INNOVATIVE CURRICULUM

INNOVATIVE CURRICULUM

Abstract

Educational Institutes have a recognized need to react to a changing environment, from changes in the economy to government initiatives with a focus on widening participation. There is acknowledged need for them to adapt to changing environment by taking a new approach to course/ product development. Educational Institutions has embraced this changing environment, developing a strategy to support the changing nature of Curriculum Design, by using a project called Enable. The Autonomous College and University is focused on how it can manage this change, including using a holistic Enterprise Architecture approach to model Curriculum Design as it is now, and how it wishes it to be. The models will act as a strategic roadmap for the transformation of the University’s approach to Curriculum Design encompassing business processes but also the information and IT that supports them. They build from ideas about teacher learning and organize the heuristics around important parts of a teacher’s knowledge base: subject matter knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge for topics, and pedagogical content knowledge for disciplinary practices. These heuristics provide a context for a theoretically oriented discussion of how features of educative curriculum materials may promote teacher learning, by serving as cognitive tools that are situated in teachers’ practice. This paper focuses on how College and University has investigated private sector strategies and applied them to Higher Education, it mentions the challenges that have been considered and the opportunities Higher Education has to move to more agile management. The paper ends by discussing the pilot of an executive programme office for the University and its perceived benefits.

  

Introduction

Since curriculum development is a continuous process, constant efforts are being taken to restructure, revise and update it as often as possible.  A separate cell viz. Curriculum Development Cell (CDC) has been constituted with a view to restructuring, revising and updating the curricula of all departments with due representation to each department on the basis of one faculty for one department. The general curricular framework is developed by the cell, which forms the basis for curriculum development.  The Academic Affairs and Research Cell (AARC) strictly monitor its implementation.

Choice Based Credit System

            At the beginning of each semester, the students will be enlightened with the elective papers offered in the respective odd / even semester.  The students should register their options with the parent department in writing about the choice of elective papers for that semester.  The selected elective papers should be such that the paper has not been already studied either as a full paper or a part thereof and such paper should not find place as core paper in their major department.  The department offering a particular elective paper, will select and finalize the list of students to be admitted to that elective paper.  The Principal has the discretion to fix the minimum strength for each elective paper in consultation with the Head of the department concerned.

Curriculum Development Criteria

 It also engages itself in monitoring the conduct of Part-IV courses in our college such as Information Technology, Career Selection Courses, Self-Employment Courses, Personality Development, Environmental Science, Value Education, Human Rights and Women Studies that are aimed at the holistic development of our students.    

The criteria used for curriculum development are

Ø   Feed-back obtained from students through evaluation of the course scheme and the views of the faculty on the existing curricula, 

Ø  Suggestions given by external experts, university nominees, co-opted members from the departments and alumni in the meetings of the boards of studies,

Ø  Interaction with the industrialists, professionals, scientist, external examiners, etc.,

Ø  Discussion with HRD managers at the time of campus interviews,

Ø  Based upon the model curriculum developed by the UGC,

Ø  Incorporation of syllabi of various professional bodies / competitive examinations like SLET, UGC/CSIR, UGC-NET, GATE, CA, ICWA, Civil Services, etc.,

Ø  Updating on the basis of syllabi of Parent University and other universities by accessing the net, 

Ø  Freedom to revise the curricula of all programmes once in a year to accommodate the new version and the latest developments on need basis,

Ø   Mandatory revision of U.G. and .P.G. curricula once in three years.

One important landmark in the field of curriculum development is the induction of student members in the Curriculum Development Cell. Contributions of student members towards the restructuring of some of the old components in the curriculum were found to be very useful and their role in the process of curriculum development deserves a special mention.

Major Considerations Addressed

The major considerations addressed in the curriculum are

Ø  Development of the overall personality of learners in the campus by giving due attention to all the educational domains in the curriculum,

Ø  Inculcation of scientific temper, democratic, moral, social and spiritual values in the minds of learners,

Ø  Orientation of learners towards self-learning and developing skills in communication so that they may become more active participants in the learning process,

Ø  Accessibility of quality education to all including the under-privileged with a thrust on holistic development of learners, irrespective of caste and creed,

Ø  Appraisal, review and restructure of the curricula on par with the expansion of global knowledge,

Ø  Diversification of the programme contents, with a view to establishing greater relevance to local socio-economic problems and world of work,

Ø  Introduction of greater flexibility in the curriculum by giving more freedom of choice to learners to design their own curriculum,

Ø  Exposure of learners to the recent developments in their disciplines particularly in science, information technology and commerce,

Ø  Development of self-confidence and self-reliance to face various competitive and other professional examinations and thereby to provide greater opportunities for employment,

Ø  Providing more thrust on the improvement of communication skills of learners in the campus,

Ø  Assisting the P.G. students to undertake research in different disciplines including inter-disciplinary researches, so that they may support the process of development and modernization of the nation with research work,

Ø  Bridging the gap between the theoretical knowledge and the world of work by establishing institution-industry linkages,

Ø  Imparting environment based education to all learners in the campus

Ø  Designing and introducing job-oriented programmes wherever possible to meet the local requirements and thereby making learners employable in the market.

