the Design Document.

|Activity |Time on Task Estimate |

|Reading (descriptive text) |2 minutes per page |

|Reading (technical text) |4 minutes per page |

|Reading (online screens w/no interactivity) |2 minutes per screen |

|Reading (online screens w/no interactivity) |4 minutes per screen |

|Writing Assignments |1.5 hours per page (including prep) |

|Discussion Forum |60 minutes per discussion |

|Quizzes |90 minutes (30 to take, 60 to prepare) |

|Exams |6-7 hours (1-2 hours to take, 5 hours to prepare) |

For online courses, each lesson should contain about 5-8 hours time on task.

Designation of credit hours for online courses

According to several academic institutions, academic credit is a measure of the total time commitment required of a typical student in a particular course of study. Total time is comprised of:

1) Time spent “in class”

2) Time spent in a laboratory, studio, or other scheduled activity

3) Time spent reading, studying, problem solving, writing, or other activity.

In a traditional, lecture-led course, one credit hour is usually assigned for 3 hours of student work per week, including time spent in class and out of class. This credit hour assignment assumes a fixed course length, which typically ranges between 12-15 weeks depending on the academic program.

Unlike traditional courses, online courses can vary widely in the course length, depending on the needs of the student and the administration requirements of the educational institution. An online course of 6 weeks can cover the identical content of an online course that is spread out over 10 weeks. Thus, credit hours for online courses should be assessed based on the total time required to complete the course ( “time on task”).

For online courses, one credit hour will equal 20-25 hours time on task. Therefore,

• A 3-credit course will consist of 60-75 hours time on task.

• A 4-credit course will consist of 75-100 hours time on task.

Identifying 12 core and 6 optional course lessons

-----------------------

Knowledge

ID

6

Understanding

Application

Analysis

Synthesis

Evaluation

................
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