Curriculum Design – A New Approach to Educational Development

An Overview:

Curriculum designing has emerged as a new career alternative for many individuals who have been part of the educational system for some time. This field of work involves designing school curriculum, as well as curriculum for online educational programmes, college courses and training seminars. A lot of people are increasingly turning to continuing education in order to get advanced degrees, and increase their qualifications. Since course module and curriculum design is required for students at all levels, this has become an important profession, and several online curriculum design degrees from accredited universities are now being made available, to enable more and more people to take up this sort of work.

Since curriculum designers are expected to come up with effective strategies for training developing minds, any individual interested in pursuing a career in curriculum design is expected to have a strong background in education, psychology, curriculum development and education administration. Curriculum designers may also choose to specialize in one or more specific subject, such as Mathematics, Science, Literature, etc. Although a Bachelor’s Degree in Curriculum Design is sufficient for entry-level jobs, most aspiring curriculum designers are expected to hold at least a Master’s Degree in curriculum design or any relevant field. That is why the ability to earn online degrees in curriculum design is very helpful, because one is capable of engaging in this kind of distance learning programme, without having to compromise on the time allotted for family or career.

The specific tasks that a professional curriculum designer is expected to carry out are:

• Designing coursework either for classroom education or for distance learning programmes
• Training teachers and instructors
• Conceptualising appropriate methods of assessment
• Evaluating study materials
• Staying updated with the latest instructional techniques and technological tools of education.

Which are some of the Universities offering online degrees in this course?

The American Intercontinental University (AIU) offers an online M.Ed. degree in Curriculum and Instruction, which aims at teaching the students how to use technology in the curriculum design process, in order to be able to adapt to the academic styles of a wide variety of students. This course is designed for those who already have some sort of prior teaching experience.

The Grand Canyon University Online also offers an online M.Ed. degree in Curriculum and Instruction. Apart from training them in educational development strategies, this online curriculum design degree will enable students to introduce technical aids into the practice of teaching, so as to make the process more interesting and less tiresome for teachers.

The University of Phoenix Online offers a number of Master of Arts in Education courses, in Curriculum and Instruction in Mathematics and English and Language Arts Education.

In addition to these, certain other universities offering such online degrees in curriculum design are California Coast University, University of Scranton, Walden University Online, and Jones International University Online, among many others. Curriculum designers are employed by several educational institutions, government agencies and text book companies – thus providing vast career opportunities.