Ø  Creating environmental awareness to combat global warming.

Monitoring the Under-Graduate Curriculum

            The Curriculum Development Cell was actively engaged in monitoring the functioning of Choice - Based Credit System (CBCS)

The Special Features of CBCS are:

Ø  Introduction of greater flexibility in the curriculum.

Ø  Incorporation of the Model Curricula prepared by the UGC / Tamil Nadu State Council for Higher Education in the existing structure wherever possible.

Ø  Implementation of TNSCHE guidelines on CBCS.

Ø  Assigning of credits on the basis of the contact hours

Ø  Classification of subjects into hard-core, allied and optional papers.

Ø  Offering wide choices in allied and optional papers covering inter-disciplinary and application-oriented areas.

Ø  Ensuring students to earn minimum credits from other departments through allied and optional papers.

Ø  Introduction of ‘Extra Credit Papers’ to enable the fast learners to take up such programmes.

Ø  Introduction of ‘Spoken English’ for all UG learners to improve their communication skills.

Ø  Incorporation of Elective paper / Project viva-voce for students of B.Sc., Mathematics, Chemistry, Plant Biology & Plant Biotechnology, Zoology, Microbiology, P.H.S., Genetics, Biotechnology, B.A. Economics, B.Com., and B.B.A. in the fifth semester.

Ø  Introduction of a basic course on Information Technology for all students under foundation core category

Ø  Offering Value Education, Human Rights and Women Studies under Part-IV to all U.G. learners.

Ø  Offering a paper o

Ø  n ‘Environmental Studies’ to all U.G. learners under Part-IV that includes both Theory and Minor Research Project.

Ø  Stressing the necessity of earning the stipulated credit points to qualify for a degree.

Ø  Computation of marks and classification of students on the basis of cumulative weighted average mark

Ø  Inclusion of N.S.S. / N.C.C. / Physical Education / ANJACES / YRC under       Part-V of the course scheme for all under-graduate courses.

Ø  Orientation Programme for all first year U.G. Students was conducted for the selection of their Part – IV Papers under CBCS.

SELF-EMPLOYMENT COURSES

            As the economic survey makes clear that future India’s jobs for masses, will come not from agriculture but from the manufacturing and service sectors, only a better-skilled      workforce can improve global competitiveness. In India, only 5% of the lab our force has got vocational training when compared to industrialized nations (60-80%). An altered pattern of employment, declining the role of the public sector as a job provider, a bigger role is played by the private sector, which looks for a wide skill spectrum. The nature of sustained academic programmes that are offered by the higher educational institutions should address the holistic needs of the society and not shaped by the momentary market pressures. For example

Ø  Digital Photography

Ø  Web Technology

Ø  Multimedia Technology

Ø  Financial Accounting & Tally

Ø  Yoga

Ø  Shorthand

Resource Materials

The Curriculum Development Cell also revised the following resource materials prepared for U.G. and P.G. learners during the period under review as per the revised syllabi.

Ø  ‘Value Education, Human Rights and Women Studies’ for UG learners.

Ø  ‘Introduction to Information Technology’

Ø  ‘Personality Development’

Ø  ‘Environmental Studies’

Monitoring the Post-Graduate Curriculum

The CBCS is already in vogue for all post-graduate courses. To expose the learners to this new academic environment, an Orientation Programme was conducted to explain the soft core and optional credit papers offered by various departments apart from the hard core credit papers.

It is customary on our part to revise the Post-graduate curriculum once in three years. Accordingly, the Course Scheme and Scheme of Examinations of Post-graduate curriculum was thoroughly revised on the basis of feedback obtained from the final year Post-graduate students as well as the staff members of concerned departments.

The salient features of the revision are

Ø  Introduction of extra-papers for post-graduate students to develop their personality and communication skills.

Ø  Permitting the students to select their elective papers either horizontally or vertically during their entire course of studies.

Ø  Incorporation of the Model Curricula prepared by the UGC / Tamil Nadu State Council for Higher Education in the existing structure wherever possible.

Ø  Introduction of ‘Spoken English’ and ‘Information Technology’ as mandatory extra-credit papers for all Post-graduate students.

Ø   Introduction of ‘Personality Development’ programme as an extra-optional course for the fast learners.

Ø  An Attempt was made to introduce the concept of E-Learning with the conduct of workshops for Biology teachers and P.G. Biology Students in this regard. This has resulted in establishment of a separate Centre for Technology Enhanced Learning (CTEL) in our College.

Inter-Disciplinary Papers Offered in the PG Curriculum

            In the development of knowledge, two things are happening simultaneously, one micro-specialization; second, integration and interrelationship between different disciplines.  

The current education scenario calls for the multifaceted skills and knowledge from the student community. Hence, it is the significant academic obligation on the part of autonomous institutions to step in this direction. Such endeavors will groom the learners in acquiring a proper perspective and ultimately it would add to their career progression by due exposure to multi-dimensional and inter-disciplinary subjects. In order to achieve this goal, it is planned to introduce inter-disciplinary papers for the PG students.

Academic Flexibility

The rigidity attached with the affiliated system has been completely dispensed with under our autonomous set-up.  The academic flexibility is an in-built mechanism in the curriculum itself, as stated below.

Subject-wise Options

            To enable learners to design their own curriculum based upon their career planning, aptitude and interest, the following subject-wise options are available to them.

A number of Certificate programmes, PG Diploma programmes and Advanced Diploma programmes have been designed to cater to the varied academic requirements of learners in the campus,

Feed Back Mechanism

It has been the practice to design the curriculum by taking into account the opinion of all stakeholders including learners at the grass root level.  The following scientific feedback mechanism is being adopted in the campus.

Ø       Learners are asked to evaluate the programmes they have studied at the end of each year and their feedback is duly taken care of at the time of next revision of the curriculum.

Ø       Student members of the CDC also air their opinion on the existing curriculum in the cell meetings.

Ø       The staff opinion on the revision of curriculum is obtained by convening a series of departmental meetings.

Ø       Every time when a major revision takes place, a special opinion survey is conducted among the final year learners and the alumni as well by the CDC.

Ø       Feedback from subject experts, alumni and professionals are also obtained at the meetings of the Boards of Studies of all disciplines.

Ø        The views of the local industrialists and prospective employers are obtained through interaction in an informal way.

Ø       Parents do express their free and frank opinion on the existing curriculum at the parent-teachers meetings.

Ø       Opinion of external examiners at the time of conducting practical examinations and Viva-Voce are also sought.

Ø       Views of eminent scholars, professionals, industrialists, university representatives and learners, both present and past are also obtained through their representation in the academic council.

Staff Development Programme Organized by CDC

As there is a need for upgrading the teachers and increasing their competencies in teaching and research and orienting them to current technical and social scenario, the CDC has organized many programmes.

Ø  Orientation Programme for new and junior staff members

Ø  Teacher’s Day Celebrations

Ø  Question Bank Workshop

Provisions

Students failing in any paper in any semester must reappear for the examination in that paper and it is not necessary to repeat the course.  A student who has already passed a paper will not be permitted to reappear in that paper for the purpose of improving CWAM.

A student who fails to attend the examination can reappear in the subsequent Terminal Examinations. However, a student who cannot appear for the examination due to lack of attendance, can appear for the examination only after earning the required minimum attendance.

Repeat Examinations will be conducted for the final semester paper(s) within a month after the publication of final semester results.  Hence, a student who fails in the final semester examinations can appear for the above paper only in the Repeat Examinations or in the subsequent year Even Semester Examination. 

Transitory provision

Candidates who have been admitted to the M.Com.(Computer Applications) Degree courses in June 2010 and who have failed in one or more papers can appear for the examinations under the syllabi which were in force at the time of their admission only up to April 2020.  Students, who are not able to get through the arrear papers within the above period, may be permitted by the Principal to appear for equivalent papers.  The equivalent papers in lieu of the arrear papers and the scheme in which those papers appear will be decided by the Principal in consultation with the concerned Head of the Department and the Controller of Examinations (P.G.).

Conclusion

            Curriculum documents will specify both the sequence of knowledge and skills which make up each domain, and those higher order skills which are characteristic of the domain. Curriculum documents will require far less content than is the norm in all current documents. Our approach to teaching and learning will focus on going students more responsibility for their learning.